Contemporary
Legacy Taipei hosts top Taiwanese pop performers and international acts. Tonight’s spotlight is on Japanese instrumental duo →Pia-no-jaC←. Tomorrow, the venue hosts a matinee by Mandopop singer/songwriter Hsiao Hung-jen (蕭閎仁) and an evening show by R ‘n’ B crooner R.Chord (謝和弦) and Jess Lee (李佳薇), as part of the ongoing Voice Up Concert series.
■ Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914), Center Five Hall (中五館), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號)
Photo courtesy of Joyce Lin
■ Show starts at 8pm tonight, 2:30pm and 7:30pm tomorrow
■ Admission is NT$1,200 tonight, NT$800 and NT$1,200 tomorrow afternoon, NT$1,000 and NT$1,500 tomorrow evening. Tickets available online through www.indievox.com and at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks, or www.kham.com.tw for the Voice Up Concert
Fleshgod Apocalypse, an Italian technical death metal band, arrives at The Wall (這牆), Taipei’s most prominent venue for indie rock artists, tomorrow, with Australian melodic death metal group Eye of the Enemy and Japan’s death trash metal outfit Gotsu-Totsu-Kotsu as the opening acts. It is Japanese pop group Moumoon on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of re: public-records
■ B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1), tel: (02) 2930-0162. On the Net: www.thewall.com.tw
■ Show starts at 8pm tomorrow and 7pm on Sunday
■ Admission is NT$1,500 and NT$1,800 tomorrow, NT$1,800 on Sunday. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.walkieticket.com or ticket.7net.com.tw
Photo courtesy of Ricing Star
Pipe Live Music, a venue for indie music and parties, hosts a hip-hop party tonight, featuring Teezy (蛋頭), Mouzik, Appendix Deux-Killers (闌尾雙煞) and DJ Kool Klone.
■ 1 Siyuan Rd, Taipei City (台北市思源路1號), tel: (02) 2364-8198. On the Net: www.pipemusic.com.tw
■ Show starts at 6:30pm
■ Admission is NT$400. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.walkieticket.com, www.indievox.com and at 7-Eleven ibon and FamilyMart (全家) FamiPort kiosks
It is live music with Ying Wei-min (應蔚民) from Taiwanese nakashi rocker act The Clippers (夾子電動大樂隊), Nighteentael (十九兩樂團) and Under the Moon at indie rock club Revolver on Thursday.
■ 1-2, Roosevelt Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路一段1-2號), tel: (02) 3393-1678
■ Show starts at 9:30pm
■ Admission is NT$300
Solo rocker Hung Shen-hao (洪申豪) takes the stage at Kafka on the Shore (海邊的卡夫卡), a coffee house-cum-music and arts venue in the National Taiwan University area, tomorrow.
■ 2F, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號2樓). On the Net: www.kafkabythe.blogspot.tw
■ Show starts at 8pm. Cafe/bookstore opens noon to midnight Sundays through Thursdays, noon to 2am Fridays and Saturdays
■ Admission is NT$350. Tickets can be purchased online through www.indievox.com
Tonight’s lineup at indie music venue APA Mini (小地方展演空間) features Japanese psychedelic artists Kawaguchi Masami and Yohei Hasegawa as well as Taiwan’s electronic folk combo WWWW (落差草原). Grunge/alternative rock band Taipei Cases (台北公案) shares the stage with hip-hop/rock combo Chiu and Love (丘與樂) tomorrow.
■ B1,147, Hangzhou S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市杭州南路一段147號B1), tel: (02) 2327-8658. On the Net: www.facebook.com/apamini
■ Show starts at 8:30pm tonight and 8pm tomorrow
■ Admission is NT$400 tonight and NT$350 tomorrow, available through www.indievox.com
Sex Cannons (性愛卡農) and The White Dolphins (白海豚樂團) each play a set at Riverside Live House (河岸留言西門紅樓展演館) on Sunday.
■ 177 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路177號), tel: (02) 2370-8805. On the Net: www.riverside.com.tw
■ Show starts at 8pm
■ Entrance is NT$400. Tickets can be purchased online through www.indievox.com
Alternative/folk rock combo I am not Dorothy (不是桃樂絲) and acoustic female rocker Elsa Lin (林依霖) form the lineup tomorrow at Riverside Cafe (河岸留言), followed by young rockers The Last Hope (最後希望) and Minor Dash on Sunday. Tuesday’s performers are pop artists Andrew Yeh (葉懷佩) and Celeste Syn (冼佩瑾). A troop of erstwhile rockers, including Next Week and Bluewhy, hit the stage on Wednesday.
■ B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1), next to Taipower Building (台電大樓), tel: (02) 2368-7310. On the Net: www.riverside.com.tw
■ Shows start at 9pm except for Wednesday at 8:30pm
■ Admission is NT$400 tomorrow, NT$350 on Sunday and Tuesday, free on Wednesday. Tickets can be purchased online through www.indievox.com and tickets.books.com.tw
Featuring American drummer Adam James Sorensen, Blackbird Sextet performs tonight at Sappho Live, a late-night lounge bar that hosts mostly jazz shows, and it is DC & the Funky Duds tomorrow.
■ B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1), tel: (02) 2700-5411. On the Net: www.sappholive.com
■ Show starts 9:30pm tonight and 9pm tomorrow
■ Entrance is NT$400 for both shows
Singer-songwriter Easy Shen (沈簡單) appears tomorrow at There Cafe & Live House (那兒咖啡), a venue for indie music in Taoyuan.
■ B1, 454, Fuxing Rd, Taoyuan City (桃園市復興路454號B1), tel: (03) 339-8819. On the Net: www.therelivecafe.com
■ Show starts at 7:30pm
■ Admission is NT$400. Tickets can be purchased online through tickets.books.com.tw and www.indievox.com
Tonight’s roster includes acoustic guitarist duo Ricing Star (米星星) and Tamsui Boyz (淡水男孩) at Sound Live House (迴響音樂藝文展演空間), an independent venue for music and art exhibitions in Taichung. Japanese rockers One Buck Tuner and MOZ8 team up with Malaysian act Half-Asleep and Taiwan’s Shoot Up and One Step (一步) tomorrow. Local folk combo Another Way (反方向) is among the performers on Sunday, followed by speed/power metal act Storm Descent (暴風降生) and Flower Dregs (花渣) on Thursday.
■ B1-1, 429, Henan Rd Sec 2, Taichung City (台中市河南路二段429號B1-1), tel: (04) 2451-1989. On the Net: soundlivehouse.msmusic.com.tw
■ Show starts at 7:30pm tonight, 6pm tomorrow, 7pm on Sunday and Thursday
■ Admission is NT$400 tonight, tomorrow and on Sunday, NT$300 on Thursday. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.indievox.com
Tomorrow, funk/rock group Cosmos People (宇宙人) travels to Legacy Taichung, a spin-off of Legacy Taipei.
■ 117, Anhe Rd, Taichung City (台中市安和路117號), tel: (04) 2359-8780.
■ Show starts at 8pm
■ Admission is NT$900. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.indievox.com and at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
Wednesday’s show is by experimental electronic duo Fragrance Liang (梁香) at TCRC (前科累累俱樂部), a small venue for independent musicians and local artists in Tainan. On the Net: facebook.com/tcrc2007fans
■ B1, 314, Simen Rd Sec 2, Tainan City (台南市西門路二段314號B1), tel: (06) 222-3238.
■ Show starts at 8pm
■ Admission is NT$300, available at www.indievox.com
Tomorrow, dance rock group P!SCO puts on a show at Paramount Bar (百樂門酒館), an indie rock club in Kaohsiung.
■ 70 Minzu 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市三民區民族一路70號), tel: (07) 389-0501
■ Show starts at 7pm
■ Entrance is NT$500, available through www.indievox.com
Japanese Ukulele musician Seiji Katz plays at In Our Time, a restaurant-cum-gallery located inside Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Arts Center (駁二藝術特區), tomorrow. Pop singer and songwriter Debbie Hsiao (蕭賀碩) is among the performers on Sunday.
■ 99, Penglai Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市蓬萊路99號), tel: (07) 521-0017
■ Shows start at 7:30pm
■ Admission is NT$650 tomorrow and NT$500 on Sunday, available through www.indievox.com
July 1 to July 7 Huang Ching-an (黃慶安) couldn’t help but notice Imelita Masongsong during a company party in the Philippines. With paler skin and more East Asian features, she did not look like the other locals. On top of his job duties, Huang had another mission in the country, given by his mother: to track down his cousin, who was deployed to the Philippines by the Japanese during World War II and never returned. Although it had been more than three decades, the family was still hoping to find him. Perhaps Imelita could provide some clues. Huang never found the cousin;
Once again, we are listening to the government talk about bringing in foreign workers to help local manufacturing. Speaking at an investment summit in Washington DC, the Minister of Economic Affairs, J.W. Kuo (郭智輝), said that the nation must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high end manufacturing by 2040 to offset the falling population. That’s roughly 15 years from now. Using the lower number, Taiwan would have to import over 25,000 foreigners a year for these positions to reach that goal. The government has no idea what this sounds like to outsiders and to foreigners already living here.
Over the past year, a peculiar phrase has begun to litter Asian women’s social media accounts: “Oxford study.” An Asian woman vlogging about her dating life — and particularly about dating white men — gets commenters reacting to her updates with the words “Oxford study.” A young Asian student showing off her prom dress with her white boyfriend sees “obligatory Oxford study comment” on her TikTok. “I can already hear the oxford study comments coming,” one Asian woman captions a video of her dancing with her white partner. The phrase “Oxford study” refers to just that: an academic study out of Oxford
In spite of the next local elections being over two years away, there is already considerable intrigue and jockeying for position by politicians and their supporters. The local press runs quite a bit of content, mostly speculative, on who will run in what races and what the outcomes might be. This is an overview for English language readers to get a taste of the state of play. Four races in particular are drawing a lot of heat, those of mayors of New Taipei City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung because in all four the incumbent mayors will be term-limited out. In