Mariah Carey has heart-breaking news for Taiwanese fans looking forward to a tentatively announced Taipei concert in October: The hit singer won’t “Make It Happen” after all because the venue has been claimed by Celine Dion.
“After great efforts to work with and negotiate with other parties, we are sorry to announce that we did not get Taipei Arena’s approval, but we are first on the waiting list,” Carey concert organizer Yu Kuang Music said on its Facebook page. “I got the official document from Taipei Arena early this morning. We’re so sad to learn the bad news.”
Carey and Dion had been competing for the venue for Oct. 27-30. Dion’s performance will be her first in Taiwan.
Yu Kuang Music said that Taipei Arena might have chosen Dion over Carey because the Canadian singer plans two concerts as opposed to Carey’s one.
It is a pity for Taiwanese music fans who almost had a chance at seeing both best-selling artists perform in Taiwan in the same week.
Carey released her 14th album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse in May.
Dion released a three-disc set titled Celine une seule fois / Live 2013, which reached the top 10 on the album charts in France, Canada and Wallonia, Belgium.
Dion has given more than 1,500 concerts worldwide, but has never performed in Taiwan, while Carey came to Taiwan in 1998 as part of her Butterfly World Tour.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated