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14 發光的城市
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008
•
AROUND TOWN
TAIPEI TIMES
Is Jolin Tsai a victim of romantic
circumstance?
Photo: Taipei Times
Is it just Pop Stop, or
do the local celebrity rags
seem starved of hot gossip
recently? Gone, it seems, are
the halcyon days when Hong
Kong celebs had photos of
their sex capers posted across
the Internet, or when Taiwanese starlets blushed after
being busted for getting high.
And so it goes that this
week the paparazzi dug up
the old “Alan Luo (羅志祥)
and Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) are a
couple” chestnut. This moribund morsel of showbiz life,
which first saw life years ago,
is being rehashed because
the two pop stars were spotted together in Japan. Tsai’s
agent, however, scotched the
rumors by saying that the
two celebrities were — here
comes the classic PR rebuttal
— “just friends,” and the fact
that pair took the same flight
and booked into the same
hotel was mere “coincidence.”
Speaking of friends, Chen
Chin-yi (鄭進一) seems to
have quite a few. The Liberty
Times (the Taipei Times’
sister newspaper) implied, in
a half-page spread complete
with supposedly incriminating
photos, that the 53-year-old
composer is a three-timing
womanizer.
He was first papped one
afternoon entering a hotel and
then leaving a few hours later
with what the paper described
as a “well-endowed” woman.
Though Chen later denied
any illicit rendezvous had
taken place, the photographs
showed the mystery woman
walking past Chen’s car carrying his latest CD.
Evening the same day
brought the alleged Casanova
to Yangmingshan, where he
dined with a female reportedly
half his age. This snippet was
disingenuous rumor mongering, though, as other dinner
guests included another couple
old enough to be the young
woman’s parents. The evening
ended after Chen’s girlfriend
picked him up at 10pm. The
verdict? Although bed-hopping
makes for good headlines, in
this case res ipsa loquitur.
Meanwhile, actor Tuo
Tsung-hua (庹宗華) is living
up to his reputation as a hellraiser. But rather than sinking
one too many on a plane, as
he did a few years ago on
a flight from Hong Kong to
Taiwan, and then upon landing made a staggering fool of
himself at Taoyuan International Airport, he got wasted
at a KTV in Tamsui (淡水) and
roughed up a fan, reports the
Liberty Times.
The evening started out
innocently enough when an
admirer surnamed Wang (王)
struck up a conversation with
the Golden Bell Award-winner
while the thespian’s friends
tried to use Tuo’s fame to
dodge the bill. But the KTV
staff was having none of it,
and Wang stepped up and
paid the tab, which came to a
whopping NT$1,900.
The situation got ugly
when Wang, in an act of quid
pro quo, asked to take have
his photo taken with Tuo. The
entertainer, inexplicably roiled
at Wang’s request, caught the
startled fan in a headlock and
aggressively wrapped him on
the noggin a few times with
his knuckles. But it didn’t end
there. Wang’s friend saw the
ruckus, ran over, and landed
Taiwan
Top: Lien Ho.
Above: Sun Chuo-tsai.
Right: Lin Shing-hsiu.
Photos courtesy of ntch
has become
something
of a modern dance foundry in the
past two decades, producing loads
of talented dancers or choreographers. Making a living as a
professional here is another matter,
which is why the National Theater’s
New Productions of Emerging Taiwanese Choreographers program,
along with its Young Stars, New
Vision — Dance later this year are
so crucial. This weekend and next,
Taipei audiences will have the
chance to see the work of some
of Taiwan’s best young choreographers at the Experimental Theater.
The Emerging Choreographers
program has been almost a year
in the making, starting off with
a competition last October that
attracted almost 100 hopefuls.
Led by choreographer and dance
professor Ku Ming-shen (古名伸), a
panel selected 10 men and women
they felt represented the best of
Taiwan’s dance world.
Some of the 10 are already
established names, working with
their own small troupes, such as
Lin Hsiang-hsiu (林向秀), whose
Lin HH Dance Company (林向秀舞
團) appeared in the Experimental
Theater in May, Chen Wu-kang (陳
武康), the Eliot Feld dancer who
is a member of Horse (formerly
M-Dans) or Lien Ho (賀連華), who
founded Genio Dance, and Sun
Chuo-tai (孫梲泰), founder of 8213
Physical Dance Theater. Others are
just beginning their careers, such as
Huang Huai-de (黃懷德).
The program has been split into
two parts, so to see all eight works
you will need to go both weekends.
This weekend features the
works of Lien, Lin,
Sun and a collaboration between
Chen and Yeh
Ming-hwa (葉名
樺). Next week it’s the turn of Wei
Kuang-ching (魏光慶), Su Shih-jian
(蘇詩堅), Huang and a collaborative
effort from Lai Wei-chun (賴韋君)
and Tien Hsiao-tzu (田孝慈).
The works that will be performed are as varied as their
creators — and their scores
— ranging from minimalists solos
to quartets to multimedia performances, although a common thread
is the search for identity, be it on a
personal, societal or national level.
For example, Lien will be
The jury’s still out on Chen Chin-yi.
Photo: Taipei Times
a few punches on Tuo, which
was enough to knock the
actor back into reality: He
apologized to the injured party
for his violent behavior.
Wu Bai’s (伍佰) wife and
agent Chen Wen-pei (陳文佩)
is getting a reputation of her
own as a sulk, if the Apple
Daily is to be believed. The
tabloid’s intrepid reporters
caught up with the pair earlier
this week at the American
Institute in Taiwan, where
they were applying for visas.
The paper wrote that Chen
became petulant during the
interview. This “incident”
falls on the heels of an earlier
run-in with authorities, when
Chen got into a verbal altercation with a cop. That scuffle
ended with the police officer
calling Chen “penis pubic
hair,” which is tantamount,
in Mandarin, to childishly
calling her a “James Blunt,” in
Cockney rhyming slang. — Noah Buchan
Top Five Mandarin AlbumS July 25 to July 31
1
Wilber Pan (潘瑋柏) and Future Tense (未來式)
with 15.4 percent of sales
2
Bibi Zhou (周筆暢) and NOW
with 11.46%
3
4
5
Same, same, but different
dancing in her piece, Coming
Home, which combines her passion
for Flamenco with Aboriginal music
sung live by Panai and Nabu. It is
a heartfelt piece that transcends
both language and culture. Wang
and Yeh’s funky Dimmer, however,
takes a lighter approach to the
search for direction, set to four
songs by Leon Redbone.
“Why Leon Redbone music? I
love it, I love it. But the politically
correct explanation is ‘that Taiwan
is under the influence of American
culture,’” Wang said in a phone
interview.
“We tossed around a lot of ideas.
Sometimes when I am not in Taiwan
she came up with ideas, she [Yeh]
chose the music — I gave her the
music but she chose it. She came up
with the name. Dimmer is the [light]
switch that can make us see better.
Movements are about looking for
light,” he said.
Searching for direction is also the
theme of Su Shih-jian’s piece, The
Wind Blew. Su said the solo, which
will be danced by Chou Meng-ping
(周夢蘋), is about the conflicts he
felt when he returned home from
graduate studies in Los Angeles.
“When I graduated from the
California Institute of the Arts,
the school had changed my idea
of my country, but when I came
back, everything here seemed the
same, yet different,” Su said. “How
can I tell the people that Taiwan is
very beautiful, just like the mind is
beautiful, when the government is
always building new buildings that
focus only on the outer beauty, not
inner beauty?”
“You have to see the beauty in
normal life, need to look at who you
are, you have to enjoy the moment,”
he said.
— Diane Baker
Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) and The Three Faces
of Eve (三面夏娃) with 9.67%
Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰) and Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰) with 6.74%
Various artists and Always Open Your Heart (大開天窗) with 5.58%
Album chart compiled from G-Music (www.g-music.com.tw), based on retail sales
Performance notes:
What: New Productions of Emerging
Taiwanese Choreographers
WHEN: Tonight and tomorrow at
7:30pm, tomorrow and Sunday at
2:30pm; Aug. 15 and Aug. 16 at 7:30pm,
Aug. 16 and Aug. 17 at 2:30pm
WHERE: Experimental Theater
TICKETS: NT$500, available through
the NTCH box office or www.artsticket.
com.tw
Gross Fugue: not your mama’s karaoke, or rock band for that matter
“O
ffensive” is one comment that
electronica rock duo Gross Fugue
hears about their performances. But they
take it as a compliment.
“We try to push the envelope as to
what is acceptable,” says Ed Eibel, who
plays double bass and co-writes the songs
for the band, which plays tomorrow night
at Sappho de Base in Taipei.
What offends some is the graphic nature
of Gross Fugue’s multimedia show. During
the group’s Fiction of God, the audience
sees a string of video images projected
on stage: a hockey player with a bloody
face, a crucifixion scene, random scenes of
fisticuffs, nuclear explosions at Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, Iraqi prisoners being
tortured by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib.
The song compelled one restaurant
owner to ask the band never to come
back again. But Eibel insists that they
“don’t want to be gross for the sake of
being gross.” The images are necessary to
“to complete the song,” he says.
Besides, says Eibel, the song
expresses what he wants to say: “If god
isn’t a fiction, why do these things [the
violence] happen?”
For the duo, the partnership is an
ideal one. Having met through the
expat music scene, the two say they
have realized a common artistic goal:
What: Gross Fugue live at Sappho de Base
to combine visual elements with music.
Where: B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1,
Before meeting Eibel, Kolmarnicki had
Taipei City (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1).
just started to use MIDI synthesizers and
Call (02) 2700-05411 (after 9pm) or visit
became “excited by electronic music.” “I
www.sappho102.biz for more information
like being able to blend heavy music and
When: Tomorrow night at 10:30pm
melodies,” he said.
On the Net: www.youtube.
The pair also share a penchant for offcom/grossfugue
the-wall performances. Eibel, an American
The band, which is named after
expat who also produces children’s music
Beethoven’s famously dissonant piece,
for non-native English speakers, used to
takes the karaoke concept of singing to
play Jimi Hendrix covers on the ukulele as
a prerecorded track and gives it an indie- Jimi Ukulele and the Ukulele Experience.
rock slant. But unlike typical karoke
Kolmarnicki, a native of Canada, used
tracks, Gross Fugue’s music is drenched
to perform with Taipei expat comedians
with distortion and electronic effects.
Hartley Pool and Chris Garvin under the
Eibel creates the skeleton of each
stage name Eddie Bruce Jr. His repertoire
song by prerecording the drum and
consisted of 1980s songs, which included
bass parts with computer software and
We Are the World. He didn’t sing the
electronic synthesizers. Then he compiles songs to be funny, but rather to be
footage for an accompanying video. On
“weird,” he says.
stage, he plays the double bass with a
With the generally darker content of
bow, while bandmate Erik Kolmarnicki
the music, Gross Fugue tries to lighten up
plays electric guitar and sings over the
its one-and-a-half-hour set with a grungeprerecorded tracks.
electronica cover of Deee-Lite’s Groove is
Performance notes:
Gross Fugue combines prerecorded tracks, live
music and video images in its performances. The
group plays tomorrow night at Sappho de Base.
Photo courtesy of Gross Fugue
in the Heart.
Tomorrow VJ Ferox Neutrino joins
the group on stage, adding visual
elements to the band’s videos with selfdesigned software that “reacts” to sound.
With Gross Fugue’s shows, Eibel
and Kolmarnicki are looking for a
connection with an audience, whether
positive or negative. Having this band,
says Kolmarnicki, is a “chance to do
something emotional and visceral.”
“[We] want people who watch the
show to be physically and emotionally
exhausted when it’s over,” says Eibel.
— David Chen
[ EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT ]
Theater
{} ASAP is a stage production
adapted from 4.48 Psychosis, a play
written by the late British playwright
Sarah Kane that one critic described
as a 75-minute suicide note. The work
explores what it means to suffer from
severe depression.
Guling Street Theater (牯嶺街小劇場),
2, Ln 5, Guling St, Taipei City (台北市牯
嶺街5巷2號)
Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and
2:30pm and Sunday at 2pm and 7pm
Tickets are NT$400, available through
National Theater Concert Hall (NTCH)
ticket outlets or online at
www.artsticket.com.tw
Happiness Part 1 & 2 (浮浪貢開
花 Part 1 & 2) is a light and carefree
Taiwanese musical by Golden Bough
Theater (金枝演社) that tells the story
of a young bohemian searching for
happiness and the interesting places
where it is found.
Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山
堂), 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei City (台北
市延平南路98號)
Part 2 plays tonight, tomorrow and
Sunday night at 7:30pm; Part 1 plays
tomorrow and Sunday at 3pm
Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,600,
available through NTCH ticketing
If Kids Theater (如果兒童劇團) has
teamed up with Municipal Chinese
Classical Orchestra (台北市立國樂團)
and The Taipei Folk Dance Company
(台北民族舞團) to bring audiences The
Unforgettable Legend (東方夜
譚). The family production is based on
a story written by popular Taiwanese
folk author Sih-ma Jhong-yuan (司馬
中原) and tells the story of a snake that
teaches martial arts to a woodcutter
and the consequent struggles he faces
with his newfound fighting skills.
Jhongli Arts Center (中壢藝術館), 16
Jhungmei Rd, Jhongli City (中壢市中美
路16號)
Tomorrow at 7:30pm
Tickets are NT$300 to NT$800,
available through NTCH ticketing
Heart of Ocean (海洋之心) is a
diabolo dance production by Diabolo
Dance Theater (舞鈴劇場) that portrays
life underwater.
Ilan Performing Arts Center (宜蘭縣文
化局演藝廳), 482, Chongshan Rd Sec 2,
Ilan City (宜蘭市中山路二段482號)
Sunday at 2:30pm
Tickets are NT$200 to NT$900,
available through NTCH ticketing
Classical music
2008 Taipei City Music Festival
— Ryu Goto with the Taipei
Symphony Orchestra (2008臺北
市音樂季開幕音樂會 — 五山鳥龍與北市
交) opens this week with a concert by
Japanese violinist Ryu Goto, who will
perform with the TSO under conductor
Wang Jin (王進). The program will
include Rossini’s “Barbiere di Siviglia”
Overture, Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.
1 in D Major, Op.6, and Fontane di Roma
and Feste Romane by Respighi.
Tomorrow at 7:30pm
National Concert Hall, Taipei City
Tickets are NT$100 to NT$1,000,
available from NTCH ticketing
2008 Hsinyi Arts — Liao Pei-wen
Solo Violin Concert (2008 新逸藝
術 — 廖姵玟小提琴獨奏會)
has the young artist performing
a program that includes Brahms’
Scherzo in C Minor and Violin Sonata
No. 3 in D Minor, Paganini’s Caprice
No. 24, and Prokofiev’s Sonata for 2
Violins, Op. 55.
Sunday at 2:30pm
National Concert Hall, Taipei City
Tickets are NT$300, available through
ERA ticketing
Ling-yi Ou Yang & Melody Lin
Cello Concert (歐陽伶宜‧林冠吟
— 師生聯合音樂會) has the two cellists,
student and teacher performing a
program that includes Brahms’ Cello
Sonata No. 1, Beethoven’s 7 Variations
Op. 46, Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo Capriccioso
Op. 62 and Bach’s Solo Cello Suite, No. 3.
Tomorrow at 7:30pm
Taichung’s Shinmin Senior High
School Art Center (新民高中藝術中心),
289, Sanmin Rd Sec 3, Taichung City
(台中市三民路三段289號)
Tickets are NT$300 and NT$500,
available through NTCH ticketing
Stars of the KCCO Recital Series
— A Night of Strings (高市國之星
系列— 彈撥樂之夜) is an evening in
which performers from the Kaohsiung
City Chinese Orchestra (高雄市國樂
團) get together to present their own
Contemporary
Highlight
Tomorrow night, three expat rock
bands play on Yangmingshan (陽
明山) to raise funds for several
Taiwanese orphanages. The bands
are Public Radio, a current favorite
in the expat rock and party scene,
Neon, an indie-rock group that
sings mostly in Mandarin and enjoys
a loyal following in Taipei, and
Johnny Fatstacks, which plays
alt-country and rock. The venue
is the Dong Tian Restaurant (洞天
花園餐廳), which is located on the
mountainside and offers scenic
views of Taipei.
All proceeds from door ticket
sales will go to three orphanages:
St Shepherd’s Grace Halfway House
(基督徒救世會牧恩中途之家) and
Cathwel Service (天主教福利會泰
山仁慈家園) in Taipei, and St Lucy’s
Center (善牧基金會聖露晰服務中
心) in Tainan. Tickets at the door
are NT$700, which keeps your glass
full throughout the entire evening.
There is a dress code for the
evening: wear all white.
For more information or to make
a donation, contact Kate Huang at
junekate@gmail.com
Fundraiser Party for Three
compositions and arrangements of
traditional pieces.
Tomorrow at 7:30pm
Kaohsiung City Concert Hall (高雄市
Tomorrow three expat bands play at the
mountainside Dong Tian Restaurant in
Yangmingshan to raise funds for three
Taiwanese orphanages.
Graphic courtesy of Sophie Lee
Taiwanese Orphanages with Public
Radio, Neon, and Johnny Fatstacks
at the Dong Tian Restaurant (洞天花
園餐廳), 2, Ln 2, Yangde Blvd Sec 2,
Shihlin Dist, Taipei City, (台北市士林
區仰德大道二段2巷2號). Call (02)
2880-5680 for more information
Tomorrow night, from 9pm to 3am
NT$700 entrance fee, all-you-candrink; dress code is white
音樂館演奏廳), at 99 Hehsi Rd,
Kaohsiung City (高雄市河西路99號)
Tickets are NT$200, available through
NTCH ticket outlets
Tomorrow night at Cosmopolitan
Grill, the Bopomofo Blues Band
(ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) takes to the stage, followed
by the David Foster Syndicate. Every
Wednesday night there’s a blues open
mic held by the Blues Society on
Taiwan and hosted by Torch Pratt. All
are welcome to bring their instruments
and sit in on guitar, bass, or drums.
1F, 218 Changchun Rd, Taipei City
(台北市長春路218號1樓).
Call (02) 2508-0304 or visit www.
cosmo.com.tw for more information
9pm to 11pm tomorrow night;
8pm to 11pm every Wednesday
Minimum charge of NT$250
tomorrow; free admission
Pop punk band Abandoned
Machines and garage rockers Auto
da Fe play tonight and tomorrow at
VU Live House. On Wednesday it’s
DJs D.Soto, VDUB, and Scotty Baller.
B1, 77 Wuchang St, Taipei City
(台北市武昌街二段77號B1).
Call (02) 2314-1868 for more information
Starts at 10pm
NT$300 entrance fee includes one
drink. Wednesday night is ladies’ night,
with free admission and one drink for
women; cover for guys is NT$200 and
includes one drink
Appearing tomorrow night at Center
Stage (formerly the Living Room, now
under new management) is Soma, a
Taipei cover band that plays popular
contemporary rock as well as popular
songs from the 1970s, 1980s and
1990s. No shows are scheduled for
tomorrow. On Sunday it’s indie punk
bands Pissionaite Winkers and Pa
Pun (怕胖團).
3F, 8, Nanjing E Rd Sec 5, Taipei City
(台北市南京東路五段8號3樓). Call (02)
8787-4154 or visit www.myspace.com/
taipeicenterstage for more information
Shows start at 10pm
Tonight is free. Entrance tomorrow is
NT$200
Gross Fugue appears at Sappho
de Base tomorrow with an electronic
rock and visual show (see story above).
On Tuesday night the Grace Jazz
Trio plays a set, with an open jam
afterwards. Jazz trio Tall Boy appears
on Wednesday, and on Thursday
it’s DJ Zulu spinning what he calls
“timeless and positive black sounds.”
B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei
City (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1).
Call (02) 2700-5411 (after 9pm) or visit
www.sappho102.biz
Performances begin at 10:30pm
No entrance fee
Taiwanese alt-rock pioneers Backquarter (四分衛) perform at The
Wall (這牆) tonight. Hitting the venue
Wednesday night is the Los Angelesbased DJ duo Guns N Bombs, whose
fresh electro-rock and dance mixes
have earned them a mention in the
alt-music rag Pitchfork. Joining them are
DJ Kay and local favorites Tomadachi
a DJ duo that spins everything but hiphop. The party is being held by party
crew Back 2 the Future (B2TF, 回到未來).