FYI South February, 2007
Ryan Lu has brought South Taiwan many firsts. He was Taiwan’s first graffiti artist. He was one of the first skateboarders (and has subsequently achieved legendary status). He opened the first pop art clothing store, 420, and now he has brought Tainan its first authentic hip-hop club – Deep.
Deep, located in Anping (go West on Fucian Rd. past City Hall, hang a left at the gateway before the market, then take your first right onto YiPing Rd. and watch for the sign 2 blocks up on your right), is the most ghetto fabulous establishment this author has yet to set foot in. The lights are low and the walls are padded with red velvet. Semi-private VIP style booths line the room and are separated by hanging beads. The menu, of course, sports the classic players drink, Congac. A bottle of XO will set you back NT$6000. Those with a little less bling to blow may want to opt for a bottle of VSOP for NT$3500.
Those really looking to impress can purchase one of a choice selection of imported cigars starting with Patagas at NT$400 each up to the Davidoff 2000 Tubos at NT$800 apiece.
Deep is not only Tainan’s first hip hop club, but also the first sporting regular bossanova nights, which are Sunday Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday and Thursday nights are Ladies nights. To get the fairer sex dancing, Deep keeps the house music bumpin’ and gives the ladies all they can drink for just NT$200, while guys get the same for a mere NT$350.
FYI South February, 2007
Friday and Saturday are hip hop nights and usually end up with the dance floor crowd spreading out into a circle to watch one of the regular B-Boys spin on his head at high velocity.
No one should leave Deep before trying the signature cocktail, the Deep Water Bomb (NT$180), which is a shot of tequila dropped in a beer, and, according to owner Ryan, “makes it easy to get high”.
The NT$250 Long Island Iced Teas and NT$150 beers also keep that goal well within reach.
FYI South reminds you that drinking and driving is a poor method of death avoidance.
FYI South December, 2004
The unique design of this ultra-modern club highlights it as a diamond of the Tainan club scene. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors give the main floor the expansive feeling of a big city super club like Luxy or Ministry of Sound while the dark color scheme and tastefully dim lighting of the loft-style lounge overlooking the dance floor adds an aura of nonchalance and class.
Fusion was custom built with the aim of becoming the first major DJ venue in South Taiwan and there are already plans to fly in first class DJ’s from around the world to compliment the custom sound system, laser show, and electronic visual effects screen.
Also sporting a Five Star international menu, Fusion has become a regular haunt for Tainan’s social elite and trendsetters.
Cover charge is $350 NT Sunday to Thursday and $500 NT on weekends. It includes two free drinks, which cost about $150 NT each thereafter.
For information about upcoming acts and specialty nights visit www.fusion-lounge.com.tw
FYI South April, 2005
What’s New?
Now in it’s sixth year, Tainan’s annual music festival, the May Jam, is expanding in all directions. This year’s May Jam will feature a host of new attractions such as: multimedia releases and international musical acts, as well as drama, comedy, and drumming.
So that no one, even those unable to attend, don’t have to miss out video cameras will be on premises filming the two-day fiasco for the first-ever May Jam DVD. An audio recording will also be made for the release of a May Jam compilation CD.
International artist Chekov from Germany and The Jet Leggers from Seattle will be making the long flight to Taiwan to play marking the Jam’s first international acts. As a run up to the jam The Jet Leggers will be playing gigs in Tainan and Kaohsiung almost every day of the preceding week.
This year’s Jam will sport its largest percussion section ever featuring The Dragonfly Jamboree, The Tainan Drum Circle, and the 06 Drum Band.
Though performing arts have been included in the jam in the past, this year will see the most diverse selection of performances and artists to date including: comedians, a bilingual (Chinese-English), Shakespearean rendition, and a performance by Kaohsiung’s Mindful Pheonix group.
As for not-so-new events: May Jam t-shirts will be on sale for the nearly profitless price of $250 NT and, of course, the caravan of greasy food and cheap trinket stands that accompany all public gatherings in Taiwan will be present.
The Acts
The two-day, Anping rockfest will, of course, still focus on music with a solid line-up of performers. Some of the highlights will include:
The Jet Leggers – Imported American rock and roll from Seattle, rumored to be performing with a special guest.
Charlie Swiggs – Long-standing local trio will perform their patented brand of wacky, tri-lingual, funk-rock.
Chekov – Jazz and funk infused electronic soundscapesd.
Tsunami – Taiwan’s hardest Brit-rockers from Koahsiung.
Unfinished – All original jazz, blues, and folk influenced melodies from their new CD Shades of Blue.
Keyin – Straight from Tainan’s notorious Westside Keyin throws down mad funky hip-hop stylings.
6th Man – Long-running Tainan jazz quintet.
The Stick Men — Straight up rock n’ roll covers from this Tainan trio.
Percussion performances by The Dragonfly Jamboree, The Tainan Drum Circle, and the 06 Drum Band.
An Unfortunate Maybe
This year’s show may also be host to an unfortunate first. In the past this outdoor festival has always been postponed for sour weather, but, this year, if the oceanside festival cannot be held on the slated dates April 30th and May 1st, it will not be held at all. Jam organizer, Axel Schunn, cites the economic difficulties of delaying the Jam in past years as the reason for this change.
However, as a pre-emptive strike against any party-crashing typhoons, The Jet Leggers will host May Jam pre-parties at Alice Bar in Koahsiung on May 22nd, and at the Armory in Tainan on May 23rd, to ensure in advance that the weather cannot foul the event entirely.
Where and When
The May Jam will be located in Anping on Yu Guang Rd next to Cho Mao Yuen Park.
Acts will run non-stop from noon to 10 pm on Saturday April 30th and Sunday May 1st.
Admission is, as always, free.
For more information see: http://www2.eecs.stut.edu.tw/~charlie
FYI South February, 2005
This ‘extreme’ sport trend is ridiculous. People do the stupidest things just to call them extreme; like the attention desperate weirdoes of the Extreme Ironing Bureau who travel the globe ironing their slacks in exotic locales.
The ‘extreme’ label has degenerated into little more than a last ditch attempt for social outcasts to attach some sort of coolness to their lame hobby. So, when I was asked to write an article about Extreme Theatre I expected to spend a day with a bunch of drama drop outs in a pathetic attempt to make some stupid play seem ‘dangerous’.
I was wrong. You make a play extreme by creating and staging it excessively quickly with next to no resources. Extreme Theatre performances are conceptualized, prepared, and performed in 24 hours with a budget of $500 NT.
At nine o’clock Friday night playwrights draw participants’ names from a hat. These are their actors. Then they draw one setting, (ours was a rooftop), one prop (we got a ‘Legends of the Fall’ poster), and an event or character (we scored a pacifist). The playwright then sits down with a big bottle of wine, mourns his bad luck in drawing such banal components and bad actors, and sits up all night writing a one-act work of spontaneous mediocrity.
Your correspondent was, as a writer, very impressed with the quality of the scripts that emerged from this process. Though not without faults, the scripts were generally witty, well paced, and entertaining.
I arrived at noon on Saturday (the deadline for playwrights to hand over their products) to meet my dramatic cohorts. Our director/lead actor assigned us parts from the script and we started reading. Our play, titled Johnny Ross and the Great Tofurkey Escape, was nine pages long and I had a main part. Eight hours till show time and I was already freaking out. How would I memorize so many lines? I can’t even remember the names of half the kids in classes I’ve taught for six months!
My sentiments had changed little eight hours of rehearsal and several beer later as I stood behind the black curtain, nervously gulping a Tsing-Tao Draft, with our Legends of the Fall poster, a salad of leaves from the dirty bushes in the street outside, and a tofurkey (tofu turkey substitute) hastily constructed from a loaf of bread and two breadsticks.
We stepped out into the lights where, as they say, the talentless, drunk reporters are separated from the dramatists–and separated we were. I won’t discuss the particulars, but only say that my dramatic companions handled the ‘situation’ with grace and talent.
Surprisingly, the rest of the performances were very good. They were humorous, entertaining, well acted, and the audience erupted with sincere applause at the end of each.
After waking from my stupor and contemplating the whole production, I developed a new respect for the dramatists who put on such an entertaining production with so few resources. It’s not as challenging as, say, ironing green polyester slacks on a riding lawnmower in the desert, but it’s pretty hard.
Where and When
Mindful Phoenix puts on performances, Extreme Theatre and otherwise, about once a month. Members’ admission is free and non-members pay $200NT at the door.
Address: 2F 165 Jung Jeng 2nd Rd., Shin Shing
Phone: (07) 223-0581
www.mindfulpheonix.com
FYI South Magazine March, 2005
Purity
I hate North American radio: that stream of shallow, repetitive pop songs that assaults you in every mall, barbershop, and restaurant. College radio too. Every DJ wants to be Howard Stern or Happy Harry Hard-On, they talk too much, and the music sucks. And, in my opinion, there’s only one thing worse than Western Radio. Taiwanese Radio. It’s like one long looped Chinese Christina Aguilera parody.
So, when I was assigned to write an article on college radio in Tainan I was petrified. How would I refrain from tearing a strip out of this innocent, unsuspecting station?
Salvation came while sitting in the Shining Radio studio browsings cds and discussing music with a their longest running DJ, Axel. I realized: Axel is just like Ivan, my music junkie friend who spends his days foraging through record stores and scouring music mags for gems. The same guy that introduced me to some of my favourite bands, like the Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, and Yo La Tengo, back when they still played in bars for beer.
The DJ’s of Shining Radio are the Ivans of Taiwan; people who know music sharing the music they love. No egos. No commercials. No stupid DJ sound-effect jokes. And NO censorship! From the bastion of conservative academia that is the Southern Taiwan University of Technology flows everything from experimental jazz to funk, to punk, to Norwegian black metal, yet no DJ on Shining Radio has ever been asked to tone it down. Shining radio is, if there exists such a thing, pure radio.
Highlights
There are eight English shows hosted by eleven DJs on Shining Radio; too many to go into in this short article. So, here are the highlights:
Noting Creativity hosted by Axel – Monday and Friday 10 am – 12 pm
Axel is the spirit of Shining Radio and a cornerstone of Tainan’s foreign music scene. Frontman for Tainan’s longest running English rock band, Charlie Swiggs, the 45 year old rocker from West Germany pioneered Shining Radio’s English broadcasts two years ago with his broadcast Noting Creativity. Axel plays “anything that grooves and shakes” — from Thai rap-metal, to 70’s glam rock, to hillbilly harmonica funk—“as long it’s creative”. No matter your taste, Noting Creativity will refresh your ears.
Ear Defender hosted by AJ – Wednesday 10 am to 12 pm/Sunday 8 pm – 10 pm
“I am here to protect your ears from crap,” proclaims AJ. In defence of our aural faculty he employs violent mix of hard-core punk and thrash metal offset by traditional rock and the occasional airy ballad. AJ also uses comedy to guard our lobes. He opens each show with We Love to Boogie by T Rex and occasionally interviews a backwoods hillbilly named Jarvis.
It Pleases Me hosted by Patty – Tuesday 11 am –12 pm/Saturday 3 pm – 4 pm
“I always try to work around a theme,” said Patty. “Lately it’s been female artists.” A five-year broadcasting vet Patty works hard to organize tight shows with smooth transitions. Her area of specialty is indie rock having been weaned on the music scenes of Lawrence Kansas and the Texas Mecca of music, Austin. Diverse and professional Patty’s show pleases more than just herself.
The Rest of the Time
For lack of space several broadcasts couldn’t be discussed in this article. Also worth checking out are: Spilt Milk with Michele and Pippy, Freak the Sheep with Richard, Random and Downloads with David and Cindy, and Below the Bassline with Chris.
There is also a limited amount of space for new DJ’s. Anybody may apply. If you’re interested contact Jessica at dda_lee@yahoo.com.tw
FYI South January, 2005
Eight hundred years ago a mammoth bird called the Moa roamed the island of New Zealand. The Moa (cousin to the ostrich) could stretch up to 3.5 meters tall and weighed more than a small cow. They were slow, stupid, and tasty and thus rapidly hunted to extinction by the Polynesians (now known as Maori) who settled the island in the 13th century.
The Moa inspired the art form that brings a group of Tainan’s foreigners to a park just off of Renhe Rd. every Wednesday night to pummel hand drums and hurl flaming balls of cloth around their bodies at high velocities.
The Maori pillaged the nests of the Moa for their football-sized eggs and carried the eggs in flax bags called kii. Once the Moa were extinct the bags became useless, so Maori warriors used them to train by putting large stones in them and swinging them around their bodies. This evolved into a dance done by spinning balls attached to the ends of ropes called ‘poi’.
Eventually some brave soul decided to ignite their poi and fire dancing was born. Now tribal looking dancers across the world light up everything they can think of; staffs, hula-hoops, ropes, and gloves, and fling them around their bodies in the night to the beat of primitive drums.
Four-year veteran Shauna Davis leads Tainan’s fire dancing group. Shauna, who performs regularly at cultural events and clubs around Tainan, gives lessons and coordinates group dances among members. At the time of writing the groups had four experienced spinners and six students, as well as several drummers, guitar players, and diggereedoo blowers.
The group meets Wednesday nights (weather permitting) in a park on Tainan’s East side at10 pm and dances into the early morning. For more information contact davisshauna@yahoo.ca
FYI South, Compass February, 2006
When Royce (pronounced ‘Hoyce’) Gracie stepped into the octagonal cage in 1993 at the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship agianst Ken Shamrock there was no question who would win: the bookies favored Shamrock to take home the gold, Shamrock had wrestled his first opponent into submission is less than two-minutes, and, though they were both 6’0, Shamrock outweighed Gracie by 60 lbs.
Slender and agile, Gracie choked his hulking opponent into submission in under a minute and won the tournament. Over the next two years Gracie dominated three more UFC tournaments and set a mixed martial arts record for the most fights won in a single evening (all the while facing opponents outweighing him by an average of 50 lbs), and rocketed Brazillian, or Gracie (named after its founder, Royce’s father, Helio) Jiu-jitsu into the limelight of the international martial arts scene.
Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu in Taiwan
In February 2003 twelve men in Taichung, impressed by Gracie’s performance at the UFC, started the first club in Taiwan. Warren Wang, who had studied for two years at the Carley Gracie Academy in San Francisco, led the outfit.
Shortly thereafter Warren was invited to Taipei to instruct a group of men who had taught themselves BJJ with instructional videos and books in Taipei. The group grew quickly. Within the year they recruited Andy Wang, a BJJ black belt from the United States, to instruct them.
In February, 2004 Andy founded the Taipei BJJ Academy while Warren went opened a branch school in Taichung. In less than a year the Academy recruited over seventy members, competed in international domestic competitions, and won two first place team trophies and a host of individual medals.
In the meantime the Taichung branch of the Academy maintained a steady membership and competed under the banner of the Taipei Academy adding even more medals to the coffer.
Many of the club’s medals came from the first ever BJJ tournaments held in Taiwan. The first Asia Pacific-Rim Jiu-Jitsu championships, held in Taipei last May, drew over one hundred competitors from seven countries and hundreds of spectators. The first All-Taiwan BJJ championships held last December also drew triple-digit numbers of international fighters and spectators.
Recently, clubs have sprung up in communities across Taiwan, the most notable being The Forge club in Kaohsiung. Led by Ben Price and sporting only ten members The Forge brought home seven medals this year.
Despite the sudden growth of BJJ Andy Wang remains the only black belt in Taiwan.
What is Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu?
Brazillian Jiu-jitsu is primarily a grappling (wrestling) style martial art. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsuka (practitioner) avoids his opponent’s punches and kicks and attempts to get him or her on the ground where he or she has the advantage.
Eighty to ninety percent of all fights end up on the ground, yet few martial artists know haw to fight there. The mat is where the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsuka is most dangerous. This is why BJJ is so dominant in mixed martial arts competitions.
BJJ is also unique among martial arts because strength doesn’t matter. In a match between two Brazillian Jiu-Jitsukas the more skilled competitor will almost always win. The techniques of BJJ are based on leverage thus allowing practitioners to defeat heavier and stronger opponents with an arsenal of locks, bars, and chokes.
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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Clubs in Taiwan
Taipei Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu Academy
Open 7 days a week
Instruction in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay-Thai Kickboxing, and Judo
Currently changing location.
Contact: Andy Wang at 09-2620-6284 or e-mail WangBJJ@gmail.com or
TaipeiBJJ@hotmail.com
Taipei Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu Academy (Taichung Branch)
Instruction in Brazllian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay-Thai Kickboxing, and Judo
Location: 2F no.99 Da-Dun 20th St. Taichung, Taiwan
Contact: Warren Wang at 0936340155 or email taichungbjj@hotmail.com
The Forge MMA Club
Open Monday-Saturday
Instruction in Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay-Thai Kickboxing, Judo, Wrestling, and Akido
Location: 11F – 4 53 Chong Cheng 4th rd Kaohsiung.
Contact: English – Ben at 0910622266
Chinese – Jesse at 0929434234
Or email forgekaohsiung@yahoo.com or forgekaohsiung@gmail.com
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