One Day in May…

Aaaah, where do I go when I disappear for a week at a time? Well, this time: Wuxi. Not for the whole week, but it was long enough to screw up my schedule and interfere with my end-of-the-semester madness in progress around here. What’s more, I’m taking off again on Thursday for Hong Kong for work, though I’m hoping to get in some CD shopping (if anyone has suggestions for where, I’m looking for albums by Groovedog and My Little Airport; I’m not sure how mainstream these things are in Hong Kong) on my free day during my quick weekend jaunt to the south.

Anyway, what’s up in the Mandopop world? Well, for one thing, it has come to an end. Okay, not literally, but practically - this week was Leehom’s first week on the charts, but Show Luo’s new album beat him to end at number one. Mayday came in at number two, and Leehom was a slightly distant third. What is going on in this world? I don’t care what bizarre dodgy rock tracks Leehom has released, this album is bound to be better than anything by Show Luo. Look, Show might be “Taiwan’s Dance King,” but that does not mean he can sing… and, and, but… it’s a Leehom album! Honestly, I think two things are going on here: one, some fans were left feeling rather dubious after that whole “What’s Wrong with Rock” incident, and two, the many delays may have meant that perhaps people were caught a bit off-guard by its release. But still….

There’s some sort of big Hong Kong awards coming up (something about Ten Big Golden Melodies or some such), and six groups have been nominated: S.H.E, Twins (ooh, back from the dead… we should call them the “Zombie Twins”), Yu Quan, the Flowers, Mayday and sodagreen. I’m not sure how this works; if it is a voting thing, then Mayday and sodagreen are automatically out.

So, New Year’s: I didn’t hear Mayday perform, obviously, but it sounds like maybe it was not the band’s best night ever. Or maybe not Ashin’s best night ever, more accurately. This is the band’s second consecutive year being criticized for being off-key, but last year the crowd blamed the talentless model singing a duet with him for the problem. This year, there was no one else to blame, though. Moreover, there were sound issues beyond Ashin’s voice; while singing “Suddenly Missing You,” the sound got very loud, and the audience was suddenly wishing for earplugs. Fans defended the band by pointing out the recent spate of performances, suggesting that the band is tired out. Ludicrously, there were also accusations of lip-syncing, but I gotta poke an obvious hole in this one: if you were going to lip-sync, wouldn’t you use a track where you’re singing on-key?
　　
Anyway, Happy New Year! (Or as people are already punning around here, “Happy Niu Year!”)

p.s. I finally finished my attempt at a review of Poetry; it’s posted here. It contains no new insights and few original opinions, but I did try to cover my lack of musical knowledge with flowery language.

… that Masa is just a little bit country, and Monster a little bit rock ‘n’ roll.

That, at least, was one of my first thoughts when enjoying Mayday’s latest album, Poetry of the Day After. Masa’s composition “More than Surviving, Less than Living (生存以上 生活以下 ),” is an improvement over his effort on the last album, “Most Important Trivial Concern (最重要的小事),” but it has a decided twang to it, I think. And somehow, I feel like I hear that twang even transferred to Ashin’s singing.

So. I’ve been putting this off, the “what did I think of the new album” post. This is mostly because I thought I liked Born to Love:

I’ve only listened to the album twice now, but already I like it better than All God’s Children Can Dance (神的孩子都在跳舞) - it seems a bit more polished, and I like the orchestration. So far, my least favorite track is “Offering to Heaven (寵上天)” (a.k.a. “Baby”), which I think in places too closely resembles “Life is Troubled Times (亂世浮水)” and another song I’ve not yet managed to single out…. Also, I’m still uncertain about the Mandopop version of “Ode to Joy” (”快樂很偉大”) as well - is it well done? Was it even necessary? I’m not sure.

Okay, I still don’t much care for “Offering to Heaven” or “Happiness is Grand,” but what I didn’t realize when I wrote that was that would be pretty much the only two times I would listen to that album. Oh sure, I dragged it out again right before the Toronto concert to review a bit, but by then I was decidedly lukewarm on it, and I pretty much never listen to it or, to be painfully honest, any of the individual songs on it. I rarely ever listen to All God’s Children either, but there I’ll at least drag out “Sun Wu Kong” or “Good Night Earthlings” now and again. I think the problem, in my very uneducated opinion, is that too much of those albums consists of pretty generic karaoke songs. Anyway, this time I wanted to wait a while after I had the album to comment on it so I could see if those first impressions held.

Key thing to note, though: this isn’t really a review, just random thoughts on the album. I’m trying to write an actual review and struggling with it; if I finish it, I’ll let you know.

The number one difference between this album and the last two for me is that this one has songs I get “stuck” on - I get to the end and think, “okay, I just need to hear that *one* more time.” And then again. And maybe once more. For me, those songs are “Liver-busting (爆肝),” “The Yet Unbroken Part of My Heart (我心中尚未崩壞的地方),” and “Interview with the Vampire (夜訪吸血鬼)”… but especially “The Yet Unbroken Part of My Heart.” I wouldn’t claim that it is necessarily the best song on the album, but I am a sucker for anything in 3/4 or 6/8 time (it started with The Beatles “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and is one reason I love Peng Tan so much), and I adore the lyrics (though I’m not done editing them yet). Okay, admittedly I don’t relate to the difficulties of camera lenses and competing or chart positions, but I think you can treat that as a metaphor and translate it into anything you struggle with. Seriously, I could probably listen to this song over and over again… for a while anyway.

“Liver-Busting” starts off sounding like a Jonny Lang song and then turns into sort of a cross between Michael Jackson and Prince - but with a Mayday flourish (not least of all in the choice of “Liver Busting” for the title - this might well be Ashin’s most autobiographical song to date). The song really works for me, even if I’m already giggling at all the possibilities for Ashin forgetting these lyrics in concert.

“Interview with a Vampire” is jazzy and marvelous (though in classic Ashin manner, it has some pretty dark lyrics, vampire campiness notwithstanding): it feels very different from their standard style, but is somehow still quintessentially Mayday. (Write more songs, Guanyou!) The only thing is that it sounds like Ashin’s voice cracks on the “The night is my cover (夜色就是我的披肩)” - I don’t know quite to make of it, but it always distracts me for a second before I turn back to the song. It’s interesting in light of the fact that overall Ashin’s technique as a singer has improved by leaps and bounds since the band’s early days, but these little traces of the old Ashin come through all the same.

My two least favorite songs on the album are “OMG (噢買尬)” and “The Song of Laughter and Forgetting (笑忘歌)” - “OMG” because it’s pretty generic, and even sounds like “Many Thanks” remade as a more upbeat track (maybe I’m alone in this, because it’s not like it’s the same, but this song always makes my mind jump to the rather forgettable Taiwanese track), and “The Song of Laughter and Forgetting” because it sounds exactly like what it is: an advertising song. After each round of the chorus, I expect a deep, booming voice to cut in with, “Buy Extra Sugar Free Gum! It’s the mintiest…” (Yes, I realize the song is used for advertising Hey Song Sarsaparilla, not gum, but that’s what my brain always seems to be expecting.)

I actually quite like “Like Smoke (如煙 ),” even though every time I sit in my office and listen to it I get fooled into thinking someone is at more door calling me about two minutes in, along with “Poetry of the Day After (後青春期的詩)” (which I’ve taken to singing in the shower - how’s that for a recommendation?). My opinion of “Suddenly Missing You (突然好想你)” changes as I listen to it; I’m usually not that enthusiastic as it starts off, but by the time it builds I’m in full monster-ballad mode and pretty happy with it (and let’s be honest here, who *doesn’t* relate to those lyrics?). “Spring’s Scream (春天的吶喊)” is a great song to run to, and a necessary counterbalance to the more ballad-like tracks on the second half of the album. What’s left? Oh, my (good) opinions of “Breakthrough Day (出頭天)” （which gets a few automatic bonus points for being in Hokkien) and “You’re Not Truly Happy (你不是真正的快樂 )” are already on record, I think.

The sum total is that this is an album I’ve already listened to many, many more times than the previous two (put together), which is pretty high praise. Not perfect, but definitely no disappointment for me. And you?

Update: See, this is why I try not to have my own opinions about Mayday albums. The review I’ve been waiting for from Steve is now up at MaydayBlue. Inevitably all my opinions about these songs will now start subconsciously changing…. (Though I sorta suspect I’m never going to love “The Song of Laughter and Forgetting,” no matter what anyone says about it. The booming advertising voice in my head just keeps interrupting and ruining it for me.)

Update2: I just noticed the poll says “started December 19,” even though I posted it last night (Dec. 28). That’s because that’s how long ago I created the poll, then sat on this post changing my mind about what to put in it. For all that angst you’d think I’d have better insights, but such is life.

Yeah, so much for that whole “Silent Night” thing.

So about a month a go, I noticed that Fish Leong would be holding a Christmas Eve concert in Nanjing. I’ve never seen her live before, though I feel like I’ve gotten to know Fish better than I have many other Mandopop songstresses because of the Masa/B’in Music connection. Still, I thought, that’s not very Christmasy. I mean, she might sing a Christmas song or something, but what an odd way to spend Christmas Eve. (I was working on Wednesday and Friday this week - and to be honest, all weekend - so given the fact that it takes three days to make the round-trip to see my family, I was not home for Christmas this year.) (*sob*) I put off making the decision, knowing that she was playing the biggest stadium in town and even the day of there were bound to be tickets available.

Then two weeks ago I got the news that another Mandopop artist was also coming to Nanjing on Christmas Eve for a concert: Chang Chen-yue. Okay, if Fish’s concert wasn’t going to be Christmasy enough, this one really wouldn’t be, but I jumped on it anyway and bought a ticket. Now on a side note, I’ve been to three concerts this fall already, and I *still* do not understand concert ticketing in China. If you buy through one of the big agencies, you might get a crappy seat no matter what you pay for it and no matter how many good seats are left completely unsold in the same price range, so you inevitably end up switching seats in the long run anyway; meanwhile, everyone around you bought their tickets from scalpers outside the day of the show and got a better seat for half the money. If you can get past your very American assumption that the scalpers will be charging more for the tickets, not less, and go for the same day system, you still have to contend with the increasing numbers of fake tickets that get sold same-day in front of concert venues. This makes the whole thing - whether you buy through a legitimate outlet or from a guy on the street - something of a crapshoot. In his case, I discovered when I got to the venue that my mid-range ticket left me sitting where I was close to the stage, but so close to parallel to it I could not actually see anything on stage, and therefore was left envying all the people in the cheap seats with the distant but unobstructed view, which would have been infuriating if the concert had sold out. Since it hadn’t, though, a couple of friendly guys sitting in front of me decided to change seats for a better view and brought me along with them. In the end, we actually had pretty good seats.

Now, A-yue. Live in concert. I’d seen him perform once before, when he was a bright, if somewhat off-key, spot in the otherwise mostly disastrous “Fusion” concert in Las Vegas. (Ooh, tricky. February 2007 Fusion Concert: not so hot. January 2008 discovery of Fusion Band: very good.) (Side note: whenever I link to that Fusion Concert post, I am reminded of two things: that I mortally offended a few fans of the acts I didn’t like, and that that was the closest thing I’ve ever had to a psychic moment, having noted that Shin by himself was the Shin Band and could fly off without them - he flew off and left the band weeks later.) Aaaaanyway, where were we? Ah yes: A-yue starts off a bit off-key. He did it in Vegas, and he did it in Nanjing. Seriously, I’m half convinced it’s just stage fright, which is pretty amusing for the badass rocker persona that he sometimes projects. The important thing was that by the third song, he was back on track and only hit the occasional bad note for the rest of the night, even through ballads like “Intersection (路口)” or “It’s Hard (很難).”

I can’t do a whole playlist because there were a few songs that I didn’t know (one of which he introduced as new, but also a few older songs I just never quite got. I assembled most of my early A-yue discography on the mainland, which means I have different versions of all the records than he released in Taiwan). From his latest album, OK, other than “Intersection” and “It’s Hard,” he played, “Yearning Is a Kind of Sickness (思念是一種病),” “OK,” “Goodbye (再見),” “It’s Hard (很難),” and “Little Universe (小宇).” Other songs I remember for sure that he played include, “Pretty Girl (乾妹妹),” “Admit Defeat (認輸),” “Let’s Break Up (分手吧),” “Change (改變)” (I think, anyway), “Marathon (馬拉桑),” “I want money (我要錢),” “Love’s first experiment (愛的初體驗),” “Love me don’t go (愛我別走)” and more, though I once again did not take notes and can’t resurrect the playlist from memory. What I did notice is that he obediently sang the clean versions of “Marathon” and “Intersection,” and he did NOT sing “I love Taiwanese Girls (我愛台妹),” in spite of the fact that pretty much the whole audience was yelling for it.

There was no special guest, though Free 9/Freenight guitarist Tony (?) took the microphone (and A-yue his guitar) for two songs early in the show; later on, after introducing the band, we got our one nod to the holiday when the keyboard player sang Eason Chan’s “Merry, Merry Christmas” (yeah, I didn’t know that one, but I at least could recognize the “Merry Christmas” in the chorus…). What was interesting, though, was that there were no costume changes at all - A-yue came out in his jeans and plaid (dare I guess flannel?) shirt and baseball cap right on time, and then he and his band just performed for two and a quarter hours straight - no pauses, no breaks, no gaps, and very limited talking. That was impressive, I must say. A-yue might not have talked that much, but he knew how to entertain a crowd, and he hammed it up a bit, like on “乾妹妹” which he sang very conversationally while wandering around the stage, scratching behind his years, and shrugging his shoulders, as if it was not a song so much as a confession. The only real disappointment, though, was that we didn’t get a chance to see A-yue all stripped down in his aboriginal garb (or hear him sing Totem Band’s “Over There I Sing”). Ah well, there’s always next time. (Why yes, I *do* have a massive crush on A-yue. Don’t you?)

In all, two thumbs up: it was a fun way to spend the evening, and a pretty rockin’ concert, even though A-yue dutifully admits that he’s never been anything but a pop star. This was clearly not the pull-out-all-the-stops shows that he’s brought to other locations on this tour, but I was glad to have an evening enjoying his music, with its simple but honest lyrics and its relaxed, informal atmosphere.

[Edited for a million dumb little mistakes; sometimes I let them go, this time I did not.]

I am, of course, referring to the fact that Leehom has actually finally released his album. Okay, it came out today, but close enough. (And, will wonders never cease, Mayday’s album is finally available for preorder on the Mainland. That only took an extra two months….)

Now, first things first. It should not shock anyone to learn that I am absolutely against both these pants and this hairstyle:

The angle is kinda bad on that picture, but the idea still holds. No one needs that many zippers on their pants. I realize he’s going all rock ‘n’ roll for this album, though with a standard helping of heartfelt and occasionally cheesy ballads (note: that’s an assumption, I’ve preordered the album but do not have it in hand yet…). I just liked the simple jeans and t-shirt look from the Change Me promotions better, but I pretty much always like that look better (or a full suit… but none of these overly fancy pants).

Anyway, Leehom is coming off of three nights of conducting the Hong Kong orchestra (which is one of the reasons why we love Leehom). In addition to more classical pieces, he also played some of his songs with the orchestra accompanying him, as well as a rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock,” though we’re going to have to forgive him for that last one. It’s Christmas… or it was, anyway.

Of the new album, it was so long in works that the man jokes he has a bit of “postpartum depression.” In a short 12 hours today, he managed to hit press conferences in Taipei, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, which is perhaps picking up on the superhero theme of the concert tour (seriously, or at least a definite VIP line at the airport…). He’ll have a week of non-stop promotions, no doubt, before the New Year’s Eve concert circuit on Wednesday. Well, kudos to him for actually getting this one out while it is still 2008 - I was starting to worry - and I can’t wait to hear it.

A big congratulations to Guanyou and his wife Xingzhi (行芝), who have announced that they’re expecting their second child in February. According to the news, they’re very excited to welcome another daughter into the family. Boy, they did a great job keeping this a secret for seven months! Guanyou apparently told the rest of the band in Japan while they were recording, and after a few moments of “REALLY?!?” type comments, was offered hearty congratulations. Guanyou has been doing the good-husband, good-dad thing and driving separately down to all these campus concerts the band has been doing lately so that he can be sure to make it home each night. Aw, he’s a good guy. I can’t wait to hear what this daughter gets nicknamed… and as always, I never say no to Mayday baby pictures.

Other tidbits: Mayday and sodagreen will cross paths on New Year’s Eve, playing concerts in opposite directions. Mayday starts at Taoyuan and then moves to Taipei later in the night; sodagreen starts in Taipei and then travels down to Kaohsiung. Are they avoiding each other? Naw, mostly likely the organizers are trying to keep happy band-loving fans around all evening, and spreading out their performances accordingly.

Speaking of sodagreen, the band was in Guangzhou for a special Christmas Eve concert this week. During the concert, they sang “Little Love Song”… in Cantonese. Here’s a clip. Some fans giggled that Qingfeng’s Cantonese was so substandard that they actually thought he was singing an English version, but you know he giggled right back at them. Clearly a glutton for punishment, Qingfeng also greeted the crowd in Cantonese, but quickly passed the microphone to A-fu, admitting that “I’ve already said everything I know how to say.”

Of course, Qingfeng was up to his old tricks as well, playing stand-up comic and “helping” Xinyi find a boyfriend in the audience. The band acknowledged the night by singing a Christmas song, but I’ll be darned if I know what it is… here’s a clip some kind soul posted on YouTube labeled “sodagreen Christmas song” - it turns into “Jingle Bells” eventually, though I’m not sure what he’s singing at the beginning or after that chorus of the more familiar song. Aaahhh, sounds like fun; I’m sorry to have missed it. But I had a great mandopoppy Christmas too, though, so stay tuned for that.

Here I have just a few odds and ends about recent news items (it doesn’t actually get interesting until the end, just fair warning).

Last week Mayday sang at a university in Hualian, Taiwan, performing 18 songs for about a thousand students, including about a hundred who followed the band down from Taipei. This was apparently not one of the free concerts, as tickets cost TWD400 (US$12) and came with a free Mayday DVD. 　

This is a story about where all the stars are going for New Year’s Eve and how much they’ll be paid for it. The story implies the second picture is Leehom, but I’m having some trouble believing it. Squint at it and hold your computer sideways, then tell me what you think.) Leehom is apparently doing the shows in both Shenzhen and Shanghai, which is impressive given the fact that these two locations have to be about a two-hour flight apart. Mayday will be at Taoyuan and Taipei, a reasonably quiet night for them all told. Pretty much everyone (including Leehom and Mayday) will be on the Hunan Satellite TV New Year’s show, which implies that it is either pre-taped or collecting broadcasts from around greater China.

In other news, Mayday is promising not to break up again; sometimes they say they won’t ever break up, sometimes they just promise us the next ten years. Well, either way.

Okay, how about something completely random next? What male stars would netizens in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong most like to live with? (What, is this question not keeping you up nights?) Well, number one in all three locations was Show Luo, which I find astounding. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, number two was Fahrenheit (what, all four of them?), three was Leehom (finally, something that makes sense…), and number four was Mayday (no word on whether wives and children would be moving in as well). In China, Leehom was number two, but Fahrenheit was still there at number three. Cowboy Jay came in at number four - apparently the gloss is wearing off? There was a poll for the girls as well, but as it features Jolin and S.H.E there’s really no point in discussing it. Now, if you were waiting for this to get more interesting, you are about to be sorely disappointed.

Erm, let’s shift gears. Deserts Chang is planning on putting out a new album early in 2009, but in the meantime, she’s joined forces with members of the band Algae to put out a single called “Love, New Year.” They’re packaging it with a holiday card and giving all the proceeds to charity. Deserts explained that at some point in the past, she, the people from Algae, sodagreen’s Qingfeng and Mayday’s Ashin had agreed to go to Tokyo to see Shiina Ringo (椎名林擒) and learn from her concerts. The contents of the card came from that idea. The single will be limited to 5000 copies.

Finally, speaking of Mayday and sodagreen, this is adorable: Ashin says that with Western Line (i.e. the Jonathan Lee/A-yue/Emil Chau/Lo Ta-yu “superband”) claiming they’re going to take down the existing Taiwanese bands, Mayday will have to get together with sodagreen to do some planning on how to deal with these upstarts. Mayday has seen a lot of Jonathan Lee lately with all the guitar making, but the latter has been pretty tight-lipped about their plans. Ashin added that Mayday is as excited as anyone for their album, because competition is good for everyone. When asked if there is anyone in particular that Mayday hopes to cooperate with, they noted that in school they were all interested in mainland acts like Panther or Zhang Chu; they’d really love to work with Xu Wei. Now that sounds like a good idea to me.

Um:

Mayday and Fahrenheit, enjoying each others’ company. But, but, but… why?

Well, it’s simple. Monster wrote a song for Fahrenheit’s new album, the turncoat. Fahrenheit then proposed a photo op in which the two groups get together and they thank Monster/Mayday for the song, called “Stay (留下來).” The article suggests that Mayday was surprised and delighted, though I’d probably assume the stress there should be on the word “surprised.”

Fahrenheit says that rock ‘n’ roll is a particularly manly thing, though as soon as you start stressing how manly your recent activities are the manliness of them is immediately called into question. (Plus honestly, girls can’t play rock music?) Anyway, because rock is so manly, they were particularly excited to have Monster write for them (um, because he’s so manly? Wait, he is a bit of a bad ass, as I’ve noted before. Okay, fair point). I do feel duty-bound to point out that having music written for you (because you can’t write it yourself?) is neither particularly manly nor particularly rock ‘n’ roll. But they love their shiny new Monster song, and were very excited to have the chance to meet Mayday to express their gratitude. So they (Fahrenheit) prepared an energy drink and fruit to share, and invited Mayday to come and have some pictures taken.

Anyone who knows Monster at all, however, should realize that the proper way to thank him for anything is through beer, not energy drinks. It’s manly and rockin’!

Ashin had other work obligations that day, but the other four went and toasted and drank. Arron Yan excitedly noted that he attended their concert in Taichung last year, having specially cleared the time from his busy work schedule. Calvin said that when he studied in Canada, he always played their CDs in the car when he was driving to and from school. Chun has never seen Mayday perform live before, but he said that his friends in Brunei are all huge fans, and are always asking him to try and get CDs autographed for them. He hopes that next time the band has a concert he can be in the audience. Jiro, who likes to think of himself as a rock star and has his own little underground band on the side, brought his guitar along to get some tips from Monster. He noted that Mayday is the goal of so many Taiwanese kids who play in bands, he too hopes that one day he can bring his band “Dong Cheng Wei (東城衛)” into this kind of future. Um, first thing: write your own music, Jiro. Second thing: maybe leave the boyband… though he certainly doesn’t sound like he cares much about its future, huh? (This paragraph was brought to you with some help from Wikipedia, because I have studiously tried to avoid learning the names of the members of Fahrenheit. So Wu Zun is actually “Chun”?)

Anyway, when Mayday learned that the “handsome idols” in Fahrenheit wanted to visit, they couldn’t help but joke that their female employees and coworkers were all more excited than they were; they hadn’t realized that writing a song for Fahrenheit could bring so much joy to their workplace. There are more pictures here.

As we all know, copies of Mayday’s latest album, Poetry of the Day After, came with a free ticket to one of two concerts, on December 13th and 14th. This past weekend the band performed as planned for tens of thousands of screaming and delighted fans.

All of us who had albums with the free ticket inside but who were nowhere near Taipei this last weekend will now observe a moment of silence to get over our bitterness.

Okay?

By the evening of December 12, there were already around 5,000 fans lined up outside the stadium, camping out for the best seats. This time, the fans ran the gambit from die-hard fans who’ve followed the band since its salad days to new converts delighted with their latest album. On Saturday, they played for approximately 65,000 fans, thousands of which left the concert to immediately queue up for the concert on Sunday.

The concert stage set up was not simple - some 3000 techs worked seven days to get everything together to create the pyramid stage, with the “100,000 People’s Breakthrough Day (十万人出头天)” sign, and 154 LED panels. At the critical moment during the concert, the pyramid stage lit up to resemble a Christmas Tree, in honor of next week’s holiday. (You know, I always get a little bored reading through the paragraphs on technical specs - bored and lost, really - and start making up the details. I direct your attention to the second page of the original article if the details are really important to you. I suspect the bottom line was: it was pretty fancy.) The concert started with a video of the five guys and some memories from ten years ago, followed with Ashin saying “Youth is…” and NT$600,000 (~US$18,000) in fireworks exploding.

The band performed a number of the new songs, but also some old favorites. On the song “Let It Out (透露),” one of their special guests joined them to sing together; in keeping with their long-standing habit of promoting new and independent artists, look who it was:

Yes, it’s Crowd Lu (盧廣仲)! Okay, be watching for dodgy YouTube videos for that one. Crowd also sang “Good Morning, Beautiful Dawn (早安，晨之美)” with the crowd. (You can sing along at home! Join me now, 1…2…3… “dwey-ya, dwey-ya, dwey-ya, dwey-ya….”) At the Sunday night show, the band was joined by Yoga Lin (林宥嘉). Yoga admitted that he’s been a fan for a long time, and that Mayday’s music has gotten him through a lot of changes in his life, but that this was actually his first time seeing the band live in concert. Yoga also sang “Let it Out” with the band, then also did a version of “A Future Without You (有你的將來).” Ooh, I love that song, but I haven’t heard it in a long time… maybe I need to go put it on while I type the rest of this. Hold on… (okay, that’s actually a pretty jarring shift from Carsick Cars).

Anyway, a second special guest on Sunday, Sandee Chan (陈珊妮) performed “The Most Important Trivial Concern (最重要的小事)” with Masa; she has recently put out her first album. Recalling the lyric in the song, “Still, true happiness is now, quietly helping you carry your Hello Kitty bags,” Sandee said that she’s a huge fan of Hello Kitty and feels like the song was written for her. Masa flirted that singing with her had set his heart all aflutter, which caused the crowd to chant for them to get together. “No problem,” answered an enthusiastic Sandee. Masa got his friend Sandee to join the band on the hand motions for “LOVE-ing.” Sandee also performed one of her songs for the crowd, “If there’s something that’s important (如果有一件事是重要的).” The Sunday night concert had another difference from Saturday, in that the band replaced “Elope to the Moon (私奔到月球)” and “Superman (超人)” with the never-before performed “Golden Avenue (金色大街)” and “Innocence (纯真).”

On the song “Fool (憨人),” the band invited up 50 students from Fu Zhong High School Guitar Club (where the band minus Guanyou met originally) to play with them. Ashin commented that perhaps the next Mayday is standing there among them; in the meantime, however, he said that Mayday would continue to write songs to encourage them (or depress them, you know, either way).

The band noted that it was equally thankful for new and old fans, and stressed their gratitude for the fans for the last ten years, and how they hoped to have their support for the next fan. Actually, I’m feeling like this proves an observation I had made a year and a half ago, that that they might very well celebrate their tenth anniversary as a band all over again in 2009. The concert closed with “Breakthrough Day.”

After it was all over on Saturday, a few thousand fans immediately lined up for the Sunday show. Now that’s devotion.

Mayday has had a good year, and broken a series of records in Taiwan: biggest single concert, largest concert stage, largest number of concerts staged in one year. In addition, they’ve sold 180,000 copies of their album in Taiwan so far (it is not yet even out for preorders on the mainland yet - I keep wondering if it’s gotten tripped up by the censors). But they noted that the twelve-story gold pyramid on the stage was built by fans, one CD after another.

After the concert, Mayday will be back on the road - they have campus concerts coming up on the 17th and 18th, and more appearances and plans beyond that. It is all pretty never-ending.

[ARGH, there is some sort of weird voodoo going on with this post, which I have posted twice without actually getting the second half of the post saved and craziness abounding. I have no idea why… it’s the first time I’ve ever had a “wordpress ate my post” experience, and it is annoying. Each version is a little bit different…]

Okay, news will have to wait until tomorrow, but the last of the Poetry of the Day After translations are now up, and I’ve also made some corrections kindly suggested by random leon, migratory bird and Linda on “Poetry of the Day After,” “The Yet Unbroken Part of My Heart,” and “Like Smoke.”

There are lots of mistakes in there that I haven’t found yet. I know this because I know I make a lot of mistakes when translating - sometimes because I’m not paying close enough attention, and sometimes because I didn’t really understand it in the first place. I just want to say again how much I appreciate all the lovely people who write or comment and tell me about my mistakes - ultimately, whether you think of it this way or not, you’re taking some time out of your day to help me improve my Chinese. That’s awfully nice.

p.s. Still number one on G-music.

Last weekend was the “Simple Life 2008″ concert in Taipei, and some of my favorite Taiwan artists were in attendance: Chang Chen-yue, Cheer Chen, and sodagreen. Khalil Fong also came in from Hong Kong for the event, and he asked A-yue to be a special guest for his portion of the concert. The two guys sang “Intersection (路口)” and “Love me don’t leave (愛我別走)” together, and in between rehearsals even managed to sneak in some bike riding:

Khalil called himself a huge fan of A-yue, but had his own take on the songs; generous A-yue in return told him that any way he wanted to sing or arrange them was fine by him. Yeah, he just seems so easy-going.

Anyway, speaking of A-yue biking news, he was called out by Genie Zhuo to act as her “trainer” when she was on a get-in-shape bicycle outing. He tried and failed to teach her how to do jumps and tricks on her bicycle, but the really bizarre twist to the story is that when she biked to slowly or otherwise misbehaved, he gave her a spanking. He also used a whip to push her along, and praised her lovely legs as looking “good enough to eat.” Genie teased him that she’s even more “open” during outdoor concerts. The whole thing sounds a bit Goodness, how… naughty.