One Day in May…

Okay blogging has been light, I acknowledge, though that’s not just because there hasn’t been much going on in the Mayday world while they’re shut up in the studio finishing their new album. The real issue is something I have alluded to a few times in the last months, which is that I’m moving to China for work, erm, next week. Okay, this summer flew by. There’s a lot to do in the short term, but once I get settled there I should be back in business - posting from a slightly different time zone, but in far better position to stalk Fusion or, increasingly, Chang Chen-yue. More on him in a minute.

But first, older news. This time, the rumors of a Leehom-Rain joint performance at the Olympics Closing Ceremony proved true, and there they were (along with half the Mandopop and Cantopop worlds led by Jackie Chan, apparently, though they first sang a song with a handful of stars from the mainland and Hong Kong). The event was, however, Cowboy-free - Leehom was the only Taiwan (or, more accurately, American) artist there. You can catch it here, with fun Korean commentary. (I suspect they are required to lipsync, but on the audio track you can really hear Leehom’s voice coming through. I wonder if Rain struggled with the Mandarin, or if he sings more softly in general?) Yeah, I missed the televised version - I was too busy enjoying an evening of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Buddy Guy, and Jonny Lang (though as we discussed after the show, only in the Twin Cities would Jonny Lang get top billing over Buddy Guy!). That capped off a near perfect day at the legendary Minnesota State Fair, which my sister has described here.

Okay, now that the Olympics are over, those of us in the U.S. will finally be getting a little more sleep, but there will also be a veritable deluge of new albums dropping in a pretty short span of time. New albums are expected from Leehom, Cowboy Jay, A-mei, Coco Lee, Jolin Tsai, Stephanie Sun, Wu Bai, Mayday, F.I.R., and S.H.E. Whew, that’s quite a list. Obviously, I’m not interested in all of these - in general, I’m more inclined to protest new S.H.E albums than buy them - but that is an impressive line-up. There are also some questions about what is in store for the future: will Jay remain a cowboy (ah, or to follow the article, will Jay continue his use of traditional Chinese music)? Does the whole Ironman/Music Man moniker mean a more rock-like direction for Leehom? Will Mayday to continue to become more and more mainstream pop? And, adding a few of my own, just exactly when is this second album expected from Fusion, or the sole effort from superband Western Line? Will Deserts Chang or Cheer Chen be putting out new albums? Well, there is much to anticipate, at any rate.

On August 23rd, two concerts were held simultaneously in Taipei to much fanfare: Lu Guangzhong (i.e. Vitas/Crow/Crowd Lu) and A-yue. The first of these two was attended by both Fish Leong and her new boyfriend and old flame Masa, so you can imagine the headlines. That little melodrama aside, the concert apparently was great fun. Vitas/Crow/Crowd (seriously, someone help me here: what’s his OFFICIAL English name?) appeared in his trademark shorts and mushroom-head haircut, but he had a slightly sore throat. In spite of this he tried to show off his “dolphin voice” (right… he can mimic Russian singer Vitas, known for his high voice), and he sang versions of “I will always love you” (okay, I have this album and I really like this guy, but… what a horrible song) and “Loving You.” Anyway, the more than 3,000 fans in attendance were highly entertained.

Now, as for A-yue… well, get your very best wolf-whistle ready. For one section of the concert, A-yue appeared in traditional aboriginal dress, and can I just say, I had no idea before what was underneath all those baggy clothes he normally wears:

A-yue was joined by his band Free 9 for the “Work and Play MTV Live” Concert on Saturday. He turned the venue into a hip-hop party, featuring a performance from band Monkey Pilot (猴子飛行員) - the lead singer of which called for those present to do away with sodagreen and Mayday. (Heh - not unlike the jokes from the superbanders lately… we know which bands are on top in Taipei, obviously.) The nearly 4,000-strong crowd enjoyed the DJ for an hour before the concert started… though when the concert began, the DJ ripped off his fake beard and the crowd discovered it was A-yue all along. Now, A-yue may talk hip-hop, but his music is still mostly rock, and that was clear from the time he started singing. During the aboriginal section of the concert, he sang along with Totem Band (aaaahhhh… that would have been amazing. If you have not enjoyed this video from Totem yet, run on over - that song is fantastic and the video is marvelous) (and Suming is adorable, let’s be honest).

A-yue will be taking his act to Shanghai on August 30, with special guest Cheer Chen (!!). If you hate that you’re missing this concert, imagine how I feel - I’ll get to China a few days later. ARGH. (That day is also the Chang Yu-sheng memorial concert, so we’ll have lots of news for early September.) Ah well, he is supposedly touring all over China this fall; I hope he follows through with that. If I can get an A-yue ticket, I am willing to travel.

In much sadder news, last month Little Stone ended up with a case of salmonella - he was hospitalized for a week while his scared parents worried, but he seems to have recovered now.

Finally, if there are any Shin Band fans out there still scratching their heads over Shin’s departure last year, I’d suggest you take a look at this comment, which really sheds some light on the situation. I remain skeptical about Shin’s solo career, though I also think it might be better for the band to take on a new name now.

Okay, he’s (finally) not wearing his dangling denim suspenders, a development which I applaud and celebrate, but I remain unconvinced on the matter of these glasses:

Like me, you might be alarmed at first by the clear presence of odd dangling pieces on his righthand side (our left, facing him), but I’ve looked at about a dozen pictures from the event, including a whole string of them here, and I’m convinced that these pieces are just odd and dangling, but not actually denim suspenders. But the glasses… I’m sorry, I know plenty of people disagree with me here, but… no. Too big, too thick - as I have been saying publicly for more than two years now, I actually love the bespectacled look, just not this pair.

Ashin emerged from the studio to appear at an event for the Porter Bag Design project, and that picture is him standing in front of his design. He explained some of the items “in” his bag - things like a guitar, a clear shirt, and a “happiness secret weapon” that he can pull out to help improve the atmosphere when needed. Actually though, he clarified, his REAL secret weapon is Guanyou - just pull him out and crack some jokes and everyone is smiling again!

The band has been hard at work in the studio - so much so that they are wondering about how they’ll rehearse for upcoming events (like that Chang Yu-sheng concert at the end of this month or the Linkin Park show in October). Still, though, they managed to find the time to watch the China vs. Chinese Taipei baseball game (hah! I *thought* that would be the one to watch!). Ashin said he could hear the disappointment of their loss from across the sea, but that he hopes everyone will continue to support and encourage the Chinese Taipei team. (They finished fifth over all, though there were some disgruntled remarks that the Chinese authorities - you know, the “Communist Bandits” - scheduled them for the last game on the 14th, against Japan, and then for the first game in the morning of the 15th, against China… so the athletes themselves managed only three or so hours of sleep between games; it was the only case of this happening during the games. On the other hand, China may have won that game, but it came in dead last on the baseball in general. The medal games are tomorrow; the US is up against Japan for a bronze, and it is up to South Korea to stop Cuba from repeating their Athens victory.)

Ashin was asked about his finances, and how he invests and manages them. He answered that he has no real knowledge about finance, but at least he doesn’t have any Swiss bank accounts… heh. This is a reference to the scandal emerging in Taiwan over former president Chen Shui-bian, who apparently misreported campaign finances and whose wife wired millions in excess funds to a Swiss Bank accounts… they’re also being investigated, along with their daughter and son-in-law, for money laundering, and Chen faces embezzlement charges as well. Chen apologized last week for the campaign funds part; the rest is still suspected.

One aside on the Linkin Park show - there is some concern about the order of the performances. After the first band goes - whichever band it is - will the audience be dead for the second (or vice versa)? There was another report of fan complaints that the two acts were not suited for one another, including the age-old accusation that Mayday’s music is not really rock from some Linkin Park fans (these must be fans in Asia, because I can’t imagine many Linkin Park fans in the U.S. have the foggiest idea who or what a Mayday is). But no doubt they will all soldier on despite these doubts.

Okay, in other news, one of Mayday’s more bizarre recent activities was an event to welcome kids from Taiwan back from space camp. The kids attended the camp in Alabama, USA through the sponsorship of Mass Mutual Mercuries Life. The company also sponsors Mayday, so the band was there to play with the “little astronauts.” They had a contest with miniature floating parachutes, which I am sure you can replicate at home with some computer paper and a step stool, if you are so inclined. Beyond that, they are in the studio. The new album wait continues.

Well, I suspect that Benq is not giving out any huge discounts so far, seeing as how the Chinese Taipei baseball team has now lost to both Japan and China. The best comment on the sad situation comes from this article, which quotes a Taipei government worker as saying, “It’s just like in history. Last night we lost to (former colonizer) Japan and today we lost to the Communist bandits.” Yeah, I had a good laugh at his “Communist Bandits.” (I have in the past amused myself by referring to the mainland government as the “共匪” and the one on Taiwan as the “蔣賊,” though as a caution I feel I should warn you that the playful approach to cross-straits history draws a much bigger laugh in Taiwan than on the mainland. ) There’s still hope for Benq customers, though: the match-up against Korea is on the 18th.

Now, on to other things. The lack of famous young Mandopop stars in the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics drew criticism from some miffed fans. I think one thing that fed this was Zhang Yimou pulling a “Cowboy Jay” - i.e. taking the thousands and thousands of potential theme songs submitted by both famous artists and average people and passing over them in favor of a song penned by one of the ceremony’s main composers (i.e. just like Jay did with the lyrics of his Olympic song, when the anticlimactic end of his “worldwide lyrics hunt” was the selection of his main collaborator, Vincent Fang, to do the honor). Add to that the fact that not a lot of people outside the mainland are all that familiar with Liu Huan, and you have a minor rebellion on your hands. It seems an outdoor performance in Beijing that went on concurrent to the Opening featured Hong Kong singers like Andy Lau, Joey Yung and Nicholas Tse, but no one from Taiwan, adding to the frustration. I think, though, that the obvious rationale behind inviting them and not including stars from Taiwan is that Hong Kong is playing host to the equestrian events.

I’m not sure that it was ever realistic to expect artists from Taiwan to headline the opening (inside or outside the stadium), but I know it was REALLY foolishly optimistic for A-mei fans to have expected her to be asked. She really hasn’t been off the visa ban list that long, but nonetheless, there are unhappy fans. A-mei’s Olympic composition, “Forever Friends (永遠的朋友)” had been well-received, raising expectations that she might get the international exposure that is a clear benefit to such a performance. Instead her manager came out with a statement on August 6 saying that she had not been asked to perform and that perhaps there are political issues leading to the selection of all mainland artists because other artists from the island hadn’t been either. Her manager added that A-mei was celebrating a birthday in the midst of all of this, but opted out of the suggested Olympic-themed party in favor of a quiet evening celebrating with family.

None of this has, however, stopped a widely spreading rumor that Leehom will be performing at the closing. So far, this really is just a big rumor - there is nothing remotely official to indicate one way or the other what the plan is. He did, however, win an online poll asking mainland netizens who they’d most like to see perform, and his bilingual song “One World One Dream” would be a fitting conclusion to the events.

Recently the rumors have gone one step further, to suggest that not only would Leehom be singing at the closing ceremony, but that he’d be singing with Korean superstar Rain (i.e. special guest of his upcoming concert and former collaborator). Hmm. (On a side note, Leehom is looking MUCH better in the pictures accompanying that article than he has in other recent images. I’d still like his hair a bit shorter, but that’s minor compared to his other recent transgressions. At first glance, though, the superman doll in the first photo seems mildly obscene, but maybe that’s just me.) So far, Leehom will neither confirm nor deny such rumors, stating only that he will support the Olympics with everything he’s got. The closing ceremony will be held on August 24… which means I’ll miss it, because I have tickets to see Jonny Lang at the Minnesota State Fair that night (YAY!!), but thanks to the time difference between Minnesota and Beijing I’m sure we’ll know long before the US broadcast whether we need to take measures to record it. My whole family, you might recall, is very pro-Leehom.

There aren’t a lot of long, interesting stories about my headliner Mandopop stars, so I’m doing another list of odds and ends that I’ve read in the last day or two.

A-yue is holding a concert in Shanghai on August 30th. *sigh* That’s a few days too early for me, but oh well. Lots of great A-yue pics with that article - he’s looking groovy in his sunglasses. Amusingly, he jokes in that article that superband “Western Line” is “manlier” than either Mayday or sodagreen. Okay, I’d say A-yue acts more manly than Ashin or Qingfeng, but I think once you throw Stone and Jiakai into the mix you end up giving him a run for his money… and then when you take his three veteran bandmates and put them opposite Monster, Masa and… erm…. Guanyou…. uh oh. Well, put them opposite Xiao Wei, A-fu, A-gong and…. wait… okay, maybe they are manlier. He continued that they may be older, but they have a lot of energy.

‘Kay, that’s what I know at the moment. Now, what’s on in Olympic coverage tonight?

If you don’t know Fusion Band (Fusion乐团) yet, you are missing out. Steve (aka “MaydayBlue“) has linked to a great web radio interview (overdubbed with English translations!) with clips of songs over on the MaydayAmericas Forum. The post is here.

You know, if you enjoy the interview, feel free to join the forum (hint, hint) and talk about the band (or even, you know, Mayday…).

…Singaporeans!!

See, I said I’d try to remember to account for the time difference and post a day early this year.

(It is still the 8th in MN, just not in DC, where I set the clock for the blog!)

[Ashin waxing philosophical on the Olympics. I love the picture accompanying this entry on his blog, which is a very busy combination of baseball, the bird’s nest stadium, what I think sorta looks like a football helmet and one of the standard StayReal cartoons. My mind is swimming.]

Rather fortuitously, we are once again all five of us watching the Olympic opening ceremonies together,
though shocked to discover four years have already passed.

What has changed is time, in these four years much has happened,
What hasn’t changed is us, once again gathered in a tiny recording studio, using guitars, bass, drums, these four simple instruments [ed. obviously counting Monster’s and Stone’s guitars separately]
weaving together the emotions of life and other things.

Suddenly I realize, remaining unchanged can also be a kind of rare blessing.

Although this sort of Olympic opening ceremony is something that I’ve watched countless times since childhood,
seeing those five red, green, yellow, blue and black rings
on the white flag shivering and swaying in the wind
still moves me.

Harmony and peace,
these are two simple words
but these are words that remain distant for humanity.
We can excavate deep pits below the earth’s crust, build rockets and space ships, land on the moon,
but true peace is still untouchable.

But seeing those five rings raised above so many different cities
We can still feel deep-down a thousand years of human persistence.

Come!
Although after everything has concluded,
We still will return to the real world and continue living.
However, at least for that moment the torch is lit,
I’m willing to believe.

[If anyone is curious, the Official Theme Song, “You and Me (我和你)” is now out; you can see the video here. It’s much slower than I anticipated… and I’m not wild about the Sarah Brightman opera part. Oh well, I almost never like the Olympic theme songs anyway.

Anyway, according to reports, Taiwan got a big cheer at the opening ceremonies, which apparently went off without a hitch, so we can just sit back and enjoy the pagentry. Big dilemma here tonight, though, as the opening ceremonies will be broadcast concurrently with the first pre-season game of the Minnesota Vikings. We’re discussing strategies for channel flipping.]

Update: Okay, that was really, really amazing - now it is clear why Ashin was talking so much about harmony, as that character featured prominently in the ceremony. And the torch lighting - incredibly impressive.

Now, the Vikings… not so much.

Yes, that’s me using the royal “we” again. But can I help it if I found this story heartwarming? The recent Metro Radio Mandarin Music Awards (2008年新城國語力頒獎) yielded three big winners: sodagreen, Tanya Chua, and… Fusion! Aw, their first album in January and they’re already winning international awards. I’m so proud of them. Here the winners are, all together:

Taotao (blond emo dude in Fusion) looks a bit solemn, but the rest of the crew look quite happy to be there. Together, these three acts picked up eight of the evening’s awards. Finally, an awards ceremony whose outcome I can agree with.

Though their awards are gratifying for both Tanya Chua and sodagreen, not to mention their fans, it’s a much bigger deal for Fusion. This was their first time walking the awards show red carpet. When they received their award, the offered words of heartfelt gratitude to Jonathan Lee for believing in them. Then, of course, they dutifully returned to Beijing to continue production on their second album, bolstered by the recognition.

(Hmm, that article also referenced a Shanghai concert for sodagreen in September… I’d love for this to be true, but I’ve seen no other mention of it and it is not on their website.)

In other news, Scottish band Travis played in Taiwan this week, and the attendance list was a who’s who of Taiwan indie rock: sodagreen, but also 1976, Tizzy Bac, Faith Yang, Echo Band, Chang Chen-yue, Bear Babes (熊寶貝) and, oddly, Shin. Wow, I haven’t thought about Travis in quite a while… I have their second and third albums, but I sort of lost track of them after The Invisible Band. About eight years ago (was it really that long?), I went to an Oasis concert, and Travis was the opening act. I remember my friend and I were instantly converted, calling their performance the better of the two. I’m sure this Taiwan performance was a great show.

So news on the sodagreen concert in Singapore on Saturday night has been weirdly absent from all my normal news sources, but fortunately, ee very kindly sent me a bunch of great links.

The band took their “Sing With Me” concert to Singapore’s Max Pavilion on Saturday for around 3,000 local fans (this report says 5,000). They brought not only their lovely songs, but a few surprises, like an a cappella rendition of “Little Love Song” to a cover of Tanya Chua’s “Remember (記念)” with a different arrangement than the one they used in Taipei.

Quite aside from their music, sodagreen entertained with their humor. After Qingfeng accidentally ripped a whole in the inner thigh of his left pant leg, he told the crowd “Don’t look there, nothing is going to come out of there.” Then, seeing fans holding signs that said, “Buxom Xinyi” (okay, I completely missed this one - when did she get this nickname?), Qingfeng noted that this whole “buxom business” has already gotten pretty heated, so she should just flash a breast at the audience… then joked that they didn’t get more than a few songs into the concert before it turned into a burlesque show. (Wow, and that’s even before Jiakai removed a single article of clothing! Too bad.)

The people seated in the first few rows were all sponsors, so while the rest of the crowd was engrossed in the show, they sat quietly in their seats. This, of course, was not an opportunity Qingfeng could pass up, so he noted confidentially to the rest of the crowd that the people in those first few rows clearly have much on their minds, because they look quite bothered. Then he told the crowd that if something is worrying them, they should say so, or else they need to leave him a message on his blog. Then as they approached the end of concert, he noted that those poor people in the first few rows with so much on their minds clearly had a new worry: whether or not the concert would end. Hah, I daresay only Qingfeng could get away with that!

Just as they prepared to play the last song before the encore, Qingfeng explained that everyone knew it was just a “fake” ending, that they’ll come back and play another song… but that the crowd would still have to clap and cheer or else they’d take that “fake” ending and making it real. During the encore fans kept requesting songs, even after they said they would take no more requests, leading Qingfeng to call the audience “barbarians.” In the end, though, he did take a moment to give a genuine word of thanks to Rock Records for putting on the concert. (Hmm, Rock Records sponsored the concert? Is it just me, or does this give everyone hope for some real Mayday/sodagreen joint events in the future?)

Anyway, sodagreen sang 22 songs in the regular show, plus six more in the encore. In honor of the generally excellent English skills of Singaporean fans, they band sang several songs in English, including a cover of the Carpenters’ “Close to You,” as well as “Believe in Music,” “I Don’t Care,” “Air,” and “Oh Oh Oh Oh” (the last of which has both English and Chinese versions). There’s more news here, if you browse the August 4th edition.

Of course, newspaper accounts don’t give you the whole story; there’s a great summary of the highlights in this comment from Chrys (thanks!) and at ee’s blog.

Okay, I take back every nice thing I’ve said about Vanness Wu’s facial hair. He now appears to be doing a bad impression of Johnny Depp:

At least, that’s the most charitable explanation I have for this horrible ensemble. Vanness turns thirty this week (welcome to the club, dearie), and he held a little celebration of that auspicious occasion this weekend with 500 of his closest friends in Taipei. Ex-girlfriend Vivian was apparently going to jump out of a cake, but she arrived too late to pull off the surprise. There’s a bummer for you… though I can’t imagine wanting an ex to jump out of a cake at you no matter how amiable the split. Guests included Barbie Hsu and Leehom Wang… [*pauses to consult the cardinal rules of Mandopop blogging*]… don’t you think Vanness was looking much better back when he and Leehom were boxing?