One Day in May…

I have lots of little news today; nothing too earth shattering.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the official new video for Mayday’s lead single off of the new album is on YouTube. This is the third video I’ve seen for this song now, and it combines shots of the band playing with scenes from an “uncut” version filmed like a home video, very old-school Mayday, as well as the advertising version from this past spring. Incidentally, YesAsia refers to the song as “Breakthrough Day,” which is such a vast improvement on “To Flourish” that I’m off to go update my lyrics translation.

Sodagreen was in Hong Kong for the Wild Day Out Pub Party show recently, where they sang for two hours to adoring fans. At one point, Qingfeng pulled off his coat, leading fans to scream wildly and Qingfeng to ask if they were there for a concert or a strip show. Before their concert in Japan, the band has a little vacation, and during their time off Qingfeng and Xinyi are heading to Japan to see Radiohead, and A-gong and A-fu are heading to New York to attend a Madonna concert. During his visa interview at the American Institute in Taiwan, A-fu amusingly referred to Madonna as “娜姊” (i.e. a nickname that calls her “big sister”), causing the immigration officer to grill him about family in the United States. He got the situation cleared up and got the visa, though. Qingfeng and Xinyi were pretty excited not only about seeing Radiohead, but about saving money on the trip, since they could just fold the concert trip into their own Tokyo appearances.

Cheer Chen has a concert scheduled in Beijing next month, but it sold out so quickly they’ve added a second show. The organizers promise different content for the second show, and they’re working on lining up a suitable special guest – invitations will go to Ashin and to A-yue, both of whom are fan favorites for how well they work with Cheer. Hmm, I wonder if this is a one-shot deal, or if there is a national tour in China in the works?

Shin’s new album is out October 17, and he too has been the victim of the early leak of a track on the internet. In light of recent revelations, though, I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for him.

That new 1976 album is seen by many as an attempt to break into the mainstream at long last. They are working with F.I.R.’s band leader, Ian (陳建寧), and the album somewhat remarkably is being distributed by SonyBMG. Say goodbye to your underground days, 1976!

In Leehom news, this article refers to the new Leehom album as being due out in December. I’m hoping that’s a typo, though, as everywhere else is still talking November. But man, it seems like every time he puts out an album, the release date shifts by months before the album finally appears.

Leehom has a challenger in the buff upper body competition (if only there was one, eh?) in the form of Michael Wong (光良). This article, which features a picture of him working out at the gym, explains that he is preparing for a concert, and the online fans have expressed their desire that he wear as little as possible. His designer has already planned one outfit to feature a shirt made of netting, but the rest of the costumes will also feature a “less is more” attitude. The concert is in Taipei on November 15.

Jolin Tsai is threatening us with her annual album now, and this time around the story is that it will feature contributions from both Ashin and Leehom. Er, why? Oh, but this is better news on the contributions front: J.J. Lin has his sixth album coming out soon (Sixology), and if this is any indication, it looks supersized. That article says that Ashin wrote the lyrics for one of the songs, called “Darth Vader (黑武士).” Hmm, that sounds interesting. Okay, mental note on lyrics to translate… and more news when I’ve got it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Cheer Chen, Leehom Wang, Mandopop, Mayday, Sodagreen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.