Photos by MJ Klein, Michael Turton, and Hui-chen
Mr. Oath from the Fong Band left Taiwan today. He went back to Thailand after 8 years in Taiwan. It’s the end of an era for me, as everyone connected with the Fong Band is now gone. Plans for recording an album have now shifted to Thailand.
This is the Fong Band at the SE Asian Music Fest. Oath is hidden behind the female host, but (L to R) Num, A-nune and A-jo (drums) are all gone from Taiwan now.
Photos by Hui-chen, except where noted
There were over 15,000 screaming Thai people at Taoyuan Stadium on April 12, 2009. Now for the rest of the story….
Photos by Hui-chen
I apologize for the late blogging but I am quite sick, what with our heavy travel and performance schedules. I seem to have picked up a flu virus, and I’m trying to recover.
UPDATE: Hui-chen helped me straighten out some of the confusion! Additions are in red type.
Our story begins in Taipei. Here we see a competition dance team preparing themselves. Notice the vertical sign in the background. This is a cultural event for SE Asian workers here in Taiwan.
Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen (with FOOD PHOTOS)
The Blue Sky band was invited to play at the Bitan Music Fest on Sunday, March 15, 2009. But, the story of the weekend begins with our friend Andres….
The next section is probably NSFW, so be sure you can view discreetly before continuing onto the rest of the article.
Blue Sky is playing at the Bitan Music Fest this weekend on March 15. According to the schedule, the time is somewhere between 15:00 and 17:00. I’m not sure exactly when the band is going to play as there is a Thai cooking demonstration that is going to take place live on stage.
We were scheduled to play March 21 in Taichung for the premier of the new movie Detours to Paradise but the venue is being renovated. Once the venue is finished the movie premier will be re-scheduled.
There is also a Kaohsiung premier scheduled but that date hasn’t been released yet.
Rumor has it that Blue Sky will be playing at Taoyuan Stadium for the Thai New Year celebration that takes place there every year. I’ll let you know when I find out for certain.
Photos by MJ Klein and Hui-chen – Attention: FOOD PHOTOS
Continuing with our series on the premier of the new movie Detours to Paradise, we will bring you….
On Sunday we headed up to Taipei Main Station to perform the second premier show.
Photos by MJ Klein and Hui-chen This article contains FOOD PHOTOS
A new movie premiered in northern Taiwan this weekend. Also, a new band premiered as well. This is part one of the story and there is a lot to tell – so let’s get started!
Shot entirely in Taiwan, Detours to Paradise is a brand new movie with premiers in Taoyuan, Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
This is Oath (left, of Fong Band fame) and Ah-A (from the Blue Sky band) waiting outside the club downstairs.
This article has downloadable content.
Thanks to Axel and Johnny Z for hosting the event and inviting us to play!
We finally got to the concert site about 20 minutes before showtime. Apparently we weren’t the only ones having trouble finding the place because when we arrived, the band before us were late getting there and lost a lot of playing time as a result. I was a pit puzzled why there wasn’t a single sign anywhere. We used some online directions to find the rather famous place but that turned out to be bogus too. Sometimes I can’t figure out why it’s so hard to find places in Taiwan – even places that everyone supposedly knows about. Anyway, we left Hukou at 09:00 and got to the concert site about 13:10 if you can believe that!
I met a lot of brand new people, as well as some whom I have corresponded with in the past but had yet to meet in person. I wish I had more time to stay and listen because the musicianship that I heard in the short time we were there was very impressive. For me to say that, is something in itself.
While recently writing about shows I’ve been playing, it occurred to me that people might find it interesting to know some of the shows I’ve seen in my life. I’m from the old days when there was so much incredible good music out there, and the radio was actually worth listening to.
I encourage other bloggers to make a similar list of great shows they have seen. OK, not really in any particular order but starting with the first show I did see, here is my list: (more…)
UPDATE: We have a time slot: Sunday, May 4, at 13:30. Be sure to get there early enough so you don’t miss our show.
May Jam takes place at An Ping Beach in Tainan and is a 2 day event, on May 3 & 4.
Here is the band list and schedule. Go to this page for information and directions in both Chinese and English (English is at the bottom). Important: bear in mind that the information on this page is for last year’s show. The directions are the same but the dates are different. This year’s show takes place on May 3 & 4. We are playing on Sunday, May 4 at 13:30.
Michael Turton’s announcement.
We’re playing this year’s May Jam in Tainan. The time slot hasn’t been determined yet, so the only thing we know is that it will be Sunday. For the exact schedule of all the bands please check The Real Taiwan site for updates. Thanks to John at The Real Taiwan for making this event happen!
Hope to see you all there!
Here’s a video of the Fong Band, shot at Taoyuan stadium a few weeks ago.
Enjoy!
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