Sampling of Events From a Busy Year

 

Rock in Taichung 2011

Rock in Taichung again!
Right after we arrived in Taiwan, we caught our first Rock in Taichung -the biggest rock fest in central Taiwan. I said, "Next year I'm gonna play there!" -and I did! Now it's 2 years running. Will we be back next year? Stay tuned...

I Don't Have to Dream -New Song

I've written a lot of tunes over the years with Samantha in mind, but this is only the second time I've written one as a gift. This one is for our 18th wedding anniversary, which means we've been together for 20 years! Holy crap 20 years?! Wow! Time flies...

The song is called I Don't Have to Dream. That's right "It may be hard to believe, but you're right here in front of me. Nah, it ain't so hard to see, that I've got everything I ne-ee-ee-eed. I don't have to dream..." You know I love you baby!

The ukulele is pretty obvious, but the rhythm is with a hairbrush and a stick on a wooden washboard. I like alternative percussion.

Working Hard and Playing Hard

Screwing around with Photo Booth while working on a song and video as a gift to my lovely wife! 

Golden Indie Awards Night!

Well, we didn't win Best New Band at the Golden Indie Awards, but it was an honor to be nominated. And we'll have production assistance with our next CD! Thanks to every Chen Mo 沉默之音 friend and supporter! You are awesome!

Tonight MTV Taiwan!

One of the biggest nights of my life. Tonight. Golden Indie Music awards! 7:00pm MTV Taiwan. This is My band's introduction video.

Halloween Party at The Refuge!

Great time at The Refuge Halloween party! Johan Vosloo set up a photo booth and took some great pics of the night!

Taiwan Grammy Awards Party and Radio Interview

Tonight: 沉默之音 Chen Mo -Legacy, Taipei -Golden Melody Awards Nominees Party (private, but call me I'll get you in!)

Listen to my radio interview Part 1 and Part 2: 'Sunny FM' 89.1 Taichung 9:00pm (6:00am U.S. Western)

Sunny Radio Interview Mike Mudd 1028PM1031AM(五)-1 by mikemudd
Sunny Radio Interview Mike Mudd1028PM1031AM(五)-2 by mikemudd

1st Place Award!

I won 1st place! I don't get nervous performing anymore, but I was so nervous before this performance... So strange. I felt more nervous than when I did performing for over 50,000 people. I guess it's because I knew that my poor Chinese ability was on display for everyone to here. Now I have the money for a plane trip to the states next year!

Underground -New Original Song

New original song. Written Oct. 21st. Recorded Oct. 22nd. 新的原創歌曲。書面10月21 It's been compared to Modest Mouse, but it's all Mudd!
Underground by mikemudd
The lyrics:
I can't walk
can't move my feet
I can't see
open eyes
it's still dark
in my dreams
I can't sleep

I can't stop
can't hold it off
I can't even hold it down
I'm not lost
I'm just not found
I can't breathe
I'm underground

I can't talk
nothin' to say
my lips move
the words fall out
my tongue too
just a little bit too late

you're not wrong
and I'm not right
there's not peace
just no will to fight
It's okay
your eyes are paying your way

I can't leave
but in my mind
I'm still gone
you're with me
in my song
we laugh as everything falls apart

Mike Sings in Chinese!

Yesterday I sang in a contest for foreigners singing a Taiwanese song. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't realize that I could accompany myself until an hour before so I hadn't practiced with the uke. Still, I made it to the final round! Maybe I'll win the $2,000!

Chen Mo Photo Shoot

Chen Mo at ESLite Bookstore -Pro Environment Rock Tour

We're participating in 'Rock the Environment' tour, with performances and panel discussions about the environment. This particular event ended up being more about the current environment in our musical hometown of Taichung where almost every club was closed down by the government after a fatal fire at a pub called Ala.

Taipei Village Cafe with 88 Balaz and Celluloid! What a Party!

Always a great time at the Village Cafe! Tonight was amazing as usual. Our great friends 88 Balaz (88 guava seeds) were there -one of my favorite Taiwan bands. The video is a tune that Xiao Yi wrote in Taiwanese (closer to Cantonese than Mandarin).

Chen Mo 沉默之音 with 88 Balaz.

Taiwan 'Grammy' Awards Nomination! Chen Mo 沉默之音

We've been nominated for Taiwan's biggest music awards in the Best New Band category! It's only because we rock... ROCK I TELL YA!!! The English name is the Golden Indie Music Awards.

In The Dark -New Original Tune

In keeping with my trend of writing songs in almost every genre, here's a triphop tune about succumbing to temptation. In the dark -10-1-2011 by mikemudd
Seduction, temptation, blood and perfume.

September Solo Performances

All month long in September I had a steady solo performance gig. Here's a new song that Mike Tai recorded on his phone camera!

New Band Website!

Nearly finished with the band's website.

Chen Mo Music Video Shoot

Some friends of the band shot a music video for us! We'll see how it turns out.

New Band Jam -'Kick Your Soul'

Since moving to the east coast of Taiwan, I haven't been able to practice with the band as much as I'd like, but they're still making it happen. Here's a new jam they came up with:

New Mike Mudd Website!

Complete redesign of the website is almost finished! www.mikemudd.net

B-day party and 'Band-iversary'

Last night was an epic night at The Refuge! We were celebrating my birthday and Jia Ren's which are both on the 4th. we were also celebrating the release of our EP and 2 years of a successful Taiwan blues-rock band! our great friends 'Duck Tsai' The Ever So Friendlies, and a couple of student bands from Butterfly Crys came out and played as well.

Sexy Ghost Pussy -at Daya Park

Butterfly Crys music center (my band mates) put together a mini-fest at the local public park. Quite a party! Here's Sexy Ghost Pussy with a bunch of help from friends...

Gig at the Government Building

The Taichung city government put on a big show outside of the main government building. It was a short notice kind of thing, so I don't think they had enough time to do much in the way of getting the word out.

Many people suspect that it was a PR thing, because they've been getting a lot of angry letters about all the pub & amp; live house closures. Still... it was good money and a big stage, so I'm not complaining. Well, I AM complaining about the closures, but just about everyone is.

As usual in Taichung our sneaky friend Akira took a bunch of photos. I don't think she's ever actually introduced herself to me, I just see her photos uploaded to Facebook. Haha!

'Hi Rocker' Festival (Tongxiao)

Hilarious and fun day at a beach rock fest in Miaoli county. The Hi Rocker Festival! We busted out the relatively new band version of disco-ish 'Sexy Ghost Pussy!' Of course it becomes a group dance number when a bunch of other people jump on stage!

Bank Gig

Our first corporate gig... bank employee appreciation party.

Beastie Rock Fest -Taipei

Wow, festival season in Taiwan is turning out to be pretty freakin' awesome! 3 stages, great food, great bands...

High-School Summer band Camp

Jianzhong High-school invited us to do a concert/seminar for their band camp students. Another day to remember for the rest of my life! The kids were great! Although at one point I got a bit nervous that someone was going to get hurt -a classroom is NOT the ideal place for a mosh pit!

Taichung tourist Nightlife Information Page (oh the irony)

Wow, the irony is astounding. For those of you outside of Taiwan, the Taichung city government just closed the last of what they refer to as 'music pubs.' Most of the other pubs have been closed too. Here's their public info page about the awesome nightlife here. Actually the Taichung city nightlife was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Taichung instead of many other places I read about. Now, it's almost all gone...

Blues/rock battle to the death! Chen Mo 沉默之音 -VS- 88 Balaz!

Oh my heavens, who the heck are those wild-men??? And what is that latin-blues madness??? Seriously though, did I luck out in finding such awesome players to make music with or what? (sniff...sniff...) I love you guys!


Last night was another great night. I really enjoy performing with our friends from 88 Balaz!

Re-Moving The Refuge

Helping re-move The Refuge. Unfortunately the partners that Paul was with at the 'New Refuge' didn't quite work out, so he had to move the stuff back to the 'Old Refuge.'Hopefully the situation resolves itself quickly... It's about the only place us foreigners have left to go in the Taichung area!

Dirty -Mudd Funk

Mudd Funk??? Hell yeah. A song about gettin' it on. Organ, horns, funky-ass bass-line, and Mike Mudd moanin' and groanin'.
Here's the first mix of a new tune. Dirty 7-18-2011 (first mix) by mikemudd

Advert. page

New advertisement page I put together using How wei's CD cover design. This will run in the Compass magazine full page ad we got as payment for our performance at the annual International Food and Music Festival. I'd say it's well worth it, as full page ad space costs about $1000usd!

Ho Hai Yan Festival -WOW!

Photos from the fest!
Now off to LUVStock Festival in Taichung! Busy busy busy!

Ho Hai Yan

AAAAH! Ho Hai Yan! One of the world's biggest music festivals! This year almost 600,000 people came! Which means it's a conservative estimate that over 50,000 people were at our performance! Wow!

Ho Hai Yan Music Fest. Expecting 800,000 People?!

Chen Mo 沉默之音 Saturday 6pm 800,000 people?! One of the worlds biggest music festivals! We are gonna rock the beach!

Photo Courtesy of Ho-Hai-Yan Gongliao Rock Festival

Hiddy hiddy Ho-Hai-Yan - Taipei Times (Link to news report)
"Looking for a quiet, peaceful seaside escape to enjoy the arrival of summer? Cross Fulong Beach (福隆海灘) off your list, at least for next week. The New Taipei City Government is expecting at least 800,000 people to visit the northeast coastal spot for this year’s Ho-Hai-Yan Gongliao Rock Festival."

July Performance Schedule -another busy month!

Shows in July -Full band Chen Mo (沉默之音) and solo!
7/03(日)pm7-8 Sogo Department Store *America Day annual celebration*  Organized by Taichung  
       AmCham 美國獨立紀念日
7/09(六)pm6-7 Ho Hai Yan -Taiwan's largest music festival! Fulong beach in Gongliao
      國際海洋音樂祭表演@貢寮福隆海水浴場
7/10(日)pm LUVstock! A hippie-fest up in the mountains at a spooky old abandoned amusement park!    
     Dakeng, Taichung county @ 大坑
7/14  7pm Opening Night -Artbox art center and gallery in Taichung
7/16(六)pm8-10 Mike Mudd -The 3 Baboons Sports Bar & Grill  @桃園
7/23(六)pm9-10 Blues battle to the death with my favorite Taiwanese rock band 88 Balaz!Village Cafe
      @台北

Happy birthday Fubar! And unfortunately closure.

Birthday party for Fubar. But it also turns out to be a closure party too. Fubar, another victim of Taichung city's crackdown. Well, they say they're only taking the summer off, so let's hope they're back in the fall!

Opera in the Market!

I'm not much of an opera fan, but isn't this what we need more of in the world?! Random Acts of Culture.

Tin Pan Alley -Tainan, Taiwan

Great outdoor space in Tainan! Great friends too: Rock Starky, Landis Shook, and Steven Vigar.

Camping on Taiwan's East Coast

Lots of fun camping with friends on the east coast! In Taiwan you find yourself making friends with people from all over the world! South Africans, Americans, Canadians, French, Taiwanese of course... you just never know who you'll find yourself with!

PJs Cafe Friday Nights Cancelled Indefinitely... Thanks city of Taichung.

Well, Friday nights with Mike Mudd are cancelled until we can be sure that PJs isn't going to get shut down for having live music. I've been asking PJ if we should still be doing it with all the closures happening around town, but until today he figured we were still operating under the radar.

Honestly, it does seem like after the initial closures, they are just going after anyone who hosts any kind of live entertainment. The past few weeks I've been getting nervous having to drop the guitar if a cop goes by, wondering if they're going to come in and bust the place. It feels like we're a bunch of kids up to no good, when we're just trying to enjoy a night out. Well, PJ finally got nervous enough to call it quits for a while. We'll see how things go over the next few weeks and months...

Willie Bones the Swordfighter!

So, while in The States visiting family, my boy, the fabulous Willie Bones is learning to swordfight and taking part in a 'Society of Creative Anachronisms' type of group. Turns out he's pretty good at it!

More Venue Closures in Taichung City

Taichung's 'Best Music Scene in Taiwan' has become 'No Music Scene' Thanks authoritarian regime! Almost every place with live entertainment has been closed now after the Ala pub caught fire killing 9 people. The Taipei Times has an article with some of the facts.

It appears that the problem is that the government hasn't been doing their job in terms of inspections. A couple of local officials lost their jobs, and the rest of the enforcement team is shutting down anything and everything they can. I'm beginning to wonder if they aren't using the fire as an excuse to shut down places that don't have the right connections, because it's an obvious over-reaction to the problem. They aren't giving business owners any options, or are telling people they owe millions of dollars in back taxes. Not to mention that the liquor license laws are completely ambiguous. It's impossible to obey the letter of the law when the government is making it up as they go along!

All my Taiwanese friends point out that the government and organized crime leaders hang out in the same places, so it's not much of a leap to assume that they are working together to eliminate the competition... Of course that's just me thinking out loud...

Police...Again

The police showed up at my show tonight at PJs -again! It wasn't even 10pm yet... No noise complaints from the neighbors, just the fact that when they drive by they can see a performer through the window. It's getting bad.

Too Many Performances!

4 gigs in 26 hours? Am I crazy? -I think yes. Compass International Food and Music Festival, PJs Cafe, a wedding reception, and DC stage in Kaohsiung. I don't know how I got myself into this, but at least it'll be over in a day!

Dream Induced Song -'Something's In The Air'

Another 'dream induced' tune I woke up with in my head yesterday. I'm a strange man...
Something's In The Air

Hunger

'My hunger is my home.' 

Food and Music -Taichung Style!

Annual Festival in Taichung city -Compass Food and Music Festival Chen Mo at 4pm.

'Kiss You on the Moon' -new tune by friend Benjamin Ellis

Love this new original by old friend from Portland! He lives in New Orleans now.

Trip Over the Mountains to Taroko Gorge

Taiwan your natural beauty thrills and surprises me at least as much as your people! I'm happy that we're getting to spend some time with Samantha's parents here in Taiwan! Taroko Gorge: WOW! 哦台灣！你是了不起的！太魯閣哇！

Taiwan Sun Moon Lake

Off to Explore Taiwan!

Another awesome night performing at PJ's! Samantha's parents got to come, hear me play, and eat PJ's wonderfully tasty vittles! Now off to explore the wilds of Taiwan for a week!

Medicine From Our Farm!

Medicinal plants from our collective Costa Rica farm!