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