Just home from Simple Life Festival 2012, or as it could also have been called, Muddy Life. With all the rain this weekend, it was a real soup bowl of muck. But from what I observed, people seemed pretty cool about it all. I suppose there was just the simple fact that we were all in it together. And as it is every time Simple Life is held, the event was packed but always comfortable. Props to the crowd for supporting live music and art despite the weather.
Me, I only made it to Day 2, catching bits and pieces of different acts, including 馬念先 (with 糯米糰), 槍擊潑辣 Guntzepaula, My Skin Against Your Skin, and 楊乃文. They all did their thing quite well, with 楊乃文 getting some particularly loud reactions. My girlfriend was there for Day 1, reporting that The Rubens (from Australia) had tons of girls screaming. Local legend Wu Bai was apparently so good that she failed to find a word that surpassed "amazing" to describe his set. I still haven't seen him perform, but from his reputation on stage, I can believe her reaction.
My favorite artist of the day, however, was 陳綺貞 Cheer Chen. She chose to interpret the festival's slogan, "We are young, should be wild" with a theme of "Africa", resulting in several heavily percussive numbers. The music was really tasteful and fresh, although I'm wondering how the didgeridoo her band employed qualifies as African. Perhaps the same could be asked of the conga, a Cuban drum. But maybe that's nitpicking, because the orchestration of her set was really fine, further complemented with cello and one of the best tones I've heard from an electric guitar in a long time. Guitarist 小虎 Xiao Hu really impressed me, which is a significant statement as I usually don't listen to or appreciate much pop music. His playing was both mature and edgy when called for. Cheer's songs were so calming, if not entrancing, that I forgot all about the mud and slop inside my boots. It was a pleasant to surprise to hear a new artist that I like.
...
In a sad and disgusting counterpoint to the celebration of youth that Simple Life promotes is the recent request by the New Taipei City government for KTVs, hotels, etc. to report to the police any group of six or more young people (defined as 'under 30 years old'), citing fears of drug parties and other vices. [Link]
Can these bitter old farts just fuck off already? Seriously, how much hate can the local governments manifest toward Taiwanese youth? First the cunts from the Shida Butthole Society, now this crap. Hell, why not just kill off all the young people and be done with the problem? Is it now a crime to be young? Why did these people have children in the first place, if they fear and despise them so? There is a huge division developing in our society, and I'm very disturbed by it. What are they afraid of? What? Is it that we have fun? Is it that we protest their horrible policies, like nuclear power and selling our media to the Chinese? Is it because we call them out on their bullshit?
“We spend the first year of a child's life teaching it to walk and talk and the rest of its life to shut up and sit down. There's something wrong there.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson
...
Back to a more positive note, New Year's Eve is only weeks away. Party info is starting to come out and this one is a doozy: a 15 band mega-party at The Wall featuring Elephant Gym, Sleaze, The White Eyes, BHD, Forests, Human Beings... and a return of Sunset Rollercoaster. Wow. Are there any bands left for anywhere else? Stay tuned to GigGuide.tw for more details... and fight the power.
