Pomp and Circumstance

The school year is almost over. Right now, we are in exams and Friday is the last day of school before summer. A few weeks ago, the Senior High 3 students graduated (for some reason the graduating classes in Taiwan go one less term than the others).

The graduating ceremony in Taiwan is much different than the one in Canada. First of all, a lot more Chinese is spoken. Also, it isn't really a big deal. Very few parents or families come to see their children graduate. Awards are given out but every student does not go up on stage to get their diploma. They are simply given them before or after (I'm not exactly sure). It isn't too exciting to sit through either (oh wait, that would be a similarity) ...

A shot from the back of the auditorium. Quite a big graduating class.

Lindsay and I on the edge of our seats.

Now there are endless differences between Taiwan and Canada. One of them is the above. They have a fascination with that 'show off/fancy' bartending (maybe there is a name for this, I don't know). It's when the bartender juggles, spins, throws, etc. the bottles and does some fancy pouring. They are always practicing this at school (and yes, it is a high school. They are all under-age). It could even be a course offered, I'm not sure, but it is truly a cultural phenomenon. I have no idea the history behind it either. Perhaps, the DVD of the movie Cocktail was only issued in Taiwan in 2004. My only concern is that these kids, go through years of training only to find out, after the fact, that spending the rest of their lives working at T.G.I. Fridays wasn't such a great career move. Here are a few of my graduating students. On the right, is Peggy. In the middle, is Kelly. Byron, on the left, just got that perm. It is awesome and I complimented him on it more than once that day. It reminds me of my U.N.B. graduation photo.

Peace Fest

Peace Fest is the second biggest music festival (English speaking, anyway) in Taiwan. It's held at a very cool place called Kun Lun Gardens in Longtan (a little south of Taipei). It's a beautiful spot in the hills surrounded by a forest. It's quite isolated and quiet, something which is rare in Taiwan.

Faye and the Slacks opened up the festival on Friday night.

Some of you might know the guy on the right - Mitch Peters from Fredericton. On the left is his girlfriend Jocelyn. In the middle is my girlfriend.

Here's a shot from the roof of the temple (oh yeah, there's a temple here too). This is early Saturday afternoon.

Militant Hippi had a good time slot. We played Saturday night at 10pm. Though we were without our rapper Justin, it went very well. Here's some people dancing to us.
Not sure what Lindsay is looking for here (actually it's a pose but she tried to explain and I didn't understand).Here's Lindsay and I.Faye and the Slacks not working.

I love this shot. I have just taken a beer bong and I'm drooling foam.

A Shower for Baby

We recently had a baby shower for Krysta and Shea. They made out like bandits!
This is what Geoff and I gave the Moore family. It's a map of the world, but in puzzle form.

Sogo Food Festival

A week after Basic Aid was the big Sogo Food Festival. This happens every year. It's held in front of a big department store called Sogo and there is usually a big turn-out. Many of the restaurants and bars set up booths and it's an all day party with good food, drinks and music. I look forward to it every year but have never gotten the chance to play at it until this year. Again, both bands got in, so it was another busy day.

This is from the Faye and the Slacks show.

Militant Hippi. It was one of our best performances. Unfortunately, it was also Justin's (our rapper - white shirt, in the middle) last show.

This is Sophia, our guitarist's daughter. She comes to almost all our gigs.

Lindsay and some friends.
Our youngest fan, Shea.

Basic Aid

Hey everyone,

It's been over a month since I wrote in this blog. Anyway, as I recap the last month, you will see why. April, May and June are extremely busy months musically. Lots of festivals and shows. Anyway, I mentioned last time that my friend and bandmate, Paul and I were organizing a little music festival called Basic Aid to benefit an orphanage in India. Well, it's been and gone now. It was a very stressful month leading up to it and by the time Sunday night rolled around, I was the most exhausted I'd ever been. I hardly slept or ate during the whole event. I didn't realize how much work was involved. Anyway, if you asked me before if I'd do it again, I would have said no. If you asked me now, I would say perhaps. It was a success (we didn't lose our shirts and we did raise a fair bit of money), lots of fun and to me, it feels like quite an accomplishment...but I'm glad it's over.

Basic Aid was held at a cool place called Moonshine Hill. It's in the mountains, about an hour north of Taichung. It's a venue surrounded by bamboo trees and the stage (what you see in the bottom half of the picture) was carved out of the side of a mountain. It is a natural rock stage. Also, there is a little cabin with a bar inside.

People camped overnight. Saturday was beautiful. We were lucky. But the rain (that I was worried about and expecting) came on Sunday. Man, it poured.

Early the first day. Just a few people sitting around.

Faye and the Slacks playing in boots. Like Woodstock and all great music festivals, it was a little muddy.

Starting to get dark...

Though I won't put all the bands pictures up, 14 different ones played. It was a great weekend of music.

Here's Militant Hippi.

Militant Hippi again. One of our songs requires female backup singers. That's Lindsay up there with our singer's girlfriend, Alana.

People hanging out at the bar inside the cabin.

Here's me on stage a couple of days after the show.