August 12th, 2020

Hey there,

Has been too long.  Have a bunch of stuff backed-up to share and since school starts tomorrow, thinking things are gonna slow down and will have some time to devote to this space.  Want to share one great thing this week and that is that we were able to catch a live show for the first time since this stupid virus thing began.

The band is called 88 Balaz and have liked what I have heard of them on Spotify but have never had the chance to see them live.  It popped up that they were having a record release party for their 5th album and so headed down.

Balaz means Guava Seeds, but other than that, they don't put out a ton of info in English so don't have much more to say other than they have been going since 1996 so are a professional outfit.  The show was at a new club for us and was a tiny space.  For the price of admission, about US$25, you get entry, one drink and a copy of their new CD.  In this point in history, masks were required and temperatures taken at the door.

Currently in Taiwan, they are still on a run of some 120 days without a local transmission, but the country is on high alert as there have been reports that people who have left Taiwan have tested positive once they got back to their own countries and so there is suspicion that the virus is lurking.  The school starts tomorrow, but masks are to be worn at all times and normal beginning of school get together events are not happening.  Still we start on time and with full in person attendance so feel damn fortunate for that.  Masks requirements are being re-implemented in public spaces like the subway.  As a skeptical American, it is my nature to think that these are overreactions, and then I realize that they have been right about everything all along and that this is the way we get to do nice/normal things, like pack ourselves into sweaty clubs and see live music.

This band was the real deal.  Punk, surf, power chords and high energy from start to finish.  We can go to shows here, but the bands from anywhere else can't come to us we have to go see the local bands, and it is heartening to have caught these guys cause they rocked hard..

Masks were required for entry but I took this shot about two songs in.  As you can see, many are masked but just as many are not.  They give you a drink ticket so that is gonna cause some to be pulled down as you can see with the guy front right. 

Something I love about shows here is that there isn't much difficulty getting to my favorite spot, shich is a couple rows back and to the side in front of the monitor (for maximum decibels)

Not only was the place jammed, but these guys have a terrific following.  There was a very respectful mosh pit and I was on the perimeter of that for most of the night.  Mosh pits are quite perilous for someone with my unstable knees, but having 20 (50) pounds on all of this crowd, was able to hold my own.  And it was most respectable...one guy smashed into me pretty hard but he could tell I was a fall risk, so he patted me on the back and made sure I was OK.  Also saw something that I had never seen before...during a particularly fast song, a beer bottle fell into the middle of the pit, and everyone stopped in their tracks and knelt to pick up every last shard of glass.  The band kept playing, but the crowd cooled down till it was all clear, and then went back to the action.  My buddy and I agreed that getting glass cuts is a badge of honor in US mosh pits, but they are a different breed of cat here.  

There was a steady stream of stage diving too.  Mostly boys, but some girls too.   

What a great time and it was even sweeter since it is an activity that is probably the last thing one could do during a pandemic.  I was very aware of feeling the breath of the people behind me on my neck.  I share this as an example of the freedoms you can have if you give up some freedoms, like the freedom of being a dick and not wearing your mask.  Seriously, here is your reminder to tell that "friend" or your fucked up relative to wake up.  Being nice to them is pointless and do you really need friends that are pieces of shit.  And tolerating relatives that are odious because a couple people had unprotected sex together once seems like a waste of time to me, but you gotta be you.

I bought the t-shirt after the show.  It is rare they sell them in my size and this one had a great saying on the back.

Upon research, this is the name of their new album.  I found that out by liking their Facebook page but all the info is in Mandarin.  I hit the translate button and figured out that this was the record title, but the translate feature changed it to, "My heart is burning for your middle aged arthritic hip!"  It's like they made the record/translation just for me.