Taipei Times Roxy Jazz
By reputation, Ling Wei (凌威) doesn’t come across as a jazz fan. But the 56-year-old self-professed “rock ’n’ roller” and owner of the Roxy chain of rock-themed bars and nightclubs says, “I’ve always loved jazz music.”
Roxy Jazz, which opens tonight, is Ling’s second attempt at a jazz club. His first venture, Feel More Jazz, located on Roosevelt Road (羅斯福路), quickly folded after opening in 1991 when construction for the MRT’s Danshui-Xindian line began.
Ling seemed at ease and in a good mood earlier this week when showing the Taipei Times around this latest addition to the Roxy brand, located near the corner of Jianguo South (建國南) and Heping East (和平東) roads.
He says the club is designed so jazz lovers can have a comfortable place “to share the music.” The space, which holds around 65 persons, feels intimate and homey. The room is filled with plush Ikea sofas and lounge chairs. The stage, equipped with a drum kit, upright piano, double bass and a few amplifiers, is low to the ground and close to the audience. A bar at the back will serve food.
Listening to records is pure pleasure for Ling, a former radio DJ, and he brings that sensibility to the venue. Audiophiles will drool over the room’s boutique stereo speakers made by the German company Duevel, which cost a cool NT$1 million. Ling says, half-jokingly, that another reason for starting the club was to find a home for the speakers.
Live music from local musicians, however, will be the main attraction. Roxy Jazz currently has performers scheduled on average for three nights a week.
Tonight’s grand opening party features a special performance by a one-off modern jazz quartet organized by pianist Andrew Page, the music director of the American Club in Taipei. The lineup includes Taichung-based French bassist Cyrille Briegel, Italian drummer Pietro Valente, and saxophonist and composer Miguel Fernandez of Barcelona.
Tomorrow the venue hosts Taiwanese pianist Amanda Wu (吳苡嫣), who plays modern jazz standards as well as originals sung in Mandarin. She shares the stage with saxophonist Alejandro Chiabrando of Argentina.
When the musicians break, house DJs will spin “classic jazz vinyl,” reflecting Ling’s tastes, which he describes as anything from Blue Note Records.
Ling says he’s optimistic that Roxy Jazz will stand the test of time, unlike The Other Side, a dance club he opened in the East District (東區) in July that folded because of high rent and a lack of a “clear goal.”
Roxy Jazz is open every day from 9pm to 4am and charges a NT$300 food or drink minimum on nights with musical performances.
Taipei Times 2009
The cliche that sex sells wasn’t true for Taipei’s last chance for romance, Roxy Vibe, which is closing this weekend to the dismay of singles and late-night revelers. Vibe will end with a bang as it has for many lucky patrons over the years. A drum ’n’ bass party tonight is followed by The Last Stand tomorrow: a rocking lineup of bands, a burlesque show, and music to bump and grind to with DJ Marcus Aurelius.
“There’s nothing wrong with sex,” responded owner Ling Wei (凌威) to the idea that Vibe is a meat market. He said the real problem is Vibe’s image as an after-hours place: “For many people it had some meaning — you have a party, you want a place to after party, but for us we open at 9pm and people don’t come until 3 [am] or 4am ... only Fridays and Saturdays, that’s eight nights a month, three hours of business ... that’s only 24 hours a month!”
Ling said it wasn’t always this way, and that “for us Vibe had a different meaning” as a place that was “very important for local bands” prior to a change of location nine years ago. Unfortunately, the current location wasn’t allowed to have live bands until recently. “People got used to coming after 12 [am],” he said. “Ten years ago people came at 8 [pm].” He had attempted to revive the venue by making it into a live house again last summer, but it was “hard to change the image.”
That is all in the past though, as this weekend also marks the grand (re)opening of Roxy Rocker, a dream-come-true for Ling. Though he opened Roxy Rocker last year, personal issues and the location saw it shut down within six months. Now, with a new location on Heping East Road (和平東路), “we’re going back to our roots,”said Ling.
“At Roxy 99 and Vibe we have to play more and more music we don’t really love,” he said, noting that he’s not as fond of the more contemporary hip-hop and rap that his newer clientele demands. “They don’t know the history, they will think Roxy is not fashionable because they don’t recognize the background — we believe we have the best music collection in Taiwan.”
In Rocker there is a separate room with soft lighting, turntables and low couches. The walls are lined floor-to-ceiling with more than 10,000 vinyl albums, all of which they also have original CD versions of at the DJ booth in the main bar.
Ling bought vinyl until 1997 and he still loves it. “It’s something real, you can touch it, that feeling,” he said. “Lots of bands insist there is something different with vinyl, the sound, the touch, the culture.”
Another wall is lined with music magazines and books, from the 1990s through to the most current issues. “This place is dedicated to rock and roll,” Wei said.
The main bar makes this clear as well, with a huge mural of the album cover of Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy; the orange sky and rocky landscape with little blond children crawling across it stretches across an entire wall. Lighting streams down from the ceiling to showcase the art and other murals that decorate the venue and to create an ambient amber glow around the central bar. Though Rocker is spacious and comfortable, with couches around its tables, there is not a lot of room to dance.
“Here we don’t have to be responsible for your dancing beat,” said Ling, laughing gleefully. “We’ll play Bob Dylan if we want. People can realize how good of a collection we have.”
He is opening two additional bars: Roxy Roots, on July 8 in the Neo 19 building next to Vie Show in the Xinyi District, is dedicated to reggae lovers and is the only venue in Taipei, Wei said, with a performance stage “for live ska bands, 2-tone, African beats ... and some rock and roll.” Near the end of next month, The Other Side will open, with more alternative rock, ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Linkin Park, that “will blow your mind” said Ling. “Rock and roll is the best dance music.” This bar will also be located in the Xinyi District. Roxy 99, meanwhile, will continue to play “more popular music and hip-hop.”
Of his love for rock, Ling said: “I grew up with The Beatles in the ’60s, with Santana, Led Zeppelin.” When asked what he thinks of more modern rock like The Killers he scoffs, “Modern? That’s over five years old. I was the first one to play it in Taiwan. After a while it became a hit.”
Ling was a radio DJ for 20 years at the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC,中廣), and “got a lot of listeners calling me and writing letters asking many questions,” so he decided to open his first club in 1982, which was called AC/DC. “I had a place to share music with them,” he said.
Now he has that again, with Rocker. Just “don’t come here and ask me to play some dance track, please,” he said. “But if you are into real rock and roll you’ll be satisfied.”
Taken from Taipei Times http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2009/06/19/2003446593
HUNDREDS SHOW UP TO PAY THEIR LAST RESPECTS TO THE ORIGINAL ROXY
China News –Friday,January 19,1996
Last Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of people squeezed into the small confines of ROXY to pay their last respects to the bar that become a Taipei institution. People were pounding back the brews, dancing between tables, and greeting old friends – in short, a typical evening at ROXY .The only signs that this weekend was any different was the constant flashes from cameras and a few people who simply refused to let go and banged away at the metal roof, trying to take a piece away with them. Posters came down off the walls and disappeared into customer's pockets and bags.
Housed within a overgrown shotgun shack, ROXY became know for its greet music collection, graffiti-covered walls, friendly staff and disgusting bathrooms. While the building left a loft to be desired – the roofed leaked and strong winds whipped right through the walls – but for many, it was their first introduction to nightlife in Taipei.
“Six years ago, this was the first place I came to, and six years later, it was the first place I came back to. “ Said 25-year-old ROXY patron Ben. “ It ‘s the only landmark I know in Taipei.” Because you could be certain that everybody had visited the place. whether they had been living in Taiwan for ten years or two weeks, ROXY became the “Lighthouse of Taipei”—where everyone got together before moving on to other nightspot. According to Marco, 28: “It’s always been the place that everyone came to.”
For the longest time, it was the place where everyone started [their evenings]. Some people like SPIN, some like TU, but everyone likes ROXY.Among the many notable stars that took place at ROXY was the launching of the buses to last year’s Spring Scream Underground Music Festival. But why was ROXY so successful? Many people cite the music as one reason and the record selection is unsurpassed in the city.
Mason, 31, a three-year resident of Taipei, said,” The first time I walked in to this place, I felt like I was back in my favorite bar in New York City, CBGB’s… expect the music was better. I think this place has the best music in the world.”
However, this doesn’t even come close to explaining the attrition on ROXY and why it meant so much to the community of foreigners and locals alike. It was best summed up by long-time patron Richard: “It’s magic.” [The owner] Lingwei has done something special here with the mix of people, music and atmosphere- why else would it have lasted ten years? It’s not trying to be an American bar or anything else- it’s just what it is.”