DT in Singapore

DT in town for the Countdown party in Marina Bay. 2 online stories abt him:

Dec 30, 2010
David Tao's a Singapore homeowner
By Cheong Poh Kwan
TAIWAN'S newly-crowned Golden Melody King, David Tao is a homeowner in Singapore, and he plans to park more of his money in Singapore properties.
The only thing that has been stopping him from doing so, is the sky-high property prices here in recent years.
The Mandopop heavyweight, who is slated to perform a one-hour gig at the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown Party on Friday, said he is a cautious investor as he has learnt his lesson the hard way.
The 41-year-old revealed that he lost US$150,000 (S$194,000) overnight in the stock market 15 years ago, two years before he released his self-titled debut album in 1997. The established singer-songwriter will devote all his energy next year to make his first film, although he has yet to finalise the title of his directorial debut.
Then what about his alleged wedding plans in January? Has he really proposed to his latest rumoured belle Jian Bao Shan, a Taiwanese model who is 16 years his junior?
Catch David Tao's response on RazorTV.
(Reposted with thanks from Strait Times online)

There are 3 vids to enjoy on RazorTV & it's so nice to watch him chatting away in english for so long. His face looked a bit puffed, maybe jet lag. The ruffled shirt appeared again but it looked a bit better this time ^__^ Pixs here reposted with thanks from xinmsn as well as story below:

30/12/2010
David Tao quashes wedding rumours
Text and Photos: Joyce J. Chansingh
Video: Tay Yixuan
The 40-year-old bachelor, with a reputation for being quite the ladies man, slams Taiwan media and puts to rest the whirlwind of rumours about his impending nuptials to so-called girlfriend
"Do you think the media will ever write anything nice about you?" Taiwan singer-songwriter David Tao responded in all seriousness, "especially the media in Taiwan and Hong Kong."
In light of the recent rumours (reported by Taiwan media) that David will tie the knot in January with model Jian Bao Shan, who is 16 years his junior, the musician - known for his string of rumoured girlfriends - was quizzed on what the impact of the scandalous reports will have on his budding filmmaking career.
"They will never write anything positive about you. The media [in Taiwan and Hong Kong] basically just want to build you up and kill you," David deadpanned.
"So, I don't expect anything good to come out of them. There are only two words to describe my feelings for them - give up."
And so it turned out, the rumoured wife-to-be was merely "a friend" and the whole ball of yarn was nothing but media babbling without facts. According to David, the pair are not even dating, "I didn't even know that I'm getting married in January. You know, the Taiwan media just love to blow up things."
Looking dapper in a long-sleeved white collared shirt with black horizontal stripes tucked into stonewashed and fashionably tattered jeans, David Tao was in town to perform in an exclusive New Year concert showcase for Channel 5's countdown party Celebrate 2011 to be held at The Float @ Marina Bay.
"Don't stand too close to me when you come to Celebrate 2011 if you don't want the media to spin stories about us dating!" David said between laughter.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the 40-year-old looked a tad tired but was ever obliging to questions from the media.
Since the end of 2009, David has been talking about suspending his singing career and shifting his focus into making movies. And now it seems like his budding filmmaking career would finally come to fruition in 2011 - where the production of his directorial debut would be his focal point.
Referring to it as his "unborn baby and the only relationship he will be having in 2011", there will be "no personal life for me in 2011".
"It's always been my dream to make a movie. Planning has started this year so hopefully production can kick off in 2011," David shared, "but casting myself as the lead is not going to happen, probably just a minor role. Mainly, I want to keep to being the director and scriptwriter."
The genre of David's directorial debut has yet to be established but it will be either "a farce comedy or mind-puzzling thriller".
Watch video here!
Count down to the New Year with Celebrate 2011 at The Float @ Marina Bay, tickets from SISTIC or watch Celebrate 2011 'LIVE' on 31 Dec, 11pm on Channel 5.

DT still single

David looking really nice during 12/25 performance in Nanjing (not Shenzhen). He sang 3 songs - Wan Bu Liao, Susan says & Smalltown Girl. He also rebuked the rumor abt his marriage next year when interviewed onstage, saying he is still single. Some fans wondered why he didn't come out immediately to answer to the media but what's the point? The media is always looking to write these kinda stories anyway & those who want some cheap kind of exposure would try to make use of him. The best way is just to ignore them in case he himself is accused of trying to get some cheap media exposure. It's scary that he was only in Taipei for a few days & already the media could build up a whole story of courtship, proposal, 2-carat diamond ring & marriage.

Merry Xmas the DT way

Fabulous pix of David during a concert on 12/22 in Beijing. Love him when he is that focussed on singing & his hair all floppy *heart stop* Here he looked a bit dopey but like his checkered shirt & matching tie, vry chrismassy. These pixs were taken by a Chinese fan who attended the concert. Found them at a chinese Taozhe forum so all credit to them. David will also be spending Christmas at yet another largescale concert in China, this time in Shenzhen *sigh* as I say, at least he is busy & making money. Merry Christmas to all DT fans & what Christmas without DT's 1997 Bastard Remix

Marry DT next year

The latest rumor abt DT is that he is apparently getting married next month. It was said that he has proposed with a 2-carat diamond ring. Although his manager Hsu Tian-qi has publicly denied any knowledge of this, David has yet to make any comments. Anyway, if it's true then all will be revealed in Jan 2011 whether or not to congratulate our Dave *_* No name or pix of the intended here since it could be another case of unknown starlet/singer/dancer/model wannabe wanting her 15 mins of fame. Here's a page from Flyer Entertainment website full of DT vids to enjoy. Ironically it included 2 vids abt DT wanting to find a wife.

Unstoppable DT!

DT had been busy this weekend. He first sang in Chengdu on Fri, 12/10, then flew to Beijing the vry next day to participate in a charity concert with mostly HK stars like Nicholas Tse, Aaron Kwok & Leon Lau. Here you can watch them promote the concert. Also finally managed to solve the mystery of the hot pink thingy that had appeared on stage with him in a few of his concerts pixs. It's the logo of China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) which sponsored a few of his largescale concerts. I presumed his songs are probably available for download on their mobile network. It's a smart move on his part to collaborate with mobile companies in China since he doesn't plan to come up with a new album for quite a while. I managed to find a transcript of his sina page which he has been using instead of Twitter since he couldn't logon when in China where he stated vry specifically that he 'will not have a new album soon, busy filming!' *sigh* at least give us some new music, David, maybe release a single or two. Unfortunately this is the only page I managed to find as I think registering is essential before reading the rest of his comments but I really cannot understand how to register due to my bad chinese, vry sry. Anyhow, there is still enough interesting comments there. First the reason I found this page was that a lot of Taiwanese news online mentioned that DT had commented on Lien Sheng-wen, the son of Lien Chan, honorary chairman of Kuomintang party in Taipei, who was shot in the face recently but luckily survived. Basically all he said was to pray for him and his family and to condemn violence. It's extremely disturbing that a lot of news reporters are following his comments regularly & hopefully DT is aware of these newshound. Still it's wonderful that he is always aware of what is happening not only internationally but locally, & that he is even bothered to ask ppl to pray for the poor guy. Such a great man, don't you think? Then he recommended a movie he seen recently, Unstoppable, which is directed by Tony Scott, brother of Riley Scott, and starred the marvellous Denzel Washington. He said he liked the script and even though he didn't mention it, I think he must like the OST too cos it's vry much an integral part of the movie.

DT in Taipei

David was in Taipei yesterday to participate in a school event called 'Love Together' He will stay in Taiwan for a couple of days before heading back to China where he has more activities mainly largescale concerts. Ok not gonna comment on his attire but he seemed to like that ruffled shirt. Do men still wear ruffles? Remind me of Seinfeld's pirate shirt heheheheheheheh Holding his Esquire's Musician of the year award which is quite nice. Here's a fanmade mv for DT's Butterfly which is really gorgeous:

This song really calls to my soul. Feel so refreshed listening to it. Another youtube vid to enjoy is these two extremely popular Korean idols, Park Shin Hye & Jang Geun Suk, singing Marry Me Today when they held a concert in Taipei in October. Vry smart I think to pick this popular duet to learn to sing so most of their fans could sing along.

Musician of the year

Congratulations to DT for winning Esquire's Men of the year award for Musician of the year in Beijing, China. I really like the b/w ensemble he is wearing with the nerdy glasses. He looked pretty good although a bit on the thin side. However I wonder why DT did in 2010 for him to win this award. He didn't come out with an album, hold any concert or write a song or even help other singers in their albums. All he did was strum and sing backup for a famous badminton player, roused a 60,000 strong crowd to sing karaoke to I Love You, attended a few fan meetings and sang in a few large-scale concerts all over China. I suppose the fact that he is still visible and in demand despite not coming out with any new music would make him a certifiable evergreen in chinese popmusic. Even now he could easily draw an audience coming from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, USA and maybe even some from Europe. His music is still accessible to young and old, man and woman, east and west. I think that an achievement enough and heck who cares, we accept the award for you anyday, David *__*
Anyway here are some after the event interview clips to enjoy:
Clip1
Clip2
Get the feeling that he would rather win the award for director of the year heheheheheheh Here he is looking suave with Meng Qian, a beautiful Chinese actress who is supposedly the goddaughter of Chow Yun Fat. Here's the rest of the Esquire award winners and DT's pre-award interview where he quoted "It’s not the clothes that make the man. It’s the man that makes the clothes." - so DT. In November, DT had also been to Yiwe, Zhejiang, for a fan meeting as well as held a mini-concert sponsored by M-Zone. Loving the banner, it looked kinda huge. I think maybe the management at Gold Typhoon is kicking themselves for not doing more to keep DT in their stable of stars. He certainly is more visible and has a lot more activities than the singers they are managing. So really it's not that incredible that he won an award for Musician of the year. You go, DT!

DT in Hangzhou

David singing Rain in Hangzhou on 11/27 among girls dancing with umbrellas. Quite strange b/w pix, almost like he was performing in a musical - Singing in the rain ^__^ Anyway he sang 4 songs - Rain, Who do you love?, Susan says & I Love You. Here's vid for Susan says & I Love you which gotta see. It was just fabulous when he stepped into the crane-cage thing which slowly rose above the heads of the audience. You could heard gasps & he really did well to stay in tune while the thing was moving. It was so cute to see him encouraging the audience to singalong & then running wildly around the stage like it was the ending to his personal concert rather than the 2nd act in a largescale concert. In fact I think it must have been a highlight of the concert as some articles headlined '60,000 people sang along to I Love You'. The vid for Who do you love? also showcased his mighty vocals, he sang much louder than the backing track. However as usual with DT, he messed up quite a lot of the lyrics *sigh* He did say the only song that he usually didn't mess up is I Love You. One interesting thing abt this concert was that initially some spectacular gimmicks were planned for the opening of the singers but later the organisers held a press conference to say that they had decided to tone it down due to concerns abt the singers' safety. This probably cos of the unfortunate accident involving Selina Jen of SHE and Chinese actor, Yu Haoming. They were badly burned when a series of planned explosions went horribly wrong during the filming of the TV drama “I Have a Date with Spring". Much sympathies to both of them who are recovering but it must still be extremely painful. I feel so bad for delicate Selina. She is such a lovely girl who had a small crush on DT a few years back. Luckily she has a very supportive family as well as a loving fiance. Hopefully DT will remember to send her flowers and that guidelines will be set from now on for filming of dangerous scenes in China.

Badminton & Adoration

David strummed & sang backup for Bao Chunlai in Hunan last mth. Bao Chunlai is a highly ranked international badminton player in China, but not as highly ranked or as famous as his compatriot Lin Dan. Why do male sports star in China like to sing? Anyway clip of him singing DT's Ordinary Friend while DT played his guitar. He seemed vry nervous at the start but did quite well. A little late but my review of DT's short music movie 暗恋 (Adoration). If you haven't seen it, watch here first if you don't want any spoilers. Mostly I like it & I think it did showcased a little DT's potential as a director. Also I'm glad he got this story which could be considered semi-autobiographical out of his system before his first movie. I think the love story in the hair salon could be his idea for the musical. If it was, I sincerely hope he had discarded it as it was very cliqued & not vry good material for a movie. I mean come on, boy wannabe rock singer romanced cute girl in salon, gave her ticket to his first successful live performance in club. How clique could you get for a musical?
The story behind Adoration was much better & flowed really well with various flashbacks. The story is very simple & followed various brief meetings between David and Cheryl Yang played by Cheryl Yang herself over a long period of time. Fairly obvious from the beginning that David adored Cheryl but was rejected in a vague sort of way by her when she stopped short of giving him the last 3 digits of her phone no. Both of them went on to have successful careers which were revealed when they next met in a store. David was browsing car magazines but secretly picked up a magazine with Cheryl on the cover. Before that Cheryl heard DT's latest album on the radio in a cab. While they were talking, a pretty young female approached David and it was obviously his girlfriend although he tried to deny by saying they were 'just friends'. It was vry telling here that although David claimed to 'adore' Cheryl secretly but he didn't try to pursue her again nor hesitate to have relationships with other women. There's a scene which I really like when Cheryl who was having drinks with her friends looked across the glass window and was stunned to see DT riding a motorbike to a shoestore opposite. He was there to meet up with his girlfriend who was buying shoes. The forlorn expression on Cheryl's face seemed to say it all. Why is this man who claimed to 'adore' me & even wrote a song for me, doing with another woman? Then DT also noticed Cheryl & he stood still for a minute looking at her. It seemed fated that they chose to remain in their own separate worlds. Earlier DT was seen to call someone on his mobile after daydreaming of Cheryl and Cheryl answered but of cos, he was not calling her but his girlfriend cos remembered he didn't have her phone number. In between there was some interviews, behind the scenes and filming of 2 mvs - Summer Love Triange & RE DT. Then DT was seen filming Marry Me Today mv and Cheryl came to check up the church for a wedding presumedly hers.
Finally DT was woken up by his father so he showered *__* & dressed up smartly in a black suit. It was assumed that he was attending Cheryl's wedding. This part is quite jarring to me cos his house was shown to be full of Cheryl's images from photo displayed to pixs he cut out from magazines on his mirror. It seemed vry obsessive & quite contrary to DT's cautious behavior. But I supposed he wanted to drive home his secret 'adoration" for Cheryl. It was a funeral that DT was attending & Cheryl was the matron of honor in the wedding opposite. Once again they met and Cheryl at last tried to reach out by taking David's hand to give him the final 3 digits of her phone no. However, DT was shaken by her action as it meant his beautiful 'adoration' of her would ceased and quickly took back his hand. We would probably never know who DT was secretly 'adoring' for so long but it didn't matter because it was fairly obvious he wasn't in love. He was only in love with the idea of a love that was so perfect and pure that it would last forever. It was pathetic and selfish I suppose but for David, love was this elusive thing that he didn't have the courage to capture. I like that the behind the scenes of the movie kinda carry on the adoration theme. There were suggestions that Cheryl maybe the one David was secretly adoring, not real of cos but it was a nice touch. At the end of RE DT mv, Cheryl on the stage said out loud that she had been waiting 40 yrs for David to call while David who was sitting below immediately took out his mobile to call her & ask her out for dinner. If only life & love was so easy. I think if the Adoration script had been revised & expanded, it would actually made quite a nice movie. Some of the scenes are really well done & beautifully shot. The chemisty between David and Cheryl is spot on and throughout the movie, you kinda hope they will get together even though you know they won't. So thumb up to DT on his first effort on film.

DT redux

Stewart Mac is an English singer who released an album titled I Love You - an english redux of DT's most famous love ballad. You can listen to it at Stewart Mac's official website. It got a vry nice big sound & here are the lyrics:

I Love You
There was once a broken man
Who walked a lonely road
And gave up all his dreams
And I was once this broken man
Who stared into the sun
And just refused to see
I was the lost amongst the clouds that wouldn't fade?
I was looking for an answer
I was searching but I didn't take the time
I was down and out and feeling so afraid
I love you
The way that you turned me round
And chased away my blues
I love you
The way you changed my world
When I'm with you
Love may come and love may go
And now its here to stay
Forever and a day (With you)
And when I see you smile
I fall into your eyes
Don't ever fade away
I need you here to make
The dark clouds drift away
And to make the mornings bright again
I'm right here for you
There's nothing what to say
I'm just happy that you're mine
I'm here to stay
I love you
The way that you turned me round
And chased away my blues
I love you (yes I do)
The way that you changed my world
When I'm with you
It doesn't matter where you're from or where we're going
As long as you're with me all the way
And the night's no longer lonely
I'm waking up to find a brighter day
I love you yes i do
The way that you turn me round
And chased away my blues
I love you
The way that you changed my world
When I'm with you
Music by David Tao, lyrics by Hans Ebert, sang by Stewart Mac

Interesting thing is the lyrics were written by Hans Ebert, a rather influential man in the HK music industry. It was claimed in this fascinating website abt HK popmusic history that he was the one who coined the term 'cantopop'. There you go 2 degrees of separation via DT *__*
By the by, everytime I post abt Ai Hen Jian Dan, there's always someone popping up to claim that David plagarised from some song or other. I don't know, there are a couple, basically they can't even made up their mind which song. Anyway I don't know what problem you have with DT but I'm not interested. Do you think that Hans Ebert who is an expert in the chinese music industry would write lyrics for a plagarised song? So go crying to him if you are so sure you are right, I am pretty sure Hans has Twitter or Facebook acc & quit following me.
Back to more pleasant things like this mawkish pix of him holding his CCTV-MTV best male singer award and his performance of Your Song *sigh* I have forgotten how much I love Your Song. It has the same heart-tugging feel of I Love You.

Party all nite with DT!

Alrite people, our fav boy will be coming to this part of our world soon, very very very soon ^__^ On 11/24 he will be at the AFC Annual Awards 2010. Ok, so what is AFC? It's all abt Asian football of cos *__* & if you have watched Ultrasound docu, you will know that DT likes playing football:

David Tao set to light up AFC Awards night
Friday, 19 November 2010 09:47
Kuala Lumpur: Chinese Taipei singer and lyricist David Tao is set to light up the AFC Annual Awards 2010 on November 24 when he performs before select dignitaries and television viewers around Asia.
The Awards Night, at the Grand Ballroom of the Sunway Hotel Resort and Spa in Kuala Lumpur, is being held to celebrate the best in Asian football, with Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak among the winners as the recipient of the AFC Diamond of Asia Award.
Tao has popularised his rhythm and blues and hard rock tunes in the Mandarin popular music industry.
Hailing from a family of entertainers, Tao started his career writing songs and producing them for many singers before releasing his own album ‘David Tao’ in 1997.
He has since released five more albums – I’m OK, Black Tangerine, The Great Leap 2005, Beautiful and Opus 69 - a live concert recording and a compilation of his best songs.
He is also a major live act and his concerts are almost always sold out.
(Reposted with thanks from the-afc.com)

Then Singapore get to count down on New Year's Eve with DT!!!!!!!!!!

Win a pair of tickets to Celebrate 2011 with David Tao
We have 10 pairs of tickets for the biggest countdown party happening on The Float at Marina Bay this New Year’s Eve!
Hosted by Michelle Chia and Gurmit Singh, Celebrate 2011 promises a star-studded evening at Marina Bay on Dec 31, with performances by Malaysia's Hip Hop group One Nation Emcee, Singapore Idol Sezairi Sezali and local artistes Sylvia Ratonel and Jack & Rai.
Expect to see a special performance from Taiwanese singer-songwriter David Tao as well!
DJs Will and Kennerve from Zirca will also be spinning your favourite hits right after a spectacular fireworks display at the stroke of midnight!
It's going to be seven hours of non-stop partying!
Details:
What: Celebrate 2011
When: 31 December 2010, 8pm to 3am
Where: The Float @ Marina Bay
Get your tickets at $38* at www.sistic.com.sg from Nov 23.
*10% discount for students, NS men, senior citizens, URA & MediaCorp staff.
(Pic & article reposted with thanks from xin.msn.com)

Okaaaaaay, it seemed he is managing himself vry well after leaving Gold Typhoon altho not too crazy abt that fact that he is mostly a hired singer but hey at least he is working ... & singing very well as seen on this clip of him performing Smalltown Girl in a concert sponsored by Vim Global, a mobile company in China, in Zhuzhou, Hunan on 11/6. He is sure getting around China alot heheheheheh

DT & Hairspray

Liking my new layout very much indeed. Was gonna put a background but decided just to leave it B/W - nice & simple. So while waiting for David's movie *sigh* I thought maybe I'll enliven the blog with some movie news. Starting with the movie most anticipated in Jan 2011:
Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmasters. Just posters & no trailer yet but it certainly has generated a lot of buzz. Tony Leung is of cos Ip Man so the question is will Bruce Lee put in an appearance and if yes, who plays him? I think it gonna be Cung Le, a well-known martial arts world champion who has appeared in both English & Chinese movies. He does has some physical resemblance to Bruce Lee and he is obviously the real thing as far as martial arts is concerned. The movie will also apparently be the real thing as far as kungfu fighting is concerned and there will be NO 3D yah!
In other DT news, he will performing in a largescale concert in Hangzhou on 11/27. Alrite both DT & Jay has similar hairstyle but I like DT's better cos it kinda natural & floppy but Jay's looked like serious hairspray OD heheheheh

DT rocking the Asian Games!

David was at the Asian Games 2010 Opening Ceremony on 11/12 in Guangzhou, China. He performed one of the theme songs, Sunshine Again, with Wei Wei and Tan Jing from China, Joey Yung from Hong Kong and Kim Hyun Joong from Korea. Unfortunately he didn't write the song which would have made it more amazing for me. However he did look wonderful & his voice was as ever melting. Watch @ youtube:

Just so great to watch & listen to him sing. His hair is longer which I like vry much. Also belated congratulations to him for winning Best male singer (Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan) at the 10th CCTV-MTV Music Awards held in Beijing last month. Below, he kinda strutted the red carpet ^__^
He hasn't been updating Twitter as he couldn't access it from China where he is at the moment. He gave as an alternative a chinese blogsite in Sina but unfortunately you have to register. Still I am glad he is keeping busy and hope to hear news abt his movie soon.

What has DT been up to?

Pix of the month *__* An adorable DT chatting in earnest to actress Zhou Xun. He looked like he is in director mode here.
Not really digging his camouflage-print shirt but the expression is cute. These 2 pixs are from DT's favorite watch, IWC, promo function this month.
9/19 singing at a large-scale concert in Chengdu, Sichuan. Again not sure abt the hot pink tee but love to see the familiar DT singing pose ^__^
10/8 he has another large-scale concert in Jinan, Shandong.

Here are some vids from Taipei Tedx he attended last month featuring both english & chinese interviews:

DT @ Taipei Tedx

David was guest speaker for Tedx Taipei last Saturday. He looked smashing as usual. Watch vid @ Sina or youtube. Still so charming hehe Hope he come up with his movie soon *sigh* By the by the Sina website also has vid of press con after GMA where Eason joked that David shouldn't win as his songs weren't that good then clarified that he was a great fan of DT.
There was accusation that a drunken Eason claimed he should have won as he felt that 69 David Tao was not a good album. I think this should clear things up. Eason Chan's album whose name I don't even know was not nominated for best album, in fact none of the albums of the singers nominated for Best Male Singer in GMA this year had their albums nominated for best album. So I don't know why people were complaining that David shouldn't win cos his albumn wasn't nominated. So in that case, no one would win for best male singer *shrug* Who cares anyway? Just get over it, David won fair & square.
Was watching E News yesterday & saw Maggie Q who will soon be seen in Nikita on American TV & Priest in American theaters. So is the Zhang Ziyi era over? Normally she would be the go-to kungfu girl for these 2 roles. Still Maggie did look terrific & she speaks better english. So good luck to her!

The GMA controversy

Wow, seems like our Dave is once again having a butterfly effect on the chinese music industry despite his absence. After the furore abt falsified news reports, now no less a personage than a CEO of a record company has waded into the GMA controversy.
The whole thing is just so hilarious. Honestly who can remember who win in GMA anymore? Is it that important? Apparently there were also complaints abt A-Mei winning so many awards. Personally I think she deserved it cos out of the many albums released last year, hers was the only one (apart from DT of cos hehe) that I remembered. Although the songs were not as memorable as her earlier albums, her voice and performance still hit the right note. She has lost none of that raw energy and verve that made her such a powerful singer. She reminded me what good singing is all abt and surely that should be rewarded.
The sad thing is that for once this year GMA nominated a good range of singers and songs that were outside of the mainstream. For eg, the best band award went to real indie band 1976. There seemed less pressure to award based on popularity and crowdpleasers. It could also be the reason why David won. While it is true that 69 David Tao is not his best album, it's still an excellent Chinese album with creative songs, great production and superb singing. Just cos it falls outside the mainstream and did not have a monster hit song like Marry Me Today doesn't mean it's a bad album, my dear Eason Chan.
Still I do think it's kinda rude and unprofessional to blurt out misinformation abt the voting process forcing GMA to go public and dragging WaWa into the controvesy. The article made it seemed that she was not in the voting panel cos she had worked with David closely and could be biased. As for not attending GMA, David too was not present to receive award for Best Album for The Great Leap and Best Song for Marry Me Today. Nobody complained then so why complain now? Well, anyway at least we know now that he is no longer with Gold Typhoon.

A little respect please

David has been forced to come out with his own true version on what he was doing during the night of the GMA ceremony. Spurious taiwanese news report claimed that he had been spotted drunk with female companion in a Singapore nightclub. I don't know, maybe that's why I am so tired of chinese entertainment and hardly bother to watch it at all.
Then there's all that bitching abt his winning the award. I don't know why he gets it all the time. Remember when Marry Me Today won best song, the amount of vitriolic comments he and Jolin Tsai received was just beyond belief. They didn't ask to be the winner, it was given to them. Just like David didn't even think that he was going to win best male singer this year. He got 10 votes, Eason Chan got 7 votes, the others didn't even count, so he won fair and square.
The best singer award is not about who has the best album but who is the best singer. I think Jacky Cheung was nominated once when he didn't even had an album out but based on his concert performances. Maybe David didn't have the best album but his singing in the album and all his concert performances last year were certainly among the best that Mandarin pop entertainment has to offer.
I am so tired of all the other idols fans always bitching when their idols didn't win. DT fans have never ever complain when he didn't win, we are just glad when he does win. Awards to us and to him never really mean a lot. I think David says it best when he reasons that while he respects that everybody has the right to criticise but they should also respect the opinions of the judges, the winners as well as the non-winners since everybody concerned had put in their best efforts.

2010 Best Mandarin Male Singer

At last, maybe it's a sympathy vote since it could be a long while before David release another album but the Golden Melody judges finally gave him the award they should have given him a few albums back - Best Mandarin Male Singer. I will be honest here cos in my opinion 69 David Tao was not his best work. His voice was excellent but the passion was not 100% like in his debut album, I'm OK or Black Tangerine. But hey I take the award for him anytime *__*
He richly deserved it. Dear David, congratulations! So happy for you. DT did not attend the ceremony as he was busy with his movie which I am so looking forward to seeing.

Mad dogs and David Tao

Dear, dear, David getting harassed by hungry news reporter again as he tweeted testily. Ah well, the life of a celebrity ^__^ Yah my first post of 2010! Sorry but wasn't too motivated as not listening to Chinese pop at all, or catching up with entertainment news either. Anyway belated congratulations to David for getting Most Popular Hong Kong and Taiwan Male Singer Award in Baidu Hot Point Awards during Feb. I am sure he was extremely thrilled with that (sarcastically heehee).
A very nice interview in english @ nanzinc complete with youtube vid & pixs. Posted here just in case that page disappeared:

Celebrated singer-songwriter David Tao heads for Singapore on 8 January 2010, for his highly anticipated new concert. The 40-year-old (very eligible) bachelor released his new album earlier this year Opus 69, so you can expect to hear new songs as well as DT’s favourite songs from the ’60s and ’70s. He tells us more in this exclusive interview.
NANZ INC.COM: You recently released your album Opus 69. What do you personally like best about this album?
DAVID TAO: This is not an album I tried to make; but an album I’ve always wanted to do. It is music that originated from my roots. When I was writing it, I knew that it was not an album everyone could accept. But I did it anyway, because to me, I don’t make music to make the masses happy, to be honest. I hope they’re going to like it. But I don’t pander to the market. If I don’t enjoy making an album, or I make an album for a purpose, i.e. making it very karaoke-friendly, I would be so bored. I had so much fun making this album. It was as if I wasn’t working at all. I was very happy throughout the journey of Opus 69.
NI: As a singer as well as life in general – have you finished a lot of things on your life’s to-do list? What remains that you really want to do?
DT: I think I need a wife. (Ha ha). Career-wise, I will move on to film-making. In fact, this is going to be the last show for a while, the last album for a while. I fulfilled my contract. This is my sixth album, my 4th concert tour. I’m finally done with all my albums, all my obligations. I feel like a free agent now. It’s like I put down a huge burden but will undertake a bigger responsibility – film-making. Movies are complicated. I believe just doing movies alone will take up so much time that I will not be able to do other things. And I want to be involved totally in film-making. Maybe if I’m the director I might not appear in the show. Perhaps a small cameo only but I’m realistic about it. I study film directing in college so this is my forte. I give myself ten years. I don’t expect a big hit, Oscars or penetrate Hollywood. I just hope that when I’m 50, I will be an accomplished director. I want to do my part in the story, that’s all I ask for.
NI: We’re excited that you’re back for a concert. What will be the highlights? Can you give us a sneak preview?
DT: It’s going to be like a rock concert, inspired to be named “The Rock and Talk Show”. We’re going to have a small tight band of five, including myself. I have always wanted to do a show, cutting down on people on stage because the more people on stage the more cluttered the sound becomes. Another reason is I want to bring back the whole band kind of sound. The “Rock” part of “The Rock and Talk Show” is as if I’m going back to high school – I used to play in bands. It brought back a lot of high school memories playing songs from ‘60s and ‘70s. The “Talk” part is the sharing part of the show. One of the things that is very different about this show is that I’m not looking for a huge venue. I’m not going for a huge audience, even though we are going to be playing at the Indoor Stadium this time. I limited the size of the audience in the show. The larger the venue sometimes affects the way the programme is structured – the things you say, the things you share — so the whole scope of the show becomes different. The Taiwanese media asked me if I’m worried for ticket sales. I said I enjoy doing a smaller one, and doing a smaller show actually makes it tougher for me. I have to do more shows in different cities. And it’s not all my songs; I’m going to sing a lot of songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s that have influenced me. I think that is also what is different about this show.
NI: One for the ladies: What would your ideal wife be like?
DT: I think someone who is very logical, very understanding, and communicative. I like a person who will share what they feel and not withhold it. I’d rather she just speaks her mind and say, “I’m not happy about this. Let’s talk about it.” I feel that’s the way to work things out in a relationship; to be able to sit down and talk about it.
If I were with someone who needs a lot of care, I will be the provider. I will be, sometimes, even doting. But if I were with somebody who can be a provider and can take care of me, I will play another role in the relationship. I think it really depends on who you’re with.
I would prefer an independent girl. I don’t think somebody who is too clingy would be good. I don’t think it will work, just the fact that I’m so busy. I’m always on the run. I’m always working. Obviously that’s not something that I would want in a relationship, so I think that’s something I’m trying to change too — to be more stable, more settled. But I don’t think having a wife who is too clingy would be beneficial anyhow.
NI: You were born in 1969. You just turned 40 not too long ago. How do you see your life right now?
DT: In a way, I am now trying to simplify my life. I’m trying to not be geographically at too many places. I’m now trying to reorganise my schedule and my life. I like living on the edge and that’s the reason why I like cars and motorcycles a lot. If I don’t feel the fragility of life, I think, for me I will become lazy. Music is kind of a strange thing for me. I’m not the kind of person who would play music at home, or when I’m driving. But there can be times when I really, really need to listen to something. And specifically I would mean rock and roll, classic rock and roll from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Something I don’t really have but will need, is a base, a foundation, a home, a sense of being somewhere and being needed by somebody. Right now, that sense of belonging is the thing I really lack now.
NI: What do you think the audience will look forward to the most at this concert?
DT: In this show, besides my own songs, I will be singing songs that influence me from the 60s and 70s and other classic rock songs. Actually, almost throughout the whole concert I will be playing the guitar. To me it’s a very challenging show. I need to play the guitar and sing at the same time, something that I have never done this much before. But I’m thrilled because it brings me back memories that I would like to reminisce with my audience. There will be one section where it’s just me and my guitar. One guitar, one David Tao. I will introduce some new things, the songs that I grew up listening to. The whole stage layout will be like that – a cozy living room from the ‘60s and 70s. So I hope everyone at the concert will experience the 60s and 70s kind of feel and sharing that close-knit connection. Whatever that comes to my mind I will talk and share about. That’s the beauty of this concert. It’s like just coming to my house to hang out – it’s that personal.
(Interview credit & thanks to nanzinc.com)

10 years huh, Dave? So guess my blog will be around for a while. Found a recipe blog for Kung Pao Chicken which mentioned DT. No matter whether you will be successful as a director, but to be mentioned in conjunction with a popular chinese dish, I think that's rather cool. It's why I am still your fan.