Wu Bai press conference

When I got to class this morning, I got an SMS from Charlene telling me that Wu Bai would be having a press conference at 2:00 p.m. at Ximen and that Shun (one of the guys in our fan group) was here in Taipei and would show me where. So, of course I decided to go! (Note added 7/2/05: The press conference was basically just an advertisement for a show coming up in August that includes Wu Bai & China Blue, Bobby Chen, Baboo, and some others. I'm not going because the ticket is $80 US and WB&CB will only perform for about 20-30 minutes, so not worth it to me. Here's a link, but it's in Chinese: http://tw.news.yahoo.com/050701/4/20k81.html

I invited Kieko and Hiyoshi to go along with me, since I've been trying to convert both of them, ha. We went to grab some food at the Yamazaki Bakery in the basement of the Far East department store, enjoying being out of the very, very, very hot sun. I tried something they called a "Japanese pizza" and it was darned tasty - and only cost $1.00 US. At 1:30 we headed over to where Shun was waiting for us, and he took us to the place where the press conference would be.

After waiting for a short while, along with other fans who showed up, Shun grabbed me and said, "Wu Bai's here!" We could see that Wu Bai and his entourage (headed by his wife, as usual) had entered the back door, but in the center of the building was a cafe area with a curved glass wall, which made it difficult to see through. We expected the group would just go up the back stairs, but all of a sudden, they were headed toward us. Wu Bai was wearing a very bright yellow shirt and (of course) his sunglasses. He followed closely behind his wife and passed so close to me that I think he actually brushed against me! My first thought was, "That hair is dyed!" and I found out later from an un-named source that Wu Bai does indeed dye his hair ;) Anyway, they went by so quickly that there wasn't time for more than a fleeting glimpse of the man. Darn.

I had expected that this press conference would be a public event, but it turned out that it really wasn't, so mostly we were just hanging around downstairs with nothing to do. I kept apologizing to Kieko and Hiyoshi for dragging them along for nothing. Finally, some of the fans went up the stairs, so I followed and was able to see just a little of what was going on. Wasn't much, they had Wu Bai and some other guys poking their heads through a big cardboard cut-out with cartoon bodies drawn on it. What a surprise to see the funny guy from the Tuesday night show at The Wall there, too! I didn't have a very good view, because a camera was set up right where it was blocking Wu Bai's face.

When the press conference broke up, the fans waited around outside for Wu Bai to leave. Did I mention it was hot? It was hot. Too hot for me to be willing to stand around just to see Wu Bai come out a door and get into a car. So, after waiting for about 20 minutes, I left. I mean, what's the point, huh? It's not as if he's going to stop and chat with us or anything. I hope the die-hards who stayed and waited got a worthwhile glimpse of him!

Now I really need to make it up to Kieko and Hiyoshi for being such good friends and patiently waiting along with me. I know it's always kind of fun to see a star, even if one is not a huge fan of that star, but I still think it must have been pretty boring for them. Hell, it was boring for me, and I love the guy!