US Taiwan Defense Command: Bootleg Phonograph Records

Friday, April 3, 2009

Bootleg Phonograph Records

Jim Sartor recently made a comment about the record albums that you could buy at places like the Lin Kou Bookstore, shown here as it was in the 1970s. Someone else mentioned that the bookstore is now called "Caves."

Jim wrote:

Does anyone remember buying those knockoff LPs at the bookstore? They were 10NT each and were made in various colors and were transparent. We soon caught on that they were only good for a couple of plays before losing whatever quality they had. The secret was to buy them, take them home and immediately copy them onto your reel to reel tapes and then throw the LPs away.

I sometimes browse eBay for Taiwan related things and I just discovered that you can still find those bootleg albums for very little money (probably more than they're worth!). If you do a search on anything like "taiwan record" at the site, you'll likely find several like this one.

Note the "Xerox" quality photograph on the reverse side of the album cover. That was typical of any photos in the knockoff books as well.

3 comments:

Jim said...: I still have hundreds of them boxed up in the garage. We used to love how the Chinese "interpreted" the lyrics that were transcribed on the back cover in most cases. Some of them were so off base that we would sing the "alternate" lyrics just for fun. A Chinese classmate at TAS once told me that a lot of Taiwanese learned English by listening to Western music.
"Ray rady ray, ray acloss your big blass bed.."!; 21 April, 2009 15:30
Anonymous said...: I still have mine of the Beatles in Orange!! And of Course our band from the Teen club in Tien Mou from 1967. with thier hit Gotta get Bent mentioning Shelly Keach. Anyone remember her??; 10 August, 2009 00:33
JW said...: Hey Jim - should you ever want to unload those LP's or just reclaim space in your garage, feel free to hit me up, I'd pay your fair price for them. I collect these Taiwan pressings. Can't help it, Dad and uncles (4) started in during the Vietnam war, I just continued the collection.; 31 October, 2013 20:02

Overview

The United States Taiwan Defense Command was a sub-unified command which reported directly to the Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC). The command was composed of personnel from all branches of the U.S. armed forces and had its headquarters in Taipei.

Operational since November 1, 1955, USTDC was a planning headquarters for the defense of Taiwan and the Pescadores. In the event of hostilities, the Commander, USTDC, would have assumed an operational role and coordinated with the Government of the Republic of China in the defense of Taiwan and the Pescadores. In the event of such a contingency, three existing service commanders would have reported to the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command commander. The 327th Air Division commander would be the air component commander, the Taiwan Patrol Force commander would be the naval component commander, and the Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) would be the Army component commander.

In addition to planning and peacetime responsibilities, the Commander of USTDC was assigned as the Single Senior Military Representative of Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC). As such, he served as CINCPAC's single military spokesman on Taiwan -- exclusive of the miliitary assistance program -- and assumed responsibility for coordinating administrative and other policy matters for all U.S. armed forces on Taiwan on behalf of CINCPAC.

After twenty-three years, five months and twenty-six days of operation, the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command held its final flag retreat ceremony during the afternoon of April 26, 1979. Marine SSG D. J. Gemmecke lowered the colors for the last time.

Rear Admiral James P. Linder, the last USTDC Commander, departed Taiwan on April 28, 1979, accompanied by his wife Patricia.

Today there is no trace of the large American military compound on Chung Shan North Road in which USTDC was located. The area now contains a modern art museum, a park and a large sports stadium.

I am not a historian, but I do recognize that history unrecorded is history lost. My objective here is simply to record some of my own experiences as an Air Force enlisted man during my assignment to USTDC from 10 June 1973 until 4 September 1974, and to provide a platform for others to do the same.

Feel free to comment on any of these entries or to e-mail me with your own experiences and photographs. My e-mail address is displayed at the top and bottom of this column, or you can comment on any of my entries by clicking on "Comments" directly under each one.

Don Wiggins
SMSgt (Ret), USAF
Arkansas, USA
USTDC, J-12

Regarding Photographs

To the best of my knowledge, all photographs on this blog are either in the public domain or are displayed with the permission of their owners.

Owned photographs remain the sole property of the individuals who provided them. They are not to be downloaded, copied or reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of their owners.

Send all requests for consent to me, through the email link at the bottom of this column, and I will pass them along to the owner of the photographs.

If you see any photographs here, past or present, which you believe have been inappropriately posted, contact me at the email address shown at the bottom of this column and they will be removed.

USTDC

Friday, April 3, 2009

Bootleg Phonograph Records

3 comments:

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