Wyclef Jean @ MO bar

I had been chatting one day with DA and she was telling me about the TOHK launch party preparations. She was telling me that she had spoken to Wyclef Jean's promoter and they had offered to have Wyclef appear at the launch party and play a few songs as a surprise. But Wyclef would only be able to perform on 21 April, so she would have to pass since TOHK's launch was slated for 23 April. "What?" I shouted down the phone. "Move your launch date! Do you have any idea how cool it would be for Wyclef to show up and surprise the crowd with a few songs???" Anyway, to cut a long story short, DA tried to re-jig the gig, but in the end it was not meant to be.

Fortunately for me though, as a result, the TOHK got invites to the invite-only performance at Landmark Mandarin's MO bar last night (MO did a promotion earlier: for every HK$1,000 spent on Veuve Clicquot, they gave away a lucky draw ticket for a chance to win tickets for the night's show). I had only expected Wyclef to play an hour max. That was what he was supposed to do. In the end, he gave an awesome 2-hour performance! I was dancing in the wrong shoes and my feet were killing me, but it was worth it.

Wyclef is a great performer; he had the crowd all worked up and was constantly bringing people to the stage. At one point, he shouted, "I've found my Hong Kong Wyclef!" and dragged a guy up to the stage who then held his own in the rap-along. For all I know, it may have been a Canto-pop star, but I am hopeless at recognising them. The concert started pretty chill, with Wyclef on stage strumming his guitar. But then as he got into Sweetest Girl, he really amped it up and the crowd went crazy. He went from the stage to the top of the bar and, at one point, he was moving through the crowd sitting high on top of the shoulders of one of his crew members. The crowd loved it. He went through a bunch of songs from his latest album, Carnival Volume II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, some Bob Marley, old Fugees tunes, a very crowd-pleasing medley of 80s hits running from A-Ha (Take On Me) to Cyndi Lauper (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun), as well as songs he's done with other artists such as Shakira's Hips Don't Lie and Santana's Maria Maria.

Unfortunately, I only had my iPhone camera, which has no zoom and takes horrible photos in low lighting:

Chat with Desiree Au, TOHK Publisher

Hong Kong finally gets its own Time Out next Wednesday (23 April). Desiree and I go way back. All the way back to her days as a tai-tai journalist covering the arts beat of Hongkong Standard to her evolution into a hard-nosed, whip-cracking editor (typed with a ;-) of course), though never one to compromise on her sense of humour, style or fashions.

I have to blog about TOHK not because I know Desiree, but because, as fate would have it, Little Cream Life has a bit role in the story behind TOHK. Towards the end of 2006, I got an email from AF who had come across Little Cream Life while doing a search for Ingredients (the restaurant). I ended up planning her family's holiday and in the process she mentioned that her husband wanted to bring Time Out to Hong Kong. He was willing to invest, but did I know anyone suitable to get it off the ground, up and running. Basically, he needed a publisher and a team. I sat on it for a little while. At the time, I couldn't think of anyone and I wasn't sure how serious DE really was about the whole thing.

A few months later, AF mentioned it again. By that time, I knew Desiree had left her post as editor of SCMP's Sunday magazine and was finding life as a lady of leisure a bit dull. So I floated the idea to Desiree. While sceptical at first (those who have been in the biz have a healthy scepticism about the profitablity of starting an English-language magazine in a predominantly Chinese-reading city), Desiree agreed to meet DE at a group dinner I had actually organized for an out-of-town guest from Tokyo at China Club last May. DE & DA hit it off and the rest is history. Along the way, I've heard a lot of the birthing stories and am constantly amazed at what ingenuity, tenacity and just plain hard work she and her team have put into this whole endeavour. From the investors to the writers to the ad sales team, there has been no lack of passion driving them to deliver a Time Out magazine for Hong Kong that readers of TO London or New York City would expect. Just a week before TOHK launches with a party at The Pawn, I checked in with Desiree to see whether the office was a circus or war zone:

3:05 PM desiree: actually it's been amazingly calm. we've been pulling 14 hour days but everyone is still joking around'

3:06 PM think of it as gallows' humour, except i don't think anyone is getting executed

3:07 PM me: i think we're all pretty excited about TO finally landing in HK...how long did it take to get here?

desiree: the whole idea started back around May last year, at a small dinner

one thing led to another and we worked with the TO team in London for quite a while.

but the whole basic framework was started around december.

Then the team flew to London to work with the Time Out staff

3:09 PM me: actually, that's pretty lightening speed

desiree: We rented a huge flat and I felt like we were participating in some MTV reality show

well, you know what they say in HK, get this done by "yesterday"

so I guess we've already got the luxury of time

3:10 PM me: what was the funniest reality tv show moment

i.e. trailer moment

desiree: probably me in rollers in the morning

me: no way!!

desiree: i just refused to let any amount of shame get in the way of my hair

me: did the whole team see you in rollers??!!

desiree: hahahahahaahha

3:11 PM probably. but i had no choice

i get up pretty late in the morning and my routine usually encompass putting on my rollers and eating breakfast

let's just say my secret to bouncy hair is out

3:12 PM i have no idea how a conversation with a publisher about to launch a magazine led to hair. this is not good PR

me: who's "the team"?

desiree: well. the "team", and we are also an official football team as of today.......

the guys signed up to play league

me: of course it's good PR...you'll get ads for shampoo, hair salons, etc.

3:13 PM desiree: that wouldn't be half bad!

anyways, going back to the team - Paul Kay is the editor

me: you should post your football team's results in TOHK and open up for betting

hk's fave past time!

desiree: Angie Wong is at the helm of food/lifestyle

Clare Morin is the arts writer (we go way back at the scmp)

3:14 PM Dennis Lai , whom you also know, is art directing

me: yeah, me and Dennis go way back

desiree: and some new faces I've had the pleasure of working with!

me: way back to an obsolete mag

desiree: yeah. remember YA!

me: anyway, have to mention this whole fate/destiny thing

desiree: Actually i wrote two of my best stories for YA

one on Lee Lai Shan

3:15 PM and one on the founder of APC, Jean Touitou

remember?

me: wow, can't believe you remember...i hardly do...but this chat's not about YA

back to fate and destiny

since it's played such an interesting part in the birth of TOHK

desiree: totally amazing

me: what do you think is TOHK's destiny?

3:16 PM desiree: that's a loaded question

can u clarify?

do magazines have a destiny?

most of the time i get asked about "position" or "niche"

so this is a rather interesting question

me: of course! but they may not be immediately apparent...or perhaps your destiny in all this

i bring this up

because there are rumours that Asia City is selling

3:17 PM desiree: well. i don't know what TOHK's destiny is, but I do hope I make some $$ so I can eventually open an animal shelter

whatever I do in publishing, and i usually work pretty hard at stuff, is a means to an end

3:18 PM in the meantime, i hope the magazine will do some interesting features and champion some causes that may not be the most fashionable thing

although i stress that i still aim to do that while remaining fashionable.

i hope that doesn't make me sound too shallow

3:19 PM the fashion reference, i mean!

me: no, not at all...and since we are on fashion

desiree: hahahahaahhah

me: what will you be wearing on launch day?

desiree: oh, funny you ask. i've been thinking

i will attempt to dress in TO colours

red/black/white

i hope i won't look like an extra in High School Musical

3:20 PM me: i don't think you could even if you tried...haha

desiree: thanks for your compliment! it made my day!

me: oops...sorry...just realized that can be taken another way...but i meant it as a compliment on your style

rather than...

3:21 PM desiree: a girl can accomplish anything really, when sh'es got the right wardrobe.

oops typo

me: and hair!

desiree: YEAH, HAIR!

boy, i hope no one reads this.

me: just don't show up in rollers...otherwise, it'll be a bit like hairspray

desiree: i was hoping to engage in some deep conversation about arts and culture

me: this is culture, my dear

desiree: since it's so close to my heart, when i started as an arts reporter in 1994

3:22 PM thanks to YOU!

me: ok, enough...time's ip

up

desiree: ok

see you at the party!

me: it's gonna be a blast!!

desiree: look for the mascot in Red/white/Black

that would be me........

3:23 PM it will be a blast with all our friends and everyone who's been so supportive of TOHK

me: too bad wyclef's not gonna make his special appearance :-(

desiree: i can't thank them enough

yeah, he leaves the day before

but New Pants is cool!

u should watch them on You Tube

punk disco electronic

absolutely a blast to watch

For a special friends & family pre-launch annual subscription rate of HK$128, fill out the subscription form below:

2300 to midnight for Nokia

Last month, I got an email from AK (aka ChubbyHubby) who is guest editing a special book, commissioned by Nokia (incidentally, I just discovered Jan Chipchase's really cool blog about his really cool job conducting on-the-ground research for Nokia's design team), that "celebrates noteworthy people who are able to achieve that perfect balance between work and play". It will have a very limited print run of only 100 copies (I have no idea why they would go through all this effort just to do 100!). I found the concept of the book really fun and interesting. Basically, AK's job is to select 24 people and assign each person an hour of the day. I was assigned the hour of 2300-midnight and asked to submit a page that reflects or is inspired by that hour. Although a few days late, here's what I finally submitted with the help of BL's brilliant hand (I've always wanted to write like an architect, but sadly my penmanship is really quite appalling.).

My contribution is a nod to Joshua Yang's hexagonal, continuous-line drawing time cells (I've always had a thing for hexagons) and Christopher K. Ho's icosahedron time machines.

Macau Update: MGM Grand

It never ceases to amaze me what a quick, easy and increasingly attractive getaway Macau has become for us Hongkies. Caught the 6pm ferry over last night and came back after breakfast this morning. I stayed at MGM Grand, which opened last December. Wynn still gets my vote for the best rooms and overall experience, but I did have a wonderful, great service moment this morning while having breakfast in MGM Grand's Rossio restaurant. I noticed that the hot plate they were using for the buttermilk pancakes station is the same used for making crepes, so I asked the guy at the station whether he could make me some crepes, thinking it was just a matter of spreading less batter on. The guy wasn't sure, but asked one of the chefs who was passing by. The chef, AG, said it was possible.

I sat down to eat. When I finished the food on my plate, I noticed the chef was wandering around the open kitchen mixing up a fresh bowl of crepe batter from scratch! He didn't even have the wooden roller that spreads out the batter evenly into a large circle. So at one point, he had to tilt the hot plate to get the batter to spread. Anyway, was very impressed by this great service moment.


The rooms at MGM Grand are comfortable, but on the small side. The bathroom and bedroom are separated by a glass wall (curtains can be drawn shut over it). The casino has comfortable and probably the best-looking chairs, with the experience aiming more for Wynn intimacy than LVS scale (i.e. Sands or Venetian). Yet, Wynn is still steps ahead of the field in Macau. Everything from its signature scent that greets you the moment you step out of the taxi at the entrance to their large, plush rooms, the hip, lounge music to its spectacularly put-together Rotunda show (every half hour for 5 minutes) contributes to a more impressive overall experience. The only area where Wynn falls short is the quality of its restaurants -- competent, but not exactly exciting.