Like needing a shot of rhythm and blues, especially during these very uncertain times, we all need heavy doses of inspiration to get us motivated, because when this inspiration washes over you, it’s like a revitalisation and replenishment needed to go from surviving to living- really living. I’ve been thinking about this more and more, and how the more I am too often around those who don’t give me this nourishment, I retreat into a deep, dark void to listen to the silence, in

I know some extremely good and multi talented creatives in leading multinational advertising agencies- award winning Creative Directors- who have tried and failed to go the distance when trying to make horse racing something more than what it has been for decades and decades with a cherry on top and before the wheels coming off. Showing horse racing in its best possible light and in an ONGOING way seems to be mission: impossible and one probably knows why, but let’s not dwell

https://usasnews.com/posts/breaking-news-legendary-jockey-mike-smith-has-sent-the-entire-horse-racing-world-into-a-frenzy-afte-thanhtam/?utm_source=facebook Gawd knows there have been so many times when I have had to bite my tongue so hard to not burst out laughing listening to those who have no idea about the business model of the streaming service that’s Netflix thinking that that anything and everything produced, including horse racing, will be accepted. So very wrong, Ton

Those were the times and whether for better or worse, it’s what it was and depending on one’s career path, it’s what led us to wherever the hell we were going with no Google Maps to show us the way. Were we fraught with problems and danger and careful about where life took us? Not really, because as the Stones’ once sang, we were caught in a crossfire hurricane and it was alright, because there was nothing to compare it to- something was there and we had to try it no matter h

It seems like years since I have been to the Champagne Bar at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, and maybe it has even though I have actually not been there for a few months. I should because they have one of the best bona fide Jazz singer I have heard performing in Hong Kong. The real deal, so to speak. But, as always, it’s people who make a city and everything else… The Champagne Bar was our favourite meeting place for so many reasons. There was the convenience of the venue which was j

It really doesn’t take an Einstein to understand this, but during these days of “influencers” and influenzas and clodhoppers and KOLs and where so much of everything has been really really really dumbed down and me really really really being a music guy who has helped run the regional offices of Universal Music and EMI Music and worked with artists as diverse as Norah Jones and Gorillaz to Faye Wong and Jackie Cheung, and since the majority of the tourists to Hong Kong are to

With a new byline covering the New Year’s Day race meeting at Shatin and writing about “a slow start to the day” before a “festive atmosphere ultimately drew almost 50,000 spectators including nearly 10,000 from the mainland”, it was hardly any surprise for Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO and official cheerleader to describe the day as “terrific”. Written by someone named Mike Chan, we particularly liked reading this little morsel: “Meanwhile, a re

When you’re jaundiced and cynical, believe that you’ve seen and heard it all, and when you’re lost with Mr Bob in Juarez and it’s winter time, too, and negativity won’t pull you through somehow, and seemingly out of nowhere, this amazing talent comes along and puts your house of chaos into some semblance of order and with you able to focus on what truly matters and allow the peripheral clutter to dissolve into hot cocoa, because your personal Jesus is still looking after you.

She’s extremely knowledgeable, not only about cricket, but how her role in the game can help give back to others and which shapes and reshapes the world of cricket. Isa Guha is a game changer and she does this with humility, with no need for showboating and the work of her charity takeherlead.org  shows how inclusive and inspiring cricket can be. This has to do with this remarkable person’s integrity and poise, confidence and sense of humour of which she has plenty, something

Tourists or investors? It’s something of a chicken and egg question that seems to keep slipping through the Humpty Dumpty cracks when it comes to talking about the priorities in creating a financially secure and happy Hong Kong. Tourism numbers might look good, but where are most of the tourists from and do they have spending power? https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/article/66780/So-many-more-visit-but-spending-remains-weak Let me answer this: Whatever is said or w

When McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Paterson Street in Hong Kong, my then girlfriend, who became my wife and I were there with a McConga line of people including Commercial Radio disc jockey Mike Souza along with the always attractive Rebecca Ng. Rebecca’s husband and co-owner of the franchise in Hong Kong, Daniel Ng, was busy mingling with guests and cutting various ribbons. Being Creative Director with McDonald’s advertising agency Glenn Graphic, which evolved in

There were plenty of fireworks on the track during the Longines HKIR day at Shatin last Sunday. It’s tiring just thinking about it. There were the wins of Voyage Bubble, Romantic Warrior, the facile win that was almost an exhibition gallop by Ka Ying Rising- what did they beat?- a protester who nearly stopped the running of the Hong Kong Cup before being tackled to the ground, and the kinda odd Jesus Moment by the Club’s CEO who, as usual, described this year’s event, too, as

When everything else fails, there’s always music, and to be specific, the music of the Beatles with detours into their solo work and everything that’s out there today on YouTube about how they created and produced what they did all those years ago and never ages. A few days ago, out popped a lovely new video for George’s song “Give Me Love” that’s gorgeous. Maybe it’s even Georgeous. It’s not one of my favourite songs by “Hari Georgeson”, but watching the effort that the team

The reason why the standards of creativity have dropped is largely because those involved in the creative process that results in the creative product don’t know that standards have dropped. Somewhere along the way, the savvy and maverick thinking of “Mad Man” Don Draper, where many of his ideas and presentation skills were built around the innate ability to know how to read the room, and intuitively know where the pieces fit, most of which have disappeared from what used to

With Longines HKIR Week coming to a close for another year, came an idea pretty much out of left field, where horse racing in Hong Kong and the city itself could become more than the sum of its parts through cameras, lights, action, thundering hooves and storytelling creating a new brand personality for the city.  Back in the day, I would have suggested film directors with the status of a Steven Spielberg or China’s Ziang Yimou, below, be given a free hand to produce a ‘feel

Though loathe to use the word “stupid”, I will settle on “miraculously delusional” when writing about Wini, the Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO going out on a limb, and perhaps even clutching at straws, to make mention to the English racing media how the wins of the brilliant Hong Kong gallopers- Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior- gave Hong Kong- and the world- wait for it: Hope.  “The ‘poetry in motion’ of Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior’s emphatic victory made it a day of e

We come into this world alone and we slowly close the door and leave this world alone. In the middle is lots of, well, stuff, most of it unnecessary, but one often becomes a hoarder. Amongst all this could be some good stuff- like those who become lifelong friends. You might fall in love, marry, maybe you become a parent and you might reconnect with your own parents as you now understand them what they were going through so much better. When in your bed, you often enjoy being

“Being in Hong Kong, where it’s the favourite pastime of many, why not see how horse racing can help reintroduce Hong Kong to the world- or even reintroduce the world to itself- and be a medium of its own?”.  This was someone very close to me talking about today’s Hong Kong, yes, and also the “healing power” of people coming together. I was taking in all she said, but also trying to make light of it by saying that she was sounding like Barbra Streisand singing about “people w

Instead of writing about the 2025 Longines International Jockeys Competition and leaving this for the racing writers, something I wrote way back when about this night and the after party at Adrenaline caught my eye recently. It seemed far more interesting than anything I could write today.  These days, my interests are elsewhere, and when I do go racing, it’s not in Hong Kong, not for any other reason than there’s nothing and no one to attract me to the races, let alone most

“ Our money is being used in the wrong ways and we have no say in this matter!” -Hong Kong Belonger Hong Kong is looking for Hope and Happiness, and when not seeing even a glimpse of this it affects people in different ways, none of which is positive. Everyone will have ideas on how to create “awareness” of this problem, but awareness is not a cure. Cures for depression and anxiety and treating mental health aren’t going to happen overnight, especially to the elderly populati