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HONG KONG AND A HEADY NEW MIX

By Hans Ebert
@HansEbertMusic
Visit: www.hans-ebert.com

Coming soon.
Mix.

Changing musical and other
Made In Hong Kong scenes
by
Hans Ebert

It’s not LIKE starting with a clean slate. It IS starting with a clean slate. And a different mindset. About using everything you already know, sometimes the hard way which are the best life lessons, but adding new ingredients into the mix. Breaking from tradition. Moving away from déjà vu. Moving into déjà nouveau. Leaving Juarez when it’s Easter time, too. When gravity falls and negativity won’t pull you through.

Hong Kong today is finding it hard to move forward. Too often, its own past keeps it from letting go of what once was. It’s like a long term relationship.

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DOUGLAS WHYTE

By Hans Ebert
@HansEbertMusic
Visit: www.hans-ebert.com

He needn’t have done it. But he did. Made the time to come up to Adrenaline after the races on Wednesday night with two owner-friends to just give me a gift he had promised.

Well, it wasn’t “just” anything. It was a great gesture of friendship, thanks and said much about Douglas Whyte- to make the time and effort to personally hand me his saddle and goggles from his last day as a rider. And being Douglas, he insisted on wrapping the goggles around my eyes to create a weird Robocop vibe.

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Looking back and moving forward with Carlos Santana.

By Hans Ebert
@HansEbertMusic
Visit: http://www.hans-ebert.com

It’s not how he plays it, it’s what he plays. He keeps things to a minimum. Like that sustained one note that goes right through you like a journey to the centre of the earth. It’s like how one picture is worth a thousand words. It’s always been about the simplicity of what he sends out- vibes, love, pictures for the mind.

Guess one can say the same thing about any of the great, especially Rock, guitarists, but there’s still only one Carlos Santana because he’s really in his own sphere. Even when going Pop in 1999 to give his career the commercial boost it needed following advice from Arista label chief and the very influential Clive Davis with “Supernatural”, it was that trademark guitar sound which carried a track like the hit “Smooth”.

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THE MOBILE PHONE: YOU REALLY CAN LIVE WITHOUT IT. PROMISE.

By Hans Ebert
@HansEbertMusic
Visit: http://www.hans-ebert.com

The first reaction is one of panic. Good Gawd, both my iPhones are not recharging! The batteries aren’t going to last for much longer! I have to tell people that this is happening! What if my phones have died on me? What about all my drafts?!!! My photos!!!

So, while having a Yeezy moment, the girlfriend looks at my meltdown and calmly says, “Baby, you’re not breathing. You must breathe. You’re having an anxiety attack about nothing. And can you buy yourself some new underpants? There are holes in what you’re wearing. Never mind. I’ll buy them for you.”

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IF IT’S STARING YOU IN THE FACE, THAT’S THE ANSWER

By Hans Ebert
@HansEbertMusic
Visit: http://www.hans-ebert.com

Sometimes there’s a hit- not the kind where you’re smacked- staring you in the face, but for some reason, many being paid the Big Bucks to identify these are looking elsewhere. Again, it’s more proof of a world continuing to be dumbed down. But thinking it’s being smart.

One has to only look at social media and the silliness that goes on in this pretty faked up world. Forget the numbers that don’t add up. No, let’s not.

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THE ENIGMA THAT IS TERESA TENG

By Hans Ebert
@HansEbertMusic
Visit: http://www.hans-ebert.com

It’s become show biz shtick throughout most of Asia: have a non-Chinese perform “The Moon Is Like My Heart,” also known as “The Moon Represents My Heart”, the mega-hit for the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng, undoubtedly the most revered Chinese recording artist ever.

The popularity of Teresa Teng transcends generations- as does “The Moon Is Like My Heart”. As a non-Chinese, but an Asian, all one can say is that Teresa Teng is the Chinese answer to India’s Asha Bhosle, the grandmother of Hindi music- iconic, and legendary. But with a far more complex personal life with strong political beliefs.

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ATTRACTING BRANDS TO HORSE RACING (AND THE RE-BRANDING OF HORSE RACING)

By Hans Ebert
@HansEbertMusic
Visit Hans-Ebert.com

Those in advertising and especially those who were in advertising when it was booming and everything seemed possible know all too well that nothing lasts forever.

When at DDB, we produced enough award winning work for McDonald’s that would fill around a thousand McHappy Meals. TC- Transaction Count- was up, and everything was up. We had taught the world the Big Mac Challenge, convinced customers to describe McDonald’s fast food outlets as restaurants and sold the mantra about the McQualities of Q,S,C,V- quality, service, cleanliness and value.

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AND THAT’S HOW HONG KONG ENDED UP WITH CANTO POP- AND CANTO PAP

By Hans Ebert
Visit Hans-Ebert.com

Often one wishes for that the Cha Cha was still in vogue in Hong Kong. Going back to watch those old black and white Cantonese movies from the fifties, there was always a scene in a nightclub where the lead actors were talking while doing the Cha Cha. It was cool kitsch.

For a while, there was the Offbeat Cha Cha which, one supposes, was trying to change something so simple and perfect for the sake of change.

The Cheongsam and the Cha Cha went together. It was sex on heels. All those gorgeous Chinese actresses like Lin Dai and those sassy Cha Cha moves.

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HONG KONG RACING: THE GOOD, THE WEIRD AND THE GOOFY

By Hans Ebert
Visit Hans-Ebert.com

Though the last couple of meetings were a bit like Superman being struck down by kryptonite, at least looking at his book rides, January 1, 2019 looks to be the day when The Magic Returns and Joao Moreira wins back his flock. Please, no more kryptonite!

Last Wednesday, two of the favourites he was on- sizzling hot favourites that many refused to believe could be beaten were. One was going off at $1.4.

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ADAM LAMBERT: COVERED AND BELIEVING

It’s been done many times over: take an upbeat and well known song and slow it down to a ballad or turn it into bossa nova, neo classical or that obtuse term many refer to as “Jazz”. It never is Jazz. It’s simple Pop. But turning a popular Top 40 track into a ballad is no easy thing to pull off. It’s where A&R skills, a knowledge of someone’s back catalogue and arrangement come into play. And about very personal feelings.

Ryan Adams flipping the Oasis hit “Wonderwall” into a tender love song is a track where all the pieces fit. It seems to have been recorded ‘live’ with Adams wanting something raw, real and emotional. It works. Beautifully.

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