JUICY AND PRICKLY RAMBUTANS

5 days ago3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Before the world “WOKE” up!

Many moons ago and before the world became AWOKE and awash and tripping over itself to be inclusive and embrace diversity while being so politically correct that it all became a bouquet of empty and hypocritical coconuts, EMI Music in Asia released a Mandarin version by a singer in China named Zheng Jun of a song called “Yellow” by the then unknown pop group Coldplay.

It was a good A&R idea, the record sold around a respectable 20,000 units in the region and it helped to introduce Coldplay to the mainland China market.

Many years later, the movie “Crazy Rich Asians” used a Mandarin version of “Yellow” by singer Katherine Ho with the director and writer of the film being credited with the idea.

Meanwhile, one understands that many involved in the original Mandarin version by Zheng Jun are trying to distance themselves from this recording as there are those who believe that in these sensitive times, it’s just NOT right to have a Chinese bloke record a song called YELLOW.

There’s much more to do with the intricacies and convoluted processes and recesses of the music publishing industry that makes absolutely no sense, but we’ll leave going through the murkiness of all this for another day.

THE QUASIMODO AWARD FOR THE BELLS! THE BELLS!

Like rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry wrote about Johnny B Goode and how he played the guitar “like a ringing the bell”, there’s been a helluva lot of bell ringing at the recent horse racing meetings in Hong Kong.

No, it’s not because Santa Claus or Quasimodo are in town, but a cutesy marketing pitch to inject some interest in counting down to the day when current champion jockey Zac Purton rides the winner that will make the Aussie the winningest jockey in the history of Hong Kong racing.

Though some have mentioned that Douglas Whyte, now a trainer and the champion jockey of Hong Kong for thirteen consecutive years, and whose record The Zac Man will beat, will show up on Z Day with THIRTEEN different sized bells AND a giant gong to remind everyone of his own contributions to Hong Kong racing, we somehow doubt that this will happen.

We just hope those at the HKJC in charge of the music- and the bells- find a place for the little Lionel Bart penned ditty by the talented actress and singer Tsai Chin aka Irene Chow, and a one-time favourite to be the national anthem of Hong Kong.

THE NEVER LEFT COMEBACK OF THE YEAR

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN AND BOB DYLAN

THE ANNUAL ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AWARD

After almost five years of an average of five cold calls a day from a veritable buffet of scammers and whammers, these keep coming to pretty much everyone in Hong Kong.

Seemingly, the government’s tech gurus are lost as how to stop these- numbers that usually start with 3 or 5 and with a variety of messages in Cantonese and Mandarin meant to fool, beguile or scare people into thinking that they are guilty of so many things.

As apparently many keep paying off the Scam Squad to go away, maybe they ARE guilty?

More pertinent is perhaps how these apparently poor to middle class people have the millions to pay off scammers?

THE DYLAN IS EVERYWHERE AWARD

THE NO BALL AND RUNOUT IRONY AWARD

This goes to Cricket Australia for not inviting the great Sunil Gavaskar, below, who was at the match, to join another great in Allan Border to present the winners Australia with the, well, Border-Gavaskar Trophy after the Fifth Test in Sydney.

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THE RAMATANS IN AND OUT AWARDS

*The Conan O’Brian Podcast, especially the one with Actress and human being and such a naturally beautiful person in Elle Fanning.

LIPS

This was the kinda all over the place and kinda comedy-concert-magic-cocktails-roller skating dancing-‘live’ music-mixology-mixed up fruitcake and theatrical venue at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong is, alas, no more.

“Permanently closed” is how LIPS is described these days when googling the venue name- no surprise to those who warned that the concept had no legs and would never ever succeed.