To me, Alive Not Dead are known for two things – operating a celebrity-filled social network and WILD parties. Throughout their existence, they’ve probably generated more hangovers than any other online brand. Even with all the high-profile actors, singers and models, their parties are never pretentious affairs but fun, jump up and down kind of nights.

After the success of Alive Not Dead’s Halloween party at Zuma (which was easily the best in town,) the social network is back again with a special New Year’s Eve extravaganza. (more…)

What do top clubs, Dragon-i and Volar have in common? As both celebrated birthdays earlier this month, Hong Kong Hustle began to think back about their contributions to the city’s nightlife scene.

Dragon-i held their seventh anniversary last weekend, hosting major dance music talents, Axwell and Ron Carroll. Volar celebrated on December third, bringing well known group Digitalism.

Through their musical direction and dedication over the years, the two clubs have transformed Hong Kong from a c-list city into a primary destination on the international nightclub circuit. (more…)

Lines! (Or ‘queues’, for you British English speakers.)

Here’s the scenario:

You get all dressed up and head out to Lan Kwai Fong (the epicenter of Hong Kong’s Halloween celebration,) but instead of being able to join the party, you have to walk slowly through check points for thirty minutes to an hour, with throngs of people not even in costume!

Do you know how we spell that at Hong Kong Hustle? L A M E!

Last year we talked about the long, long lines, this year, we’re talking about two parties that are outside of the lockdown area, so you can have a good time immediately, and completely avoid the circuitous march. (more…)

What? Alive Not Dead is just two years old? No single entity has had as great an impact on Hong Kong’s art and entertainment landscape over the last two years. It’s almost hard to imagine the scene now without them. (more…)

Thursday I ran into six different friends who each asked me the same question: “Are you going to the Adidas party tonight?”

With that level of interest, I made plans to arrive unfashionably early. What made the Adidas 60th anniversary such a major happening? (more…)

Let’s say you’ve just had a great night at the casinos and you want to celebrate with your friends by going out to a club and partying like a Rock star, or better yet, a Hip Hop star. Before you can pop open the bottles, you need a place to go.

The Moet champagne bar that I wrote about on my last visit, was a temporary affair. Your other choices are limited to the bars at the hotel / casinos, and a handful of mass-market spots with unpredictable crowds. You’re looking for a place with music, dancing and partying, not a quiet lounge with people sipping drinks. You also want to avoid the seediness that often taints Macau’s nightlife.

Welcome to Cubic! (more…)

Launch parties and anniversaries can be quite serious affairs in Hong Kong. Of particular importance is finding the right entertainment to match your brand and convey your message. So when you’re in a field that typically uses adjectives like ‘cool’ and ‘fresh’, who do you turn to?

Saturday night’s one-year anniversary for Rio Mints featured a memorable freestyle performance by American-born Chinese rapper, M.C. Jin. His verbal dexterity and on-the-spot wordplay had the typically tough crowd laughing and smiling (even before the alcohol kicked in!) (more…)

As the turmoil in the financial markets began to spread to Hong Kong, someone put up a large wheat-paste graphic with the message “Game Over” on Pottinger Street (the old stone steps between Wellington Street and Hollywood Road) in Central. The image features the logo from the board-game Monopoly (a man in tuxedo and top hat,) with the words ‘Game Over’ below it. The rather wry graffiti attempts to announce the end of an era, but walking around this weekend, the city’s bars and clubs appeared to be bustling. In fact, the crowds spilling out onto Wyndham Street over the last few nights were much deeper than usual.

This isn’t the first time the city’s nightlife has been threatened. (more…)

Hong Kong’s top event company, Occasions PR & Marketing, honored their twentieth anniversary with a celebration in the atrium of The Landmark on Tuesday. Twenty years is a long time to maintain any business, let alone remain number one in the event production field. Started by well connected players in Hong Kong’s social scene, Occasions holds the lion’s share of major events in the city. (more…)

San Francisco nouveau-nerd Mike Relm rocked the Think Silly party at the Watermark on Thursday night. His audio / video mix-and-scratch was interestingly complimented by The Sideshow, two guys with large (slightly scary) clown masks who commandeered the turntables and kept the momentum high between his performances.

What else was on the menu? (more…)