Hot Japanese brand SLY is holding a party titled Cat Girl Glamour on Thursday night at KEE Club. For the occasion they are having veteran DJ Dee Montero, formerly of Renaissance and Pacha in Ibiza, headline the night. Also on the wheels is Mr. Ivan Sit, one of Hong Kong’s well known soulful music fanatics.

SLY is the sister label of Moussy, part of the Shibuya 109 scene, which we’ve covered before here. SLY’s 2011 Autumn and Winter theme is Cat Girl inspired, hence the party’s name! (more…)

Because his name was synonymous with New York Hip Hop for so long, to this day, DJ Stretch Armstrong has difficulty escaping being typecast as purely a Hip Hop d.j. (more…)

When I arrived at the Galleri Magazine event at Kee Club on Wednesday, the place was already impressively packed. Located on Wellington Street, Kee Club is a two-story private membership club occupying the sixth and seventh floors above the famous restaurant Yung Kee (hence the name ‘Kee’ Club.) It’s also across the street from the more infamous Tsui Wah – a late night eatery that’s a favorite with Lan Kwai Fong’s inebriated throngs. (more…)

Two Hong Kong creative firms, Red Dog Studio and China Stylus, have teamed up to found Galleri Magazine – a new avenue for local designers to feature their work. According to the invite, the magazine will attempt to provide artists, particularly those with limited resources, the chance to reach wider audiences.

The launch event will take place on a rather auspicious date, 8pm, this coming Wednesday, August 8th, at Kee Club in Central. (For those who don’t know, the number eight is thought of as a lucky number.) To RSVP for the event you can call Kee Club at 2810-9000.

Check out the websites for Red Dog Studio and China Stylus to learn more about their work.

Thursday night I was invited to a party thrown by Hong Kong retailer Lane Crawford in honor of fashion designer Stella McCartney. Immediately the location of the event – an industrial building in Aberdeen, caught my eye. Aberdeen is sort of a wasteland in between wealthier, more modern enclaves on that side of the island. To get there you take a tunnel through a mountainside. The road where the party was held is a barren stretch of warehouses and glum old factory buildings.

The event was from 8 until 12, so I decided to arrive around 9:30. I was told the party would also feature a performance by the band New Young Pony Club. NYPC are a London-based group who play contemporary New Wave music. It’s a very of-the-moment type of sound favored in hipster scenes, better clubs and indie fashion circles. In Hong Kong you can catch this sound at Yumla or Volar when D.J. El Kabong (aka Drafus,) or the Uptown Rockers play.

Rounding the corner from where the taxi dropped me off, I saw a large lighted marquee with ‘STELLA McCARTNEY’ spelled out over the entrance. There was a sort of caravan of vehicles parked outside the reception area and live painting was going on. Live painting is common at events these days, however, this time the painter was using several cars and the side of a large truck as his canvas! As I stood there taking in the scene, the painter casually crossed the street to gain perspective of his work. Here’s a video of how it looked! (more…)

I recently dropped by M1NT, one of the newest additions to the high-end of Hong Kong’s nightlife. M1NT is a branch of a member’s club that originated in London. It bills itself as a “shareholders club” where membership is limited, thus your original investment becomes more valuable as it theoretically appreciates.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of membership clubs, but I am a fan of exclusivity. The best club nights are only known to the people who are in the scene, and the scene is ever changing, which is a natural form of exclusivity. The inherent problem with members-only clubs is that they tend to draw a monotone crowd. The best clubs provide an exciting time partially because of the surprise mixture of people. A seasoned bouncer and door people can also ensure a good crowd.

All that membership business aside, M1NT has a large shark tank against its back wall – which is worth a few cool points. The rest of the decor is adequate, though not as interesting as the multi-roomed design of HALO, Hong Kong’s other new entry to the high-end.

Looking around the room, M1NT succeeded in achieving a cosmopolitan vibe – something rare for Hong Kong, that made it feel like it could be New York, or another international city. The crowd at M1NT on the night I visited was predominantly foreigners, rather than local Hong Kong Chinese and I have a feeling that’s normally the case.

Nightlife in Hong Kong is somewhat race and class based. (more…)

With the economy booming in Hong Kong, there have been many new clubs popping up. One particularly interesting new entry has not opened yet. Called M1NT, it bills itself as “The world’s first shareholders’ club.” It’s going to be located off of the main party scene, down Hollywood Road in a new development called Centre Stage (more on that place later!)

If you go to their website they have a prospectus available for download that fills you in on their strategy, their forecast, and their partners. It’s very professional.

There is already a membership club in Hong Kong called Kee Club that has been somewhat successful. I suppose that M1NT will poach many of its members from this joint. Part of M1NT’s draw is that members will be given a stake in the business, as opposed to just paying dues. M1NT memberships will appreciate in value, as they are scarce, and not freely available on the market. This strategy worked well for the initial branch of the club which opened in London.

It makes sense, BUT, clubs are very unpredictable, and unfortunately, crowds are quite unsophisticated. For example, it’s difficult to open a club and please everyone musically. People go to clubs to meet people they don’t know, and having a membership club complicates that process by weeding out people. It can be a positive and a negative.

Success will depend on what local partners they line up to assist in getting the club off of the ground. People are extremely lazy about trying new places. In Hong Kong, even two blocks away can be too far for many people! The initial draw will be that it’s new and exclusive. Going to the ‘new’ and ‘exclusive’ place is part of the trendy culture that dominates Hong Kong. This will no doubt work to their advantage.

On Saturday, January 7th, D.J. Gregory from Paris is going to return to Dragon-i. He played here last year at Kee Club on the weekend and then played another set at Dragon-i on a Monday or Tuesday night. Despite it being early in the week, he had the place jumping. D.J. Gregory played all sorts of classics, and was really into it, even though it was a smaller crowd than his weekend gig. With all the positive word-of-mouth from last year, it should be crowded this time!

Another hectic night! Started off at a dinner to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Dragon-I, one of the top clubs in Hong Kong. I’m there at least 3 times a week, and I still dig the place. Of course my favorite night is Tuesday when you can talk with people, and the music is whatever the d.j. wants to play.

Gilbert, the club’s owner is usually the last d.j. to go on, and he plays classic House music. He’s one of the few d.j.s in H.K. with an extensive collection. On Tuesday’s he plays excellent stuff that is rarely heard anywhere else in the city. I’ve stayed at Dragon-I until 6am on a Tuesday night / Wednesday morning enjoying the music.

I’m always skeptical of clubs that have food, or restaurants that turn into clubs, but I have to say that the food at Dragon-I is excellent. Although they have an extensive menu with some complex choices, I actually love the simple home-style Chinese dishes. They are always prepared perfectly, and the ingredients are all high-quality.

After the dinner a friend was having a party for Belvedere vodka. I stopped by there and ran into a few friends. After about an hour, I went to Sugar, where there was a launch of Carat, the diamond brand. An hour later I headed over the Kee Club, and finally I was back at Dragon-I just in time to hear Little Louie Vega put on his first record of the night. Louie Vega is billed as “the Miles Davis” of House music – which is quite a title!

Although I don’t know too much about House music, I enjoyed listening to a master at work! He plays the type of House that I used to hear in clubs in N.Y., and not the soul-less background music that most d.j.s play (under the guise of “deep House”.) Gilbert is a huge fan of Louie Vega, and it was fun to see him fulfill the dream of having him d.j. at Dragon-I.