Talented Shanghai

I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by so many talented friends. Talent is an amazing quality – it has the power to be contagious and give all the positive vibes one would need to be inspired.

Alonso is a friend who will you see singing solo here.

On biking, maternity dresses and booze counters

I went riding with the Bohdi Mountain Biking club of Shanghai this weekend for 2 days in Jinhua, just 4 hours out of the city. Day 1 – riding via quaint little villages, spring-blooming orchards, tea plantations, abandoned farm houses, sliding in mud and euphoria of being away from it all. Day 2 – scaling a mountain, then riding down on a single-track through some great valleys, more orchards. I’ve forgotten what joys spring bring, how life starts to exist again.









I also decided to go a little silly on a Saturday night and went shopping for the most absurd and ugly dress this town had to offer, ending up with a maternity dress for a 100 kuai. Wore it with my khaki pants and muddy biking shoes, looking more fab than ever on a Saturday nite.




An interesting bar experience too – you had to get yourself a basket and go shopping for booze in the next-door-shop, walking out with at least a bottle of something. China never fails to surprise you.

Falling in Luv with Shanghai

When all the roads start connecting in your head, when the city map becomes less used, you know this city is becoming your home. Shanghai is becoming my home now. My other home, with all the good vibe, is still Hong Kong, Shanghai is the new upcoming wave. I get to live between Asia’s two most exciting cities, choose where I spend the weekend, and this by default makes me one lucky duck. People ask me about the difference between the cities. It’s hard to point to out a single item that makes the difference, but if I must choose, the idea of “roughness” encapsulates it. Shanghai offers the roughness that HK lacks or has lost. The starving artists, the rocks gigs organized for the love of music, not the royalties, the New Orleans bands playing at no cover charge, the artists displaying/selling highly promising work at an art warehouses at Hongqiao for RMD 1000 (USD 120). As an art lover I feel at home here.

It’s when a taxi driver takes a route longer than he should, you know he can’t take you on a ride at home. Home it is.

Saying hello to Shanghai.

Islands for Sale

Why are there so many islands for sale in the Philippines? Why are people disposing of what should be their biggest asset?

Mom and I went to Cebu and escaped to the nearby islands of Batayan. Lovely place if not somewhat remote. Ideal to go with a lover maybe, not your mom. OK, so I screwed up – didn’t have enough time to research and ended up picking up ‘any flight’ out of HK. Mom and I have not spent much time together for the past 10 years, so you may call it quality time together.

There was a Floating Bar (see pic) in front of our chalet, where I would swim with money in my bikini, get a drink, bump a smoke and swim back to the shore. On day 3 mom asked me if we should go and look for a land-bar (she suffers from hydrophobia) to meet some people. We did, but found none. Well, apart from the typical german men with underaged local gals.

Overall, I finished the Harvard Business Journal and the mandarin handbook, she updated me on all our family fortunes and misadventures, we looked deeper into the issue why I don’t really want to re-marry and I really got to polish my Polish language.

The idea of owning an island resonates well somewhat. Beach over the mountain will never win, but it got me thinking. Mothers are always good inspiration.

Poor Artists? No more.

Whenever I need a mental stimulation and inspiration for new creative, innovative ideas, I hit The Ideas Bank.

This is how I found SellaBand - or Sell A Band. A great concept of music lovers ("Believers") putting in money towards the listed bands ("Artists") to help them raise a minimum of 5,000 parts (or USD 50K) to record their album at a professional studio and get packaged for the market. For those Believers who are after financial gains; once the album starts selling, you make a % of the profit.

As for me, I've just become a Believer of T-Ka, a French artist of incredible vocals and the soul of Beth Orton-equivalent. I've put in 3 Parts so far, T-ka needs another 37 Parts to make it to the recording studio.

I totally love this concept; the amazing combination of the Internet + Music + Supporting Talent. Furthermore, it's not the people at the recording companies who decide on the faith of an artist, but WE DO. Again, that goes back to TIME's Person of the Year feature - It's YOU who is the hero, it's US who can make talented people's dreams come true.

I hope you become a Believer too!

T-ka on SellaBand

Big Man Can Scream

I was asked to speak at a conference titled “Marketing to Women in China”. I was excited when they sent me the program that Tom Doctoroff was speaking just before me. I read his book and respect his knowledge of the Chinese consumer. He’s the president of JWT Great China (very large advertising agency) and has since become a celebrity here and in the Western world, all due to “Billions: Selling to the New Chinese Consumer”


I came early, brought the book with me to get it autographed, put on a big smile and a little more charm. Things were running late that morning – it was raining, people were still not entirely over the CNY bliss hence everything got delayed, including his speech.
Entering the conference floor, I see a man in a grey coat storming in and out, up and down the corridor, shouting on the phone, yelling at the organisor, abusing everybody – from his own PA, to the event manager and the bell boy.

He subsequently dashed off, refusing to speak.

Shame, I enjoyed reading his book when I did not know the man. I somewhat do now, and having opened the book again, I feel like I’m reading a later edition, and not a very good one.

Oh well, it’s tough to be a Big Man.

And my presentation went well, I always get a kick being on stage, activating the showman-me, which you do not get on any other day.