Sunday, October 11, 2009

British Sea Power and er...um...those other guys

October 10th, in Grappa's Cellar, an Italian restaurant of all places, we finally got to see our first show, meaning concert, in Hong Kong. It didn't start off so hot, since we were made to wait two and half hours before the um..."openers" took the stage. So yeah, these guys, who looked like they were sixteen years old and sounded like they've been playing guitar for maybe two weeks, and just learned how to program a crappy two-beat drum machine track, yes they get to open for British Sea Power. Alright, where's my guitar? Those chords, I still remember them. Can't be that hard to be a Hong Kong rock star right? 1, 4, 5 progression? check. power chords. yep. tight jeans/silly outfit?....hmmm alright, not quite there yet.

Anyway, this duo was by far the worst act I have ever paid money to see. Words cannot express, so this video must do:




Luckily, we didn't have to wait long for British Sea Power. Honestly, before this, I wasn't their greatest admirer in the world, but I had all their albums, and liked most of their songs.

As for band availability in Hong Kong (slim pickings in general), I knew this was about as good as it was going to get, so despite the ridiculous ticket price (really? almost $50? that's like going to see Billy Joel at MSG in 1997 or something [I'm looking at you cole], or what I imagine the ticket price for a reunion Pixies tour to be, or even a 90s era Dave Matthews [I'm looking at...me?the shame]).Anyway, the place was full of brits w/ a strange mix of locals and misc foreigners. Still, the vibe was decent, and by the end of the night, after multiple stage dives and encores by the band, I was a much bigger fan of British Sea Power.




A short clip:



Saturday, October 10, 2009

Conks visit


Friend conks visited us last weekend; our first visiter in Hong Kong! Here are some updated pics of our place, this time with furniture.


It was National Day.

In Victoria Park.



Our convertatable bed for conks.

Contemplative on the cable ride up to the big buddha.




Hi again, large buddha.

Next day it was off to Cheung Chau Island, about 30-40 minutes away via the fast ferry. On the beach.

I decided to read on the beach instead of swim. Cole and conks on a floatie.

Hiking around Cheung Chau


Cheung Chau had a boardwalk type vibe, what with the beach and all the snack food. These were some of the best fishballs I've ever had. The first one has a curry sauce on it, the other one some kind of sweet sauce.

Hike near Quarry Bay.



For the final night, we took conks to the Peak. There we were trying to figure out what to eat...um $300 for two pieces of sushi? no thanks. Burger King? maybe not. Bubba Gump Shrimp....hmmm.....really....ok why not. And there, I wish I took some pictures, because I had one of the best fish n' chips ever. Battered and fried mahi mahi, a bit denser than cod. Sooo good, but also made me feel kinda sick later because of all the oil. Worth it though.



Anyway, it was fun having a friend visit. Hopefully we'll get to show more people around HK in the future.