Tales of Asia - Update - January 29 2007

Hello everybody,

I have been back in Hong Kong for two weeks and settling in to a routine. I had a great time in Melbourne over Christmas seeing my children Alana and Dylan, attending to some business, playing music and seeing my friends. Having recently returned to Hong Kong I am keen to start an office here and establish a base in Asia.

Today I went over to Diamond Hill to watch a friend of mine who is an actor and singer recording a CD and DVD. My friend's name is Michael Wong and he is a well-known Hong Kong actor having done 50 feature films in the past. He is also a singer and does a cabaret show with his big band. I met Michael last year, became friends with him and gave him some guitar lessons along the way, not that I'm a guitar teacher by any stretch of the imagination, but I did try to pass on some of my knowledge.

Having watched Michael in this auditorium today made me think about many of the wonderful performances I have seen recently both here and in Australia.

In the past 18 months I have been privileged to have started attending the ballet, firstly in Melbourne and then in Hong Kong. In Melbourne I went to see La Boheme performed as a ballet and, soon after that, saw a Chinese ballet group perform Tales of the Silk Road as well.

After I came to Hong Kong I continued to experience the ballet and first attended the ballet Suzie Wong performed by the Hong Kong Ballet company. Later I was to attend a medley performed by the Hong Kong Ballet where they performed snippets and tasters of well-known ballets such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote and others. Just prior to my returning to Australia at Christmas I went to see another performance of Suzie Wong again. I must say the Hong Kong Ballet company is absolutely magnificent.

After returned to Melbourne, early in December 2006 I flew up to Sydney for the weekend and attended the Sydney Opera house to see a performance of Raymonda by the Australian Ballet company. Again absolutely magnificent and a pleasure to be able to attend such performances as these.

My " just an average guy" persona is under no threat however from my cultural dalliances. To balance out the artistic cultural education I have been receiving by attending the ballet, I have also attended rock concerts performed by Oasis and then Eric Clapton at the AsiaWorld Expo in Hong Kong, and also attended guitar master classes with guitar virtuoso John Petrucci and Joe Satriani's bass player Dave La Rue. If you don't know who John Petrucci or Joe Satriani is, then you are either too young or too old. I will leave it up to you to decide which one.

I am looking forward to continuing my love of attending concerts and ballets this year and may even become a member of the Hong Kong Ballet.

Until next time, stay sane.

Cheers,

Alan