Ho Ho Hong Kong

#27 - The Wanch closes, with co-owner Keith Goodman

The Wanch aka Hong Kong's #1 Live Music Venue has shut its doors. The live house opened in 1987 and for over thirty years has been an institution in the city's music scene.

Owner Keith Goodman is on this week talking about what made it great, their success with the H2 Music Festival, and his hopes for the future of the Wanch.

Rock at RIO Live Music Festival details here: https://bit.ly/36FBEUq

#26 - Protesting in Hong Kong, with Antony Dapiran

Antony Dapiran is a Hong Kong-based writer and lawyer, and wrote two HK books City on Fire and City of Protest. He's appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Quartz, the whole shebang.

We talked about the protests, the national security law, the current state of affairs what lays in store for the city.

Here's Antony's site: https://www.antonydapiran.com/

#25 - Virtual Reality in HK, with Sandbox VR creative director Michael Hampden

We are in the era of virtual reality making leaps and bounds in technology, and HK's own Sandbox VR is leading the charge. With the backing of Alibaba and they have a plan to open a holodeck in every neighbourhood on the planet.

Creative director Michael Hampden gave us the inside of scoop on how it all works, what makes games great and why people keep puking.

Check out Sandbox here: https://sandboxvr.com/

#24 - Can comedians be spiritual?

Are all comedians depressed? It is possible to be funny without being broken? We take a deep dive into the spirituality of the clowns on stage.

#23 - HK‘s homeless problem, with Maitreyi Karanth

Maitreyi's a standup comedian, actress and an absolute force of nature helping feed the homeless in Hong Kong.

She talked about her life from India to China, working in film and helping people out.

#22 - Hong Kong‘s queen of bagels, with Rebecca Schrage

Rebecca is the genius behind Schragels, the only place in Hong Kong to get the real-deal NYC-level bagels. The former banker was discovered by a chef after making bagels for a buddy, and is taking the city by storm.

Get your bagels right here: https://schragels.com/

#21 - Organised crime on the streets, with Mohammed Magdi

A drive by shooting outside Mohammed's apartment took out the windows of a restaurant last week. He also saw machete wielding gangsters running from police in a nearby park, and a little further away a Triad was shot in his car sitting in traffic.

The presence of organized crime in the streets is real and can be seen on a weekly basis, we talked about how some of it works.

#20 - The restaurant biz, with head chef Fabio Nicotra

Fabio's the head chef of Soho Italian fancy restaurant 121BC. He told us about life in the kitchen, how the food & beverage industry is surviving the protests and covid, what is the worst thing to order in a restaurant.

Fabio's restaurant 121BC: https://121bc.hk/

 

#19 - The reopening of Hong Kong II

Bars have reopened, restaurants are open late, groups of four can mingle, even yoga studios are open! YOGA STUDIOS PEOPLE!

 

Has normal returned?

 

#18 - Hong Kong‘s professional dance scene, with Katie Hill

Katie's a DJ, a pro dancer and part of the city's whacky and wonderful dance scene that is full of insane stories of events here and across the border in mainland China, including working with Christina Aguilera and Kylie Minogue.