Within a Sky Full of Earth

The odyssey of joining 33 musical projects together, from Portugal and from the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, is finally out of the box with mostly all of the aims of Project T(H)REE achieved. After one year of detailed work and effort with the participation of more than one hundred people, David Valentim, the producer, taking all the credits of this olympic challenge, and Bloom * Creative Network, a part of the engine, have launched the first III CD last weekend in Hong Kong and Macau, with two successful events.

T(H)REE is a musical project that brings together for the very first time, on the same record, modern musicians from Portugal, Macau and Hong Kong. Wishing to materialize and shape a truthful blend of cultures the idea also comes from the significant ambition to enhance local music creation beyond its borders. Reaching distant domains, bringing the steer to extensive forms and new contacts as musical and cultural projects that otherwise would never taken place. This project is also born under the structure of a pure and boundless dialogue, where the finest blend of creative processes, sounds and distinctive ways of making music flow in a world without space and distance, making technology the elemental connection and the convergence point. The final result is a surprise and an outlook reference for the music scene of the three territories involved.

III T(h)ree • New Musical Roots from Portugal, Hong Kong and Macau
Concept and Production: David Valentim • Graphic Design: Alexandre Paixão • Photos: Ana Mendonça, António Falcão, David Valentim, Hina Shimomura, Paulo Carneiro • Texts: António Falcão, Erik Piece, Rui Dinis, Yuen Chi-Chung • Mastered by: Alok Leung • Presented and distributed by: Bloom * Creative Network

...
T(H)REE is on sale in the following places:

HONG KONG
• White Noise Records [http://www.whitenoiserecords.org]
• Kubrick [http://www.kubrick.com.hk]
• Zoo Records [http://www.zoo-records.com]

MACAU
• St. Paul's Fine Arts Gallery [http://www.stpaulscorner.com]
• Portuguese Bookshop [Rua de S. Domingos 18-20 R/C]
• Pinto Music [Senado Square • next door to Starbucks 1st floor]
• Lines Lab | Bloom [Creative Albergue • Calçada da Igreja de S. Lázaro, 8]

ORDER ONLINE here.

Some few opportunities from our Creative Network, they are mainly requests from Hong Kong SAR. But that's not a reason for not applying and give it a chance. Here you go:

ACTORS
• ACTORS WANTED [SEALS THEATRE FOUNDATION]
This is a cast for a Play. They require different characters.
A. RANDALL – Male, early 20s, an American marine.
B. ANDERSON – Male, early 40s, an American businessman
C. DA SILVA – Male, 50s, Portugese businessman. Can also be played by Eurasian with Mediterranean look.
D. RAJA & RAMCHAND – Indian and Pakistani partners in retail merchandising.
E. MAY – Female, Chinese, early 20s, Wan Chai bar hostess, fluent Cantonese and Suzie Wong pidgin-English
F. WONG – Male, Chinese mid-30s, hijack leader, fluent English and Cantonese, conversant Cantonese.
G. ABE – Male, Japanese, mid-40s, fluent in Japanese accented English (Japanese not required).
Audition Date: 26th of April, 2009
Performance Dates: 18-20 December, 2009
Send CV and headshots.
Contact: Tammy Tam
Email: tammy@eduarts.com.hk
Phone: 2520 1716

• ETHNIC EXTRAS WANTED [TV COMMERCIAL IN MACAU]
Mature (age 45-60) men and women from different ethnic (African, Indian, Arab, etc) background needed for TVC in Macau. Business look. Send contacts and pictures.
Email: watkisss@hotmail.com

• ASIAN ACTORS WANTED [PUBLIC ENTERPRISE TVC]
This company is looking for three asian actors for a TV Commercial.
A. Male / Female, 20-30 years old, fluent Cantonese
B. Boy / Girl, 4-6 years old, fluent Cantonese
C. Male/ Female 50-60 years old, fluent Cantonese
Casting Date: April 5
If you are interested, please send photos and contacts.
Email: casting@filmfactory.net

• CAUCASIAN ACTORS / ACTRESSES WANTED [EASTER PROMOTION]
Peanut Butter ‘n Jelly Model and Talent is looking for 6 Caucasian female actresses and one male actor for an Easter promotion.
Email: info@peanutbutternjellyhk.com

• ACTORS WANTED [HKAPA STUDENT SHORT FILM]
A. Female Actor - 25-28 years old, height above 155cm, fluent Cantonese
B. Female Actor - 25-28 years old, skinny and short, fluent Cantonese
C. Male Actor - 25-28 years old, look fresh, normal height
Shooting Dates: 21-30 April, 2009 (4-5 days)
Send photos and resume.
Contact: Kim
Email1: himyiktam@yahoo.com.hk
Email2: old_masterq@hotmail.com
Phone: 9046 0606

• OLD CHINESE TALENT WANTED [HONG KONG MOVIE]
Male or female, age 50-70. Send contacts, info and photos.
Email: info@stanleycasting.com

• ACTRESS WANTED [TV COMMERCIAL]
HKBU MFA production looking for an actress for a TVC. Should be around 28 to 34. Cantonese/English speaker. The character is a mother with a young child. Good opportunity for non-experienced actress. Also welcome experienced actress. Please send photo.
Email: fintan.cheng@gmail.com

DANCERS
• CHARACTER PERFORMERS WANTED [FULL TIME, PERMANENT]
A large Hong Kong entertainment company is looking for Character Performers.
Requirements: At least 16 years of age.
Audition: Applicants will participate in a short movement and non-verbal expression exercise.
Please send CV / Resume.
Contact: hkperform@gmail.com

• FEMALE DANCERS WANTED [EVENT]
Peanut Butter ‘n’ Jelly Models and Talent is looking for adult, female dancers. Send bio and photos.
Email: info@peanutbutternjellyhk.com

MODELS
• NUDE MODEL WANTED [ART CLASS WORKSHOP]
A company in Macau is looking for a NUDE MODEL for an Art Drawing Class. Please send an email to BLOOM with photo and any other reagarded information.
Email: root@bloomland.cn

• WESTERN/MIXED TALENT WANTED [PHILIPS HEADPHONE PRINT AD]
Male and female, age 25-35, Western and mixed, prefer some yoga or dance skill.
Shooting Dates: From 31 March, 2009
Email: info@amusemanpark.com

• MODEL WANTED [BEER TV COMMERCIAL]
Looking for Stunt (Stand In).
• Male (25-35 yrs old)
• Asian (Japanese/ Korean/ Chinese/ Eurasian) & Westerner
Casting until the end of April
Email: casting@filmfactory.net

• SPORTY MODELS WANTED [HEADPHONES PRINT AD]
Peanut Butter ‘n’ Jelly Models and Talent is looking for two models for a headphones print ad. Models should be sporty, not too muscular and have a healthy body shape.
A. Female – 20-30 years old
B. Male – 25-35 years old
Shooting Dates: 30 March – 3 April, 2009 (2 days)
Email: info@peanutbutternjellyhk.com

• TALENT / MODELS WANTED [SUPERMARKET TV COMMERCIAL]
Female 25-30 years old, fluent Cantonese
Casting Date: March 31
Please send your photos & resume.
Email: casting@filmfactory.net

MUSICIANS + SINGERS
• FEMALE OPERA SINGERS [EVENT IN HONG KONG]
Two female opera singers needed on April 24. Urgent request! Please send CV, photos, show reels.
Email: chansproductions@gmail.com

• TRUMPETER OR VIOLINIST WANTED [REGGAE COVER BAND]
This group is looking for a trumpet or violin player to be part of a semi-acoustic reggae type cover band.
Email: kisskendy@hotmail.com

• VOCAL PERCUSSION (BEAT-BOX) CLASSES [AMERICAN VOCAL STUDIO]
The American Vocal Studio is offering classes in Vocal Percussion ‘Beat-Boxing’ presented by Cody J. This is a 4-week course with classes scheduled for Tuesday nights. During the course students will explore the basic techniques for making the drum sounds and creating drum grooves. Anyone can learn, and be warned, it is highly addictive!
Contact: Cody J.
Email: cody@americanvocalstudio.com
Phone: 6906 2746

• WESTERN FEMALE PIANIST WANTED [EVENING SHOW]
Chans Productions is looking for a Western female pianist for an evening show. Please send CV, photos and contacts.
Email: chansproductions@gmail.com

• INDIAN SINGER / VOICE ARTIST WANTED [FILM]
Male or female. Please send contacts and demo.
Email: yungp01@netvigator.com

NON-PERFORMING
• COSTUME ASSISTANT WANTED [FULL TIME, PERMANENT]
A large Hong Kong entertainment company is looking for Full Time Permanent Costume Assistants. Responsible for costume registration, distribution, cleaning and repair.
Requirements: Form 3 or above, basic computer skills, previous experience is preferred.
Applicants with more relevant experience may be considered for higher positions.
Please send CV / Resume.
Contact: hkperform@gmail.com

Go get them!
IF YOU WANT TO BE PART OF OUR CREATIVE NETWORK PLEASE SEND YOUR INFO TO root@bloomland.cn. THANK YOU!
[BACK TO BLOOMLAND]

The Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HKYAF) is announcing an open call for submissions for the third Bloomberg Emerging Artists Programme! Having assisted two innovative and engaging exhibitions through this programme over the past two years, proposals and selection of the artists for 2009 are now on its boundary.
Bloomberg has a reputation for its support of educational and cultural institutions worldwide, promoting public awareness and appreciation for the arts and encouraging higher education in its fields. Through this programme YAF and Bloomberg hope to cultivate Hong Kong’s innovative art scene by assisting local artists in their development as professional artists by providing a platform to showcase their work to the public.
The selected artist(s) will be engaged in a 3-month residency period to create a series of work that will culminate in a major exhibition / performance in Hong Kong. As part of the programme, the artist(s) will be required to work on a community art project with YAF to encourage young people’s engagement in art. [Application deadline: 11/5/2009 6:00pm]
• OFFICIAL WEBSITE
• THE FIRST EMERGING ARTISTS [2007]

MCCM Creations, by the hand of the wonderful Mary Chan, started as a publisher in Hong Kong. Their dream was to pubblish beautiful and great books and from the first book they were a world apart. Bloom met MCCM even before we opened and from there on we've mantained a close friendship and venture.
Mary Chan and MCCM flow into the endless possibilities of creativity. Living in an age where people can move freely across boundaries of regions and exercise their thoughts through virtual space. These criss-cross experiences often produce surprises and open up new horizons for thoughts and ideas.
Since going into book publishing since 2001, MCCM aspirations in books have not changed – they wish to bring the original and inspiring books from creators who share a passion in books as well as having a strong desire to explore new concepts and visualise their experiences.
These adventurous spirit often take them across boundaries of different categories. Being a ‘crossover’ appeal to different age and interest groups. Most of the titles are published in English or Bilingual, mostly Chinese and English, with a step into published English and French titles. They don’t publish a lot of books every year, but they do have a special talent to make them.
But now is different. MCCM is giving a step ahead by opening The Bookshop at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. They're running it for a few time now, but the official opening will be held tomorrow with "a casual get-together for books, photography, light drinks, chars and... improvised music by guest musicians Kung Chi Shing and Yank Wong." [click on the image above]

Come with us!
26TH OF FEBRURARY • 6.30 PM • HONG KONG ARTS CENTRE • 2 HARBOUR ROAD • HONG KONG

One thing that Bloom is about is the intent to build a network of creative supplies. Today we come with a list of stage castings scheduled for this weeks, mainly in Hong Kong. If you are interested or know someone who might be just use the contacts bellow.
Thank you and good luck:

• ACTORS/MODELS WANTED [BANK TV COMMERCIAL]
The Film Factory is casting for a TVC. They require Hong Kong people or Asian looking talent.
1. BOSS - Male, age 40-50, Cantonese speaker.
2. AGENT - Male or Female, age 25-30, Cantonese speaker.
3. BANK STAFF - Female, age 20-30, Cantonese speaker
4. WAITER - Male, age 20-30
Casting Dates: 19-24 January, 2009
Contact: Apple
Email: casting@filmfactory.net
Ph: 9655 5514

• ACTORS WANTED [SHORT FILM]
This company is looking for two actors for an upcoming short film. The film is about internet romance, sex and virtual identity.
1. MALE - Chinese, age 30-35, average build.
2. FEMALE - Chinese, age 30-35, good body.
Auditions: After Chinese New Year
Email: kjacobs@cityu.edu.hk

• ACTORS/MODELS WANTED [BANK TV COMMERCIAL]
Such Films is casting for a TVC.
1. FATHER - Male, age 30+, Cantonese speaker.
2. KID - Male, age 5-7, Asian look.
3. LADY - Female, age 20-25, ABC/Asian look
4. MIDDLE AGE WOMAN - Female, age 45-60, Cantonese speaker
Contact: Candy
Email1: candy.f@suchfilms.com.hk
Email2: puiie29@gmail.com
Ph: 9426 4152

• FEMALE FILIPINO ACTOR WANTED [MOVIE]
Star Fantasy is looking for a female Filipino actor to play a Filipino maid.
Shooting Dates: End February, 2009

• CHILD FILIPINO ACTORS WANTED [MOVIES]
Star Fantasy is looking for a range of young Filipino's for various main and extra roles in upcoming movies.
1. BOYS & GIRLS - Age 5-8
2. GIRLS - Age 11-13
Shooting Dates: February & March, 2009
Contact: Keely Chow
Email: starfantasy@gmail.com
Ph: 9163 3376

• ACTORS WANTED [VIDEO GAME]
This company is looking for actors to play roles in a video game for release in the US.
1. ELSIE - Female, Caucasian, blonde, height 5' - 5'6", age 20-25, American accent, must be able to ice skate (martial arts training is a plus).
2. INES - Female, Chinese/Eurasian, height around 5 foot, age 20-25, American accent.
3. TOOTHBRUSH - Female, age 20-25, dark skinned, brunette, height around 5'7"+, Australian accent.
4. FRIDA - Male, age 20-25, Indian/Mexican/Middle Eastern, thin, American accent, height shorter that 5'11".
5. DICK - Male, age 20-25, Korean/Chinese/Japanese, overweight, height 6 foot+, American accent.
6. KING KONG - Male, age 40-50, Asian, tall, lean, American access (bald is a plus).
7. UNCLE S. - Male, age 30-50, dark skinned Asian/Indian, lean body.
8. PRIEST VEGETA - Male, age 20-30, Korean/Chinese/Japanese, average height, American accent.
9. GRANDMA LEUNG - Female, age 55+, short, Chinese, American accent.
10. SYDNEY OPERA - Male, age 30-40, blonde, average height, Australian accent, looks like Steve Irwin.
This job may span over the next few months or possibly year. Please send headshot and resume.
Audition Dates: End February, 2009
Email: matthew@uglyproductions.com

• ACTORS/MODELS WANTED [HEALTH DRINK TV COMMERCIAL]
A variety of actors are wanted in the following roles for a health drink TVC.
1. COLLEGE STUDENTS - Male and female.
2. YOUNG PARENTS
Casting Date: February 15, 2009
Shooting Date: Early March, 2009
Contact: Stephanie
Email: steph.casting@gmail.com
Phone: 9263 2355

• MALE ACTOR WANTED [WORDYBIRD THEATRE COMPANY]
This company is looking for a middle aged male actor of any nationality to play the role of Paul Sheldon in a stage version of 'Misery' by Stephen King.
Casting Date: 3 February, 2009.
Contact: Jodi
Email: briang@netvigator.com
Ph: 9193 6640

Go get them!

A Japanese male actor is needed for an event on Jan 13 in Hong Kong, acting as a Chef. Performance duration around 15 minutes, costumes provided.
Please send photos, resume and expected salary to Chans Productirons here.

Doet Boersma is a dutch artist who steps into Asia for the first time showind and presenting the project "Hong Kong Impressions". Having an inspiring time as an artist-in-residence at aco_air in Hong Kong, she converted all her impressions, meetings and feelings about HK into drawings on packaging papers dumped by offices around her studio at Fotanian, and also on rice papers and canvases. They show the atmosphere, intimacy and loneliness of being a passer-by in HK. In the talk, she will explain how she transformed her impressions into the artworks. and she will explain the differences between her former experiences as an artist-in-residence in Ireland and here in Hong Kong.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Doet Boersma finished Art Academy in 1985 and worked years as a drawing and painting teacher in secundary school and vocational school. Since 1991 she founded her own painting school It Frysk Skildershûs, where now are teaching 12-15 artists. Since the late eighties she used more and more time for her own artistic career. Different themes passed, but landscapes were always the most important. In the landscapes, she could show her passions of light, directions, atmosphere and colour.
She painted in Italy, Portugal and France, worked in the European Academy in Trier, Germany (2006), had an artistic residency in Ireland (2006). And in Hong Kong, she had a residency for 6 weeks, painting Hong Kong impressions of streetmarkets and people in the street. The materials changed from canvas to rice-paper.

Hong Kong is a total different residency than I had before, because of the totally different culture and small spaces", she commented.

The Michelin Guide is extending its reach into China with a new edition ranking dining destinations in Hong Kong and Macau for the first time.

The French bible of gastronomy featuring 251 restaurants and hotels in the two Chinese cities is Michelin's second guide outside Europe and the U.S. The debut Tokyo edition was published in November 2007, with eight restaurants receiving Michelin's highest three-star rating. Being a best-seller right in the first week.
Michelin awarded 40 stars to 28 restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau, and two venues got the top ranking. Lung King Heen in Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel received three stars, while the hotel's French eatery Caprice won two stars. Inspectors also decided Robuchon A Galera at Macau's Lisboa Hotel, owned by casino mogul Stanley Ho, was worthy of Michelin's highest award.
The team of 12 undercover inspectors, including two Chinese, have been in Hong Kong and Macau testing about 1,200 establishments since late 2007, said Michelin Guides Director Jean-Luc Naret. Michelin plans to expand the guide into other parts of China, Mr. Naret told a news conference in Hong Kong.

The guide, which will go on sale tomorrow, Friday the 5th of December, is published in both Chinese and English. Bloom will have it available at Bloom Yellow in St. Lazarus' Albergue and more close to you at Ou Mun Café, just on the heart of town, on the corner of Senado Square.

• NEWS ABOUT MICHELIN GUIDE HONG KONG AND MACAU
• OU MUN CAFÉ AT LONELY PLANET

In collaboration with the University of Hong Kong and an initiative of Bloom * Creative Network, the Macanese architect Carlos Marreiros will be at the Faculty of Architecture for an open lecture. Titled "Tracing Lines Between Two Worlds" the lecture will flow on the intercultural way of life of this region of the world – Macau, where East and West melted through time, generating its specific and fascinating Architectural Culture. This lecture, which is based on the lines between two worlds, will provide a specific learning experience for the participants regarding Architecture of the East and the West – the similarities and the differences and the boundaries between the universes of reality and imagination, which the Macanese architect is a good example, on its diversity and miscegenation.

DETAILS
Date/Time: 26/09/2008 18:30-20:00
Venue: Room 419, Knowles Building, The University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Registration is not required.
Further information, please visit this website.
Any enquiries feel free to contact the Faculty of Architecture by email.

THE BOX is Kung Chi Shing and Peter Suart. The duet was formed in 1987. Both found the project as a means to escape. It doesn't matter if they go by the same door, but together they make a 'bomb'. THE BOX is a theatrical music ensemble who presented concerts and music theatre works alone and in collaboration with visual artists, choreographers, theatre folk and musicians in Hong Kong and Taiwan. For their 20th anniversary, they played Bluebeard at the Kwai Tsing Theatre in HK.
First time in Macau together, Peter Suart and Kung Chi Shing, a classical music professor, will perform a selection of material from their twenty-year history; Suart on voice (sung and spoken), keyboard and percussion, and Kung Chi Shing on violin and flute. The music is dark, bizarre, lyrical and beautiful.
Words in English.

THE BOX at Bloom Yellow
Sunday, the 27th of July
ALBERGUE • ST. LAZARUS DISTRICT
Just follow the plenitude and you get there.
[DOWNLOAD POSTER]

July 26 - Saturday
The City as a Subject for Literary Expression
Talk + Creative Writing Session by Hong Kong writer Xu Xi

In collaboration with the Department of English of the University of Macau the writer from Hong Kong, Xu Xi, is coming to Macau. The program is a 2 in 1. A session on Creative Writing and a Talk focused on her work and experience as a writer on an urban tissue. You are welcome to attend the two events, the admission is free. We believe that it will a great and unforgettable experience from the "pioneer writer from Asia in English", that were the words used by The New York Times to stage Xu Xi. It will happen this coming Saturday once more at Bloom Yellow. The Creative Writing will start at 3 pm and the Talk at 6 pm. Don't miss them!

Focused on urban, congested life, Xu Xi, a Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, writes from within, zooming in on her own life in the city and its vanishing culture and sensibility. This surreal example of post-modernity transformed into a 21st Century Communist Chinese city informs her latest book, Evanescent Isles: From My City-Village, a collection of personal essays.
[DOWNLOAD POSTER: JPG or PDF]

XU XI (pronounced “Shoe-See”), is one of Asia’s leading English language writers. Author of seven books of fiction & essays, and editor of three anthologies of Hong Kong literature in English. Awards include an O. Henry prize story, shortlisted for the inaugural MAN Asian Literary Award, Cohen Award from PLOUGHSHARES for best story, a NYFA fiction fellowship, the South China Morning Post story contest winner, among others. Her work is taught, broadcast and anthologized internationally. Her language is described as “uncluttered” and “arrestingly poignant.” She is, above all, uncompromising.
[APPLY NOW FOR THE CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP - LIMITED AVAILABILITY]

Co-organized by the Department of English of the University of Macau.
MORE INFO AT: www.xuxiwriter.com
[SPECIAL THANKS to ANDREW MOODY, GLENN TIMMERMANS and XU XI who made this event possible.]

APPLY FOR CREATIVE WRITING SESSION WITH XU XI.
[LIMITED AVAILABILITY • CHECK POST BELLOW]

Due to limited seating availability you have to sign in for our special event this coming Saturday at Bloom Yellow. It's the Creative Writing Session with Hong Kong writer, Xu Xi, that will go from 3 to 5 pm. We have already some requests, so if you are interested just drop us an email now or send an SMS to +853 66800024 stating your name and contact. That's all! Hurry up, you cannot miss this one.

XU XI is the author of seven books of fiction & essays, and editor of three anthologies of Hong Kong literature in English. A Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, the city was home until her mid-twenties, after which she led a peripatetic existence around Europe, America and Asia. She now inhabits the flight path connecting New York, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
The New York TImes named her a pioneer writer from Asia in English and the Voice of America featured her on their Chinese TV documentary series "Cultural Odyssey." Singapore’s Business Times dubs her passion "Asia as it is today – gritty, modern and confused." According to reviewers, her work explains "the paradox that is Hong Kong" that avoids "the sex and drug and triad stereotypes... portraying the city more accurately and realistically for it." Her "new and innovative diasporic global language" is "uncluttered" and "arrestingly poignant." She is "an alchemist of observation" whose sensibility is "generous and compassionate."
Awards include an O. Henry prize story, shortlist for the inaugural MAN Asian Literary Award, Cohen Award from PLOUGHSHARES for best story, a NYFA fiction fellowship, the South China Morning Post story contest winner, among others. She has also been writer-in-residence at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Chateau de Lavigny in Switzerland, Kulturhuset USF in Norway, the Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando and the Anderson Center in Minnesota. SUNY Plattsburgh, where she earned her BA, accorded her their distinguished alumni award in 2004.
For eighteen years, the author had a second career in international marketing and management with various multinationals. In 1998, she finally surrendered completely to the writing life. She holds a MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and teaches on the MFA in writing prose faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier.
In 2009, she will be the Bedell Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Iowa's nonfiction program.
[MORE AT: XU XI OFFICIAL SITE]

XU XI CREATIVE SESSION • FREE ADMISSION • LIMITED AVAILABILITY • APPLY NOW!

If you're coming to Macau next weekend or you just live here don't miss this one. In the dread nightlife of Macau Showtime has been on the top range of the wave, boosting with energy and events. And they don't stop. This Saturday Ricky Stone is the one to get.
Ricky Stone ability to connect with clubbers and bring dancefloors alive is truly outstanding. Originally from Sheffield, Ricky rocked clubs and raves across the UK before continuing his rise in the east. Moving to Asia in 2002, he set up base in Hong Kong and swiftly forged a bright future as one of the region's most sought-after DJs. He became the very first Hong Kong/China-based artist to break into the prestigious Top 100 of DJ Mag. Voted #48 in the world by masses of loyal supporters in 2005, he proceeded to climb eight places to #40 in 2006 – and is currently on a roll as the poll's highest ranked DJ based in Asia!
He's also all set to establish his own record label, 852 Recordings, as we speed into 2007 (852 being the phone code for Hong Kong). So secure your seatbelts and brace yourselves for a brand new wave of deep, ballistic beats and endless grooves. Supported by the local DJ's D'mond and Dhoo.

Where: SHOWTIME - Rua de Cantão. Edf. Yee On Kok 38-C 2ºA (opposite to Fortuna Hotel)
Start Time: Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 11:00pm
End Time: Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 6:00am

FOR MORE INFO DIAL: +853 66132267 OR EMAIL: djdmond@gmail.com

KAREN THERESE + LIZZIE THOMSON PERFORMANCE • AUSTRALIAAn artistic exchange of ideas and research of Australian artists Karen Therese and Lizzie Thomson is happening tonight at the Art and Culture Outreach (ACO) in Hong Kong. They have been in residence at aco_air for 1 month and would like to share their research in an open forum with Hong Kong based artists. OUR HONG KONG is a work-in-progress series of video and conceptual performance works,
which are currently being developed in collaboration with Hong Kong based artist Carrie So.

Karen Therese is a collaborative artist, activist and producer making work grounded in performance, community and media. Her current work includes the multi art ensemble performance work titled, The Riot Act which investigates the relationship between social unrest and news media. Karen is also director and producer of the ground-breaking community arts initiative Gathering Ground - history, ceremony, protest. Gathering Ground brings together over 30 interdisciplinary artists, to create a large scale, site specific performance work developed in Sidney.

Lizzie Thomson collaborated extensively with choreographer Rosalind Crisp for 9 years, performing in her works throughout Europe and Australia. She has recently worked in projects directed by artists including Karen Therese, Dean Walsh, Samuel James, Hans van den Broeck, Fiona Malone, Opera Australia and Nikki Heywood, in addition to her own Performance Space Residency with Brian Fuata and Jane McKernan. Lizzie teaches regularly for professional companies, as well as lecturing at educational institutions.

Carrie So is one of the founders of The Studio - a multi-discipline art-based space where the core intention is to transcend the boundaries of various art mediums, such as visuals and fashion. Carrie has returned to Hong Kong after completing her Honours degree in Theatre and Performance at the University of New South Wales. Her main area of interest is in the effects of spatial manipulation for performance. Her self devised solo works include Begins, exploring memory and her recorded self which focuses on the moving work using visual installation and light. Her experiments sample drama, live music, song, dance, video projection and poetry.

Spearheaded by independent arts and cultural worker Ms May Fung, and generously supported by Dawei Charitable Foundation, Art and Culture Outreach (ACO) is a non-profit making organization founded in 2005, aiming to facilitate both local and overseas art and cultural practitioners to have cross boundary / discipline development encouraging cross-over collaboration in different aspects.

LOCATION: 1/F, FooTak Bldg, 365 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
SCHEDULE: 7.00 PM to 8.30 PM
RELATED LINK: http://www.pact.net.au

JASON COWLEY: I saw you perform Blemish at Festival Hall, in London, in the summer of 2003.Your audience listened respectfully, as they always do. But I remember at the start of the second half of the show, when you began by singing one of your old songs, The Other Side of Life, from Quiet Life, there was a huge cheer. It was so loud that you could have heard it from the top of the Millennium Wheel.
DAVID SYLVIAN: It was probably a cheer of relief [we both laugh]. Blemish is an album that people have to work at. That people are prepared to do just that, to spend some time getting to grips with it – well, that’s an act of true generosity on their part.

JC: What do you think of the remix album, The Good Son vs The Only Daughter?
DS: I’m happy with it. Remix albums are, in general, only ever moderately successful: the person commissioned to do the remix would generally prefer to be working on his own material than being paid to work on someone else’s. In this instance, the remix gave us an opportunity to build relationships with artists like Akira [Rabelais] and Burnt [Friedman] that could lead to future collaborations. It gave us a chance to discover if we spoke the same language, if you like.

JC: To listen to Blemish is to discover an artist engaged in the complicated process of remaking himself. I was shocked when I first heard it. It sounded like nothing you had done before.
DS: When I began work on Blemish I had an incredible desire to eradicate the past and to find a whole new vocabulary for myself. At first, you are working from pure intuition. You are not sure where you are going; later, you begin to understand where the vocabulary is leading you and how to make it speak for you in a more profound way.

JC: The form of the pop song no longer interested you?
DS: For me those old forms reached a natural end – or shall I say their pinnacle – with Dead Bees on a Cake. Without the benefit of having to face my catalogue as I had to when putting together those compilation albums [for Virgin], I would never have been able to make such a radical break. In the end, I was too familiar with my own material. I’d toured with it, I knew it too well. I was happy to put it to rest and never face it again. I still enjoy the challenge of writing a well-structured pop song, but the stimulus for doing so usually comes from outside – someone will offer me a project or will offer to collaborate or give me a song to write a lyric to.

JC: You are in the process of completing an album with Steve Jansen and Burnt Freidman. I’ve heard the title track, Snow-borne Sorrow: much more accessible than Blemish but still bold and innovative and rather beautiful. How did this come about?
DS: Steve and I had been working on a project, and I’d also been working on another a project with Burnt. From there, the two projects just came together in the most natural way, and began to develop into something very impressive. The project will incorporate some of the strongest material I’ve ever written with Steve – that’s for sure, some really beautiful pieces. It’s a very confessional album. It has that same confessional edge as Blemish had and some very powerful and emotional qualities to it. The structures are rather repetitive, similar to Blemish, but, yes, far more accessible. But I’m looking forward to putting this one to bed and moving on. At times the speed at which I work causes me great frustration... so many other ideas to pursue. [...]
[TAKEN FROM DAVID SYLVIAN'S WEBSITE] [PHOTO NEW YORK TIMES]

David Sylvian is coming for a concert in Hong Kong later this month. My admiration for him goes for more than twenty years, since he was in Japan, a band that he formed with his brother when he was sixteen. It might be there that I got more aware of China, I was less than a teenager myself, with songs like Visions of China, Canton and Cantonese Boy that, still today, I hear with much pleasure. At that time he was my Marco Polo who brought me some of the mysticism of the orient.
We'll keep you updated of Sylvian's news along this month.
For now we have the first part of an interview given to Jason Cowley, a journalist and literary critic, who was published in the Observer on April 2005. Enjoy.

JASON COWLEY: Why did you set up your own label?
DAVID SYLVIAN: I had become increasingly frustrated with Virgin [to whom he had been attached since 1980, first as part of Japan and then as a solo artist]. There was enthusiasm for my work from one or two people in the higher echelons of the company but there was no carry through. They were happy to get the albums but they wouldn't know what to do with them. In the end, I felt that they really couldn't care less if I produced any new work or not. What they wanted from me were compilations, which is what I ended up doing for about a year and a half. In truth, I agreed to do the compilations thinking they might let me back in the studio at some point. I was contractually obliged to put together a compilation but I managed to put them off and keep producing new work, which interested me more. So I went through the motions of producing compilations, as well as a re-mix of a live album, but it was a bad period. I felt creatively stifled. I was dying to start over again, but there was no support from the company. We finally managed to part ways with Virgin, and that was a release, on both sides. I’d just moved from California to New Hampshire and started to build my own studio complex there, trying to become more self-sufficient. I knew with the way the industry was moving that it wasn't really going to be supportive of the kind of work I wanted to produce. I thought the best thing to do was to become as self-sufficient as possible and start from there, and see how things developed. It took about a year to build the studio. My brother [Steve Jansen] came over, and lived with me for about a year with his family. We started writing together…

JC: But then something happened. You stopped writing with Steve and took time out to make Blemish, perhaps the boldest and most uncompromising album you have ever made. Tell me a little about what led to the creation of Blemish?
DS: Blemish took only six weeks to make. I knew it would be described in the industry as a difficult album, which is why I decided to put it out over the internet. I thought: we’ll create a website, we’ll put it out without any distribution, and those people who are interested will find it. But the first reviews that appeared were so promising – they generated an awful lot of interest. From there, distributors came on board and wanted to be a part of it, and so the notion of a label began to grow. In truth, we were struggling to keep up with everything that was happening. But it was a gratifying struggle, because we were able to do deals on our own terms, and things were just evolving beautifully. At the end of this period we had a label, we had distribution, and everything seemed to be set up for the future. It’s now very gratifying to have a label and to be able to offer a platform to artists we admire, such as Harold Budd.

JC: I was impressed and moved by Budd’s release on Samadhisound, Avalon Sutra. He has said it is to be his final album – and these pieces of music, so fragile and full of longing, convey a sense of last things, of an artist coming to the end of something. When did you first hear them?
DS: Amazingly, I first heard the album in 2001, when I tried to help Harold find a deal for that album. Everyone turned it down. I finally met Harold for the first time in 2003 in LA, and offered to put out the album on our label. I think that period of refusal of some of his best work may have had something to do with his desire to call it quits at this point in time.

JC: How does it feel no longer to be with a major label? Is it liberation or loss?
DS: When I was in Japan, Simon [Napier-Bell, the band’s manager], would talk to me endlessly about what we were capable of and what we could achieve, as if I should automatically want to pursue the same goals as him. A wit and raconteur, he enjoyed nothing more than attempting to extract large sums of money from record companies…. He could charm his way out of the most difficult situations. I had to find another, less commercial way of working, which was why during the recording of Tin Drum [Japan’s fifth and final album] we kept Simon as far away from the studio as possible. Simon wished for me to see the industry through his eyes. He manipulated because manipulation was more entertaining from his perspective than a more passive (he would argue less creative) form of management and while this was quite an education, once I’d been given room to breathe, to gauge the situation, to size up the music business for myself, I realised that I could make it work for me in ways devoid of cynicism and crass exploitation, and that there were potentially greater returns in establishing relationships in the industry based on trust (I had a particularly long standing and productive relationship with Simon Draper at Virgin lasting almost two decades, a rare thing in music industry in the late 20th century) rather than taking the money and running. From the 1980s onward I never spoke of compromise and consequently compromise was never asked of me. [...]
[TAKEN FROM DAVID SYLVIAN'S WEBSITE]

In their 20th year, the Hong Kong music ensemble 'the box' presents Bluebeard, a theatrical concert about desire, murder, and who's going to sleep on the sofa.

Is going to happen this weekend, Friday and Saturday, the return of 'the box' and Peter Suart to Hong Kong.
Fourteen pieces of music, one from Kung Chi Shing and Peter Suart for each of seven doors, form the skeleton and flesh of this performance. Threads of incidental music, theatrical gestures, dialogue and video imagery are sewn through this body to make a circus monster: horrific, comic and lyrical.

French poet and author Charles Perrault's Bluebeard (1697) is amongst the most horrific of folk tales. A newly-wedded young woman is granted the run of her husband's (Bluebeard) castle but is forbidden one room. He then leaves on business and his wife is consumed with curiosity. She opens the door to find a butcher's room of dismembered women: her husband's previous wives. Bluebeard returns to discover her betrayal and he is about to slaughter her too when she is rescued by her brothers. Perrault's closing moral indicts female curiosity, an outrageous position given the husband's monstrous violence.

Béla Bartók's one-act opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle (premiered in 1918, libretto by Béla Balázs) presents a much more subtle view of male/female relations. Bluebeard and Judith (the wife's name recalling the Apocryphal heroine, saviour of her people and beheader of the mighty Holofernes) love each other, but Judith's need to bring warmth and light into her husband's dark castle causes strife. Bluebeard accedes to her wishes, but finally condemns her to join his previous wives. The opera presents an unremittingly tragic view of male/female love.

In their 20th year the music ensemble 'the box' will present a theatrical concert drawing on Perrault, Bartók, Angela Carter (British author who rewrote a lot of classical fairy tales) , Pina Bausch and others.

PERFOMERS
Peter Suart and Kung Chi Shing formed 'the box' in 1987 in Hong Kong, since then they have presented a series of concerts and music theatre works (known as the 'Sides'), combining various genres, popular and serious. They have collaborated with dancers, artists and theatre people and have performed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Cuba. Kung and Suart have also performed independently around the world.
Their major works often draw on works of literature: Side 3 - The Bridge (Kafka), Side 7 - Sleeping Beauty (Kawabata and the fairytale), Side 10 - Salome (Wilde and the Bible), Side 13 - Beauty and the Beast (the fairytale). The shows are not, however, musicals. Rather, a set of songs is presented theatrically using ideas from the text.
Kung studied composition in America. He is a performing musician, a composer for theatre and dance, and a teacher.
Suart is an illustrator, a writer, a musician and a theatrical performer.
WEBSITE: www.kungmusic.net

The Box, Side 14 Bluebeard

In their 20th year, the Hong Kong music ensemble 'the box' presents Bluebeard, a theatrical concert about desire, murder, and who's going to sleep on the sofa.

French poet and author Charles Perrault's Bluebeard (1697) is amongst the most horrific of folk tales. A newly-wedded young woman is granted the run of her husband's (Bluebeard) castle but is forbidden one room. He then leaves on business and his wife is consumed with curiosity. She opens the door to find a butcher's room of dismembered women: her husband's previous wives. Bluebeard returns to discover her betrayal and he is about to slaughter her too when she is rescued by her brothers. Perrault's closing moral indicts female curiosity, an outrageous position given the husband's monstrous violence.

Béla Bartók's one-act opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle (premiered in 1918, libretto by Béla Balázs) presents a much more subtle view of male/female relations. Bluebeard and Judith (the wife's name recalling the Apocryphal heroine, saviour of her people and beheader of the mighty Holofernes) love each other, but Judith's need to bring warmth and light into her husband's dark castle causes strife. Bluebeard accedes to her wishes, but finally condemns her to join his previous wives. The opera presents an unremittingly tragic view of male/female love.

In their 20th year the music ensemble 'the box' will present a theatrical concert drawing on Perrault, Bartók, Angela Carter (British author who rewrote a lot of classical fairy tales) , Pina Bausch and others. Fourteen pieces of music, one from Kung and Suart for each of seven doors, form the skeleton and flesh of this performance. Threads of incidental music, theatrical gestures, dialogue and video imagery are sewn through this body to make a circus monster: horrific, comic and lyrical.

Performers
Kung Chi Shing and Peter Suart formed 'the box' in 1987 in Hong Kong, since then they have presented a series of concerts and music theatre works (known as the 'Sides'), combining various genres, popular and serious. They have collaborated with dancers, artists and theatre people and have performed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Cuba. Kung and Suart have also performed independently around the world.

Their major works often draw on works of literature: Side 3 - The Bridge (Kafka), Side 7 - Sleeping Beauty (Kawabata and the fairytale), Side 10 - Salome (Wilde and the Bible), Side 13 - Beauty and the Beast (the fairytale). The shows are not, however, musicals. Rather, a set of songs is presented theatrically using ideas from the text.
Kung studied composition in America. He is a performing musician, a composer for theatre and dance, and a teacher.Suart is an illustrator, a writer, a musician and a theatrical performer.

Website of 'the box': http://www.kungmusic.net/

Cast list
Kung Chi Shing – violin, computer, winds
Peter Suart – voice, keyboards, percussion
Chau Chin Tung – percussion
Cheung Yee Sik - percussion
Eli Fung – voice, keyboards
Rob Lamont – guitar, bass, keyboards, voice
Veegay Lee – keyboards, accordion
Ogawa Mariko – movement, voice
Lo Yin Shan – video design
Billy Chan – lighting design
Lee Man Sang – props design

Programme
21 – 22 September 2007 (Fri - Sat) 8pm
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre
$200, $160, $120
(all info from here)
Bloom suggests to our Macau citizens a different program in Hong Kong, with Peter Suart. And why not stay for the night and enjoy the evening lights of Lan Kwai Fong, for a change?

Great news! Peter Suart is back in Hong Kong! Remember Tik and Tok and the Black Book of Falling?
Tik and Tok are back too, and now in Chinese language, edited by MCCM, of course!
Peter has announced a new blog: "A Tik and Tok Adventure by Peter Suart" with activities, games, amazing encrypted puzzles and what has Peter been up to lately!

Welcome back Peter, hope that you can come and visit us at Bloom again!