trying to stay off the topic of children…so here is a little something about hong kong.

hong kong loves schmaltz. as if hello kitty (20 years and going, and she now even sports her beau, dear daniel !!) wasn’t enough to convince you of the pop culture mindset, let’s turn to music. in this city of avarice and long working hours, air supply and peter, paul and mary concerts sell out faster and enjoy higher name recognition than eminem and his angry peers. i like that quirk. i like most things about hong kong.

one of hong kong’s most enduring endearing love ballad is by a group called MICHAEL LEARNS TO ROCK. where michael learned to rock is something i don’t know, because before moving to hong kong i knew nothing of michael or his educational aspirations.

but THAT’S WHY YOU GO AWAY is a crazy popular song in hong kong. combine every celine dion, mariah carey, air supply (three hong kong favourites) and whitney houston hit, and you get an idea of the popularity of this song. if hong kong idol was a television show, i am sure every contestant would sing this song when ballad night was on. when i take the kids to pt, i am guaranteed that during my 40 minute stay in the hospital, i will hear this song piping out over the PA system. taxi drivers play it (and sing it, possibly hoping i am a record executive and will make them a star??). when mum and i returned from bangkok, as we were landing our plane began playing music. what song? guess among yourselves. it was even an extendamix version, which was thoughtful because our plane took a very long time to taxi to our gate.

hong kong people, like most WASPS, are not naturally rhythmic people. especially when you compare us to the filipinas who groove to hymns and disco songs on the streets, beside churches, and under bridges on sundays when they have a day off and a chance to let loose. but even these grooving gals love MLTR. interesting.

i should mention that the filipinas like MLTR, but they have other song preferences. one song that makes them happiest, and certainly the song i have heard sung most, has a chorus like this:

my heart goes sha la la la la (clap clap clap)

sha la la

in the morning whoa-oh-oh

sha la la la la (clap clap clap)

sha la la

in the sunshine

my heart goes sha la la la la (clap clap clap)

sha la la la

in the evening whoa oh oh

sha la la la la (clap clap clap)

sha la la la

just for you.

sebastian, with his speech impediment, bless him, managed to stutter out that chorus about one year ago. he was bustin a move with lita and a couple of her friends. he is definitely a white man in the making, but he doesn’t know that yet and he certainly didn’t care then.

the other night charles and i were coming home from dinner and i saw a medium sized billboard advertising REM, who will be here march 20. less than 20 metres along the road, a BIGGER billboard announced the concert date of "musical great" BONEY M.

it’s all about taste.

so i guess there can be no disputin’

hong kong loves "rah rah rasputin"

* as a former journalist, i couldn’t let MLTR go unresearched, so i did a google search on them. they are danish, and formed in the early 1990’s. still enjoying huge popularity in asia, south africa and probably denmark.