The Sri Lankan and HAPPIVESCENCE IN HONG KONG…
About three weeks ago while convalescing after a rude shock to the system, I decided to shake off the Yah Yahs, delete the Blah Blahs and those two faced Blue Meanies from my life, and grab my coat and hat and connect my feet to the positivity of sunny side of the street.
I had already started the groundwork for my journey to positivity for my Garden of Hope project which has a global slant that only two know about.
For what is still my home at least until the end the year which is Hong Kong, I feel the need to bring HAPPIVESCENCE- effervescent happiness- to its very being and something of a Wake Up Call of Positivity.
The thinking behind this concept is to give Hong Kong a fresh and young brand personality which could turn it into a reasonably cool tourist destination with something more than red sails in the sunset.
After being prodded by a couple of friends from overseas to visit a Happy Wednesday at Happy Valley Racecourse a few weeks ago, I did so after a number of years.
Making the time to be at a Happy Wednesday night in a tired old Hong Kong really didn’t make me wanna do cartwheels across the floor.
Happy Wednesday was something I had created for the Hong Kong Jockey Club by working directly with the CEO of the HKJC around fourteen years to ago to create a “vibe” that would attract a younger and more international crowd to the races.
This was all happening when Hong Kong had a pulse, the young entrepreneurial Sheung Wan area was pumping, fish were jumping, the cotton was high and there were daiquiris at Feather Boa and a Can Do spirit. It wasn’t bogus big boy burger hot air that I see coming towards me and need to eject from my seat.
The Happy Wednesday night I attended with my friends a few weeks ago tried very hard to be cool and fun and looked not unlike a romper room for Disneyland tryouts and the usual Shenzhen Budget Budgies, who, one hears, that on an average bring to Hong Kong a grand total of HK$400 for a two day stay.
Tourists without spending power. What an unique idea, Einstein…
What few knew was that during this time, I bought a small property in Sheung Wan and called it Happy WednesdayHK. This was to be a meeting place for a very select group of individuals who had that certain je ne sais quoi to host and produce podcasts, make music and the creativity to see what could be created with those fabulous and very Hong Kong Double Happiness matchboxes.
Then came down the Covid spider along with a political division within the ranks, the world changed forever and we’re in a post pandemic funk.
With HAPPIVESCENCE, the message is that because Hong Kong has nada of any significance to offer the new world of tourists- international tourists- and, far more importantly, investors and entrepreneurs from those places where people who still have money are looking at expanding their investment portfolios.
What might Hong Kong have to offer them?
Personally speaking, I believe that Hong Kong needs HAPPIVESCENCE- a special place that can be developed with a minimum of fuss to be something extra special in that incredible area away from the racecourse.
Most of the “hardware” and heavy lifting is already in place and with everything wrapped up and ready to go forward and be so much more than what it currently is and without more bureaucrats working on procrastinating things with tedious 5-10 year plans.
How might it work?
*Have pretty much everything that’s happening take place in what will be marketed as the most unique and CONVENIENT location in Hong Kong with the most HAPPY address in the city.
*Have those Happy Wednesday racing nights- but on Thursday and Friday and maybe even Saturday morning and afternoon, open the world of Hong Kong to HAPPIVESCENCE!
And what is HAPPIVESCENCE?
Music, this and that Popping Up, non stop positivity through all manner of art and the colour and popularity of Comic-Con on a truly global scale!
Meanwhile, being filmed as part of a one stop entertainment hub will be an ongoing reality series filmed at HAPPIVESCENCE, not unlike “Crazy Rich Asians” and based around three stylish and warring horse racing dynasties in Hong Kong in the eighties and nineties.
Another thing: Having created the musical genre called Canto Rock, which became the fatuous and bloated Canto Pop for seventy year olds, along with three friends, we have in the can and in the mix a new and more youthful musical message and genre called CanDo.
Why CanDo?
Because, well, there’s way too much No Can Do these days and this makes Jack a dull boy.
Comments