FEELIN' GOOD - NINA SIMONE

THE MAIDS
BY JEAN GENET / DRAMA

STARRING LA CHIQUITTA & FABIOLA

OPENS NOV 6 AT MCAULEY THEATRE,
HK ARTS CENTRE

POSTER DESIGN BY JULY MALANTIC

HYPERACTIVE (R) MAPS OUT A MARKETING PLAN
WITH THE MAIDS' PRODUCTION MANAGER,
ENAN LIM.

I trekked to My Musical Studio on Saturday night for The Maids' first reading and production meeting. I was a bit apprehensive, but mostly, I was excited. Apart from my frequent outings as an MC and the odd appearance onstage, I haven't really been in involved in theatre work in a significant way.

I arrived at 5.30pm on the dot. My best friend, Rye, was ceremoniously pouring white wine for everyone. "Everyone," really was juts a handful of people: Rye (Solange), myself (Claire), Moe (Madame), Enan (Production Manager), Alvin (Director), and Tina (Co-director, Dramaturg).

We jumped into the material immediately - no preamble. I guess the best way to tackle any Genet piece is not really to approach it, but to attack it.

And that's exactly what we did.

The last time I touched The Maids was in 2002, for my senior directing thesis. I re-imagined the final sequence - a gruesome but nebulous act of sacrifice - as something that might have happened within the tight, echo-bound walls of a bath room. I got an A+, but I'll never forget the countless sleepless nights I endured, trying to make sense of the ending. 

Rye and I have been talking about performing The Maids as our alter egos, La Chiquitta and Fabiola, for years. Rye had always been more emotionally infatuated with the project than I ever was. The Maids is the kind of dangerous material that grips you by the balls and never lets go until it gets out of you a release that is neither satisfying nor predictable...

So this time around, I vowed not to over think it. I'll take the material as it comes, I told myself, one day at a time, and try to not to be wholly consumed by it.

...who was I kidding?

By the third line, I had become Claire - impetuous, impatient and impressionable -an accomplice to terrible acts that nobody will ever completely understand.

It felt so good.
 

// IT'S A NEW LIFE FOR ME

AND I'M FEELIN' GOOD... //

TWENTY-FOUR/SEVEN/ONE

MONDAY
EAT YOUR WORDS
CHEF AND SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR JASON BLACK WAS THE CREATIVE FORCE BEHIND AN EVENT
THAT RAISED HK$132,000 IN AID OF FOODLINK.

TUESDAY
THE MAIDS
MY DEAREST FRIEND, RYE, HAS FINALLY SECURED THE RIGHTS TO STAGE HIS (OUR?) VANITY PROJECT IN HK 

WEDNESDAY 1
ERA ORA MEDIA PREVIEW
WITH THE LABEL'S DESIGNER, EUNY L.

WEDNESDAY 2

HK1K CAKE CONSULTATATION

THE PENINSULA HK'S EXECUTIVE PASTRY CHEF LUDOVIC DOUTEAU

PRESENTS HIS INITIAL IDEAS FOR HK MAGAZINE'S 1,000th ISSUE BIRTHDAY CAKE

WEDNESDAY 3
CHOCOLATE TASTING AT THE PENINSULA BOUTIQUE
THE PENINSULA BOUTIQUE'S DIRECTOR OF MARKETING ADRIENNE TIN LEADS US THROUGH AN IMPROMPTU EXPERIENCE WITH CHOCOLATES
HANDMADE BY THE PEN'S OWN CHOCOLATIER

WEDNESDAY 4
SALON DE NING'S OPEN MIC NIGHT
TAKING MY FNAL BOW AS THE MONTHLY EVENT'S MC FOR THE PAST 2.5 YEARS

THURSDAY
GLOBAL PARTY
AS MC AND AUCTION MASTER OF AN EVENT WITH PHANTOM VIPs:
ANGELINA JOLIE. JOHNNY DEPP. THE ROLLING STONES. MAO. WARHOL.
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

FRIDAY
POUNDING PAVEMENT
SEEKING INSPIRATION FOR HK1K WITH CHARMAINE

SATURDAY 1
WERQ OUT.
ON THE WAY TO SUN YAT SEN PARK TO MEET MY FABULOUS PERSONAL TRAINER, BRIDGE.

SATURDAY 2
STEPHEN SONDHEIM'S FOLLIES
STAGED BY THE HK SINGERS AT THE SHEUNG WAN CIVIC CENTRE

SUNDAY
SUPERMAN
GAY OF HYPERACTIVE ENERGY MEETS THE MAN OF STEEL

Monday

EAT YOUR WORDS featured five of Hong Kong's top food critics paired with five of the city's most celebrated chefs. One hundred and thirty hungry diners crowded The Salted Pig, eager to witness a culinary bloodbath.

In the end, the dessert course by Chef Gregoire Michaud and The Dim Sum Diaries' Ale Wilkinson won the most votes.

Hyperactive co-organized, MC'd and auctioned items off to raise a total of HK$132,000 in aid of Foodlink.


Tuesday

Rye walked into my door with a surprise:

My very own copy of the rights to stage The Maids in Hong Kong. For years, Rye has been dreaming about staging this play as a vanity project for La Chiquitta and Fabiola.

It's finally coming true this November.


Wednesday

1.
Era Ora Press Preview at Boujis. Met the lovely designer, Euny L., who had just wrapped up a shoot in Ibiza. It showed. Her skin glowed a light, golden caramel. I was clearly dying with envy, and so, to make me feel better, Euny gave me a pink pocket square.

I squinted at her alienesque visage, wracking my memory bank for a clue as to where I've seen her before. I finally ventured: "Were you a former Miss Singapore?"

She threw her head back. A throaty laughter roared 'round the walls of her slender neck,

2.
Met The Peninsula Hong Kong's Executive Pastry Chef Ludovic Douteau, to chat about HK Mag's 1,000th issue birthday cake.

The facts:
- red fondant
- HK skyline gold stencil
- miniature 'HK Hipsters' done with chocolate
- 1.5m base
- 8 layers high
- will have to completed on-site 1 hour before the event

Tour-de-force.

3.
We were only supposed to look at the teas. Swear!!

But if The Pen Boutique's Director of Marketing, Adrienne Tin, follows that through with an impromptu chocolate tasting, featuring little delights made by The Pen's own chocolatier, are you gonna say no?

Didn't think so.

4.
Curtain call on Hyperactive.

After 2.5 years, it was my final night as MC of Salon de Ning's monthly Open Mic Night. Big love to SdN Manager Eli Homawoo, songbird Felicia, and the band - Samson, Sty, Robert and Leo.

I honed my MC-ing chops at SdN, learning how to adjust to different audiences at lightning speed.

It has been an awesome ride.

Thank you.


Thursday

The Hong Kong leg of The Global Party was meant to have been as huge as the title suggested. I was asked to MC, and once again, there's an auction in the program.

These were big-ticket items, too, meant to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Children's Cancer Foundation. Warhol's 'Mao.' Autographed and framed memorabilia from Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp and The Rolling Stones. Entire weeks in Balinese luxury villas. Rides on one-of-a-kind Formula One racing cars.

And more.

By some freak 'accident' only about 20 people showed up to the event.

"Sorry for wasting your time," said Shore's Mark Cholewka. I couldn't even manage a reply, except a mumbled "Noworriesbyeseeyousoon." I was too stunned that a black-tie affair fell off people's radar.

Shit happens.


Friday

Charmaine and I grabbed lunch at Porto Fino to thank the owner, Felipe, for hosting The List Magazine's GuestList event the previous night. It was a success. I expressed my regrets that I wasn't present.

Charmaine and I then pound pavement to seek inspiration for HK1K at Shanghai Tang.


Saturday

1.
"Health is wealth," I chuckled drily, as I pushed and plodded through the short walk between my flat and Sun Yat Sen Park. This is where my personal trainer, Bridge, meets me thrice a week to whip me back in shape for Pink Season. I refused to be a fat cow for yet another year during the twinbill Mr Gay HK / Floatilla weekend.

Fit, not fat.

Fabulous, not forlorn.

2.
Caught up with my dear friends, Peter and Matthew, to watch the HK Singers' staging of Sondheim's Follies.

The acoustics in the Sheung Wan Civic Centre are already problematic, to begin with. The sound mixing and the musical direction only served to exacerbate the problem.

I had my ears covered the entire first act. Unlistenable.

I felt for the actors, who had so much energy and enthusiasm and heart. Must be frustrating to have to fight to be heard.


Sunday

Saw Man of Steel in IFC with the gang.

"Well, well..." I mused, considering Henry Cavill's ridiculously muscular physique with great interest. "Is this the ideal I must now work towards?"

24 HOURS A DAY.

7 DAYS A WEEK.

1 HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™.

#gethyperactive

The Diva Video Of The Day™ Terry Gian / Crazy In Love (Parody)

//

Yeah, history in the making

Part two, it's so crazy right now

I look and stare so deep in your eyes

I touch on you more and more every time

When you leave I'm begging you not to go

Call your name two or three times in a row

Such a funny thing for me to try to explain

How I'm feeling and my pride is the one to blame

'Cause I know I don't understand

Just how your love you're doing no one else can

Got me looking so crazy right now, your love's

Got me looking so crazy right now

(In love)

Got me looking so crazy right now, your touch

Got me looking so crazy right now

(Your touch)

Got me hoping you'll page me right now, your kiss

Got me hoping you'll save me right now

Looking so crazy in love's got me looking

Got me looking so crazy in love

Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh no no

Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh no no...

//

 

// FABIOLA //

 

The Diva Video Of The Day™ Karen Souza / Corcovado (LIVE)

//

Quiet nights of quiet stars quiet chords from my guitar

floating on the silence that surrounds us.

Quiet thoughts and quiet dreams quiet walks by quiet streams

and a window that looks out on the mountains and the sea, oh how lovely

This is where I want to be here with you so close to me

until the final flicker of life's ember.

I who was lost and lonely believing life was only

a bitter tragic joke, have found with you,

the meaning of existence, oh my love

//

"FABIOLA"
PORTRAIT BY ABBY LEE

// VOXFIRE  //

PHOTO BY HARSHA RAO

FABIOLA & RAJA'S AVANT G'ART HALLOWEEN

FABIOLA, HK'S PRE-EMINENT DRAG HOSTESS
WITH RAJA, WINNER OF RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE SEASON 3

AVANT G'ART // KEE CLUB

HK'S SUPERSTAR DRAG QUEENS FABIOLA, LA CHIQUITTA, GIGI

RAJA: YOU'RE THE FIERCEST BITCH IN THIS CLUB.

LA CHIQUITTA: NO; YOU ARE.

RAJA: I'M JUST THE TALLEST. YOU'RE THE FIERCEST.
LA CHIQUITTA: THANK YOU.

// SCORE. //

7 YEARS ON AND WE'D DO IT ALL AGAIN

TURTLE COVE

OLD VOLUME

GOING GAGA AT FINDS

THE GOLDEN OASIS AT FINDS

PRE-NUTELA DRINKS AT OLD VOLUME

JAMESIE'S BIRTHDAY AT OLD VOLUME

SEX AND THE CITY 2 GALA PREMIERE AFTERPARTY AT AQUA

MAD MEN AT FINDS

FELIX, THE PENINSULA HONG KONG

RYENESS & JAMESIE IN VOLUME BEAT.
IT'S BEEN 7 YEARS.
EVERY DAY, A REVELATION.

WALA NANG DAPAT BANGGITIN PA KUNDI...  



// OOPS. //

The Diva Video of the Day™ CeCe Peniston / Finally

//

But now you've come along and brightened up my world

In my heart I feel it I'm that special kind of girl

Finally you come along

The way I feel about you it just can't be wrong

//

// CENTRAL FERRY PIER 9 . Hong Kong //

The Diva Video of the Day® Nicole Scherzinger / The Phantom Of The Opera (LIVE at the Royal Variety Show)

//

In all your fantasies, you always knew

that man and mystery . . .

. . . were both in you . . .

//

// AN INVINCIBLE TRUTH //

Fabio Fabiola

Hello, Friends!

We were trying wigs on for a laugh when someone suggested, "Jamesie, why don't we do your birthay party in drag?"

And so we did a "Pink Prom Parade" - my twenty-somethingth (I forget) birthday party. Imagine 17 guys in pink drag stomping down Hollywod Road en route to Volume. It was biblical.

That's how it all began.

"What shall we call you..." my dear friend Evan, Volume's Creative Director, wondered out loud.

My dance partner, the half-Spanish, half-Chinese muscle boy Anthony-Hector Woo, looked out the window for inspiration. He saw a signage for a boutique that sells handbags.

"Fa-bee-YOH-luh," Anthony exhaled, gently caressing each syllable.

"Fabiola!" Evan's eyes twinkled.

"FABIOLA!" my dear friend, La Chiquitta, shrieked.

"Fabiola..." I whispered.

The handbag boutique was in fact called "Fabriano." Sounds strong and sturdy, if you ask me. Thank goodness I didn't end up getting a name like Fabriana, Fabrizzia, Fabria - or worse, Fedele or Farfalla.


Fabiola...


She used to just be a persona I inhabit once I put on a costume - no different to a character I play onstage. That's how I saw it.

But now, whenever I go shopping, I shop for two people.

"I want this low rise, relaxed fit, stone washed style. Size 32 waist, please. Hey, wait! Would you have that bra in extra large? My chest measurement is 42."

And now, when I receive invites to parties, I'm not even sure whether or not I'm really, truly welcome!

"Jamesie, join us for my birthday drinks at Armani / Aqua tonight! Hope Fabiola can come!" *giggles*

Last night I had to do three quick costume changes. The evening began with Chicken Feet Disco's Get Animated! party at Veto. Richard, who organizes the monthly event with his husband, Stephen, was dressed up as Buzz Lightyear. To infinity - and beyond!

Then, I had to run to Volume Beat for FERO5H, the brand's 5th anniversary party. The movers and shakers in HK's LGBT community always arrive early to these events, to show support. That's 'coz after midnight, it's just bedlam. Party boys from all over pack the floor, it's impossible to move, much less get a vodka cranberry.

So I left Beat at a quarter to 12 to do my next costume change.

At 1AM, Fabiola made her entrance.

At 4am, Fabiola went home.

James emerged yet again.

...to go to Propaganda.

I danced 'til 6.



With Affection,
James

Feathers on HK Pride

Hello, Friends!

A heavy blanket of smoke hung over Sheung Wan as I walked home Saturday night after the HK Pride March. Fire had razed our new neighbourhood beauty salon, "Feathers," to a black crisp.

The entire district smelled oddly fishy, and that's prolly 'coz the fire decimated all the dried fish for which the neighbourhood is known for.

For a second, I wondered whether or not the fire had anything to do with Pride. That overzealous vigilantes perhaps decided to burn at random to punish the gays for being so darn visible? And that beauty parlour called "Feathers" - well, it just sounds so gay, hence, it must burn?

I was imagining all sorts of scenarios 'coz my imagination is just fertile like that. It's unlikely that I'll ever find out what really caused the fire. It could very well have just been an accident.

Parts of Queen's and Hollywood Roads were closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Fire hydrants spewed water everywhere. Dogs merrily danced amidst heretofore unseen geysers. Nosey types like myself held up mobile phone to take photos.

It was the most exciting thing to have happened to Sheung Wan since... Oh, I dunno... a beloved cha chaan teng closed to make way for another 7-11.

I do feel horrible that I was mostly annoyed with the fire, more than anything else. I totally lost all sense of human compassion when my nice shirt started stinking of burnt fish and feathers (ha, ha - bad joke). Plus the road closures made it infinitely difficult to get a cab on our way to my good friend Jeff's 50th birthday celebration in his posh Parkview penthouse.

Regardless, all sense of annoyance was allayed as soon as we got to the party. Veuve Clicquot flowed freely. Effervescent bubbles proved effective for soothing frayed nerves.

It helped, too, that a highly social Brazilian hunk served as some sort of party lubricant. He was friendly with everybody. His muscular forearms were covered in bright tats, his flaming red trousers were snug in all the right places, and I just adored his electric blue sneakers. He was a peacock. All that's missing were - what else? - feathers.

Fabiola got herself feathered out at Volume's "Drag Overdose" party afterwards. It was a night of pure decadence and debauchery - because what else can possibly happen when all the king's horses and all the king's men become drag queens? It was the night the beautiful Wishes sisters, Champagne and the Caviar, were born.

The club was packed to the rafters. Meanwhile, the queue to get in snaked all around the block. It was impossible to fit any more people into such limited space.

So Fabiola trekked to Lan Kwai Fong to attend Les Peches' official Pride after-party escorted by two ever so gallant knights-in-shining-armour, Mr Gay HK 2010 Heihei Yau and Mr Gay HK 2011 Jimmy Wong.

A baby dyke named "Joe" (who looked 17 years old but was probably 27, maybe more) promptly started grinding against Fabiola. The drag queen felt something hard rubbing against her leg - and she was sure it wasn't a mobile phone. But what else could it have been? In a moment of panic, she dropped a gold earring onto the gaping abyss of the dance floor - never to be seen again.

"I feel like a ghetto black lesbian," Fabiola exhaled, peeling her gold pumps and sliding into a pair of Havaianas flip flops whilst queued up for a cab along Pedder street.

"Ghetto. Black. Lesbian," a black chick snarled, three persons ahead of the queue.

Her boyfriend grabbed her elbow, shushing her. "Not worth it," he whispered.

Damn right, sistah. I'm a drag queen, can't you see. You want da 'hood? I'mma give ya 'hood. Watch.

Fabiola took off her hair and jewellery in the cab to prevent any more loss of valuables.

The cabbie dropped Caroline, Lore and myself halfway to our homes.

Queen's Road was still blocked.

Smoke still billowed thickly out of Feathers.




With Affection,
James

The Halloween Fabtastique

The Year of the Fabiola

Hello, Friends!

I swear I thought I had put her to rest for good. Somewhat.

But it seems she is experiencing some sort of a resurgence.

Fruits in Suits 7th Anniversary Party

Fabiola speaks emphatically about Tongzhi Tsai, the campaign against homophobic bullying in schools.

LBD / H & M

Jewellery / Saturn Essentials

At the 7th Anniversary Party of Fruits in Suits, Fabiola spoke about Mr Gay Hong Kong's Tongzhi Tsai - the campaign against homophobic bullying in Hong Kong schools.

Fabiola wore jewels by Saturn Essentials. Proprietress Mo takes jewellery repairs and commissions for affordable one-off pieces made with silver or gold. Her chunky, semiprecious bead necklaces are a hit, as is her line of cufflinks, pendants and rings created with antique mahjong tiles made of bamboo or of painted or carved bone.

As you can see, Mo draped Fabiola in fabulous rocks. What's a gurl to do except choose a classic, understated little black dress in order to let Mo's creations take front and centre, and shine?

La Chiquitta

GiGi Reyes

Sassy Hour at Envie

Photo from Angie Palmer's iPhone

Dress / H & M

Lipstick / Guerlain

The Sassy Girls cranked out another hit event at new-bar-in-town, Envie, which incidentally was designed by my friend, Rowena. It was a kind of a homecoming for Fabiola, who was at Sassy Hong Kong's launch party some years ago at M1NT.

So the paps went a-tizzy over Fabiola.

And I don't know why...

I can't explain.

But it's beginning to look like...

The Year of the Fabiola.

With Affection,
James

Amy Winehouse & Me

Hello, Friends!

The news of Amy Winehouse's death was the single spot of darkness throughout my weeklong birthday celebration.

Sure, Amy was a drunk and a druggie. Sure, she was a hot mess whose time on God's green Earth was obviously limited. Sure, she was beyond saving.

But with her outrageous beehive that reportedly kept many "delights," her lay-it-all-onstage philosophy that revealed all traces of her experiences in her voice, and the sheer power of her unique talent, she was an unarguable musical genius of my generation. And no matter how messy she got, she always - whenever she humanly could - sang live.

Like Amy, I also love the blues. I, too, am a hot mess. I've had a beehive, too, honestly:



Well, it was Fabiola, really, but you get the picture.

Yup, Amy. You and I have had our ugly moments...

Only difference between Amy Winehouse and myself is, I've gone on to channel my hot-mess-ness to hyperactivity. Amy has gone on to the grave.

I was seriously distraught when news of Amy's death greeted me first thing on my actual birthday. Just prior to her death, people had all but dismissed her as a has-been. It's a small triump to see that Amy's records are doing so well once again.

Isn't it a pity that, often, we only realize the true value of something once it's been taken away?

Astron's Top 5 Rundown™ Best of Amy Winehouse:

05 Teach Me Tonight

Saucy, sassy, sexy. Love Amy's slight sneer.

04 Rehab

Classic Amy. Defiant, with that sultry, little dress and blood-red lip.

03 Someone to Watch Over Me

She's my soulmate here. Smooth, expressive, sublime.

02 Valerie

Lookin' like a hot mess, sounding divine and flawless. Should all singers be so naturally talented?

01 Love is a Losing Game

Amy's anthem. This performance broke my heart, and will forever be my enduring memory of Amy Winehouse.

Amy, thank you for the music.

With Affection,
James