WHERE _S HYPERACT_VE?

IF THERE EVER WAS A TIME THAT EVERY MOLECULE OF MY BODY

HAD TO EXEMPLIFY HYPERACTIVE,

THIS IS IT.

_  BREATHE HYPERACT_VE.

_  MOVE HYPERACT_VE.

_  L_VE HYPERACT_VE.

! AM THE HYPERACT!VE GAY BOY™

HOLLA
HOLLA
HOLLA
C'MON, C'MON...

#GETHYPERACTIVE!

CHRISTINA BIANCO - TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART

// LAUGH. //

thanks, ryeness,
for that heartwarming visit.

#gethyperactive

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... //

LIKE ME OR HATE ME?

 
LIKE ME?
 CLICK 'LIKE' ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE 
COZ THERE'S JUST 87 LIKES AT THE MO -
AND I'LL NEED AT LEAST 87 MILLION 
FOR ME TO ORGANIZE A FUN PARTY.
SIX MORE 0'S TO GO!

HATE ME?
HAFTA CLICK 'LIKE' EVEN MORE,
COZ HOW YOU GONNA KEEP HATIN' ON ME, OTHERWISE?!

IF YOU'RE INDIFFERENT,

JUST KEEP IT MOVIN'!

// #GETHYPERACTIVE. //

 (TFIF.)

DON'T STOP LOOKING FOR LOVE

Had a huge belly laugh from listening to this.

It is the height of AWFULness. HOW / WHY the fuck did this song get recorded, when the vocalist was incoherent? Or, was that why this was given a pass - exactly because the vocalist (can't bring myself to say 'singer'...) was so incoherent, it therefore qualifies as one of those "it's so bad, it's good" moments in pop culture???

Now we know what "unable to carry a tune" means; nowhere - not for second - was this tune ever carried, much less, sang.

It was sneezed.



RIP Stephen Gately.




DISCLAIMER

It's unfortunate that a healthy 33 year old pop star suddenly died the way Stephen Gately did, and even more so that cheap controversy followed.

It was yucky, how the Bulgarian "friend" who had slept with Gately's partner, Andrew Cowles, allegedly sold the story for E70,000 to The Sun. What a lowlife.

But in the end, we truly only care about music.

This isn't music.

We don't know what this is.

Louis Walsh, explain.

ALANIS MORISSETTE // YOU OUGHTA KNOW (LIVE 1996)

THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™

We were supposed to go to Taipei.

It was Peter's birthday weekend, Tyler is in town for an internship and hadn't yet been to Taiwan, Greg deserved a little celebratory trip after closing a major deal, I was event-ed out of my skull... We were all eager for a bit of a break from our Hyperactive lives - we all needed it.

But Hong Kong has a funny way of clawing itself into any effort to try and leave it behind. As the date of our weekend getaway loomed ever closer, people's commitment to the trip also became more and more nebulous. Taipei suddenly seemed like such a massive commitment, we threw our hands up in collective exasperation until Greg said, "Let's just do Macau."

Emma immediately took control of travel arrangements (by default), trawling through a mind boggling array of bundled experiences in search of the best deal. She found a package that included return ferry, show tickets to House of Dancing Water, dessert at some newly opened sweets shop, and casino credits. Ems quickly figured out it would take a lifetime to get everyone's sign-off and simply booked for people who could commit right there and then.

I volunteered to sort out rooms at the Westin, remembering that it was tucked away from everything else. I didn't have Emma's take-the-bull-by-the-horns approach, though, and so was exchanging emails with Ada Chan, The Westin Macau's Director of Communications, up until the night before we were due to leave Hong Kong. It was hectic. I breathed a sigh of resignation after I clicked "Send" on the final email, keeping my fingers crossed we wouldn't have problems with checking in the next day.

I set three alarm clocks to ensure I'd be at the ferry terminal by 9am. I arrived on the dot.

I found Emma veritably draped across the entire length of the couch at Starbucks, holding space for the coterie of men who had deigned to keep her waiting. She rightly assumed we'd all be desperate for a caffeine fix. Peter was last to arrive, giving Greg, Allen and Ty just a second to bag their bagels to go before we made a mad dash towards Immigrations.

"You're soaked, babe," Emma frowned as she touched my sweater.

"Rain," I explained unnecessarily. "Didn't have an umbrella while I was waiting for a cab to get here; left my brolly at a shoot last night."

"Do you want to borrow a shirt?" Peter offered.

"Nah," I declined. "I planned my outfit carefully; changing my top would ruin the entire effect! Thanks anyway."

"You silly bugger," Emma scolded, "you don't wanna get sick. Get out of that sweater right now!"

Meekly, I did as I was told. I rejoined the gang just as passengers were being herded into the ferry. It was lurching on its berth from side to side.

"It's less bumpy in front," Greg promised. The ferry vibrated with the shrieks and shouts of hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists. We muscled our way towards our assigned seats on the second and third rows. Emma promptly popped a motion sickness tablet. I clapped my Zik by Phillippe Starck headphones on. Greg started reading. Peter had a bite of Allen's bagel. And we were off.

"Please keep the blinds down," an attendant admonished Peter, "it's not safe."

"How is it not safe?" Peter persisted. "I don't see how it makes a difference, whether or not the blinds are up."

"Actually," the attendant sidled closer, conspiratorially, "it's the mainland Chinese... they get all excited when the blinds are up. They leave their seats so they can take pics from the windows. They block the aisles. That's what makes it unsafe."

Peter then turned his attention elsewhere, asking me about my Sergio Mendes remixes.

The boat lurched even harder once we we were firmly in open waters, sending many passengers rushing towards vomit bags. It was better than a roller coaster ride. I took Magalenha's hand and disappeared into an electric sambadrome.

"Everything was silent all of a sudden," Emma recounted once we were in a cab towards Coloane. "All I could hear was the rustle of plastic. I opened my eyes to peek at what could possibly be making that noise while everyone struggled just to hold on to their seats. It was a woman... She was collecting vomit bags, cleaning up after everyone's mess."

"Protein spills," I smiled. "That's what we called it in Disney," I explained, "so parents needn't feel bad about their kids throwing up all over the place. We'd say 'Please mind the protein spill.'"

"What a job," Peter shook his head. "I can't imagine doing what that woman does for a living."

"More so, that someone has to do it," Emma pointed out.

We were quiet the rest of the way towards the Westin. It took a woman who cleans up after other people's vomit to put our weekend getaway into perspective. No matter how exhausted, exasperated or aggravated we get - no matter how hectic or rough life gets - it can't possibly be worse than what the ferry's cleaning lady has to endure on a daily basis.

Our cab finally rolled onto the Westin's driveway a few minutes later, giving us a sweeping view of Hac Sa Beach. Bellhops rushed to assist and greet us a sunshiny "Welcome to The Westin Macau!" - in decidedly Filipino accents, of course.

Yes.

Macau.

That's right - that's where we are.

We have arrived.

***

Hong Kong is a clingy, crazy, jealous, infectious, dangerous and ultimately irresistible lover. Kinda like the singer's persona in this song. I swear I saw some of my companions surreptitiously check their email even while we were surrounded, distracted, entertained and humored by the best Macau has to offer.

I love that Alanis Morissette understands the role of performance in a singer-songwriter's bag of tricks. This rendition is a dramatic departure from the recorded version, which is pumped with more angst than an entire commune of starving artists can ever muster.

For the Grammy's, she humanizes the song's angry bitch by underscoring loss, denial, pain, suffering, and - up to the very end - her somewhat tragic plea for things to return to how they were before. 

You can't let go of Hong Kong.

And Hong Kong is never letting go of you.

You oughta know.

// And I'm here to remind you 

Of the mess you left when you went away 

It's not fair to deny me 

Of the cross I bear that you gave to me 

You, you, you oughta know! //

NICK JONAS SHIRTLESS

POSTED ON INSTAGRAM:
"I never do this but... Healthy living and fitness update.
Post workout picture. #diabeticinshape #2.0."

// NOW **THAT**

 IS A "JO'BRO." //

BABYFACE feat. MARIAH CAREY // EVERY TIME I CLOSE MY EYES

"Three months..." Chris squinted in concentration, trying to remember the exact date he left Hong Kong for Canberra.

"THREE MONTHS!?!" I wailed in typical overdramatic fashion. "Feels like it's been six!!"

"Three months and two weeks, to be exact," he exhaled, finally focusing an unblinking gaze towards me.

I know that look; I know that tone of voice. He's doing his best not to cause me any more distress. But he's also laying the situation out to me sans sweeteners.

"Nine more months to go," I sulked, "enough time to get pregnant and have a baby."

Before he left Hong Kong to take on a job in Canberra, Chris and I agreed we'd give the new set-up a try for up to a year. And when that year is up, we'd then decide how - and where - to physically be together again. I might move to Oz, he might move back to Hong Kong, we might even move to another city where we're both able to find promising jobs.

MY ADVANCED BIRTHDAY DINNER
SPAGHETTI + A BIT OF BUBBLY

Chris has been back to visit me twice since he moved. Not bad; could be worse; not gonna complain. I didn't even mind the first two months, to be honest. I quite enjoyed my new-found independence. But for some reason, the third month has been especially trying.

"Nights are the hardest," I mumbled, not even bothering to set the table. Chris is visiting all of one day, this time around. He arrived late Friday night and was scheduled to leave early Sunday morning. I intended to milk every second of his visit, which meant not wasting time on a fabulous table setting. Besides, dinner's just takeaway spaghetti from Il Bel Paese - in gorgeous microwavable containers, of course. "I come home after an eventful day, brimming with stories - but I haven't got you here to share them with!"

Chris didn't hear me. Modern Family was on; he had ducked into the study to dig something out of his suitcase.

It was a small package, paper-wrapped by Cathay's multi-talented flight attendants.

"Happy Birthday," Chris said, simply.

I had forgotten.

I'm so horrible with birthdays, I've come to forget mine, even.

"Sweetbean!!!" I squealed. I ripped the paper off, revealing a gray leather case that contained two, sexy, portable, metallic speakers. Almost in unison, the cork popped off of a bottle of bubbly.

We enjoyed our fabulous, gourmet dinner. We laughed with the Modern Family 'til our bellies hurt. And by 11pm, we were both in bed.

He was up at 6am, gathering his stuff for a 9am flight to Sydney. He was getting ready to work through a mountain of post-workshop paperwork from a just-concluded consulting gig in Sri Lanka. I could tell he intended to be productive through the long flight to Sydney and the three-and-a-half-hour long bus ride to Canberra.

At around 4.30pm, my Whatsapp flashed with a message from Chris.

"Got an early bus! Arrive in Canberra at 11.30pm instead of 12.30am, hooray! Happy birthday week, sweetheart. Sorry I couldn't spend all of it with you."

***

Every Time I Close My Eyes is the first track - and the biggest hit - in Babyface's album, The Day. It was nominated for a Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in the 1997 Grammy's, eventually losing to Elton John's Candle in the Wind.

The Day was one of only two CDs I always had playing in the background on my first year of university. The other one was The Look of Love by Diana Krall. I came to terms with being gay whilst listening to these two CDs on endless loop. I was 16 - desperate to fall in love.

Every time I close my eyes, I imagined what being in love might be like.

Finally, I know.

JAMES + CHRIS

  

// THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

 

CAN WE JUST STOP & TALK AWHILE?

The last week wasn't just a whirlwind of Hyperactive events; it was an HI (10) Tornado, where Hyperactive Intensity is calculated as follows:

HI = DW / NEo x nSH

(NEo +/+ NEp) A ^ S

That's days of the week (7) divided by number of events organized (2), multiplied by net sleeping hours (5).

The most volatile variable here, of course is NEo, which isn't always indicative of NEp (number of events participated in). In most cases, NEo and NEp are inversely proportional. After all, DW (days of the week) is a constant. The more events you organize, the less time you have to allocate to events you participate in. In my case, however, NEo and NEp are directly proportional - especially since nSH follows the Law of Diminishing Returns. It's only by keeping NEo and NEp parallel on the HI graph am I able to keep producing the amounts of A (adrenaline) required to secure a high S (success) rate.

THE QUEEN'S SILVER

BEFORE HK1K
AN EMPTY OPEN-AIR LOT

DURING HK1K
WITH MODEL HELENA CHAN
AND COLUMNIST YALUN TU IN THE BACK

AFTER HK1K
AFTER-PARTY AT MAGNUM

I organized HK1K, HK Mag's 1,000th issue pop-up "Hong Kong Hipsters" block party, on an empty lot in Fashion Walk. The event required the support of over 20 brand partners, over 100 support staff (technicians, stage managers, gophers, security, chefs, waiters and bartenders, door bitches, interns, photographers... and so on), managed through 5 Google Docs (guest list, contact sheet, rundown, budget, script and show flow), and mobilized via 5 buses, to pull off.

It wasn't perfect, but it was awesome. I think I did awesome... I'm my own biggest critic. So many things could have gone wrong. But so many things were OK, I'm tearful with gratitude to everyone who had in hand in making it a success. Also, my mom's 9-day novena before the event obviously worked! Thank you Mommy, and thank you God.

KEEP IT MOVIN'!

MANILA

KARE-KARE

HYPERACTIVE AND A BEVY OF BEAUTIFUL AUNTIES

#HYPRFAMOUSFLOORS
THE PENTHOUSE IN THE GREEN LOUNGE
ORTIGAS, MANILA

WITH MY BEAUTEOUS BABY SISTER, LOREN

As if that wasn't enough, I had an 8am flight to Manila immediately following HK1K, for Destination, I Do! - the highly conceptual wedding of my cousin, Mark, to his lady love, Abbey.

Upon my arrival in Manila, my youngest sister, Loren, speed-ironed my barong Tagalog and dress pants whilst I greedily gulped honey lemon water, multivitamins and a whole pot of kare-kare. I knew I had to make an effort to be fit for public consumption. I was hoarse, exhausted and sleepy, which is unfair because my family deserves to have the best of Hyperactive.

The wedding invites were mock passports, the guest cards were baggage tags, the tables' centerpieces were each inspired by a dreamy destination, the cake was a stack of luggages rendered in fondant, and of course, the entire thing was MC'd by Hyperactive. At one point, I had to grab my cousin, Boyang, to share hosting duties. I was simply too hoarse to be coherent. It would suck for Mark and Abbey look back to their wedding reception and remember only that I sounded like a broken accordion.

Luckily the happy couple seemed to guess that I might be at less than my usual 150%, and so they had a Starbucks concession especially licensed to operate at their wedding reception. They're coffee lovers, you see. Naturally, they want their guests to have free access to a caffeine fix. Of course.   

I got back to the hotel at 1.30am, by which time I figured it'd be futile to sleep and risk missing my 7am flight back to Hong Kong. In Manila, if something could go wrong, it will. So my sister, Loren and I, simply called for massages.

I was back in Hong Kong less than 24 hours after I left - too exhausted to even be aghast at the explosion of event detritus all over my flat.

BACK IN HK,
LAUNDRY AND A MESSY FLAT YELLED FOR ATTENTION.

DID ALL THAT JUST FUCKING HAPPEN?!

Clearly, there had just been a Hyperactive Intensity 10 Tornado.

I dutifully scrubbed and laundered and sprayed and cleaned.

Last Thursday was dinner with the British Consul General. Next Thursday is the Guest List event at Volume HEAT. And then Mr Gay HK's send-off for Mr Gay World, and my birthday. Somewhere in there, I have to squeeze a reading for The Maids. And I mustn't forgo my regular workouts, of course, because Chris is arriving next week.

July is stupid!

I am sleepless, restless and running purely on adrenaline.

And I'm still going.

Where I'm now pulling energy from, I can't even tell any more.

Can we just stop and talk a while?

FUNNILY ENOUGH, THIS SONG WAS USED FOR A COFEE TVC DECADES AGO...

 

// GET HYPERACTIVE! //

HK1K

Everyone says they're busy. Me, I'm Hyperactive.

The past three months have seen heightened Hyperactivity, though, because I've been planning the party to mark the year's most important media event: HK1K. It's the local strain of that global superbug known as Y2K, but better 'coz it isn't stressful on anyone - not even on myself, surprisingly. I'm usually a worrywart.

HK1K is the 1,000th issue of HK Magazine, Asia's first-ever free distribution weekly periodical for city dwellers. Every Friday, the magazine is delivered to Hong Kong's best bars and restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, supermarkets and delis, gyms and spas, clubhouses and lobbies, galleries and retail shops. And as soon as our pages hit the streets, a fanatic tribe of readers known as "HK Hipsters" religiously pick them up. This has been a ritual for the past 22 years.

On July 12, Friday, this tribe will gather for the HK1K Big Bash at Magnum (RSVP). They'll drink and dance the night away like heathens, blissfully oblivious to Mercury retrograde. Traveling backwards through the zodiac is only an illusion! The past 22 years are but a glorious pretext to worship at the altar of alternative lifestyle. Cacophonous beats urge us to gyrate - not plod, not march - into the future. See? The past has passed already. What's real is here and now, and what you want to do is up to you. Isn't that thought the sweetest ambrosia to lull your hipster soul into blessed slumber?

The next day, you'll awake unaware that the previous night's hedonism holds any more significance. That's as it should be. HK1K, like Y2K, is ultimately benign. It leaves as soon as it has made its presence felt to you. You've been through it. And although you're not sure what it is, that's ok.

See? The past has passed already. 

But since the next seven days are yet to come, we might as well chat about what's happening, what's appealing, what's pleasing, what's new, what's delicious, what's controversial, what demands an action, attention, what's worth doing.

Before you know it, it's once again the last day of your work week.

Thank Fuck It's Friday.

That's how - and why - we've come to this ritual.

 

// THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

THE CARDIGANS // YOU'RE THE STORM

If I were to compile my coming-of-age soundtrack, it'd have Simply Red's Fairground, George Michael and Mary J Blige's As, Janet Jackson's Together Again, the Spice Girls' Say You'll Be There, and The Cardigans' Lovefool.

The Cardigans,  a Swedish band formed in 1992, skyrocketed to fame when director Baz Luhrmann picked Lovefool for the soundtrack of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. I  instantly took to the song's chorus - Love me, love me! Say that you love me! - because it captured my own need for constant affirmation. I lived for moments when the music video would come out on MTV or when the DJ at my local radio station would finally respond to my endless requests to play it again.

I haven't heard anything from The Cardigans since then.

I woke up today with a craving for music I grew up with, which led me to Long Gone Before Daylight (2003), The Cardigans' comeback album after a five-year hiatus. You're the Storm is the first track. I can only describe it as mellow Europop / rock / country. It has a haunting quality to it - a soaring melody coupled with an undercurrent of malevolent strumming.

SORSOGON

 // CHRIS. //

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN & CLIFF RICHARD // SUDDENLY

I MISS...

SAI KUNG

// CHRIS. //

BARBRA STREISAND & BARRY GIBB // GUILTY (Live)

"There's the top 10 female vocal artists of our time," Barry Gibb once quipped, "and then there's Barbra Streisand."

I love this performance for 5 reasons:

05 How often do we hear a male singer take on the higher harmony in a male-female duet? Trust a Bee Gee to flip musical convention - and on Barbra, at that.

04 This is so rhythmically complex, it makes Rihanna's songs sound like nursery rhymes. And yet, as many rhythmic "acts" as this song contains, it never once sounds overworked. It skips and glides and  cartwheels like an expert cheerleader. Effortlessly. That hanging phrase in the end is the equivalent of a wink, saying: "Piece of cake! But don't we all know just how much talent and artistry it takes to write a song like this and make it sound easy?"

03 Barbra tried to dance. Oh no she didn't? Oh yes she did.

02 Barry Gibb made Barbra truly werq for it, and what fun it is to watch over and over again! Barbra never sounds like the lesser singer in any duet - just ask Celine Dion. Gibb clearly had the edge here. And he better, seeing how he wrote the damn thing!

01 This song proved, Barbra Streisand is human. She sings funky notes, too, just like the rest of us. She sounds awkward, too, when you make her swing for notes across her rarely-used lower register. But as soon as you realize she remains unblemished despite this performance, you snap back to reality.

Barbra Streisand is a goddess,

Guilty is the carrier single in Barbra Streisand's twenty-second studio album, released on September 1980 by Columbia Records. It's her best-selling album to date with sales of over 12 million copies worldwide.

HIS NAME IS MOSES.
HE LIKED MY T-SHIRT, SO WE SNAPPED A PIC TOGETHER - WHICH HE THEN SENT TO ADAM LAMBERT.
WE HAVE NOTHING TO BE GUILTY OF.

 

// THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

BREAKOUT

I've been trying to write a piece on DJ Stonedog's Big Gay Anthem [Club Remixes], which landed on iTunes last Saturday. But it's hard for me to find honest, supportive words without first drawing attention to a little detail that has been niggling at me as soon as I received the press kit.

DJ Stonedog is known in real life as Evan of "Joseph and Evan," one of the great partnerships without whom Hong Kong's LGBT scene wouldn't be what it is now. The pair established the original Volume nightspot in 2006 - the very place Chris and I first set eyes on each other. (Yes, I fell in love as I passed him by, on my way to the loo.)

Joseph Chan has always been the "brick and mortar" half - the partner whom guests could count on to run the venue, deal with unreliable staff, look after drunk gay boys, appease the neighbours and keep the omnipresent cops at bay with assurances that we are behaving. And if we're clearly not, we will. Fingers crossed. Joseph takes responsibility - and liability - as Managing Director of Volume Concepts.

Meanwhile, the multi-titled, multi-parenthetical, multi-slashed, multi-tasking and multi-talented Evan Steer - mercifully known to me just by the economical nickname, "Ev," - has always been the half who made sure we'd do exactly the opposite of what Joseph promised the neighbours and the cops we'd do. He's the camp, colourful and loud half. He created that unique universe of "fun, friendship and occasional fuck" we now recognize as hallmarks of our Volume experience.

We flocked on New Arrival Wednesdays for the free vodka. We glammed it up for the annual Magenta Ball. We partied all night 'til we were finally ready to Rock the Boat at Floatilla. Superstar showgirl-slash-recording artist La Chiquitta heralded an era of drag fabulousness from her Magenta throne, with Drag It On and the annual Drag Overdose charity event. Ev pulled strings behind the scenes up to a point where it was no longer humanly possible to stitch all these into who Evan Steer is, even with a splashy Creative Director title.

He was a Prospero of sorts, conjuring parties and international acts and marquee DJs to come to Volume. He whipped the crowd into a constant state of of frenzy from his perch on the DJ booth, with an artillery of unrepentant, take-me-as-I-am handbag and sing-along anthems enough for 1,978 lifetimes, wired onto a pair of obnoxiously huge, gold headphones (me = jealous) which would later become his signature. DJ Stonedog had finally broken through as a public persona - replete with an in-house record label called Volume Up Records.

In 2010, DJ Stonedog released his debut album, Club Anthems Asia - an epic, two-CD set magnum opus, for which I did a filler track called "Nothing Yet." It was scheduled to launch at a humongous event hall - AsiaWorld Expo, if I remember correctly. What I don't any more remember is the reason it got nixed and relocated back to good, old Volume, instead. Everybody showed up to support, including featured artists from Singapore, Australia, the Philippines, and only God knows where else. It was a big night for the Asian gay club scene. I was thankful to have played a small part in it, and I was extraordinarily proud of my dear friend, Ev.

Last year, I invited him to join the celebrity panel of judges tasked with selecting the 2013 Mr Gay HK.

DJ STONEDOG, HK MAGAZINE'S MANAGING EDITOR SARAH FUNG, STYLIST PRISCILLA I'ANSON,
ACTRESS / PRODUCER / BLOGGER / ACTIVIST ANGIE PALMER,  AND PINK ALLIANCE CHAIRMAN REGGIE HO. 

From just a single nightspot, Volume has grown into a brand with many distinct experiences: HEAT is a Thai-Viet bar / restaurant / gallery; BEAT is a club that's also a platform for the record label and branded live events;  and Cafe Queen is Volume's screamingly hysterical answer to Starbucks. As a collective, Volume Concepts' presence in Sheung Wan has officially turned the district into Hong Kong's Gay Ghetto. Oh Em Gee, get the PR machines rolling! We're so mainstream! Forget Spartacus; call The Hyperactive Gay Boy™! Get me Trip Advisor. Get me Travel + Leisure. Fucking get me Conde Nast!

So here's what's been disturbing me all along.

Everybody, including myself, thinks that "Joseph and Evan" - inadvertently mentioned in one breathe up to this moment, though no longer romantically linked as a couple - are a winning team. Sure, they bicker about operational issues and brand philosophy - so what? We hear all about it from everyone, all the time. It's not news when we know we'll wake up to another party weekend with more of this reliable, comforting sense of same-ness.

Except when I got the press kit for the Big Gay Anthem re-release, I immediately noticed the absence of Volume's logo on the album artwork (though the iTunes preview page still indicates ℗ 2013 Volume Up Records).

NOT JUST ANYBODY'S HANDBAG;
IT'S DJ STONEDOG'S.

Is this a hint of another breakout moment from Ev - this time, of DJ Stonedog breaking free from the increasingly defined parameters of a brand he has created, defined and embodied?

Why a re-release? And why now? The press kit says:

Just in time for Pride 2013! Hong Kong's most prolific gay circuit star DJ STONEDOG re-releases his 2012 collaboration with Dutch producer MATT POP: "Big Gay Anthem" with a slew of updated new remixes from UK's 7th's Heaven's new pop alias STARLAB, as well as remixes from WAYNE G & LFB, DJ SANTOS (USA), BRIAN CUA (Philippines) and lots more!

There's a couple of very noteworthy collaborations in there. This wasn't just a business-as-usual, let's-put-one-out-just-coz-we-gotta type of affair. Ev clearly worked overtime to make this re-release worthwhile. The cuts still showcase DJ Stonedog's  energy and frivolity and love for high camp, but now, there's more focus on high rather than on camp. Instead of giving us a thick, fat wad of gum that gets harder to chew as the night progresses, there are just (and I can't even believe I'm about to use this word) subtle throwbacks to our no-such-thing-as-too-much-Kylie days on Volume's dance floor. Enough for us to remember, but also fresh and thrilling and new enough to inspire us to dance even harder.

Something tells me DJ Stonedog didn't need a fuck-off pair of gold headphones to put this one together. There's a maturity and depth and complexity that transcends cosmetic flourishes or veneers. This makes for delicious listening many times over. Each time, a new layer of sound is revealed.

Welcome to your breakout season with the new Stonedog.

GET IT!

THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™

NICOLE SCHERZINGER // RIGHT THERE

Me like the way that you hold my body 

Me like the way that you touch my body 

Me like the way that you kiss my yeah yeah yeah yeah me like it 

Me like the way that he put it on me 

Me like the way that he push up on me 

Me like the way that he goin' down down down down down 

I aint never gonna let no girl take him from me 

Never gonna let no girl steal him from me 

Never gonna let a girl get that close now 

I tell'em hey babe your'e too close now 

Come here baby and be my baby 

And be my baby oh oh oh 

Come here baby put your hands on my body 

Hands on my body oh oh oh 

Right there keep it right there 

I love when you put it right there 

yeah yeah yeah oh oh oh yeah yeah yeah oh oh oh 

Yeah...

  

// CHRIS & 

THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

DIANA ROSS // IT'S MY TURN (LIVE 1981)

I want you to know I have a wonderful life. I have a wonderful career. It's been a lot of ins and outs and ups and downs and knocks along the way. It all reminds me of my song Upside Down. But all of a sudden I felt like I was comin' out - comin' through it all. They've all been a growing experience. I really feel like I've grown. If I had to live my life all over, I wouldn't change a thing...

Leave it to Diana Ross to say it all! I would have just left it at that, but I'd sooner barf unicorns than sound like I'm congratulating myself for this fabulous, Hyperactive life. I've been here before. Just when you think you've got it good, you step on the proverbial banana peel. You get a pie in the face. You get rainwater in your Manolos. You get slushie'd. You get hemorrhoids. 

And so instead of congratulating myself (because I am happy with my life - and it has taken quite a bit of work to get here), I'll simply commit to becoming a better version of myself. Every day. I don't need to wait for 2014 to make funny New Year's resolutions I know I'll ditch the moment I get a craving for a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

I'm starting right now.

I'm working on me.

2013 is my year. We're halfway through - so what?

Starting now, I'm Hyperactive for me. I'm giving myself more of the magic I've so freely given away to win others' approval. I realize now that I've always been desperately needy for affirmation because I'm not getting much love from myself, in the first place!

And this is the point where we're happy to take on Diana Ross' words:

And if livin' for myself is what I'm guilty of
Go on and sentence me 
I'll still be free 

It's my turn 
To see what I can see 
I hope you'll understand 
This time's just for me 

Because it's my turn. 

 
// THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

LEAH MCFALL // LOVING YOU (THE VOICE UK)

There are so many things I loved about this - first is song choice. "Loving You" is classic Soul Train fare, as in, sing at your own risk because you will be exposed if you're not singing with and from the soul. Minnie Riperton had a crystalline voice; it sparkled and flowed as spring water. What a gorgeous treat to be reminded of an era when people truly sang.

Second, I didn't know what to expect from Leah McFall (Team will.i.am) but it surely wasn't this. She looks like a psychedelic raccoon; I thought she'd be firmly indie. She proceeded to blow everyone away with something delicious every few seconds or so. Song's old-skool, but her rendition is fresh and gutsy and real. Never once did I think, "Girl, you thought about that a bit too much!"

Third, it's awesome that someone could have an "ugly" tone but still sing beautifully. Well, not really "ugly," but she went places that other singers would be scared to explore because it makes their voice sound strange or creepy or loony. Or maybe they wouldn't, because they're just unable to. You can't take risks if you don't have the right equipment, in the first place - and this girl is fully equipped. She's talented, she's skilled, she's ready, and she's on a hot TV show. What could go wrong?

Happy Monday, bitchiz!

  // THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

DOES IT MATTER THAT CHARICE HAS COME OUT OF THE CLOSET?

CHARICE

Many in the LGBT community question the big hullabaloo surrounding Charice's coming out. Of course we still love and support her - nothing has changed; we could tell years ago that she was different anyway - that she's very likely one of us; we applaud her courage to come out into the open, etc. Really - darling, it's not a big deal! Shouldn't we therefore lead the charge towards the day when this type of announcement isn't newsworthy or necessary any more, by collectively having a more muted reaction?

But it is a big deal exactly because it is Charice. Here's why:

05 She defines celebrity today.

Certainly there have been other Filipino artists who have blazed a trail to international stardom. Lea Salonga is Broadway and Disney royalty. She is who she is thanks in part (a big part) to an elite group of taste makers. Producers, directors, critics - the Culturati.

In contrast, Charice is a product of self-promotion. She's a YouTube sensation. And she's relevant because she built and nurtured a massive following on her own long before influential taste makers came along to validate her talent. She's a true-blue internet celebrity.

Really, Charice shares more in common with Justin Bieber than she does with Lea Salonga. Lea and Charice are both Filipinos, but...

04 Charice is the new Pinoy. Relentlessly hardworking - sure. Insanely talented - absolutely. But also fearless, worldly, entitled and unapologetic.

She's got swagger. Brand Pinoy is so hot these days, it's cool. apl.de.ap. Nicole Scherzinger. Jessica Sanchez. Darren Criss. And speaking of Darren Criss...

03 Glee. Apart from Charice, who else has had guest appearances in this Emmy and Golden Globe-winning musical-dramedy television series?

- Olivia Newton-John
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Gwyneth Paltrow
- and Perez Hilton, also a true-blue internet celebrity.

Charice is in good company (hello, understatement!). Glee is arguably the most popular show about and amongst LGBT youth. There's no bigger platform for an LGBT role model than Glee. The only thing bigger than Glee is...

02 Oprah. Make that Oprah Winfrey and her ginormous sphere of influence. Once Oprah got into Charice's inner circle (we've already established that the taste makers are the late comers, in this case), the Celine Dion and David Foster connections were activated. Madison Square Garden, Las Vegas, Oscars after-parties, and an album that debuted at number 8 on the albums chart soon followed. To this day, Charice is the only Asian singer to have landed in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.

She's still a long way away from Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang - and for sure Sir Elton John belongs to an even higher echelon. But damn if Charice isn't breathing the same air as these gay music giants.

Before we start having unrealistic expectations about the music she'll be making from here onwards, though, let's be reminded that Charice is too much a product of new media. It's therefore unlikely that her music will take on an angst-y (artsy?) complexity, simply because she has arrived at the doorstep of the  LGBT universe. It's very likely, however, that we'll start hearing a deeper layer of pain because...

01 She's estranged from her mother.

This, I feel, should be the crux of Charice's coming out story. My fellow Charice fans know too well that her mum, Racquel, was practically her shadow. It even seemed to me like the absence of a love interest in Charice's life was because there wasn't any physical or emotional space available for anybody else to maneuver - that's how tight they were (watch the video below).

So what happened?

The Philippine Star reports that Charice is presently staying in the house of a family friend:

“I left our home because that’s what I had to do for now. Now, I can enter a house where I can do anything [without anyone passing judgment]."   

Charice then thanked what she called her "second family” for accepting her. In the next breath, she expressed hope that she and her mom and her grandmother will be able to sort things out and let bygones by bygones.

Woe be unto us, human beings, when judgment and rejection come from the first place we'd hope to receive love and affirmation instead.

Whilst we celebrate pockets of victory in our campaign for marriage equality, Charice, poster child for today's LGBT youth, is fighting a war we've had to endure for decades:

The war against discrimination in our own homes.      

THIS is why her story matters.

            

ADELE // I CAN'T MAKE YOU LOVE ME (LIVE)

This song is heartbreakingly beautiful.

I love Adele's candid intro - her undeniable comfort in her own skin, her honesty, her enviable rapport with the audience.

I love that she begins the song with her eyes closed as she imbibes the song's character. I love how she stresses the lyric make as thought it held the key to the song's dramatic mystery. Every time she sings make, it means a different thing. A plea. A denial. A surrender,

I love that there are no gimmicks to this show - just twin spotlights, a piano, and that voice.

When you close your eyes and you listen to her sing, you'll clearly detect the supple timbre of youth. But you'll also be haunted by its disconcerting depth. It sounds... wise, weary, wretched. But powerful. You're never left in any doubt of her intentions because every single phrase is supported by the scaffolds of shared human emotions.

Adele is so bloody brilliant.

Happy Tuesday listening, everyone!

  // THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

LITTLE MIX // WINGS

A gay boy's music collection is his smallest unit of privacy. The moment he plugs in a pair of earphones, he goes completely into himself and the rest of the world blessedly disappears. I enjoy looking at what my friends have on their playlists; you can tell what a person is like based on what they listen to.

This one is from Josh's playlist. It says he likes cotton candy and glitter. It says he believes in positive thinking. He believes in the triumph of the human spirit. He is fun and confident and is unafraid to show how much sass he truly has. He may occasionally sport colourful, funky hair and adventurous styling, but at the core, he believes in traditional values like hope and love and rainbows. And because he's settled so well into who he is, he is fearless.

Josh is soon getting married to his partner, Todd.    

These wings were made to fly!

// THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //