Chet
12-17-2006, 09:47 AM
I'm home from my special weekend to Hong Kong. I've handed the JI signed items to Hong Kong singer Paula Tsui who has Cantonese translations of two JI songs in her repertoire - "Here comes the night" and "I love you best" (which Janis herself has never recorded). And even though it was past midnight when Paula came out of the backstage door to meet fans on her way home, she was gracious enough to pose with the items in her hands. However, the picture is in someone else's camera but I will post it as soon as I receive it from him.
Unfortunately, I did not get to have my picture taken with Paula (the way I got to do so with Janis).
http://www.chetscorner.com/images/ji-chet-items.jpg
And I did not get to personally hand the items to Paula but had to do it through the security guard who was between us at that moment.
The reason for this is due to Paula's status as a mega-star in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. Her fanbase is many times bigger than Janis's, and not as intimate. For this reason, she keeps a certain physical distance from her fans (there were two rows of barriers between her and her fans that night). However, that does not mean she is not available to her fans. How could she not be when she walked over to where her fans stood waiting for her that night (and every night), despite the late hour?
Ben, who later took the picture of Paula holding up the various JI signed items, helped to tell her what the items were. He has a loud and clear voice and we needed his help to call her and make sure she came over to where we stood. I did not speak much as they were speaking in Cantonese and I didn't trust myself to be able to tell her clearly what the items were and where they came from. I was mostly quiet during the time she spent with us and Angie had to point to me when telling Paula I'd come from Malaysia to give her the various items. For that brief moment, she looked at me and gave me a smile.
She was very pleased to receive the items, and said she would make sure to go through them carefully. But it didn't seem like she knew who Janis is. It seems to me Paula is a fan of the two songs but did not really know the woman who wrote the songs. When she handed the items to her assistant, I heard her tell him "that's the original singer of 'Life like Ocean Waves' (Cantonese title of "Here comes the night"). But there was a look of pleasant recognition on his face, so all was not lost that night.
As for her show, I found myself sitting on the first row, and not having to pay for the ticket. I had earlier made arrangements with Angie, my friend and long-time Paula fan, to pay her when we met this weekend. Later, when I asked her how much I owed her for the ticket, she said it was her Christmas present to me. WOW!
This was a very special Christmas present, indeed. To sit in the first row in the Hong Kong Coliseum, the largest concert hall in Hong Kong - 12,000 seats - and in a sold-out concert, no less.
I've been a so-called fan of Paula for many years, but not the sort who would go out of my way to see her in person (like I did for a certain short white-haired person a month or so ago). I only did so for the Saturday concert as I wanted to personally hand her the signed JI items.
But the Saturday concert has renewed my interest in Paula. She gave a concert befitting her mega-star status. She sang for three hours (many of the songs were very familiar to me), had three costume changes, interacted with the audience, was very witty, and even agreed to a fan's request for a duet. He'd presented her with a "picture" of her name done with Chinese currency notes, and her spontaneous reaction when she saw the picture ("But I'm not a clinic", referring to the practice of Chinese doctors having framed images of their clinic's names on the premises) had the audience in stitches. And when he started to sing, she took him by the hand and led him around the perimeter of the stage. When it was over, she asked if he remembered his way back to his seat.
BTW, she broke with her "tradition" of including both JI songs when she only sang one. And it wasn't the one Janis has recorded before.
On the other hand, she sang what is definitely my all-time favourite Paula Tsui song, a song with the line "smooth like wine", which is how I would describe Paula's voice.
Paula has been in the entertainment industry for more than 30 years. Like Janis, her voice has gotten better over the years. And like Janis, Paula "live" sounds like Paula on record - no gimmicks, just her. In fact, during the show, she sang a capella with her back-up singers to show off their vocal harmony, but really, she was the one who impressed the most with her clear voice.
Okay, I stop gushing now.
Below are some pictures from the concert.
Unfortunately, I did not get to have my picture taken with Paula (the way I got to do so with Janis).
http://www.chetscorner.com/images/ji-chet-items.jpg
And I did not get to personally hand the items to Paula but had to do it through the security guard who was between us at that moment.
The reason for this is due to Paula's status as a mega-star in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. Her fanbase is many times bigger than Janis's, and not as intimate. For this reason, she keeps a certain physical distance from her fans (there were two rows of barriers between her and her fans that night). However, that does not mean she is not available to her fans. How could she not be when she walked over to where her fans stood waiting for her that night (and every night), despite the late hour?
Ben, who later took the picture of Paula holding up the various JI signed items, helped to tell her what the items were. He has a loud and clear voice and we needed his help to call her and make sure she came over to where we stood. I did not speak much as they were speaking in Cantonese and I didn't trust myself to be able to tell her clearly what the items were and where they came from. I was mostly quiet during the time she spent with us and Angie had to point to me when telling Paula I'd come from Malaysia to give her the various items. For that brief moment, she looked at me and gave me a smile.
She was very pleased to receive the items, and said she would make sure to go through them carefully. But it didn't seem like she knew who Janis is. It seems to me Paula is a fan of the two songs but did not really know the woman who wrote the songs. When she handed the items to her assistant, I heard her tell him "that's the original singer of 'Life like Ocean Waves' (Cantonese title of "Here comes the night"). But there was a look of pleasant recognition on his face, so all was not lost that night.
As for her show, I found myself sitting on the first row, and not having to pay for the ticket. I had earlier made arrangements with Angie, my friend and long-time Paula fan, to pay her when we met this weekend. Later, when I asked her how much I owed her for the ticket, she said it was her Christmas present to me. WOW!
This was a very special Christmas present, indeed. To sit in the first row in the Hong Kong Coliseum, the largest concert hall in Hong Kong - 12,000 seats - and in a sold-out concert, no less.
I've been a so-called fan of Paula for many years, but not the sort who would go out of my way to see her in person (like I did for a certain short white-haired person a month or so ago). I only did so for the Saturday concert as I wanted to personally hand her the signed JI items.
But the Saturday concert has renewed my interest in Paula. She gave a concert befitting her mega-star status. She sang for three hours (many of the songs were very familiar to me), had three costume changes, interacted with the audience, was very witty, and even agreed to a fan's request for a duet. He'd presented her with a "picture" of her name done with Chinese currency notes, and her spontaneous reaction when she saw the picture ("But I'm not a clinic", referring to the practice of Chinese doctors having framed images of their clinic's names on the premises) had the audience in stitches. And when he started to sing, she took him by the hand and led him around the perimeter of the stage. When it was over, she asked if he remembered his way back to his seat.
BTW, she broke with her "tradition" of including both JI songs when she only sang one. And it wasn't the one Janis has recorded before.
On the other hand, she sang what is definitely my all-time favourite Paula Tsui song, a song with the line "smooth like wine", which is how I would describe Paula's voice.
Paula has been in the entertainment industry for more than 30 years. Like Janis, her voice has gotten better over the years. And like Janis, Paula "live" sounds like Paula on record - no gimmicks, just her. In fact, during the show, she sang a capella with her back-up singers to show off their vocal harmony, but really, she was the one who impressed the most with her clear voice.
Okay, I stop gushing now.
Below are some pictures from the concert.