So we went to dinner last night at an establishment called the China Club. It is a club, quite private, but our hotel got us in. It was on the thirteenth floor of a high rise. Hong Kong is an insiders town. If you don’t know someone, you’re out of the loop!

Fascinating place… Kind of a high rent Y, where you can sup if you’re in from out of town. Ralph got there early and sussed out the library. We checked out the upstairs environs with him after dinner, laughing at the artwork of the dictators… We couldn’t name them all, but the doorman certainly could.

John and I talked politics, Felice and Paul talked Broadway, and Harvey Goldsmith regaled us with stories. Quite the character, I saw the exhibit about his two magazines, "Oz" and "International Times", at the Victoria and Albert before I ever met the man. Harvey started promoting concerts to make up the shortfall from his publications… This was before the days of internships at Live Nation. Harvey fell into the business, by accident, and his pure passion has carried him through.

The funniest thing I heard today at the conference was about this guy’s in-laws, in their seventies, who dressed in the appropriate attire to play Wii golf and tennis. That was one of the best panels, the one on gaming. Gaming’s got all the sexiness that music used to have. It’s the land of visceral excitement…and profits.

The live panel was fascinating too, since Michael Chugg is so irreverent. Funny to think all the U.S. promoters were rolled up into SFX/Clear Channel/Live Nation, since they’re all such iconoclasts. No wonder they’re all gone, you could never control these guys.

Meanwhile, the panelists were all bitching that you won’t bring your acts to Asia, not for a reasonable price. They want you to get them started over here, not ask for your usual exorbitant fee. Chuggy wants the promoters to band together, to build a circuit. There’s money to be made in Asia, you’ve just got to pay your dues and build slowly.

After this evening’s closing party, Felice and I entered the humidity and walked up to Hennessy Road. It was utterly fascinating.

Once you get out of the high rent district, the modern skyscrapers, you can see the warts of Hong Kong. The buildings were not constructed with central a/c, so wall units are penetrating buildings’ skins willy-nilly. And the structures are missing patches of stucco. But what was happening on street level was even more interesting.

It was 9:30 PM and there were guys giving haircuts. Furniture stores were open. Jewelry establishments. It was long after dark, but you’d think it was five PM. The sidewalks were full of people. Escaping the heat inside? Looking for some excitement? I don’t know! Some were ensconced in an off-track betting parlor. Others were playing video games. Some were sipping kudzu soup, a green concoction that’s supposed to help you with phlegm and sleeplessness issues. But what was most fascinating to me was the computer marketplace.

We took a narrow escalator into a low ceilinged bazaar. At first I thought it was all one store, a la Circuit City, or Best Buy. But it was dozens and dozens of independent operators, all crammed into tiny stalls. And there were multiple levels. And as you got higher and higher in the building, the merchandise changed. On the first floor, which was the second floor of the structure, you could buy hard drives. By time you got to the third, you could buy dildos, and pictures of little girls. There are no skylights, there’s minimal air conditioning, it’s like Hobbit-world or something. How can these people stand to be holed up here, not only all day, but all night! Still, I wished we had one of these emporiums in L.A. Anything you needed, a keyboard, a cable, a video card, a cell phone case, they had it. How all the establishments stay in business, I’ll never know. Do you comparison shop? Is there some slight difference between each business, the quality of the help?

And then back to the street. With twentysomethings, oldsters and babies, all shuffling along, on either side of streetcars that looked straight out of the twenties. The density alone would freak an American out. And hovering over the streets are the endless signs. A tall enough truck comes through and it’s going to destroy property.

But it’s all so exciting. As the women grill shrimp on the electric barbie and the lights shine so bright that it’s like daytime, you get the distinct feeling of humanity, that people are living here, buying stuff, eating, exchanging money. It’s so compressed, you almost feel claustrophobic. But it’s so exotic, you can’t stop paying attention.