|
|
May-May's Diary
Entry for September 04, 1998
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!! But particularly this time --
Ladies!! I have news of special interest to us. We are finally being given recognition we deserve for the contribution we make to the thriving nightlife of this city.
Two places in the past week have informed me that they are planning special Ladies' Nights with free drinks and other benefits. About time too!!
The Aero Pit, the new nite spot in the Regal Shanghai East Asia Hotel (phew!, that's a long one!), is offering a free soft drink for ladies on a Friday night.
Mandy's, the new bar on Hengshan Lu which is sharing a garden with Sasha's, is POSSIBLY taking it a step further. It is offering a free drink every Friday night, it says here, from 7pm to 1am. At least, I think that's what they mean. The fax in fact says: "We invite the most sophisticated and charming ladies in town to Monday's for a new experience!!" I am presuming Mandy's became Monday's through some time-warp transfer and that the actual free drinks are available on Friday. But it does not specify WHAT free drink, so I'm going to try ordering a double scotch on the rocks, the most expensive variety, and see how far the generosity extends!! Also unclear is how Mandy's will ensure that us sophisticated and charming ladies only get one drink. I have a spare wig and a variety of different accessories to use if you'd like to borrow them!!
Also offering ladies' night benefits, I notice, is Modern Talk on Xinhua Lu, near the Dingxi Lu intersection. If YOUR venue is offering special benefits of ANY kind to the fairer sex (no competition there!), PLEASE let me know. This sort of thing needs to be encouraged! It's a good sign that competition is making the nocturnal venues I frequent more sensitive to the issues that make the difference between profit and loss, crowds and emptiness. The fact is that without our attendance, many bars would simply have to shut down.
I don't know why the benefits need to stop at free drinks either. Any suggestions, just let me know! I personally wouldn't say no to a good dinner and a slice of cheesecake! And I would look favorably on a free return ticket to Macau!!
Byeee!!
Entry for September 03, 1998
I have received a short -- very short -- from a gentleman with the
initials Howard Hsieh. i am much too polite to reveal his name.
Whoops!!! How impolite. His message consists in its entirety of the
following:
Hi, maymay send me e-mail. O.K
Well, Howard, I would be happy to send you an email, but I'd be
grateful if you could be a little more forthcoming on what it is you
would like me to say. Girls don't like to be tantilised any more than
boys do.
Mind you, it could mean that my fame is reaching such heights that a
simple email saying hi! is worth the time it takes to ask for it. Good
grief, where will this phenomenon end??!!
Byeee!!
Entry for September 02, 1998
Famed and acclaimed historian Jonathan Spence, author of an incredible range of books, including the recent "God's Chinese Son" about the Taiping Rebellion, will be here in October, and will be giving public lectures, we understand.
Sign of the times: the Gino cafes have dropped their prices. They also have a beautiful ice coffee crush, which is the perfect antidote to a hot Shanghai summer day, particularly when it reaches that magic official limit of 39 degrees, as it has done several times over the past few weeks.
Mustachio-ed architect and designer George Gregorian, who renovated The Plaza in New York, and Donald Trump's own personal home, has finished re-doing the south wing of the Peace Hotel -- the former Palace Hotel dating from 1906 on the corner of Nanjing Lu and the Bund. He's about to start work on a refurb job in original 1930s style on the north wing -- the former Cathay Hotel, which dates from 1932. Last year George did a total make-over on the Park Hotel. Check out the lobby and the restaurant on the 14th floor for samples of his work. Divine.
The Hard Rock Cafe is really packing them in these days, all because of a new Australian band that people keep coming back for -- Brother to Brother.
Footnote: that guerrilla Da-da-ist organisation, the Shanghai Lawn Club is planning to re-align the focus of its activities from frisbies in the direction of croquet. It is understood that meetings are often held in Zhongshan Park on Sunday afternoons, but it being a guerrilla organisation, details are sketchy. Keep your eyes peeled for mallets.
Byeee!!
Entry for August 31, 1998
One Night in Bangkok: Judy's Too is opening a Thai restaurant on Tongren Lu, near Malone's to be called Irene's Thai. We were expecting it to be called Irenes Also, but we must have heard wrong.
More restaurant news: AD, that Italian eatery with the huge fireplace on Hongmei Lu, is planning a new venture at a yet to be revealed site. Business must be good!
Also spotted: Luke of DD's prowling the city streets checking out locations. What's going on? The Buzz is that DD's could be moving from its Xingfu Lu bunker to something larger, newer and grander. This could change the nature of a fundamental building block of Shanghai's nightlife. Be gentle and sensitive with this nightlife icon Luke!
We are hearing reports of a new weekend getaway on Lake Tahoe. No, no, no, that's Lake Tai Hu, near Suzhou, around a 90-minute drive from Shanghai. Crystal blue waters, water skiing, houseboats, and villas for over-nighters. Official opening of the resort is expected later this year.
A Japanese entrepreneur is rumored to have plans to open the biggest disco in Shanghai. Even bigger, it is said, than the massive Club 99 on Anyuan Lu, which is already the largest in Asia, and provides in-house parking for Boeing 747s. The mind boggles.
Huggable Man-mountain and self-styled blue-collar journeyman musician Matthew Harding, the rock around which the Cotton Club is built, is planning to leave Shanghai in October, returning to Utah. But his sidekick Greg Smith, who had girls swooning with his sensitive answers in last week's Buzzing Personalities column, is planning to stick around, we understand. Oh, Greg!!
Byeee!!
|
|
