I am currently working in Hong Kong, and have seen some interesting stuff on the Harbour Fest (that Prince is due to perform at) in the press.



On the 18th September the South China Morning Post reported:

"Officials will be asked to consider scaling down or cancelling the Harbour Fest series of concerts at a special Legislative Council meeting called amid public concern over the government's promise to underwrite the extravaganda to the tune of $80 million (Hong Kong Dollars)."



On the 19th September the SCMP reported:

"AmCham [American Chamber of Commerce] boss says show must go on...and Prince will open it"

The report also stated that all the artists due to perform at the festival had already been paid 50% of their fees.



In the Post on 20th September a few letters started appearing questioning the validity of the show. The most interesting of them says:

"So Prince is now set to open the Harbour Fest musical smorgasbord. What a coup...er, but of what relevance is this artist to the majority of people in Hong Kong? Have the organisers of this bun fest done any real homework to gauge the popularity of these international artists they keep trotting out? If so, could they share their findings with us all? Though a fan of an artist like Prince, my great concern is that this so-called festival will simply turn into a big day out for Hong Kong's small expat community"

The writer goes on to ask "have the organisers actually checked on the Hong Kong record sales of an artist like Prince?"

He ends "Right now this entire event is reminiscent of Monty Python, the Ringling Brothers, and the Keystone Cops. It's a bumbling "mega mega" mess."

The most interesting part of the whole letter is that it is written by Hans Ebert, Executive Director of EMI Music in South East Asia!

I will keep my eyes open for more articles over the next couple of weeks.

ouch!!!

In some respects I can see their point in particular regarding the last quote!!

To me, particularly regarding the billing with Prince, The Rolling Stones AND Westlife, it would b like having The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Chaucers Canterbury Tales and Thomas The Tank Engine and/or Peanuts on the same bill at a literary festival!!!

I don't know, I think I'm more offended by that Monty Python comment then anything else. Bumbling?

It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people can be. It is obvious that this writer is more concerned about how much money this country can "steal" from its society rather than be gracious that these artists are coming together free of charge to help a cause to fight an epidemic as serious as SARS. What the writer had suggested about Prince only casts doubts on whether or not this "fest" is indeed a charity to help. Prince is a saint and for him to risk his health to go to another country in attempt to help other sick people only implies that he is a wonderful man. YALL betta recognize!!!

SummerRain said:

Free of charge? Are you high? Seriously did you bother reading the articles before you typed a bunch of shit accusing people of being ignorant for not giving Prince his respect for risking his life for free? I think you need to look in the mirror when it comes to ignorance.

The post said the festival has costs of $80 million to produce and the artists have already been paid 50 percent of their fees. I'm sure the artists are getting a LARGE percentage of this because a concert does not cost $80 million. You must be crazy if you think Prince would work for free.

Prince is not a SAINT. There is virtually nohealth risk and he is being paid in the many hundreds of thousands of dollars (If not millions).

Get over it already. The only thing I'll recognize is that you are


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[This message was edited Sat Sep 20 12:34:12 PDT 2003 by lovemachine]