Beijing Boyce

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Hilton Beijing hosted the Beijing Foodies, a singles auction with Hoegaarden, and three sets by the Beijing Beatles all in one night last Friday. The “Feast at One East” raised rmb4,343 while the auction in Zeta Bar raised rmb19,634 for charities Magic Hospital and Morning Tears. Some awards, using Beatles singles as themes…

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Hard Day’s Night

To Xixi Cheng of Beijing Foodies. The ‘day’ part: I called her late in the afternoon to check on seats for the dinner, learned she was doing a wine tasting at a nearby restaurant, and stopped in to try a half-dozen bottles. Let’s just say everyone was feeling quite ‘happy’ by the time I headed home just after 5:30 PM to drop off my laptop. The ‘night’ part: The next time I saw Cheng, it was 11:30 PM, she was being auctioned and she was still going strong, with a cigar in one hand, a drink in the other and a message to bidders: “We’re all here for a good cause. So bring it. Just bring it.”

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Ticket to Ride

To Ian Burns of The Beijing Beatles. At 7:30 PM, Burns, who lives in the same apartment complex as me, sent one of his typically happy-go-lucky messages, something like, “hey chap, I’m heading to the Hilton in an hour in case you want to catch a ride.” Good timing because a long week combined with that wine tasting had me drifting in and out of Napland. And how often do you get to share a taxi with John Don Lennon Lemon?

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With a Little Help from My Friends

To DZ Rider and her bank card. I didn’t make it to the bank Friday and had a mere rmb300 when I arrived at the Hilton, hardly enough for a successful bid. Luckily, DZ spotted me a stack of cash via the hotel’s bank machine–first floor, near Tonic Lounge–so I could actually pay for an auction I had already won! Guess I could also file this under “Help!‘

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Twist and Shout

To New Zealander Jade Gray of Gung Ho! Gourmet Pizza Factory. In the interest of getting higher bids, Gray first took off his shirt and then did the Haka war dance and cry. Now we know how he motivates the staff — I mean the dance part, not the clothes removal part.

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Twist and Shout II

To everyone in the balcony. The DJ had the music so loud during the auction that emcee Elyse Ribbons often couldn’t hear our bids from upstairs despite furious waving and hollering. In turn, it wasn’t always easy to hear Ribbons. I suppose we could have gone downstairs but a) it was fun to have bids bouncing back and forth from floor to floor and b) the issue could have been solved simply by turning down the music. And thus…

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Can’t Buy Me Love

Goes to the woman in the balcony willing to go even higher than the rmb3000 final bid on Gray. Better luck next time…

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While My Guitar Drum Stick Gently Weeps

To Gringo Starr, drummer of The Beatles, the only bachelor to fetch a bid of less than rmb1000. Two theories as to why: 1) he was wearing his Sgt. Peppers outfit and it probably looked too difficult for the bidder to remove and/or 2) he was surrounded by three lovely ladies dressed in 60s outfits and it might have been unclear whether or not they were part of a package. Plus, he was really sweaty.

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Let It Be(er)

To Hilton and Hoegaarden for the rmb30 beer!

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I Got to Get You Into My Life

To the bachelors, bachelorettes and bidders. Before the auction, I talked to a handful of people and they expected the bids to be in the hundreds of renminbi, but they ultimately reached as high as rmb3500 and raised a good chunk of money.