Iron Maiden places earnings in bondage
A hot new bond is rocking the market. British heavy metal band Iron Maiden is selling securities worth US$30 million backed by royalties from their 20-year music career.
The latest band bond gives investors a cash stake in musical masterpieces such as Number of the Beast, Bring your daughter to the slaughter and Axe Attack.
To date, 20 years worth of noise has translated into about $45 million worth of record sales.
The band released its first album in 1980, when disciples of the genre spent their spare time dressing up in 'Road Warrior' costumes and worshipping Satan.
Iron Maiden isn't the first band to test its metal in the market.
David Bowie pioneered the celebrity bond in 1997.
One music industry executive told The Sunday Times that Sanctuary, Iron Maiden's manager, was keen to develop a securitising arm for rock and pop acts, hinting other deals may be in the wings.
This is bad news for parents and neighbours of teenage metalheads.
They've spent the past two decades waiting for the ear drum shattering genre to die out, fading into music history.
Now it appears they've waited in vain.
Thanks to the bond market, heavy metal's future is secured.
It's good to see that even in today's economic climate, niche markets are still being explored.
Reader Gauri Venkitaraman received a letter from a business owner touting for patronage.
The firm is apparently in the business of 'Butt Decoration'.
The Li Li Butt Decoration Company promises quick work by competent and reliable workers.
'Satisfaction guaranteed'.
They don't specify the form this decoration would take but we assume tattoos and body paint would figure prominently.
Lai See won't be seeking their services.
She feels some body parts are better left unadorned.
Besides, she's known for her bare-faced cheek.
It's that time of year again, when an eerie stillness settles upon the streets of Hong Kong.
Those of us left behind at Lunar New Year often feel like the only people on earth who aren't off on holiday.
Still, there are some advantages.
Like not falling into the clutches of the travel industry.
Some sort of unofficial competition seems to have been started among Lai See readership in the run-up to the Lunar New Year.
Unsolicited entries for the Most Outrageous Behaviour (MOB) in the tourism industry contest have been flowing in.
City Garden hotel made our list of finalists.
They displayed their MOB mentality by refusing to break ranks with racist pricers - this despite the tsunami of bad publicity that crippled the industry when Japanese tourists found out they were being charged extra.
City Garden's list of hotel rates for January and February reveals that 'Caucasians' can check in for HK$510 a night.
'Asians' pay $580.
In the Sort-It-Out category of our contest, the award goes to Philippine Airlines (PAL), everyone's favourite now-you-see-em-now-you-don't carrier.
A reader tells us that Cathay is no longer able to issue one ticket for indirect flights with connections on PAL.
He was told a separate ticket was required for the domestic leg.
This, he complained, added an extra $210 handling charge on to ticket prices for each of his four family members.
But this is small potatoes when compared with our winning entry.
All Win Sing Travel takes the top prize for offering seats on fully booked flights, insisting on cash payment, and then closing its doors.
Would-be holiday makers discovered they would be spending Lunar New Year at home when they phoned the airlines and were told their bookings were never received.
It appears All Win Sing isn't living up to its name. All certainly don't win, and none are likely to sing.
Perhaps it was the firm's name was just misspelled.
It should have been 'All Wincing'.