ESSAY 22 IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY.... It seems like only yesterday when, on a whim late in December of 1998, I launched up a webpage devoted to Pink Lady. At the time, my goals were low and my skills at webpage creation lower, in short, I had no earthly idea what the hell I was doing, but I was going to do it anyway, just to see what would happen. Twenty years later, I'm happy to say I'm still doing it, the website is still here, a lasting testament to my love for Pink Lady. In the beginning, I had a bunch of scattered ideas in my head on how I wanted what was then a webpage to work and how I wanted it to look, once I bought webpage creation software, I spent weeks fiddling around with what few pages I had to make it look just the way I wanted, when the page went live, it was modest, but it was up, and I was happy with what I had done. I advertised the page as best I could, but I had no idea if anyone would visit the page, I mean, who in the world would be at all interested in a webpage devoted to a Japanese song and dance act from the late 1970's? However, much to my surprise, people did find the page, they did express interest and told me how much they liked what I was doing. Fancy that. Over the long (but thoroughly enjoyable years), my labor of love grew and grew, going from "Pink Lady: The Webpage" to "Pink Lady: The Website" and finally to "Pink Lady America", my scant few pages expanded to well over 200, the small amount of pictures I displayed in the beginning blew up to at least two thousand, and that's probably a conservative estimate as I've never taken the time to count them all. Suddenly, my little webpage had become a HUGE endeavor, but it was never work in any sense of the word, rather it was FUN as I enjoyed posting pictures of Mie and Kei, putting up videos of Mie and Kei, reviewing their albums and presenting their wild and wonderful and amazing history as best I could, considering I didn't understand a lick of Japanese. I try not to think about the amounts of money I've spent over the years on website software, upgrades on my computer (the site is currently on its fifth since the launch) the server I have the site on along with the cost of the domain name, not to mention all the PL stuff I've bought: original vinyl, cassettes, CD's, DVD's, books, posters, knick-knacks, all sorts of stuff, and I suspect there's STILL lots and lots of cool stuff out there that I've never managed to get my greedy mitts on, despite years spent search for such items on eBay and through internet auctions. In any event, I consider it money VERY well spent as it helped to both increase my collection of PL memorabilia, all of which I've been happy to share with the people who've visited the site. And speaking of the people, let me tip my hat to all the folks who've visited the site over the years, some of whom were already fans while others, having discovered PL became followers of the Ladies, more than a few having written to tell me they learned about Mie and Kei after watching Pink Lady & Jeff. While that show was a happy embarrassment for NBC (and, depending on who you talk to, might've hastened PL's 1981 break-up), it brought together fans of the Ladies who watched the show, liked Mie and Kei and became fans. Also, one of the fans I corresponded with since I launched the site, Akihiro Seki from Japan helped me realize my fondest dream back in 2003 when he got me tickets to see Pink Lady in Yokohama during their much hyped reunion tour. Having never got the chance to see Mie and Kei in concert while I was in Japan during their salad days in the late 70's (amazingly, it never occurred to me to try and catch a show, and even if I had, that would've been very tough since I was stationed on a ship in the Navy, and my time spent in port was never set in stone), this was perhaps the greatest thrill I've had to date, who cares if I had to travel nearly 7,000 miles for that privilege, I would've traveled twice that distance to see Mie and Kei in the flesh, and that was an absolutely fantastic experience, one I'll never forget. Corresponding with other fans, some of whom, like Trulawn McCray, have contributed to the site with music reviews makes what I do here all the more worthwhile, and more enjoyable. And so, where do I go from here, now that the site begins its twenty-first year? At this time, I feel it's important to do all I can to keep the legend of Pink Lady alive for fans both new and old, both here and abroad. At present, I think I'm maintaining the ONLY active website devoted to Pink Lady as even sites over in Japan such as PL-NET have sadly gone dark. While new features are at times hard to come by, a more vital function is to present the rich and storied history of Mie and Kei to everyone: from their early years, their heyday when the girls were THE most famous act in Japan, their years as solo stars and the numerous reunions, the most recent having been in 2011. While there have been idol singers who came before Pink Lady, and scores more who've since followed in their silver sandaled footsteps, NO act has personified the term "idol singer" more than Pink Lady, and I don't think anyone, be it a solo performer, or a humongous group like AKB48 will ever come close to that distinction. While the website is far from perfect (but I work hard to make it good), I'm very proud of what I've done for the last twenty years, and plan to keep the site going for years to come! |
|
 |
|
|
|