HEADLINES: 2003
MARCH 2, 2003: Folks, what I'm about to tell you doesn't, and I repeat, DOESN'T get any bigger than this:
PINK LADY ARE TOGETHER AGAIN!!!!
Mitch Osawa from Singapore just reported to me that Mie and Kei are back in business, having recorded a brand new song called "Terebi ga kita hi" for the popular NHK televison show "Min'na no Uta ("Everyone's Songs)" which will be released on April 1st, and, even better, a full-blown concert tour, the Ladies' first since 1997 will kick off in June of this year! At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, but this is literally like the second coming! The song PL recorded will commemorate the 50th anniversary of television broadcasting in Japan.
APRIL 16, 2003: It's sure good to know people in high places! Akihiro Seki and the terrific folks over in Japan at PL-NET were kind enough to email me pics of Mie and Kei from the press conference announcing their reunion as Pink Lady and their upcoming concert tour. According to info Akihiro sent me, one of the venues the Ladies will be performing at in Nakano sold out in an astonishing twenty minutes! That's TWENTY MINUTES! Hell, it took longer than that just to put this feature together that you're reading right now! Proof positive that even after almost thirty years, Mie and Kei haven't lost their magic with their fans, which is why they're Japan's most famous and legendary entertainers! I tell ya, folks, if there was a way I could swing it, I'd fly to Japan to catch one of their shows! In the meantime, here's those pics I mentioned earlier, Feast your eyes on PINK LADY Y2K3!!!
Subsequent shows in Chiba, Shizuoka (Mie and Kei's hometown as you all know!) and Osaka were also sold-out and wonderful performances with the Ladies sporting a variety of dazzling costumes. Even after all these years, Mie-chan and Kei-chan have proven beyond any doubt that they can still pack a house and wow crowds with their magical brand of music. I hope to keep everyone abreast of how things go during the course of the tour. And be sure to check back here next month for more exciting news regarding Pink Lady's smash-hit tour!
Mie and Kei, circa 2003
According to the article Mitch had read, Mie and Kei immediately agreed to NHK's request to sing for the program. Given Pink Lady's legendary fame and popularity on TV, they were happy to sing a song to celebrate the occasion since they are part Japan's television history. "Terebi ga kita hi" was written and composed by Aku Yu and Tokura Shunichi, the famous pair that wrote and composed most of Pink Lady's songs during their mid-70's heyday. While Mie and Kei won't perform themselves on the show, an animated version will do the honors instead since "Everyone's Song" only shows animation or scenic images.
As for the concert tour, tickets for the concert in Tokyo in June have been on sale since 23 February. Schedules for concerts throughout in Japan are to be decided. Many thanks to Mitch for proving this exciting bit of news!
ABOVE: Mie and Kei from the press conference announcing their reunion tour
BELOW: Publicity pics of the Ladies strutting their stuff! DY-NO-MITE!!!!!
APRIL 18, 2003: Here's another little tidbit that's sure to bring a smile to your face. During the course of their long and storied career, Pink Lady sold millions of records, were stars of both the big and small screen and even made a name for themselves (albeit notoriously) here in America. Now Mie and Kei have put another notch on the belts as entertainers: they now have their own video game!!!!! The Japanese version of Yahoo has its own auction area where Pink Lady stuff is up for sale (Don't bother trying to snag any of that stuff, the sellers don't ship overseas! Serious bummer!), and here's the item in question that I found there:
That's right, folks! An honest to God Pink Lady video game for Sony's PlayStation 2!!! And Unless I'm reading that cover wrong, this is the FIFTH version of this game! Talk about unreal! As for how this game is played, I have no idea whatsoever! If someone over in Japan has it, please drop me a line at treetop.jeff@verizon.net and give me the 411 on it. I'd love to know what the deal is on it. Oh, and in case you're wondering why the girls are portrayed as blond and light brunette, well, as a rabid fan of anime, it's commonplace for characters to have hair in every shade of the rainbow, so what you see above is not big deal!
JUNE 29, 2003: Thanks to Akihiro Seki and the good folks over at PL-NET, here's some tidbits reagrding the opening performances of Pink Lady's "Typhoon Again Japan Tour": Akihiro had reported to me earlier that the first two stops of the tour in Nakano on June 2nd and 3rd sold out in an astonishing 20 minutes, longer than it took me to type this paragraph! The show itself was a large success with the Ladies covering all their well known and beloved songs, along with "Kiss in the Dark", "Monday Mona Lisa Club" and "Love Countdown".
LEFT: Opening night in Nakano
RIGHT: Mie and Kei in Shizuoka
JULY 25, 2003: I've been sitting on this little tidbit for nearly two months now, and fighting to keep it a secret until just the right time to spring it on everyone. Well, that time has now arrived, so hang on to your seats, boys and girls, 'cause here it is:
I'M GOING TO SEE PINK LADY!!!!
Yes, you read right, folks! Twenty-five years after I first discovered Mie and Kei, I'm finally gonna see them perform, live and in person!!! In case you don't believe me, just check out the picture below for proof:
Two months ago, I contacted a friend over in Japan and asked if there were any way he could obtain tickets to one of PL's shows on their "Typhoon Again" tour. After giving him a target date, in this case, August 26th in Yokohama (one of my old stomping grounds back in my Navy days), my friend came through with the tickets. From there, it was just a matter of getting a hotel room and a round trip flight to Japan! Ain't that cool?
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Mie and Kei are doing two shows (one in the afternoon and one in the evening) in each venue they perform at on the tour, and since I'll be traveling nearly 7,000 miles and spending in excess of two thousand dollars on this little venture, I decided that I was gonna get my money's worth and see the Ladies twice! And, if that isn't enough, I've seen a seating layout of the Yokahama venue, and I'll be a mere EIGHT ROWS from the stage, nearly dead center for the afternoon show! To quote a popular saying of the day: WHO'S YOUR DADDY??
And so, by the end of the month, the "Pink Pilgrimage" will commence! I've got my passport, a fancy new digital camera to take plenty of pictures with and I'm raring to go! By September, I'll have lots to talk about regarding my fantastic trip!