HEADLINES: 2004

JANUARY 31, 2004: My first headlines piece for Y2K4 is all about numbers. During a recent visit to PL-NET, I swung by the page that has information about Pink Lady's "Pink Typhoon" Tour and discovered something rather remarkable. Between June and December of 2003, Mie and Kei drew an astonishing 120,000 people to their shows. Let me say that again:

120,000 PEOPLE!!

Not bad for playing in two to three thousand capacity concert halls over a six month span, eh? And of course, I was part of the crowds when I saw the Ladies back in August. As of this writing, the second phase of the tour is currently underway over in Japan. Like I mentioned on the Pink Pilgrimage page, I'm attempting to go back and taken in the experience of a Pink Lady show for a second time! Details forthcoming!

MARCH 20, 2004: In the three years I've been doing the Headlines Page, I've brought you almost entirely good news about Pink Lady, something that's made this page a treat to do. But now, I come to you for the very first time with a bit of sad news. Mitch Osawa, the fan from Singapore who turned me on to the news about Pink Lady's reunion, new single and subsequent concert tour last year reported to me an item from the Japanese media that Mie had recently divorced from her husband of six years earlier this month.

According to the news item, the couple, due to their busy schedules (she on tour with Pink Lady, he as a music producer off on long business trips) had become estranged because they had spent little time together. Whether or not the parting had been amicable I have no idea. Having never been married myself, I can't imagine what it must've been like for Mie to suffer through a divorce, especially since she's in show business where, like here in the States, nearly every aspect of an entertainer's personal life, good and bad is laid bare before the public. So I won't even pretend I understand what Mie must have endured, instead, I can only sympathize with her.

When I got this item, I was genuinely torn about putting it in, thinking I'd feel like the editor of a sleazy supermarket tabloid if I did, but, in the end, it IS a news item about Pink Lady, albeit, an unhappy item, so, personal feelings aside, I was obligated to report on it. In any event, speaking as human being first, and a Pink Lady fan second, I sincerely hope Mie will pull through this turbulent time with her spirit intact!

APRIL 16, 2004: At around 1:40 p.m. on this date, a monumental plateau in this existence of this website was reached as we got our 50,000th hit! FIFTY THOUSAND HITS! Never in my wildest dream did I ever think that such a lofty goal would be achieved. As I'm forever fond of saying, I did this whole thing just for fun, I never thought that a website devoted to a Japanese pop duo from the 1970's would garner so much attention! Not just here, but across the Pacific in Japan where my website is part of the massive Pink Lady Network.

I'm very humbled, and extremely grateful to all the many people, both here in the States, and overseas who took the time to visit the website, leave a comment in the guestbook, and even email me to say how much they loved what I've done. It's because of all of you, the many fans of Mie and Kei that my Pink Lady website exists. Despite all the hard work I've put into the website, I've never viewed what I do as being work. This is a labor of deepest love, plain and simple. And it's a helluva lot of fun because I get to enjoy my undying passion: Pink Lady!

Once again, to all the fans who helped the site reach such a hallowed goal: domo arigato!!! Thank you!!!

MAY 2, 2004: Around three months ago, a new Pink Lady book came out in Japan. After having purchased it through the Japanese version of Amazon.com (Thank goodness for credit cards! That made ordering it a snap!), I found the book to quite entertaining as it contained pics from the current Pink Typhoon tour, along with old school stuff, like galleries of PL toys and just a few of the many products Mie and Kei shilled during their heyday. But the real stunner was on page 76: a picture of the main page of my website!!! That's right, kids, my website was actually mentioned in a Pink Lady book!! Complete with the address!! Below is the proof of the pudding:

WOW!! How cool is that? Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised, and shocked! Especially since no one over at PL-NET told me about it! Still, this made for quite a tremendous honor. Not that I need the verification after the site reached 50,000 hits last month, but I guess this all means I'm doing something right, and I'm most grateful for the mention! This makes me all the prouder to be a member in good standing with PL-NET! Even better, since I'm sure Mie and Kei have copies of this new book, then that means they must be aware of my website! Hopefully, they'll find the time to visit my little shrine! Yeah, baby, yeah! P.S.: I'll have more on the new book in August!

MAY 8, 2004: While surfing the Internet early on a Saturday morning, I came across this curious little item while visiting one of the Japanese Pink Lady websites, VIVA Pink Lady:

Yes, folks! A Pink Lady DVD appears to be on its way to market, well, at least in Japan anyway. Taking into account the pic is displaying the current day version of Mie and Kei, I'm guessing this might be a video from their Pink Typhoon tour. Not being able to read Japanese, I can't say for sure. If I'm right, this could well be a godsend to all the PL fans here in the States who'd love to see the 21st century edition of Pink Lady in action but can't make it to Japan like I did last year! If I can get more info about this upcoming release, or if someone over in Japan can further enlighten me on this item, I'll gladly let everyone in on the scoop! Stay tuned!

JUNE 25, 2004: Arizona's Lady-X, a good friend, and regular contributor to the website was kind enough to send me this item which she found via the Internet. What's really astounding about it was that she found it before I did! HA! Anyhoo, this page from a recent magazine clipping was all about Pink Lady's ongoing Pink Typhoon tour, now in it's second phase, and it featured a picture of Mie and Kei singing "SOS". As you can see, look absolutely stunning in turquiose! But hey! The Ladies look stunning in anything!

While I'm here, I've got some news on a topic I reported from last month. I had mentioned that a Pink Lady DVD is on its way to market in July, well, someone was kind enough to write and tell me that it's gonna be an instructional video on how to perform some of PL's most famed dance numbers from songs like "Pepper Keibu", "SOS" and "UFO". Now, if you're not cursed with two left feet like I am, that might be a pretty neat thing to have. Just think: being able to dance like Mie and Kei! If anything, it would make for one hell of a workout video!

JUNE 26, 2004: Okay, kids, it's confession time. How many of you out there like karaoke? Don't worry, no one will know except us. Now, just between you, me and the (fire)wall, I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy singing along with my favorite songs in the privacy of my home, I've even tried karaoke a time or two, though with horrendous results! Anyhoo, the reason why I mentioned it coincides with this upcoming PL release:

Coming to a record store near you (if you happen to be living in Japan), a Pink Lady karaoke CD! That's right, boys and girls! You too can soon warble to the sugary strains of "Pepper Keibu", the Latin flavored sounds of "Carmen '77", the sci-fi themed "UFO" or the aggressive beat of "Wanted"! Grant you, I don't have any particulars, but you can rest assured that I'll get info (since I intend to buy it) then give you all the 411! Stay tuned!

JULY 31, 2004: Remember when I mentioned in the May 8th item that a Pink Lady DVD was on it's way to market in Japan? Well, my good friend John Vawter from sunny California just got his hands on it and was kind enough to give me the full scoop on it. In his esteemed opinon, IT ROCKS!!! It's a choreography DVD with Mie and Kei doing their classic dance routines to "Pepper Keibu", "SOS", "Carmen '77", "Nagisa No Sindbad" and "Wanted", and that it featured neat stuff like multiple camera angles, video effects and sexy costumes which you can see below:

FROM "PEPPER KEIBU"

FROM "SOS"

FROM "CARMEN '77"

FROM "NAGISA NO SINDBAD"

FROM "WANTED"

FROM THE INSTRUCTIONAL SEGMENT

According to John who sent me the stills, Mie and Kei faithfully re-recorded the songs (which they lip-synch in the footage to a flawless degree), and as the end credits roll, there are clips of unused footage and we even get to see them in the recording studio cutting their vocals. Then you have the option to select each song, and you get the dance moves shot from different angles - #1 is full front, one camera (it's like having front row seats at a show, and the song and dance has to carry it all, as originally intended) #2 is the song from the main feature #3 is Mie from the waist down #4 Kei from the waist down #5 "Mirror" view #6 Mie & Kei in a dance studio running thru the difficult steps slowly and discuss each song #7 is behind-the-scenes clips of each song in production, with the karaoke version playing. Sounds pretty darn entertaining, eh? I certainly thought so! And there's a second volume to come!

Unfortunately, before you hop online with your credit card to buy it, be warned, it's a Region 2 disc, which can't be played on DVD players here in the States which are designed for Region 1discs only. One day, I'll try to explain what all that gibberish means. However, if you're really hot to watch this video, you'll need a multi-region DVD player which are available from many online resources, some at surprisingly reasonable prices. I'll see what I can do about listing a few for you. In the meantime, John and I will work on turning this into a future picture feature for all to enjoy!

SEPTEMBER 18, 2004: On the heels of the first Pink Lady choreography DVD which, according to information Jown Vawter provided me has become quite successful over in Japan comes this tidbit:

That's right, kids, a SECOND dance DVD is now on the shelves in Japan! And, according to John, it's already a hot seller in Japan's version of Amazon.com! This DVD will cover the second fivesome of Pink Lady hit songs, check out the pics below of Mie and Kei wearing faithful recreation of the all those super cool costumes from "UFO", "Southpaw", "Monster", "Tomei Ningen" and "Chameleon Army". John already has a copy of the video and he enjoyed it immensely! Now, I must inform that this DVD, like volume 1 is a region 2 disc, so you'll need that region free DVD player like I mentioned in the previous news item.

FROM "UFO"

FROM "SOUTHPAW"

FROM "MONSTER"

FROM "TOMEI NINGEN"

FROM "CHAMELEON ARMY"

FROM THE INSTRUCTIONAL SEGMENT

Now, while neither John or I heard anything definitive, there might well be a THIRD volume coming out sometime in the future! I'll be sure to keep everyone appraised on future dance related developments!

OCTOBER 11, 2004: Hungry for more Pink Lady news items? Well, try this one on for size: Kei-chan's written her autobiography! My good friend and intrepid reporter John Vawter emailed with info about this very intriguing literary effort from Mrs. Kuwaki which came out in September:

The book is called "Yearning", and according to info John was able to gather after some painstaking work spent using an online translation engine to interpret Japanese kanji into passable English, this 289 page softcover book wasn't ghost-written, but was penned by Kei herself! From what John had gathered, it chronicled Kei's childhood, having been raised by an aunt after being separated from her mother, and striving to achieve her dream of being a singer, which she did, in spades, thanks to her metoric rise to superstardom with high school classmate Mitsuyo Nemoto as Pink Lady.

However, there had also been hardships, such as almost no privacy, long hours of hard work with little rest and even having to work while recovering from an operation (Aside: I believe I had read somewhere that Kei underwent an appendectomy in 1977). That had been followed by years of loneliness after Pink Lady broke-up until her recent marriage and the reformation of her partnership with Mie-chan and Pink Lady's triumphant return to the spotlight, which, for Kei, was the fulfillment of a dream. John described it as an inspirational story of a dream gained, lost, then gained again.

John had translated several reviews from Japan's version of Amazon.com and they were quite favorable towards the book, though some wondered if it had been ghost-written. As a fan of Kei-chan (like John), I thought it was really cool that she penned an autobio. It also makes me wonder if Mie might follow up with a similar effort. Only time will tell! Oh, and if there are any fans from Japan who'd like to provide an in-depth review in English of Kei's book for us gaijin here in the States, please drop me a line at treetop.jeff@verizon.net and let me know!

OCTOBER 17, 2004: The website achieved yet another little milestone in its brief existence, today, it reached 60,000 hits in just under six years, and did so a mere six months AFTER cracking the 50,000 hit plateau! proof positive that lots of people must love this website! For which I'm very grateful!

NOVEMBER 21, 2004: Our last news item for what's turned out to be a VERY busy year for the Headlines feature comes to us courtesy of fellow PL fan Russell Stewart. Earlier in the month, Russell emailed me with infomation that two former members of mega-successful J-Pop group Morning Musume who formed their own duo called W (Double You) covered two Pink Lady songs, "Southpaw" and "Nagisa No Sindbad" on their latest CD. Russell went on to say that the girls (Ai Kago and Tsuji Nozomi) even did a music video for their version of "Southpaw", which you can see via the still that Russell was kind enough to send me along with a pic of the album cover. It's been long said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'm sure Mie and Kei must be flattered with today's performers like W are doing their old songs proud!