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Hi everyone,

Well, I went to Kinokuniya today and gave them the "Seiko list." Hopefully,
I'll be sharing all of the new items with you soon on both SMF sites...:-)

I also went to Tower Records and bought the Pink Lady DVD. The best part of it 
is the new interview done with Jeff Altman (the "Jeff" of "Pink Lady & Jeff").

The interview lasts about a half hour. He talks about the history of the show,
what went right, what went wrong...and you can't help thinking about Seiko.

In the first 1980 show, they open with a clip of a Pink Lady concert in Japan.
It's an open arena, not sure which one, but HUGE, and every seat is filled.
Mai and Kei enter in the back seat of two convertibles, everyone is screaming.
The point that was being made was "they're huge in Japan, get ready for a
treat."

Supposedly, Pink Lady sold over 90 million records in Japan (although their
management company walked away with most of the profits). Altman says that 
after the first couple of shows the girls played some of the records they made
in Japan for him. He compared them to the lifeless USA disco songs they were
singing on the show and went to the producers. He told them that their 
Japanese records were wonderful, tuneful, full of energy, and that the girls
should be allowed to sing their own songs, in their own language. The 
producers said no and went back to having them memorize bad USA disco music.

The point? It's the same one I've been making for years about Seiko. My dream
for her success in the USA is not to have her make a bad Mariah Carey album 
and call it a Seiko album. My dream is to have her stand triumphant on 
American soil, singing "Dear Mom & Dad" and "Believe In Love" and "Angel"...
in Japanese. Because that's where you'll find the magic, the gift, the spark.

One final reference for you...in the October 2001 issue, a USA manga magazine 
called "Pulp" had a cover story on Pink Lady. You can read much of it online:

http://www.pulp-mag.com/archives/5.10/index.shtml

Enjoy,

Mike