Idol singer and former Morning Musume member Goto Maki (20) yesterday became the first pop act to perform at Narita Airport. 250 fans were selected by lottery to watch the performance, broadcast live on BayFM. The brief show was held in the southern wing of Terminal One, which is currently undergoing renovations and due to reopen in June.
• Yesterday's final of the World Baseball Classic, which saw Japan crowned as the World's No.1, drew a TV audience rating of 56%, according to Video Research. It's the highest rating for any show so far this year, and the third-highest ever for a baseball program. The figure only covers TVs in private homes, and doesn't include the tens of thousands of people who watched the games in electrical stores, sports bars and on outdoor big screens across the country. The nation's enthusiastic support for its national baseball team stands in stark contrast to rapidly declining audience figures in recent years for the Yomiuri Giants, the country's most popular team.
• Pop group Kome Kome Club are to reform nine years after they broke up. Last June they played a few songs at the 50th birthday party of musician Char and decided to start working together again in the future. Starting from April 1, they will get back together as a group, releasing a single in July and an album in September, to be followed up by a nationwide concert tour. But currently there are no plans to stay together after the end of October. The group gave a farewell concert at Tokyo Dome in March 1997, after which members including vocalist Ishii Tatsuya (46) pursued solo careers. With a pair of dancers and a horn section, Kome Kome were one of the most colorful bands of the 80s and early 90s and were famous for their elaborate stage shows.
• Composer Miyakawa Hiroshi died of heart failure at his Tokyo home yesterday. He was 75. Best known in recent years as the conductor of the closing theme for the Kohaku Uta Gassen every New Year's Eve, he composed over 10,000 tunes in his time. These included many TV themes, including the theme for the hugely popular anime series "Uchusenkan Yamato", as well as hits for such 60s pop acts as The Peanuts. His son Akira is also a composer and wrote "Matsuken Samba II", the hugely successful 2004 hit for Matsudaira Ken.
Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 8550 Location: California Country:
Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:51 am Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
• Composer Miyakawa Hiroshi died of heart failure at his Tokyo home yesterday. He was 75. Best known in recent years as the conductor of the closing theme for the Kohaku Uta Gassen every New Year's Eve, he composed over 10,000 tunes in his time.
Yup, you can see him conducting the orchestra at the end of the program.
A fire broke out yesterday during a stage performance starring idol singer and actor Takizawa Hideaki (23). A full house of about 1,400 audience members and 200 staff were evacuated during the show at the Shimbashi Embujo theater in Ginza, with 36 people suffering from slight smoke inhalation. The fire broke out around 6:30pm, about 30 minutes into the show. "Takki" was singing on stage when the flames were first spotted but suffered no injuries. Prop and costume storage rooms in the basement suffered extensive damage but the fire was put out by about 7pm. Two shows sheduled for today have been cancelled.
• Actress Esumi Makiko (39) is making her TV drama comeback after two years, during which time she became a mother. She will appear in NHK's Saturday night drama "Machiben" from April 8, in which she'll play a lawyer who works to help common people.
• Another comeback later in the year will see Yokohama Gin Bae back on stage. The popular 80s rock band had to cancel a show in April 2003 when singer Tamiya "Sho" Masakichi (44) was arrested for possession of stimulant drugs. He did 16 months of prison time for a previous offence back in 1998. The band will celebrate their 25th anniversary with a show at Yokohama Blitz on June 9. leader and drummer Arashi Yoshiyuki (50) suffered a stroke in 2004 and is currently in rehabilitation. He says he hopes to back for the band's 30th anniversary, adding that he wants the show to be held at the Nippon Budokan.
• Veteran rakugo performer Sanyutei Enu died last night in Tokyo of prostate cancer. He was 82. He appeared in TV commercials for soap and incontinence pants.
Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 8550 Location: California Country:
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:15 am Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
The fire broke out around 6:30pm, about 30 minutes into the show. "Takki" was singing on stage when the flames were first spotted but suffered no injuries.
Joined: 23 Oct 2005 Posts: 5928 Location: San Francisco, CA Country:
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:21 am Post subject:
dochira wrote:
Yup, you can see him conducting the orchestra at the end of the program.
I have the Kohaku.. of course.. i just DL-d it to watch SMAP sing Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana (omigod.. i know the title by heart) and Dragostea Din Te..
Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 8550 Location: California Country:
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:22 am Post subject:
littlemissfab wrote:
I have the Kohaku.. of course.. i just DL-d it to watch SMAP sing Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana (omigod.. i know the title by heart) and Dragostea Din Te..
Lemme find that old bugger.
If you got it from D-addicts, it would be part 3 at the very end.
Concert Promoters Udo have lined up some huge names for their new summer rock festival. Rock legends Kiss, Santana and Jeff Beck are among the 30 or so acts due to play the first Udo Music Festival. Like the annual Summersonic event, the festival will take place in two venues, one in the Kanto region, the other in Kansai. The Kanto festival will be held at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture on July 22 and 23 and an audience of about 100,000 is expected. The Kansai event will welcome about 50,000 at the new Izumiotsu Phoenix in Osaka on the same dates. The Fuji Speedway will have small, medium and large stages. Just an hour from Tokyo on the Tomei Expressway and with considerable parking space, it offers a good alternative to the train and bus-only access of other festivals. Kiss will be making their ninth visit to Japan and it will be their first outdoor show here. This will allow them to pull out all the stops with pyro effects and fireworks. Japanese fans can look forward to seeing guitar gods Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck on stage together for the first time in 20 years. Details of ticket prices and advance sales will be released soon.
• The Tokyo District Court dismissed an indictment against Nigerian talento Bobby Ologun (39) yesterday. The K-1 fighter was in court after starting a brawl over a financial dispute at his management agency in January. The court decided he had already received sufficient "social punishment".
• Comedian Matsumoto Kenta (26) revealed on a variety show yesterday that he is romantically involved with a fan. One half of the popular duo Regular, best known for their "aru aru tankentai" routine, he said he met his "future wife" when she bought a ticket to their show and asked him out to dinner.
Actress Nakatani Miki (30) is to make her return to the world of horror. Seven years after appearing in "Ringu 2", she will star alongside Toyokawa Etsushi (44) in Kurosawa Kiyoshi's "Lofuto" (The Loft) this autumn. The movie plot is based around a thousand-year-old mummy, and Nakatani promised horror fans a spine-chilling experience.
• It was revealed yesterday that struggling comedian Matsumoto Ryusuke (49) is in a coma after suffering a stroke at his home in Osaka on Wednesday night. From the mid-70s to mid-80s he was one half of the manzai duo Shinsuke Ryusuke with popular talento and emcee Shimada Shinsuke (50). They shunned the standard suits for rockabilly hairdo and a "yankee" look, launching a new style of "tsuppari manzai". From 1985 he had a briefly successful solo career but ended up in bankruptcy after leaving the Yoshimoto Kogyo management agency in 1997. He has tried several times to get his career back on track, including teaming up with his son in 2002 to enter a talent contest (they lost in the first round).
• Popular NTV announcer Nishio Yukari (28) was recently spotted spending the night at the Tokyo home of a high-flying TV commercial planner, according to weekly magazine Friday.
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