Monday, January 24, 2011

Roslan Aziz and Zade Dirani - Possible Collaboration ?

Breaking News.....!!!



The World's BEST kept secret....



Malaysian Music Producer Roslan Aziz (below)



and Jordanian / American Pianist, Composer and Producer.... Zade Dirani to Collaborate ????


We hear it from the grapevine that gifted and internationally acclaimed Malaysian Music Producer, Roslan Aziz , winner the "Quincy Jones - Most Promising Music Producer Award in 2002, held in Los Angeles, and



Jordanian / American Pianist, Composer and Producer, Zade Dirani , who performed in the " One Night in Jordan- A Concert for Peace, to a sold out crowd of over 8,000 fans at the historical Roman Amphitheatre in Amman, Jordan in June 2008, featuring among others,



The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , the London Voices Choir, a star studded line up of musicians in the likes of the "Most Recorded Drummer in history" ,


John JR Robinson ( Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Rufus and Chaka Khan....), Guitarist Michael Thompson ( Madonna, Cher, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Michael Buble...)and


Produced by the Illustrious Danny O'Donovan, (Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr. and Marlene Dietrich; Jazz and Blues giants such as Ray Charles, Count Basie, B.B. King and Sarah Vaughan; and Soul and Reggae Superstars like James Brown, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry, to name a few.

It would be interesting to see if this happens..........sure going to be


GroundBreaking...


Will keep you updated....


ROSLAN AZIZ

http://roslanmukhlis.blogspot.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/roslanmukhlis
http://www.last.fm/music/Roslan+Aziz+Productions
http://www.google.com/profiles/roslanabdulaziz.

ZADE DIRANI

http://www.zade.com

Keyshia Cole Fires Longtime Manager In Wake Of Poor Record Sales

Keyshia Cole Fires Longtime Manager In Wake Of Poor Record Sales





Posted: 22 Jan 2011 04:31 AM PST




press release





Keyshia Cole is shaking things up within her inner circle, hoping to give her career a boost.





The 29-year old singer has fired her longtime manager, Manny Halley.





The move, though unexpected possibly stems from the poor performance of her latest cd “Calling All Hearts”, which has moved 139,000 copies in it’s first four weeks
compared to her last album “A Different Me”, which moved 539,000 copies during the same time span.





Cole informed her fans on the news via Twitter.




“Would like for u guys to know that Manny Halley is no longer my management.”



Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Touring Hollywood in Search of Box-Office Success

Five Chinese film veterans and ambitious newcomers are seeking to hire Hollywood help to achieve their goal: exportable movies.


BEIJING
--




A group of Chinese filmmakers is touring Los Angeles this week to learn what it takes to make movies with universal appeal.






Though China's box office rose 61 percent in 2010 and Hollywood films from Avatar to Alice in Wonderland are grossing more in the Middle Kingdom these days than anywhere else outside the U.S., few Chinese films have ever enjoyed such overseas success.





So, the delegation of five Chinese film veterans and ambitious newcomers now is serious about hiring Hollywood help to achieve their goal: exportable movies.





From Pang Hong, a producer of the 2008 Gordon Chan hit supernatural thriller Painted Skin, to talent agent-turned-producer Mu Xiaoying, the delegation is led by former Warner Bros. executive Ellen Eliasoph and Bai Qiang, CEO of Beijing-based company 3D China.





"Things have changed 180 degrees," said Eliasoph, a 30-year China veteran and managing partner here for U.S. law firm Covington & Burling.



"Just five or six years ago, Chinese companies went to Hollywood looking for finance but couldn't get it because their products weren't developed properly and had little chance of going overseas. Meanwhile, the Chinese box office wasn't big enough to care about."




But now that movies are making real money in China -- Avatar grossed $207 million here and Aftershock, by local hero Feng Xiaogang, took in $100 million -- China's industry is looking to expand in step with Beijing's plans to present a new China to the world using the media.



"What's nice about traveling with this group is that they're paying their own way, not looking for money, just looking to partner with real talent that can teach them something," said Eliasoph, former head of Warner's China office from 2003-2007.




It's a trend in the making. Last month, China's best-known director, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), hired not only Dark Side FX, the Hollywood team behind The Dark Knight, but also the film's star, Christian Bale, to work on a $90 million World War II drama called 13 Flowers of Nanjing.



The Chinese in Hollywood this week for meetings with the likes of Rand Holstein of CAA, Sandra Lucchesi of The Gersh Agency, and Elizabeth Daley, dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, hope to be taking home a few tricks of the trade. They're also due at meetings at Castle Rock, Village Roadshow, Warner, Fox, Sony and 3ality.



"These days we're making so many movies in China but our goal is to make movies that will rise to the standards of Hollywood," said Mu, who, with backing from a Zhejiang Province-based real estate conglomerate, is developing a popular graphic novel serialized online into what he hopes, a year from now, will turn into a trilogy called Jade Dynasty costing $30 million a picture, a sort of Chinese Lord of the Rings. Mu's colleagues on the Hollywood trip include Jiang Xinguang and Mao Panfeng.





"We're here learning how Hollywood works, what's appealing in Asian films and how better to build relations," Mu said over the phone.

To that end, USC film professor and accomplished editor, producer and writer Mary Sweeney (long a partner of director David Lynch) told the Chinese visitors that each of their stories had to be developed in such a way that an audience anywhere in the world could understand the characters' emotional journey, Eliasoph said.

Pang, the CEO of Beijing-based Kylin Network Movie & Culture Media Co is in the process of making Painted Skin 2 with up and coming Chinese Mongolian director Wuershan, whose The Butcher, The Chef, and the Swordsman from Fox International Productions will release in the U.S. in March. "Pang hopes to make Painted Skin 3 in 3D and he wants to cooperate with Hollywood," said Qiang of 3D China.




Qiang, for his part, recently finished shooting a 3D version of a New Year's Eve concert in Beijing held by Cui Jian, China's biggest rock star. With the help of a South Korean crew and U2-3D producer Michael Peyser, also a USC professor. It was the first such 3D filming of big Chinese rock show and one that is bound to be popular as Cui's anthems carry weight with Chinese from all walks of life.




Veteran Hollywood 3D producer Brian Rogers of Redruth Pictures, now working with Legendary Pictures on director Gareth Edwards' upcoming Godzilla for Warner, said he met the Chinese delegates with an open mind. This despite having gone there six years ago to work on project that was brought down by local political infighting.





"It's not a question of corruption in China any more. It's more about the system's rigidity and finding ways to open it up, so the Chinese can be more international and give their movies a chance overseas," said Rogers, who is helping taking the visitors to CG, 3D and post-production houses Rhythm & Hues, Panavision and Oasis.




Rogers said the Chinese he met over the weekend were forthcoming about their varied business backgrounds -- from real estate to socks -- but each asked astute questions about the movie business.




"It's going to take them some considerable time, but the answer today will be different tomorrow and the day after tomorrow," Rogers said. "They're learning fast."



and a comment by a reader :



Anonymous Tue, 2011-01-18 11:29




Stay away.





I worked on three movies in China.




They are all criminals.




No way to track box office.




They will manufacture products that the stars wear and sell them in another city creating revenue from merchandise that you will never hear about.




Contracts mean nothing.




Try to sue anyone in China.




Hah.





They are not good in math.





They are great.





In accounting even better.





I lived thru it.






These were with extremely well respected business people too.






And all with lots of money.






They will pay your fees and make 10xs that and not share with you.





And it's not just me talking.





Names we all know have been trying to work in China.





Check the track record for the past 20 years.




Good luck!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Marilyn Monroe........Worth more Dead than alive ?????

Canadian businessman Jamie Salter has purchased the rights to the Marilyn Monroe’s name and image for $50 million.





He wants to “create products that people actually want to buy” with the Marilyn Monroe branding.





He plans to introduce branded lingerie, handbags, jewelry, fragrances, and maybe even produce a reality show.




Salter says, “We’re not really interested in the trinkets and trash.






Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good business — calendars, posters and shot glasses — but that’s not what we want to do with Marilyn Monroe.”




This will certainly boost Marilyn Monroe-related sales to the likes of Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, which make between $60-275 million a year.............Dead............

words of wisdom from Howard Shultz, founder of Starbucks

LBN-COMMENTARY By GISELE BUNDCHEN (Model and Actress):







I love Jack Johnson’s music.
Every song.
He’s the best writer of this generation.




I like music that carries a message, and I think he always has a very empowering message.


LBN-COMMENTARY By HOWARD SCHULTZ (Starbucks Chairman, President, and Chief Executive):



The discipline I believe so strongly in is H.R., and it’s typically the last discipline that gets funded.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Sophie Tucker


LBN-TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:



Sophie Tucker (1884)





Tucker was a Russian-born American singer and entertainer who began performing vaudeville as a child, singing ragtime melodies in blackface.






She later abandoned the makeup but continued in the African-American style, helping popularize the songs of black composers.





Known for her racy songs, she enjoyed great success on tour and went on to appear in several stage and movie musicals but was best known as a nightclub torch singer.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Sudirman....Asia's Best Performer, Royal Albert Hall, London 1989















Asia's Best Performer Sudirman Arshad, won the Title of



"Asia's Best Performer" , in no less than at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London, in March 1989 beating the Best of what Asia had to offer in terms of true bonafide Talents, unlike the run of the mill, instant noodle, reality Tv show type artists that dominate the markets today.......



( see picture above, from left to right ) : the likes of Taiwan's Chyi Chin, China's Cui Jian,



Japan's Epo, Sudirman from Malaysia, Anchalee from Thailand, Koo Chang Moo from Korea, Megastar Lesley Cheung from Hong Kong and Las Vegas based ( at that time , now based in Kuala Lumpur) Anita Sarawak representing Singapore......( Kuh Ledesma from the Philipines was not in the picture as she was late for the photo call )



Organised by Impressario, Simon Napier Bell, who had managed the Wham, the duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgely, and was responsible for taking Wham from being a British Duo to an International Global phenomenon by getting them to perform in Communist Closed China at that time in the 80's and subsequently making them the first european or for that matter any western act to do so......and co organiser, Donovan, who was Simon's business partner.....





9 of Asia's best talents......and Sudirman Haji Arshad, Malaysia's underated 5 foot tall gift from the Almighty, beat them all to win the coveted Asia's Best Performer......



Indonesia was to be represented by Harvey Malaiholo but were eliminated due to the poor anti piracy record and poor policing of the protection of Intellectual Property rights...




HISTORY was made.......a Malaysian was and arguably still is........




ASIA'S BEST....... SUDIRMAN ARSHAD.....