M.Dż.* pisze:
Zwracam uwagę, że Michael został "zaproszony", ale nigdzie jest jest napisane, że potwierdził swoje przybycie
Ale powiedział, że nie może się doczekać przyjazdu do Japonii i dziękuje Morrisowi za ponowne zaproszenie
M.Dż.* pisze:
P.S. Dzięki, Aniu, za podzielenie się z nami tą informacją.
Trochę nowych wieści!
Morris, dyrektor naczelny Positive Productions Yokohama, po raz kolejny w tym roku zaprasza Michaela do Japonii. W maju 2006 zorganizował przyjazd artysty na rozdanie nagarów MTV Japan a teraz szykuje kolejną imprezę, na której pojawi się 1,600 fanów. „Złote” bilety kosztują 200,000 jenów a „platynowe” bilety kosztują 400,000 jenów. Trzystu fanów, którzy będą posiadać te platynowe będą wpuszczani dużo wcześniej a co najważniejsze będą mogli sobie zrobić zdjęcie z Michaelem, będą też autografy, darmowe napoje i jedzenie.
Jest też szansa wygrać jeden darmowy bilet, ale niestety dziś mija termin nadsyłania kartek z odpowiedziami.
Jak do tej pory Morris ściągnął do Japonii takie gwiazdy jak: Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu, A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, Snoop Dogg, Usher, Lil’ Kim, Destiny’s Child, Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys oraz Kanye West.
Większość artykułu dotyczy samego Morrisa, wzmianki o MJ są wyłuszczone.
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No Mo’ Drama
Two visits from Michael Jackson make 2006 a thriller year for music promoter Broderick Morris
Tsutomu Fujita
When it comes to the secret of his success, Broderick Morris’ web address says it all: BmoPositive.com. His optimistic approach to life helped turn Mo’, as he’s known among friends, from a corporal in the United States Marine Corps into one of the most influential hip-hop promoters in Japan, chief executive of Positive Productions Yokohama.
“When I started out in the business, I was surrounded by a lot of negative thinking and negative people,” says the 37-year-old American. “I wanted a change, I wanted to move in a more positive direction, and that’s why I chose the name.”
The list of artists Positive Productions Yokohama has brought to Japan reads like a roll call at the hip-hop and R&B hall of fame, among them Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu, A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, Snoop Dogg, Usher, Lil’ Kim, Destiny’s Child, Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys and Kanye West.
But the best is yet to come. Next month, Morris will bring Michael Jackson back to Japan for the one-off Michael Jackson Premium Christmas Party. It’s Morris’ second such scoop this year, after he arranged Jackson’s visit in May to accept the Legend Award at the MTV Japan Video Music Awards. That was Jackson’s first public appearance since he was acquitted of child molestation charges in June 2005.
“The biggest thing for me was when Michael got off the plane, he said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Morris, for bringing me over.’ I’m not even going to lie to you—I got teary eyed, man,” recalls Morris. “It’s so sad, because some of the other artists we bring over here, they are nowhere near the level of Michael. From when we pick them up, to when we take them home, I never really hear thank you.”
Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Morris came to Japan in 1988 as a US Marine serving at Camp Foster in Okinawa. When allowed off base, he would dance in local hip-hop clubs, but in general there was little to do except “sit on the sea wall and drink,” something he would remember years later.
After leaving the military, he moved to Kanto and took two jobs, one by day at a furniture store on Yokota Air Base and another by night as a waiter. He worked six days a week, hardly sleeping except on Sundays. He later became the general manager of a soul food restaurant and bar in the upscale Honmoku area of Yokohama. The restaurant became a popular venue for office and wedding parties, and, later in the evening, hip-hop and R&B events.
“We were getting between 70 and 130 people in there for the parties, and it started to get interesting,” he recalls, the most interesting bit being his ¥500,000-a-month profit. He expanded the parties to a club in Yokohama and by 1994 the logical next step was to move into concerts.
Morris borrowed ¥2.5 million and invited a group called The Deele, which had once included R&B singer Babyface, to perform three concerts in Tokyo and Yokohama. Things did not go according to plan. Hundreds of tickets went unsold, with just 120 people turning up for the final night at the 1,500-capacity Kawasaki Club Citta. The debacle left Morris ¥5 million out of pocket. It took him three jobs and more than a year to pay his debts.
“No matter how deep in the hole you get, you never run away,” says Morris of the experience, and another difficult period in 1999, when he was half a million dollars in the red. “If you run away and don’t pay your bills, you’ll be running for the rest of your life. The word will get out, and everyone will know.”
Morris had wildly underestimated the costs involved in flying over and looking after high-rolling foreign artists. He had also overestimated the popularity of black music and culture in Japan at that time. These days, hip-hop fashion is one of the dominant street styles and hip-hop and R&B are ingrained into the local music scene. But in 1994, things were very different.
“It was nothing like today. Black music and fashion only started to become mainstream about 1997,” says Morris, adding that his events helped foster the trend. “People would come to our concerts and see what they were wearing on stage and they would want to dress like them. I’ll say this in front of anyone: take Positive Productions out of the history of hip-hop in Japan and it wouldn’t be the same as it is today.”
Morris often MCs his parties and is a personality in his own right among hip-hop fans, many of whom have attended his events since the beginning. He has made a point of helping up-and-coming local acts over the years, including Zeebra, Rip Slyme, Rhymester, DS455 and Ozro Saurus before they were famous.
As his name became better known, Morris was able to persuade bigger artists to come to Japan at a time when many of them weren’t performing outside of the US. He has particularly good memories of working with Snoop Dogg (“nothing like the media portray him”), Missy Elliott (“always professional”) and Destiny’s Child, whose 2002 concert in Okinawa was a high point.
Since he started out in the music business, Morris has made a point of taking artists to Okinawa to entertain US troops. In October 2001, Destiny’s Child was scheduled to perform there at the end of a two-stop Japan tour, the other concerts organized separately by rival promoter UDO. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the US military revoked permission for the concert to be held on base, putting the whole tour—and Morris’ future in the business—at risk.
Using the relationship he had nurtured with the Okinawa Chamber of Commerce, Morris secured permission, for the first and only time, to hold a concert at a local athletic field, rescheduled for the following May—the middle of Okinawa’s rainy season. “I prayed every day that it wouldn’t rain,” he recalls. The weather held and Morris sold 9,500 tickets, more than anyone had anticipated. At 6am the morning after, the heavens opened.
“I was blessed,” he recalls. “I had the right people around me when things went the wrong way. I always had those people there to keep me strong. … They don’t ask for money or nothing, because they believe in me. And that makes a difference, when you have people believe in you.”
Doing business here in Japan has not always been easy for Morris, especially in his chosen field. “The entertainment industry is cutthroat,” he says.
“It takes a strong person with a strong personality to make it.”
To begin with, the media and record labels refused to support this non-Japanese upstart. His response was to deny them access to the artists (whose schedules he controlled because they were here on his dollar) unless they promoted his events just the same as those of his Japanese competitors, which they quickly did.
He was disappointed again, however, when the local press declined to give him credit for arranging Jackson’s visit in May. Even so, he is reluctant to blame it on any particular prejudice against him because he is black.
“It doesn’t really matter about the color,” he says. “I hear brothers and sisters complaining about black this and black that, but I disagree. It’s all about the personality. If you know how to deal with people and you have the right personality, it doesn’t matter. … The agents know that I’m the kind of promoter that if they need me to be there for a meeting, then I’d be getting my plane ticket today and leaving this evening from Narita and I’d be there tomorrow. And I’ve done that several times, to New York, LA, Atlanta, and back the next day.”
Including Morris, there are only five people running Positive Productions Yokohama. When they put on big concerts, it’s all hands on deck.
“Even people in the music business think we have ten or 15 staff. It’s not true. But everyone here loves their job, and if one person gets sick, the next person knows how to do it right away. No problem at all. That’s the way I taught them. It comes from the Marine Corps. It’s the way they taught me. It makes a difference.”
That military discipline will be put to the test again over the coming weeks as Morris and his crew (working together with Daisuke Kodo, chief executive of God Gate Investment) arrange the Michael Jackson Premium Christmas Party on December 19 at an undisclosed location. The party for 1,600 die-hard fans will mark ten years since Jackson performed eight sold-out concerts at Tokyo Dome in 1996.
Jackson, who made a controversial appearance at the World Music Awards in London last week, will be inside the venue with his fans while a gospel choir, live band and six-piece string arrangement perform Christmas songs and some of his hits. The winners of a “Thriller” dance contest taking place at Yokohama Bay Hall on December 2 will also perform for Jackson. There are no plans for the star to sing live, but Morris, ever the optimist, says, “You never know what will happen.”
“Gold” tickets will cost ¥200,000 and “platinum” ¥400,000. The 300 platinum ticket holders will get early access to the venue and the chance to have a photo taken with the star; everyone will get free food and drinks and a signed photo. It’s clearly going to be a money-maker for Jackson, who reportedly had financial troubles in recent years, something Morris doesn’t deny. “Last time we talked a lot about business and things we could do together,” says Morris. “This time he’ll be getting paid.”
Morris was introduced to Jackson five years ago by a mutual friend. Despite everything that has been said and written about the singer over the years, Morris’ impression is positive.
“He’s nothing like people make him out to be,” says Morris, who built a strong working relationship during daily meetings with Jackson in May. “We’ve both been through a lot, him as an African-American superstar, me as an African-American in this business in Japan. I understand him and he understands me. And that’s why we’re trying to help each other.”
If the party goes according to plan, fans will get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to spend time with their idol, Jackson will go home a little bit richer, and Positive Productions Yokohama will have scored its second coup of the year. “It’s about making people happy and keeping them happy,” says Morris, living proof that it pays to be positive.
See Michael Jackson for free!
courtesy of positive productions yokohama
Positive Productions Yokohama is giving one lucky Metropolis reader a free pass to the Michael Jackson Premium Christmas Party. To apply, complete the following tasks in English on a postcard (no telephone calls or emails will be accepted) and send it to The Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine, 3F Maison Tomoe, 3-16-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062. Also include your name, age and daytime phone number.
Task 1) Answer this question: How many weeks in total did Michael Jackson occupy the
No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983 and with which singles?
Task 2) Finish this sentence with no more than ten words: “I want to go to the Michael Jackson Premium Christmas Party because…”
The deadline for entry is 7pm on Thursday, November 30. A shortlist of six entries will be chosen by the editors on Friday, December 1, and the winner picked at random from among them. The five-runners up will each win free spectator access for two to the Thriller Audition at Yokohama Bay Hall on December 2. The winner and runners up will be notified by phone by 6pm on Dec 1. Anyone who cannot be reached by phone will forfeit the prize and a replacement will be selected at random. The final names will be published in the December 8 issue of Metropolis. (Employees of Crisscross K.K. and people who have a business relationship with the company including Metropolis magazine are not eligible.)
Źródło: MJNO
), zapodała linki do strony organizatorów i do samej imprezy.
Niezły paradoks! Jedno jest pewne Michael wróci z Japonii z grubym portfelem - czysty interes. Zdjęcie z MJ, autograf, pićko oraz żarełko za jedyne 400,000 jenów 
. Nawet nie wiem ile to jest w przeliczeniu na polską walutę ale te zera mi w zupełności wystarczą