Hacken will contemplate seriously about adding more shows to his concert, his phobia of poor ticket sales still remains

28 December, 2007

Hacken Lee attended a press conference for his upcoming 2008 concert "Prudential & You Use Your Heart to Listen: Your Hacken Lee Concert Hall 2008 Concert". The concert will start on February 8, 2008 till February 14. All 7 shows will be held in the Hong Kong Coliseum, and music will be the highlight of the concert. Four famous musicians were also invited to perform, including Lung Heung Win and Huang Shih Lun who were present at the conference to show their support. The organization presented Hacken with a computer and popcorn to wish him success and astonishing sales for his concert. Present at the conference also were 12 children who played the violin as accompaniment.

The main highlight will be music, will not imitate Andy Lau

Hacken expressed that his concert sales were not very good in the past (more than 10 years ago) and it did affect him. Will he add more shows? He said that for now, he will not do so as it is better to maintain the stability. As the concert is held during the Chinese New Year, there will be many audience members giving him red packets. He reveals that he will donate all the red packets he receives to charity unless it is specified that the red packet is for his son. If so, he will set up an educational fund for Ryan. He also joked he wants to compare the number of red packets between him and his son. “Dear fans, remember to give 1 more red packet this year!” he said. He says that receiving many red packets is like receiving lots of luck. He will spend the amount of money received, and then donate the same sum to the charity. In the past, the amount of money totaled up to almost ten million and he believes that Ryan will receive more red packets than him. He is happy to know that his concert sales reached at least 60 percent.

Will he give half of what he earned in his concert to Emily? “We’ve not thinking about money! She’s not a materialistic person.”

“I’ve seen Andy Lau’s carnival-style concert, it was very well done. I give it 101 marks. I will not follow his style but put music to the highlight instead. Even the costumes are simpler; there will not be flashy outfits. It’d be great if I can wear sports shoes.” Emily has always been in-charge of his clothing, but she will be taking care of Ryan this year. He will employ another image consultant this time. The flashy outfits will be saved for the future concerts with Alan Tam. Did he invite Alan as guest? “He should not sacrifice his family time for me, let’s see if he’s free,” Hacken joked. “I’ve asked several other singers, whoever is free can come and have fun!”

When asked if he starts his concert on the second day of CNY because he wants to spend the first day together with his family, Hacken reveals, “The schedule was arranged this way. Even on the first day, I need to rehearse. For the past few years, I’ve been a regular at holding CNY concerts and I’m used t it. And when it comes to receiving red packets…it’s really great and happy.” In the past, red packets received during his concert with Alan Tam were given to charity. He also says that as Ryan is still very young, he will not let him attend the concert. Will he attend the 903 awards ceremony? “It’s not appropriate to answer this question now. Let’s wait a few more days.”

Does not speak about the Metro Hits Awards

On the discussion that the Metro Hits Awards were as predicted, Hacken said that he does not wish to comment on this anymore. He’s happy if there’s an award, but if there’s none he will go fulfill his duties as a father. For now, the most important to him is his concert. He congratulates all winners, and is happy that Priscilla Chan is back in the industry.

At the Metro Hits Awards, Andy Lau, Eason Chan and Hacken Lee were the winners that day, each with 5 awards. Leo Ku received 4 awards, falling behind by 1. Joey Yung received 4 awards while Janice received 3.5 awards though she could not attend the function due to food poisoning.

Before the awards ceremony, Gold Label announced that they are boycotting Metro Hits and none of their singers would be present. During the opening ceremony when the various music companies were introduced, it was mentioned that Gold Label was not present due to personal financial problems. Hence, all related personnel did not attend. However, Gold Label singers still received encouragement and awards, which also shows the fairness in this event. Following this, one of the first 4 songs to receive awards was Leo Ku’s "Love Coming Home", which received Most Number of Plays award---Justin’s "Man & KTV" and Kary Ng’s "Forcing Too Hard" both received Best Original Song Award. Edmond Leung’s "Trying to Be Smart" and Stephy Tang’s "Light Bulb" won the Karaoke Award. The host commented on the good results.

[Sources: http://www.leehacken.com/news/2007/news_20071228.htm, Mingpao, Singpao, Oriental Daily, Orisun] [translated by: HIANEZ, edited by: KATE]

Hacken Lee Interviews Stephen Chan!

[credit: http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=415, Translated by Emma Lam]

28 December 2007

Hacken Lee (李克勤) welcomed his guest, TVB General Manager Stephen Chan (陳志雲) to film the interview section of his HD Music Special programme today and in the style of Stephen's hospitality when he interviews his guests, Hacken presented Stephen with a thoughtful gift. Hacken had arranged for a special award to be made for Stephen, in the shape of his initial "S" and engraved with "Most Popular Programme Host" on it.

After receiving his gift, Stephen revealed that on the night of the Jade Solid Gold Music Awards, he will be on leave and could be on his way to the Antarctic. He laughed that he was not going away intentionally to avoid Hacken. Asked if he would be especially generous with his answers during his interview with "TVB Godson" Hacken, Stephen laughed that Hacken is TVB's godson and not his own and pointed out that he is also just an employee of the company. Asked if the company would be awarding Hacken with the two highest male singer awards this year in exchange for this show, Stephen said that the voting has not yet started and the result will reflect the will of the viewers.

There were reports that Eason Chan (陳奕迅) lost his temper during filming of an episode of Jade Solid Gold <勁歌金曲>, leading to TVB's displeasure and their decision not to give him any awards. Stephen pointed out that this is not related and after investigation, he has learned that Eason did not throw a tantrum and he only wanted to get the job done right.

As for whether his cherished staff member Patrick Tang (鄧健泓) stood to bag an award, Stephen said that he felt that Patrick has one particularly good song, but it is down to the marketplace to decide if he is ready for an award yet.

Hacken admitted that he will be plugging himself during the interview and will take the opportunity to ask Stephen whether or not he will be attending his forthcoming concert. However, Stephen asked him in reply why he had not invited him to be a guest on the show. He said that this will be a very risky interview because he has to balance the questions between being too boring and being disrespectful. However, he has had many suggestions for questions for Stephen from many of his inquisitive friends.

Metro Radio Hands Out Music Awards To All

[credit: http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=412&img=2, translated by Emma Lam]
27 December 2007

Metro Radio's Hit Music Awards 2007 <新城勁爆頒獎禮> were presented on Boxing Day and with over a hundred awards handed out, it was like Christmas for the singers.

All the singers who attended received an award and even the Gold Label singers who had boycotted the event were awarded 13 gongs in their absence.

Hacken Lee (李克勤), Andy Lau (劉德華) and Eason Chan (陳奕迅) were the big winners of the night, each receiving five awards. Joey Yung (容祖兒) was the most fruitful female star, receiving four awards. Gold Label big brother Leo Ku (古巨基) was honoured with four awards and MC William Lam (林柏希) commented with a hint of sarcasm: "With such good results, why did they not attend?" Fortunately for Miriam Yeung (楊千嬅), who left Gold Label earlier this year, she was able to attend and receive her awards in person.

The stars arrived and were arranged to do a red carpet walk. Rumoured couple Ivana Wong (王菀之) and Hins Cheung (張敬軒) arrived together and up and coming diva Kay Tse (謝安琪) was accompanied by young husband Louis Cheung (張繼聰). Yumiko Cheng (鄭希怡) and Joline Tsai (蔡依琳) gave a taste of sexiness and glamour and rumoured couple Show Luo (羅志祥) and Rainie Yang (楊丞林) also happily posed together.

Although the Gold Label stars were not present, the company's congratulatory message was still printed inside the programme. Metro Radio boss Chu Ming Rui (朱明銳) explained that the programmes were printed a month ago, before Gold Label had pulled their artistes out of the ceremony. He said it was a shame that they did not attend, but he had made it clear in an earlier communication with the company's executives that Metro would still be presenting awards to their singers, despite their absence. As for any further co-operation between the companies, Mr Chu said that it was difficult to discuss anything at the moment and he will have to wait until things have settled down. He joked that he will have to think of some new ways of breaking the ice, maybe by presenting them with tea.

Gold Label decided earlier this month to withdraw all its singers from attending the Metro Radio awards ceremony after failure to negotiate a set number of awards from the station for the company's top singers, Leo and Justin Lo (側田).

[hacken won these awards. thanks 2 HIANEZ 4 the translation!!
Metro Hits Best Song - Where will the flowers fall
Metro Hits Best creative album - My Cup of tea
Best performance award
Best Asian singer award
Metro hits best song of the year - Where will the flowers fall ]

Hacken Refuses to Comment on Gold Label's Boycott Act, feels that singers are like pawns

December 24, 2007

Earlier, Gold Label issued a statement that all their singers would not be attending the award ceremony organised by Metro Radio Station. The reason being that they are unhappy with the unequal distribution of the awards, with the majority of them going to Universal. Two of the main singers involved is Hacken Lee and Leo Ku. Last night, both of them met at the JSG 3rd Quarter selection, but things seemed amiable between them.

It is rumoured that Leo Ku would get the Male Singer Award, but because Metro Radio Station wants to 'return the favour', the award will be given to Hacken instead. This caused Gold Label to be greatly displeased, thus deciding to boycott the event.

Hacken does not wish to be dragged into the boycotting incident and said that that he wants to just take good care of his son. He said that being a singer can be rather helpless sometimes. If the Award Ceremonies are like battlefields, then the record companies would be the equivalent of generals while singers are only pawns and soldiers. Singers just have to put in effort to produce a good album and obey instructions.

When Hacken and Leo met at the JSG awards, they were talking and trying to understand the whole incident form each other. Later, Hacken acknowledged that they did talk about this incident. Hacken relayed that Leo was only just following instructions, just like how he himself missed Metro's celebratory bash after the awards ceremony last year because his company was not happy with the results.

When asked if this incident caused any awkwards feelings between him and Leo, Hacken said, "No, everyone talks and jokes." When asked his feelings towards getting awards, he replied "If I receive an award, I will be happy, if not, I will just go home and take care of my son. I'm already not that young, please don't try and drag me into this. When asked if Leo's award is being given to him, he said: "I have always not believed this. No one knows the results yet. Maybe I will also not get it."

Leo Ku has just returned from Malaysia and he indicated that he did not know what was going on. He had even prepared his clothes for the ceremony, only to be told by his company that they would not be attending. He said that all the talk about the awards and the reasons are just media speculation. He said he will follow what his company does, and respect their decision, but he will also understand the reason for doing so.

[Gillian's comments: I think Paco was being very petty by getting all his singers to boycott the event because they are not the big winners. Also, if it is really about the Male Singer award, it was given to Leo and Hacken did not get it. Not sure if they changed the results because of this or it was just a media speculation.]
[kate's comments: i 100% agree w/gillian!! though last year UMG artists did not attend the party afterwards, but that's not as bad as not attending the ceremony period. but i'm not that surprised about the boycott. paco has always had the kinda bad news reported about him that makes him seem like a really greedy/petty guy....]

[source: http://leehacken.com/news/2007/news_20071224.htm]
[translated by: GILLIAN]

Hacken Lee Spends Christmas With Family

[credit: http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=408, translated by Emma Lam]

26 December 2007

Hacken Lee (李克勤) and Kayi Cheung (張嘉兒) were among the guests on Christmas Eve at the blessing ceremony in preparation for the TVB Jade HD Premiere <翡翠高清首映禮> show.

Hacken laughed that he will be using face masks more often now with HD broadcasting because his skin is not as smooth as he would like it to be. He also commented on how well Andy Lau (劉德華) has managed to keep his body looking throughout his concert run, so he will be asking Andy for his diet plan to help with preparations for his own concert next year.

Hacken revealed that he will be having a big meal with his family for Christmas eve and he has prepared two big stockings for his son, but has not bought a gift for his wife. He said that his wife does not care much for material possessions, but he will surprise her once in a while.

Kayi will be representing Hong Kong in the forthcoming Miss Chinese International Pageant in January and she seemed to have lost some weight recently, with her cheeks looking less puffy. She said she has not lost weight intentionally and hopes that she will do well at the pageant.

Hacken at the TVB HD Series For 2008 Launch

[credit: http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=400, translated by Emma Lam]

22 December 2007

TVB's HD Broadcasting Roadshow <高清數碼廣播全面睇> reached East Point City (東港城) today and General Manager Stephen Chan (陳志雲) led the opening ceremony, together with many artistes, who did their part to promote some forthcoming series that will be broadcasted in high definition.

[*left out parts not Hacken-related*]


Other shows in the HD showcase included Hacken Lee (李克勤)'s music special, Jade Solid Gold <勁歌金曲> presented by Patrick Tang (鄧健泓), Living Up<更上一層樓> hosted by Maggie Cheung (張可頤), daily sitcom Best Selling Secrets <同事三分親> starring Esther Kwan (關詠荷), Alvina Kong (江欣燕) and Angela Tong (湯盈盈) and Sharon Chan (陳敏之)'s current affairs show Info Link <事必關己>. The four Miss Hong Kong winners were also on hand to promote the forthcoming beauty pageants.

Hacken was asked about the section in his music special where he will be interviewing "the boss" Stephen and he revealed that this was quite a challenge because if he kept his questions too tame, the audience would lose interest, but if his questions were too prying, he risked losing his job. He revealed that he will be asking about the reports surrounding the allocation of TVB awards. As for whether he would bring up the matter of sexual orientation, Hacken said evasively: "Sometimes you do not have to be too direct, a successful interviewer is able to turn a general conversation into a kind of trap. If you take it easy, you can slip the odd question in without your subject realising."

To show his support for the HD launch, Hacken has spent the equivalent of his fee for half a concert on a new 65 inch HD-ready television and 110 inch projection unit at his home. He laughed that when Liza visited him, she was stunned when she saw it.

Asked if he would terminate Hacken's contract if he did not like the questions at the interview, Stephen laughed that TVB would not do something like this. He said that if Hacken asks the question, he will answer it. With his numerous appearances on television, will Stephen be spending more time on his skincare regime in the future? He said that he already goes for skin-cleansing treatment every seven to ten days, so he will not increase this any more.

Hacken Lee Films TVB First HD Music Special

[credit: http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=395, translated by Emma Lam]

20 December 2007

"TVB Godson" Hacken Lee (李克勤) has received a special invitation from TVB to star in the first ever music special to be filmed using HD technology and filming on the show started yesterday evening. His guests will include Eason Chan (陳奕迅), Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文), Patrick Tang (鄧健泓) and TVB General Manager Stephen Chan (陳志雲).

In the show, Hacken will be turning the tables on Stephen and conducting an interview with him in the style of his chat show Be My Guest <志雲飯局>, which has been renamed "Be Hacken's Guest <志勤飯局> for the purposes of this special show.

Asked if he is worried that this job will lead to rumours that he is only working in exchange for awards at the end of the year, Hacken said that this is not the case and if it was true then he should have won lots of awards years ago when he did even more work for TVB.

Talking about his other guests, Hacken said that it has been his wish to work with Eason for many years because it is so hard to find a true friend in the industry, so they will be testing each other with tongue-twister songs. As for Sammi, Hacken revealed that it has been over ten years since they last collaborated in TVB series A Life Of His Own <浪族闊少爺>.

With Stephen often making his guests cry in his chat show, Hacken was asked if he will make Stephen cry in his interview with him, but he did not respond directly and said that he wanted his show to concentrate on other things to complement the music, so this was ideal. He also laughed that with the HD recording, he will have to make sure that his hair and make-up are perfect.

Eason on the other hand has never liked setting his hair or putting on make-up and said that he does not mind people seeing him in his true form. During filming, he asked Hacken why he has kept his golden head of hair for so long and Hacken explained that he has only started winning awards after he started dying his hair and although he is not normally a superstitious person, he has kept up the tradition of having dyed hair since. He went on to point out that Eason started winning awards after he permed his hair, so Eason laughed that maybe they should try both dying and perming and see if that gives better results. However, he then said that he cannot dye his hair blonde because it will make him look like a little fat chicken as he does not have much hair.

Eason is currently filming <查之女> with Sammi and he said that in the first few days, he was quite nervous about working with her. Asked if he felt that Sammi had changed from before, he said that the only change is that she no longer offers incense to the gods, other than that, she is just the same. He laughed: "She is like a piece of paper, I mean her figure. I am like a chopping board, a weathered one, with lots of dents."