B NOVEMBER 13-16, 2010 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL Fil-Am Jazz Fest to feature living legend
LOS ANGELES—It
has been a lifetime in
the making. But one of
the living legends of Pinoy Jazz will make her
Hollywood debut during the 6th Annual FilAm Jazz Fest presented
by ABS-CBN at the
world famous Catalina
Bar & Grill Jazz Club on
6725 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood CA 90028. Ms.
Annie Brazil is set to
headline on December
3 (Friday), 8-10pm.
For more than four
decades, Ms. Brazil,
the mother of Filipino
celebrities Richard
Merk and Rachel Anne
Wolfe, has performed
with the biggest names
in jazz throughout all
of Asia. Known for her
Annie Brazil
expert way with a lyric,
Annie Brazil is often called “the Billie Holiday of Filipino jazz.” She
sings the classic tunes—Lullaby of Birdland, All of Me, The Nearness
of You—with an unerring sense of swing and musical authenticity
that listeners describe as “mesmerizing.”
In addition to a lengthy C.V. of awards and honors, Ms. Brazil
earned the coveted JazzPhil-USA Lifetime Achievement Award in
2009.
On December 3 at Catalina’s, Annie Brazil will headline a concert
featuring Bo Razon, Johnny Alegre, Abe Lagrimas, and introducing
Carlo David and 2010 Talent Search winner VJ Rosales.
Jazzipino queen Charmaine Clamor headlines on December 4
(Saturday). “Ms. Annie Brazil is one of my heroes, one of the pioneers of Pinoy jazz,” Clamor remarked. “I’m so excited to hear her
sing in Hollywood—finally!”
Tickets for the 6th Annual Fil-Am Jazz Fest presented by ABSCBN are now on sale through the JazzPhil-USA Website, www.
JazzPhilUSA.org. Tickets are at $30 + two-item minimum each
night; $50 for two-night package. Call (323) 521-3588. Historically,
this special event on the Pinoy Music calendar sells out every year.
With Ms. Annie Brazil on the bill, it’s a certainty.
LAWKEND SEC-B NOVEMBER 13.indd 2
Entertainment
http://www.asianjournal.com • (213) 250-9797
Charice, Cody Simpson, El DeBarge and Rockettes
at the Citadel 9th Annual Tree Lighting Event on Nov. 20
Protected behind towering Assyrian styled castle
walls two diminutive teens, a
comeback king and a precision
dance team will help the Citadel
Outlets celebrate their Ninth
Annual Christmas Tree Lighting event. Rising from behind
the stage, the Citadel’s 90 ft.
Christmas tree, adorned with
thousands of glowing lights, will
provide a dramatic backdrop for
this diverse group of incredibly
gifted performers to let their
talents shine.
Charice, a youthful veteran of
song, has been at home on stage
since she first started singing
in local competitions at the age
of seven in her native Philippines. After a 3rd place finish
on the Philippines version of a
Junior American Idol, Charice’s
videos began to be uploaded to
YouTube by a supportive fan.
Charice’s videos have now been
viewed over 150 million times.
Charice first appeared in the US
on the Ellen DeGeneres show
when she was only 15 years old.
Ellen rightly commented to her
audience that, “You are going to
be blown away.” Charice was
then invited to perform on the
Oprah Winfrey Show and she
has now performed on Oprah’s
show five times. Charice was invited to perform with her idols,
Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli
where after each performance
she received a standing ovation.
Charice released her self-titled
international album, Charice, on
May 11, 2010. Charice’s album
was the first by any Asian solo
artist to break into the top ten of
the Billboard 200 album chart,
debuting at number eight. The
dance version of Charice’s hit
single Pyramid climbed to the
top of the Billboard Dance/Club
charts. Charice just returned
from a sold-out Asian concert tour with David Foster &
Friends, sharing the stage with
music icons Natalie Cole, Peter
Cetera, the Canadian Tenors
and Ruben Studdard. Charice
also recently performed a duet
with Ne-Yo, in Las Vegas, that
no-doubt had the audience in
agreement with Oprah’s characterization of Charice as, “The
most talented girl in the world.”
The 15 time Grammy Award
winner David Foster commented after their performance that
Charice possesses a talent that
is in the same category as musical legends such as Celine Dion,
Whitney Houston and Barbara
Streisand, all of whom Mr. Foster has worked with. Charice
is currently dividing her time
between the recording studio,
where she is working on her
next single and album, and the
television studio, where Charice
is taping scenes for her recurring role as Sunshine Corazon,
a Filipino foreign exchange
student on the hit TV show Glee.
Ryan Murphy, the creator/producer of Glee, commented after
Charice’s audition, “When she
opens her mouth angels fly out.”
Perhaps one of those angels will find its way to the top of Citadel’s
Christmas Tree? I hope they hang on tight because Charice’s
voice has the power of a hurricane.
Cody Simpson is a thirteen-year-old Australian pop/R&B singersongwriter and musician. Cody expressed an interest in music
at an early age. When Cody first asked his dad for a guitar he
was only seven years young. By the time Cody turned eleven, he
was playing his acoustic guitar and singing popular cover songs
that would be uploaded to YouTube. Cody’s talents did not go
unrecognized as Shawn Campbell, a Grammy-nominated record
producer, who has produced for Jay-Z, Missy Elliott and Ciara,)
saw Cody’s potential to be a recording star. Shortly thereafter
Cody earned a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Cody’s
rise to fame was featured in December 2009, on The 7.30 Report,
an Australian nightly television current affairs program. Cody
released his debut single, iYiYi, which features American rapper
Flo Rida, in May of 2010. The music video for iYiYi was released
on June 30th and has over 8.5 million views. The music video
for Simpson’s second single, Summertime, was just released in
September, but its preview video, combined with the official release, has already received over 2 million views. Cody’s YouTube
Channel has over 100,000 subscribers and his combined videos
have received over twenty three million views. You could say
that Cody is riding a wave of success; he definitely knows how to
paddle as Cody is also an excellent swimmer, winning two gold
medals at the Queensland Swimming Championships.
El DeBarge, like Charice and Cody, knows what it’s like to be
labeled a child prodigy. El earned his first recording contract
when he was eighteen. When Barry Gordy Jr., the Motown Record label founder, heard El’s soulful falsetto voice he compared
El to Michael Jackson. Singing with his siblings, as the group
DeBarge, the group released four albums in five years. Two of the
albums were certified as Gold records and their final album was
certified as Platinum on the strength of its title track, Rhythm of
the Night. El released his first of four solo albums in 1986 and he
went on to work with music industry moguls such as Quincy Jones,
Maurice White, Baby Face, & Prince. El recently opened for the
Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul, Mary J. Blige and he is now headlining
in his own concert tour. El’s new single, Second Chance, is currently number 57 on the Billboard R&B /Hip-Hop chart. His new
double-disc album is scheduled for release by Geffen Records on
November 30th and features artists such as Faith Evens, Fabolous
and 50 cent.
The Rockettes is a precision dance group founded by Russell
Markert in 1925 and known originally as the “Missouri Rockets.”
The dancers were seen by Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel when they performed in a Broadway production of Rain or Shine. Mr. Rothafel
invited them to perform in his Roxy Theatre as the “Roxyettes”
and in 1932 they traveled to Manhattan where they performed
at the opening night of the Radio City Music Hall. The dance
troupe shortened their name to the Rockettes in 1934 and they
are also now known as the Radio City Rockettes. The Rockettes
are the stars of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. During
the Christmas season the Rockettes have performed five shows
a day, seven days a week for 77 years. Their show is seen by
more than 2 million people annually and they have performed in
more than 60 cities across North America. The Rockettes have
appeared on the Tony Awards, Dancing with the Stars, the Super
Bowl Halftime Show and Presidential Inaugurations. Each year
they also perform at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the
America’s Thanksgiving Parade and the NBC Rockefeller Center
Tree-Lighting Ceremony where Charice will also be performing.
The Rockettes will be performing at the Honda Center in Anaheim
December 6-7 and will then move on to the Nokia Theatre at LA
Live, December 9-12.
Citadel Outlets is Los Angeles’ first factory outlet center, opened
in 1990 and has expanded to include over 100 outlet stores, a
food court, five office buildings, and a 201-room Wyndham Hotel. Conveniently located off Interstate 5 at Atlantic Blvd North,
just minutes East of Downtown Los Angeles and just 20 minutes
north of Anaheim, it’s one of southern California’s most accessible
outlet shopping centers. The street address is 100 Citadel Drive,
Los Angeles, CA 90040. Store hours are from 10am until 8pm.
Contact Citadel Outlets at (323) 888-1724 or visit their website,
http://www.citadeloutlets.com/ for additional information.
Sponsors for this free event include: Citadel Outlets, Fox 11,
Radio Disney AM 1110 and Hot 92.3 Old School and R&B.
Please visit www.charicemania.com for details of an upcoming
opportunity for a limited number of children to receive a free gift.
Also, please visit the Citadel’s website at www.citadeloutlets.com
for updates concerning this free event. The Citadel Outlets, Good
Neighbor Pharmacy and the Toys for Tots organization will be collecting toys to give to children in need. Bring in a new unwrapped
toy valued at $10 or more to Citadel Outlets Customer Service Desk
between November 1st to December 15th and you will receive a
$25 gift certificate to Good Neighbor Pharmacy (while supplies
last, limited to one gift certificate per person).
11/12/10 6:05:59 PM