Welcome all LEON fans to our premier of L-news! This very first issue is quite special and meaningful.....for 2 reasons, first it is our very first issue and second, it is dedicated to the "one and only" LEON LAI MING, on his very special 31st Birthday!!!! We here, would like to Wish LEON a "VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" BEST WISHES TO HIM ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!.............LEON FOREVER..... so grab a drink and snack and get ready to read... Here it comes.

*News Flash*

-Leon went to Taiwan to attend a function arranged by Channel V recently, which gave several fans a chance to have lunch with Leon. Leon arrived in Taiwan in the morning and left right after the lunch because he had to catch a flight to Australia to film two commercials. Even though he was in a rush he still had time to eat lunch and spend time with fans and give them posters of his upcoming concert.

-Esquire Magazine recently had an award ceremony for "Most Memorable Person" and Leon got the award for "Most Memorable Mannerisms". Other winners were Michele Reis for eyes, Andy Lau for smile.

-Leon also received an award for "Top Ten Most Charitable Stars" but after the show rumors of dispute between Leon and Andy fans surfaced. It was reported that Andy's fans yelled at Leon at the show and vice versa. Luckily it was cleared up by a reporter saying that several people pretended to be both Leon and Andy's fans just to cause trouble for both parties.

-Also at the same show, when Leon and Sammi where on stage together they both felt awkward because of the recent rumors involving them. The reporters made a big deal out of the situation and caused both of them to keep distance from each other.

Leon's results for CR903 music chart for the past year

According to the CR903 charts from the past year Jacky is in first place, Leon second and Leo Kuo third place in terms of song placement.

-News of Leon's renewal contract continues to surface, but Leon insisted that he will only discuss contract issues with the company after the concert is finished with.

-Leon attended a charity event for Unicef in the morning which was held at a Mall and because of the large amount of fans that attended Leon was forced to leave early. The same day Leon also attended a charity show held by TVB called "Fun Lok Mun Dong Wah". The part in which he performed in, raise a little more than 2 million dollars. Even thoughLeon has been busy with rehearsals and recording his recent mandarin album he said "taking time off to do charity is worth it."

The following article was taken from Next Magazine issue #401

Leon's contract renewal has been delayed several times already. The problems Leon faces if he doesn't renew with Polygram are:
1. Polygram freezing him
2. Lack of promotions
3. Not letting Mark Lui be his producer

Originally Mark Lui was suppose to be the executive music director of Leon's concert but it has now changed to Terry Chan. When Mark was approached with situation Mark explained that he doesn't have time because he's helping Leon produce his year end CD. But Leon has arranged Mark to be his special guest at the concert. On the matter of Mark being replaced as Leon's producer by Joseph Ip on Leon's EP he only said that the company arranged it. Also he said that even if Leon signs on with another company he will still help Leon produce his albums. Its not the matter of money, but the friendship I have with Leon. Unless Leon says he doesn't want me to produce his album then I won't. Leon has experienced being frozen by the company before when he renewed his contract with Polygram in 1994. Polygram didn't release Leon's album in 94' until he renewed the contract with them. So his album ended up being delayed for two months with a lack of promotion. As for his year-end concert [Lai Ming's Live Version] Polygram decided not to release it on LD or video at all. It was even stated on the concert posters that it will not be released. Leon only commented on the situation saying that it doesn't matter who made the decision it has been made and that is that.

*Theatre - L*

When Leon first arrived in Japan for the "14th annual Tokyo Film Festival" he was directly rushed from the airport to the press conference for "Comrades, almost lovers". Even though he was late 45min to the press conference the reporters patiently waited for him to arrive. During the five days stay in Japan Leon's schedule was filled with interviews from various media in Japan and press conferences for his movies. Leon only regretted that he didn't get a chance to go sight seeing this time around.

Leon was also in Japan for the promotion of '18 Springs' with director Ann Hui. Because the theatre did not have assigned seats for audiences, Leon's fans waited a day and a half ahead of time to get a good seat. There were about 100 fans on the day of the premiere. Leon was only able to stay for 20mins, and only spoke a few phrases of English towards fans.

In Taipei, "comrades, almost lovers" got 6 nominations:
-best story
-best actress
-best supporting actor
-best camera work
-best design
-best original plot line
There was an additional nomination of "best song" for '18 Springs' Sadly, neither Leon or Chan Ho Sun was nominated for best actor or director. The results of these movie awards will be held in Taipei on December 13th, 1997.

*Commercials, Commercials, Commercials*

All 3 of Leon's cellular phone commercials shown in HK was to the same song '100 possibilities', except different segments of the song were used in each clip.

Commercial #1
Leon was riding in a really cool silver car, the model in the commercial is a female from Malaysia.

Commercial #2
Leon is in a shopping mall, going in and out of the elevators. The model is a local HK girl, dressed in a low cut dress, that caught Leon's attention.

Commercial #3
Leon is in a forest surrounding, there is many buildings within the forest, it is similar to the busiest place like Central HK, the model used is one from China.

Television/DVD Commercial
Leon was in Australia filming a TV/DVD commercial that China and Japan co-operated in. Leon says the filming of this commercial had a lot of danger.
At first the director said that Leon only had to dive 7 meters into the Sea, but then when it came to filming, it was changed to diving 30 meters into the sea, also Leon lost his contact lenses before the dive. So by the time Leon was finished, he didn't realize that he was that deep into the sea, and was frightened, but luckily there was life guard that told him it was okay, just slowly swim back to the top. After the water part was filmed, then came the airplane incident. Leon had to fly one of those olden airplanes and turn a 360-degree angle in the air. At the time, he felt lots of pressure, but luckily he got over it and managed to finish the commercial. When all the filming was done, Leon was at the beach relaxing, enjoying the sun.

Cracker Commercial
Leon was in Australia to film a commercial for a Korean brand of Crackers. The commercial is very similar to scenes from "Comrades" except for the fact that Leon's look is more modern unlike his character from the movie. Leon's also joked about it and said it is like a "Modern version of Comrades"

*Leon on Stage* [Lai Ming's Live Version] from Dec. 20th to Jan. 8th

Every time singers in HK have concerts, they would be promoting themselves, all the time. And telling the public what will be so special about their concerts. But Leon, when asked, only replies "buy the ticket, come and watch the concert, then tell me, if it was worth it " Leon says, he does not believe in those actions of constantly promoting himself before the concert, he prefers to keep the concert details a secret.
"As long as the audiences that come to watch the concert have confidence in me, and are willing to purchase the tickets, then they will know whether or not I have spent a lot of work in preparing, organizing and if my singing abilities have improved." Says Leon. He is very sincere in making this concert the best concert to allow the audiences and the reporters to enjoy, enjoy and enjoy! "All through the time, I was in the entertainment business, the audiences and reporters have been by me, and watched me "grow up", so this is the least I can do to repay them for all their support " Leon replies. Before he did not like to get criticisms about his singing, and movies, etc...but now, Leon is willing to listen to all criticisms, good or bad. Leon said " it is the first step towards improvement!"

News of Leon's concert going over budget surfaced and the sponsor came out and told the reporters that this years Leon's concert is going to be great because of all the special effects. Even though it did go over budget but the sponsor said that he is happy to pay because their will be a difference with the outcome. Also because the concert went over budget a second time Leon felt bad about it and decided to pay out of his own pocket the sum of 3 million HK dollars. Leon also said that we could cut back from the extra 3 million but it would mean a difference in the lighting effects. He doesn't want the audience to feel cheated after watching his concert so that's why he's paying the 3 million dollars out of his own pocket.

More than 80% of [Lai Ming's Live Version Concert] is already sold at this point. To those fan's who are attending Leon's concert we hope you all have a wonderful time at the concert!!

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