August 7, 2009 

Shi Lei’s First Solo Music Concert

Today, Xiao Shi-Tou (Shi Lei) held his first solo music concert at the Temple of Ancient Monarchs. The Temple of Ancient Monarchs is a very sacred place. It was first built in the ninth year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign during the Ming Dynasty (1530), and it was a place where emperors from two consecutive Dynasties, the Ming and the Qing Dynasty, went to worship their ancestors. The political status and importance of this temple was on the same level as the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Confucius Temple. During the 380 years from the eleventh year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign in the Ming Dynasty till the end of the Qing Dynasty, a total of 662 ancestral memorial rituals were held at the Temple of Ancient Monarchs. This is the only temple still standing today where sacrificial rituals were done for the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns in ancient China. It was an imperial temple for emperors, court officials and military generals of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it is also a form of historical evidence that the progress and development of our country has always had a common direction with uniting all the different ethnic cultures.

 Xiao Shi-Tou is a newcomer to the music scene. He can play his own music, sing his own songs, be his own director, and create his own things. I really wish I could let all of you hear his style of singing because honestly, it’s really good. Also, he can speak Mandarin, Cantonese and English, and his pronunciation is very accurate. I can only use two words to describe him - absolutely amazing. Will Smith’s wife also came to watch him perform. She actually heard Xiao Shi-Tou sing at her son’s birthday party not long ago and at the time she said to me that whenever Xiao Shi-Tou was going to perform again, she wanted to go and watch him sing because she thought that Xiao Shi-Tou’s voice was just too unique. After listening to his concert, I went out and had coffee with some friends and we ended up just talked about Xiao Shi-Tou for the entire evening. I truly hope that in the not too distant future, he will become a very well known singer.

Jada Pinkett-Smith (l) watches the performance.

Script Discussions with the Art Director

Because the film I’m making is an American production, I spend each day either shooting for the film or rehearsing for the film. Basically, all of my time is dedicated to this production. Whenever I have spare time in the evenings, I would arrange to have meetings with my production team and art director to discuss my next movie (we’re old working partners - he was the art director for Police Story 1, 2 and 3). I’m going to be the director of my next film, and everything is quietly in the process of being prepared.

Text and photos copyright 2009 The JC Group

All Rights Reserved

2009年8月7日) 石磊首场个人音乐会

 今天是小石头的首场个人音乐会，在帝王庙举行。帝王庙是一个非常神圣的地方，始建于明代嘉靖九年（1530年），是明清两代皇帝祭祀先祖的地方，其政治地位与太庙和孔庙相齐，合称为明清北京三大皇家庙宇。从明嘉靖十一年至清末的380年间，在历代帝王庙共举行过662次祭祀大典。这里是我国现存唯一的祭祀中华三皇五帝、历代帝王和文臣武将的明、清皇家庙宇，是我国统一多民族国家发展进程一脉相承、连绵不断的历史见证。

小石头呢是一个新人，他可以自弹、自唱、自导、自作，他的那种唱歌的方法，我真想让你们每个人都听到，实在太好了而且他的国语、粤语、英文讲的都是那么标准，我只能用厉害两个字来形容他。威尔史密斯的太太也来了，其实她只是在前不久她儿子的生日会上听到了小石头的演唱，当时她就跟我说，今后小石头有任何的演唱她都要去，因为小石头的声音太独特了。听完他的演唱会，我和朋友去喝咖啡，整个晚上我们谈论的都是他，我希望不久的将来他能够成为一名大歌星。

与美指讨论剧本(09年8月7日) –

因为是拍美国戏，所以每天就是拍戏、彩排，基本上所有的时间都给了剧组了，晚上一有空闲的时候我就会约我的制片开会，美术指导开会（老拍档了，警察故事一、二、三集的美术指导都是他），为了我的下一部戏，因为是我自己做导演，所以一切都在经络密鼓的进行中。