B O O E Y L E H O O to You!

What a night!  Yesterday, we capped off an exciting week of Booey Lehoo Arts Week with a concert featuring the following headliners…

Normally, I’d try to spend a little more time to write about the subject, but I believe these images from Booey Lehoo truly capture the spirit and energy of the entire initiative.  Throughout the week, we were busy with the Booey Lehoo Arts, which included taking our APSA (Americans Promoting Study Abroad) ambassadors from the Boston Unified School District to The Great Wall…

The next day, the boys were given the rare opportunity to meet kung fu movie star Jackie Chan on the set of his new film…

…I hadn’t caught up with Jackie for quite some time so it was great to hear him explain how much he enjoys having his organization, The Jackie Chan Charity Foundation, be a partner in Booey Lehoo.

Jackie is known as one of the hardest working actors in show biz so it’s fitting he’s got his own Hollywood standard trailer to chill out when he’s not literally kickin butt…

The Booey Lehoo Arts Week included various showcases from the East and West in dance, literature, classical music, and theater.  One of my personal favorites was the Chicago Jazz event at CD Blues where we had the pleasure of enjoying the smooth Jazzy grooves and Blues of our Chicago jazz musicians flown in directly for the event…

Of course, all of these fun and meaningful events was a precursor to the main event, the Booey Lehoo Concert held at the Beijing Indoor National Stadium last night!

While all of the artists were preparing to take to the stage in the evening, I spent the afternoon getting the shots required for the television feature…

And before you can say 有朋自远方来不亦乐乎 (You Peng Zi Yuan Fang Lai BOOEY LEHOO ~ Roughly Translated: We’re stoked when friends drop in from afar!), it was time to get the show started with Sa Ding Ding after a stellar opening act from Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas!!!

Next up, we had nine time Grammy award winner John Legend on the stage to perform…

…and for his last song, he sang The Beatles “Imagine” with Shunzi and Coco Lee…

Later, we had Coco Lee and Shunzi lighting up the stage with their beautiful voices…

…and you know the fans were never tired of hearing Shunzi belt out 回家 Hui Jia.

With our final two headliners from The Black Eyed Peas ready to take the stage, it was time to get everything ready, and it took a lot longer than any of us imagined so I literally took my time to explain what Booey Lehoo is all about along with how APSA is working with President Obama’s 100,000 Strong Initiative to bring one hundred students in four years from the US and China to study aboard.

Once the patient audience was sufficiently well-versed in the concept of Booey Lehoo, it was time to bring Will.i.am and Apl.de.ap from The Black Eyed Peas on stage along with Coco Lee!

And they seriously killed it with a spectacular performance with hit after hit including Where is the Love and I Gotta a Feeling!

So there you have it…the first Booey Lehoo Arts Week and Concert is now a part of history, and we hope this is the beginning of something special.  If you happen to be a part of it, then please spread the good word and let’s see if we can continue to work together to make it happen again one day in the near future!

Big thanks to Mike and Ted from APSA, Colin Dwyer, Chad, Paul, Jessie, Alison, Chris, Sandra, Yvonne, and everyone from incredible team for putting this all together.  Also, thanks to Ella for dealing with me and taking all these great pics so I can share them with all of you!

Of course, one last big shout out to Motorola for all their support in making Booey Lehoo a reality for us all.  Without your generous support, this definitely wouldn’t have been possible!  Oh…and the new RAZR XT910 seriously rocks!

And on that note, it’s time to pack up my bags and return home to Shanghai to enjoy the holidays.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!