Janet Jackson's HBO gig set for Feb. 16-17

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer

Aloha Stadium officials are reserving two dates — Saturday, Feb. 16, and Sunday, Feb. 17 — for taping the HBO concert special, "Janet Jackson: All for You: Live in Concert From Hawai'i."

While other details, including ticket-sales logistics, have yet to emerge, HBO confirmed the concert is a go. The concert is scheduled to air on HBO on Feb. 17. What's still in question is whether the Feb. 16 date will be "B" roll or the shots used for cut-ins.

Les Keiter, stadium spokesman, said it's his understanding that some of the taping will take place Feb. 16. HBO has said a live concert will be broadcast Feb. 17.

Production officials here are still waiting for contracts to be hammered out, though HBO publicist Diego Aldana in New York confirmed that the presentation, Jackson's second HBO concert, will indeed take place.

Jackson's "Velvet Rope" tour played the stadium in late January 1999; her first HBO concert special, based on that concert but taped at a different locale, aired in October 1998.

Hawai'i-born Gil Duldulao, one of her choreographers, said Thursday that HBO had approached the star to do another special, and she chose Hawai'i because "she had just really loved the audience."

This concert special will be produced by Tony Eaton and directed by David Mallet, who handled the HBO special based on the "Velvet Rope" concert. The local production team was not confirmed, though Tom Moffatt Productions handled the Velvet Rope Tour concert, and HBO officials have worked with the company before.

"We haven't received confirmation yet, but we're hoping to be (involved)," said Barbara Saito of Tom Moffatt Productions.

Jackson will perform past favorites as well as songs from her recent multi-platinum album, "All for You." That album made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, and has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. On it are the title track, the highest debuting single in Billboard's Soundscan history (it was No. 1 for seven weeks), "Someone to Call My Lover," as well as "Son of a Gun."

Hawai'i Film Commissioner Donne Dawson said she had been contacted last month about the possibility of HBO filming here, but had not heard anything recently.

"If they do any B roll, visiting local attractions like Britney Spears did (for her concert special in April 2000), they have to go through this office for permitting," she pointed out. "If it's just filmed at the stadium, they don't."