Timmy84 said:

There was, radio then 3 networks and newspapers...they were far more powerful than the media now. People tended to believe whatever was printed, so Frank really had the full blast. LOL...Frank experienced this even before the 3 networks were a big deal, so there.

Where can the people remember Michael Jackson?
Plans for the star's memorial service bring home the fact that L.A. lacks a public gathering spot.
July 7, 2009

Today's public (but not really public) Staples Center memorial service for Michael Jackson, with its vouchers, tickets, wristbands and attempted EBay resales, sums up much of the tackiness and tragedy that accompanies media stardom in the early 21st century. It also says something about Los Angeles and its ambivalence about public space.

The problem is not that tickets are required for the program at Staples and the Nokia Theatre. They're free, after all, and there's no way any chapel, cathedral or arena could accommodate Jackson's grieving admirers without some kind of winnowing and control. But in the space between the two venues at LA Live, which overly enthusiastic backers once claimed would be the Times Square of Los Angeles, the public will be barred. In addition, streets adjacent to the taxpayer-subsidized complex will be closed.

Many of the world's great cities have gathering spots where people come together to share triumph or loss or a sense of community. It might be Grant Park in Chicago, where Barack Obama addressed thousands of people (ticketed and otherwise) on the November night he won the presidential election. It might be Central Park in New York, where grieving fans gathered to remember John Lennon in 1980, or the National Mall in Washington, where millions have come together over the decades for observances and celebrations of all kinds.

In Los Angeles, it seems we have only the street. That's where you go to celebrate the Lakers or to demonstrate for immigration reform. But this time, even the streets will be closed. Concerns about security and safety are understandable. Still, amid an almost lockdown atmosphere, Angelenos who want to be present at a public memorial for a pop icon are being directed to instead stay home, turn on the TV and watch from the couch.

This isn't the first time the city has confronted the public dimension of a semi-private event, and it's hardly the first time anyone was irritated over whether taxpayers should foot the bill. Should we pay to put police outside the Oscars ceremonies, for example, and enjoy the resulting boom for nearby businesses, or should we refuse to subsidize the wealthy entertainment elite? Host a political convention, or leave well enough alone? Pay to police the Lakers victory parade, or tell the team to celebrate somewhere else?

In the past, the people who paid for the streets to be patrolled could still gather along them to be part of the moment. Not this time. The Jackson memorial may signal that Los Angeles' civic space, instead of expanding as once promised, is just withering away.

brooksie said:

Not like Mike, he got coverage on six.

Chinese writers pen Michael Jackson book in 48 hours

Two Chinese writers locked themselves up with coffee and cigarettes, no cellphones and no sleep for 48 hours -- and emerged with a finished Michael Jackson biography. "Moonwalk in Paradise" hit shelves this weekend, fewer than 10 days after the pop star's death. The newspaper China Daily reported:

The 130,000-word book, titled "Moonwalk in Paradise -- the Michael Jackson biography," written by Jiang Xiaoyu and Xing Han, and published by Chinese publishing house Xiandai was available for pre-order sales online on Friday and on bookshelves Saturday. ...

A report in China Youth Daily said the writers never met or interviewed Jackson and simply wrote the story from their "accumulated knowledge about the king of pop."...

[co-author Jiang Xiaoyu said] "I am not only a music critic but also a fan of the King of Pop, so I understand what fans really need.... fans cannot wait for months."

Jiang Zengpei, a Chinese publisher, expressed concern about "instant books" like this one, which have begin making regular appearances in China. "Many instant books have been fabricated with information from other books or the Internet. Publishing, an important part of the culture industry, should be creative work."

Although U.S. publishers may be trying to rush Jackson products to shelves, domestic efforts are hardly instant. The earliest Jackson books will include an updated version of J. Randy Taraborrelli's 1991 biography "Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness," coming out as "Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story: 1958-2009" on Aug. 5 from Hachette, and "Life Commemorative: Michael Jackson" due Aug. 18.

Here in L.A., Jacksonmania continues: Over the weekend, 1.6 million people signed up for a lottery for the memorial to be held at the Staples Center, and the winners queued up this morning -- radios blaring Jackson music, of course -- to pick up their tickets.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

----
Got damn, they're quick.
[Edited 7/7/09 0:24am]

dreamfactory313 said:

One of my colleagues was one of the head honchos at Vibe during this era. In addition to having to be present at this shoot he had to stay at Neverland for 1-2 days for the accompanying interview article. He enjoyed it, although he maintains it was a very surreal alternate world experience.

Timmy84 said:

Based on what are you saying this? MJ's career became apart of very short list of SUPERSTARS. In each era these stars were seriously dealt some blows to their image when a good image mattered far more than now, but almost all of them outlived most of the worst of it unlike MJ. It never fully went away tho for those who came before him.

If MJ pulled off those planned shows, he may have gotten on the road to Sinatraville, ie respectable redemption that comes to aging super stars.

Unlike the others, MJ had more media to blow up in and also to implode in, but the fact is that those artists I mentioned walked thru fire too. Of course, none of them had 2 allegations of child molestation and 1 trial result from their scandals. Yes THAT does make a diff from the others, but that's not a diff we wanna discuss, right?.

brooksie said:

Ah forget it.

I know where this discussion is leading to. I'm posting some videos anyway.

If I'm not mistaken, The Four Tops did this before MJ touched it.

I got hooked on this song after it played on that VH-1 special "Michael's Secret Childhood".

novabrkr said:

Michael's close friend Lou Ferrigno disagrees with you.....

-----


Michael Jackson was killed by the stress of his $400m debts says his friend Lou 'The Incredible Hulk' Ferrigno Exclusive By Martin Fricker 6/07/2009

Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno yesterday claimed that Michael Jackson was killed by the weight of his massive debts.

The actor and bodybuilder had been training his pal Jacko for his gruelling 50-date London tour.

And he said the only reason the singer was going back on stage was to clear his $400million debts.

Ferrigno, 50, revealed: He was under tremendous stress, so much I think it killed him. He was $400million in debt. In the past, he had backed out of doing live shows but this time he was under the gun. The debts put a huge strain on him.

The pair first met through a mutual pal in 1995 and Ferrigno recalled: “Our friend had a bunch of guests over. Michael was there and I was introduced to him.

“The friend had a gym and I walked over to it and Michael kept staring at me. He was acting really shy. Eventually we got talking. Michael needed to get ready for his HIStory world tour, so I told him to train with me.

“He came to my house in Santa Monica and that’s how I became a close friend. He was great, a nice guy, really sweet. He was self-conscious about people staring at him, people touching him, wanting a piece of him.

“But he let his guard down when he was with me. There was no show.”

The pair met several times over the following years and in April Jackson asked Ferrigno to help him prepare for his London comeback concerts.

The actor would visit his rented Bel Air mansion three times a week to put Jacko through his paces.

“He had undergone a five-hour medical in February and had passed with flying colours, but he wanted to be fitter,” said Ferrigno.

“So I would go to his house with an inflatable exercise ball and 3lb dumbbells. He did not like the dumbbells. He said he didn’t want big shoulders and big muscles like me.

“I laughed and said, ‘Michael, there’s no way you will get big shoulders from 3lb dumbbells.’”

Stick-thin Jackson was unlikely to get them through his measly eating habits either.

Ferrigno said: “He ate only one meal a day, always in the evening. He’d wake up and not have anything for the whole day, and when he did eat it was always vegetarian.”

The singer also had a bizarre dress code for their sessions.

“He wore whatever he put on first thing,” said Ferrigno. “So if he put pyjamas on he would wear pyjamas for the rest of the day. But it was always with a suit jacket, that was the Michael Jackson signature.

“Sometimes when we worked out he would take his jacket off and he looked lean and motivated.”

Ferrigno said the 50-year-old’s fitness was improving all the time.

“I was with him until the end of May and he was fine,” he said. “There was no sign of drug use and his flexibility was improving. That was important as he was a little tight in certain areas. He hadn’t danced for so long.”

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Jacko always liked to work out while listening to music – The Beatles and the Mamas & the Papas were particular favourites – and Ferrigno revealed the legendary dancer even taught him the Moonwalk during breaks. “We talked, had conversations about life and different things,” he said. “There was no security, no bodyguards, nobody around. He didn’t want anyone around when he worked out. We took regular breaks and he would show me his dance moves. They were awesome.

“He was doing part of his routine. He was still in great shape dance-wise. He was still as good as 15 years ago.

“Michael taught me the Moonwalk. I’m sworn to secrecy though, I can’t give the secrets away.”

Despite his financial problems, Jacko seemed in good spirits, according to his friend.

“He was very happy,” said Ferrigno. “He used to be lonely when I first saw him but he was very happy because he had his children.

“I made him laugh a lot and he was a real prankster. He was always playing jokes on me.

“He used to call me and pretend he was someone called Omar. He would pretend to be my stalker.

“He would talk on the phone in a disguised voice, real deep, saying things like, ‘I know where you live’ or, ‘I know what you’re doing’.

“I said, ‘Michael, I think this is you’ but he kept denying it.

“One time he came to an action-hero convention I was doing and he was dressed as some kind of monster.

“He had a full monster-style face mask on and nobody knew it was Michael. He came up to the table and was making weird noises. I just figured it was some guy who was into Star Trek, but afterwards I found out it was Michael Jackson.

“He wanted to disguise himself so that he could walk around and not be recognised. He was a child that never grew up.”

Ferrigno, who shot to fame as the rage-filled Incredible Hulk, claimed that he and Jacko had similar, angry childhoods.

“We had similar fathers,” he said. “When we were growing up, we had a lot of pain and anger. He did not have a chance to make friends and became very self-conscious.

“He eventually overcame that. His escape was music, mine was to become a body-building champion.

“That’s why we were so good together, he got to be a kid again.

“That’s also why he created Neverland. It was not just for children to visit, he wanted his own Disneyland.

“He wanted to have fun, but wanted to do it away from the cameras.”

Ferrigno said he last saw Jackson three weeks before his death.

“I saw him at the end of May when I was doing some shows on the East Coast,” he said. “We were meant to get together a few more times before he went to England but then I heard on the news that he had passed on.

“I felt terrible, I was shocked. I thought it was a joke. It felt like a tremendous loss. It almost felt to me like 9/11. It shook the whole world, Michael Jackson just dropping dead.”

Ferrigno will be at the Staples Center in LA tomorrow when the world remembers Jackson. “The memorial is going to be huge,” he said. “Maybe bigger than Princess Di’s.”

Frank was nearly destroyed, he did attempt suicide once and failed. There were times when his fate was spared. Frank also had something Elvis and Michael didn't, he had more urban, real world experience and sense. Unlike many artists, he was very in touch with society and knew not to touch drugs. If the powers that be really want to get you they will. Imagine if Elvis had refused the draft? The scrutiny on michael was bigger in every way, then you throw in the race thing along with it. I have been telling people lately that "I don't think Michael had a very high pain threshold, either physically or mentally". Anyway, I think none of that really matters at the moment, it's time to commemorate him, we will have lots of time to analyze and it's going to get absolutely wacky. Bigger than all the nuttiness and tell alls previous to it combined. Michael, unfortunately, is such and endlessly fascinating person. That goes for the pros and the cons of his personality. Just epic, mysterious, and gothic all at once. I mean, i read they were keeping his brain, to me that sounds like some science fiction, doctor frankenstein shit, bizarre.

Timmy84 said:

Nice dodge Timmy, but you go on clowning me about "Workin' Day and Night".

mozfonky said:

Yeah Frank knew how to handle shit. That's why he was able to carry on the way he did. And yes we'll have time to analyze, that's why I'm just gonna go on with the music.

Timmy84 said:

I have always loved this song in both versions. WHen I was a kid, I of course thought Michael's was more relevant, but as I got older, I realized the extra depth and meaning that Bill Withers squeezed into every syllable. But given MJ's age when he sang this song he tore it the hell up! Great post. Keep on taking the high road!

Peace

brooksie said:

It's all out of love. Besides all I'm doing is just fucking with ya. You can tell I'm not being too serious anyway.

kalelvisj said:

Yeah, I loved Bill's too. MJ's got that youthful charm about it and he did bring it! Thanks.

bboy87 said:

I wish someone would clear this story up :

Jeffrey showed Mike the backslide, Mike took the backslide / changed it / altered it / added to it and called it the Moonwalk - Michael Jackson's Dance Move, his own, end of story..

Any challenges to this story - please post here...

mozfonky said:

Great points. That's just it...MJ, after a certain point, got people fascinated for far more than music/dance/vids, to his detriment. Up until the late 80s, the mainstream press really handled him w/ kid gloves.

On the issue of race, MJ probably did suffer more in the media and w/ some of the public when things started to go wrong than a White star of his era would have...maybe. I can't say the media would have been easier on his White counterparts of the past tho. The morality police had far more power then.

I feel bad that his fame got so be so much he just couldn't handle it, but it wasn't always like that.
[Edited 7/7/09 0:54am]

Timmy84 said:

You can say the same thing for alot of artist....Prince etc...

From Music & Me (1973).

LondonStyle said:

Written by Leon Ware & Jacqueline Hilliard and produced by Ware.

Ottensen said:

@ London...

Always loved this!

brooksie said:

One of the sadder elements of Michael's story is how his manipulation of the tabloid media bit him in the ass. He had so many of the odd stories about him planted in the tabloids during the 80's (hyperbaric chamber, elephant man bones, etc) that when he stopped doing so, they were more than happy to latch (something very similar to the word leach in this context) to what ever stories they could get. It was truly a case of playing with fire and getting burned.

I am not saying this in anyway to support the tabloid media and especially the way they treat artists, especially the ones who are no longer able to defend themselves.