EmeraldSkies said:

I went yesterday at Wal-Mart didn't see it, came back today and boo, there it was. I haven't seen the People ma or any of the others.

Actually, as much a circus as it has been and as much as they have run it in the ground, I have been enjoying it and dread to see it end. For the first time in a long time, it has been so wonderful to go to the TV Guide Channel to look at the chart of upcoming TV shows and not have to sit and listen to some idiots on the top portion of the screen discussing a bullshit show like "American Idol" 24 hours a day. I mean, if I had the bad taste to like a show like that, I would watch it when it aired, I don't want to be forced to hear it when I'm looking for TV listings. And not just the TV Guide Channel, but "The Today Show", "Larry King Live", "Entertainment Tonight", and various other shows that have worn "American Idol" in the ground. Instead of discussing that bullshit, they have been discussing Michael Jackson. I've heard very little about "American Idol" on TV since this circus so that's one positive thing about it.

Another positive thing, is it has been great to be able to flip through the channels and see Michael Jackson music videos playing as I pass by BET, MTV, and VH1 rather than a bunch of ghetto ass assholes living together in a house and competing for some bullshit prize. As much as Michael Jackson music videos have been worn out throughout the years, it was nice to see these music video channels once again become music video channels again rather than reality show channels, at least for a few days.

The next positive thing is, the way the Michael Jackson CDs have been flying off the shelves since his death. In an already declining business of record sales, they did pick up a little bit, but not with shit hop sales, but with Michael Jackson sales. And for each Michael Jackson sale, that's one less shit hop sale. And not only does that prevent a sale that might have gone to a shit hop artist, but it also exposes a consumer who might have bought some shit hop, to some real music.

Lord knows Michael Jackson has been the most overplayed artist in the history of music, but it's a lot better seeing all that overplayed stuff than flipping through the channels and seeing "American Idol", reality shows, and shit hop everywhere. It's going to be boring as hell when this is all over and media goes back to business as usual.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/s...l-guy.html

A manly handshake, burning toast, filling up my car with petrol, reading Dickens... my pal Jackson was just a normal guy


By CAROLINE IGGULDEN

Published: Today
rigTeaserImage
TO the world, Michael Jackson was an enigma. While his music dazzled and amazed, his behaviour often baffled and shocked.

But to TV star and music producer David Gest, one of the people who knew the King Of Pop best, Jackson was a loyal friend who made him laugh and gave him memories to treasure.

In the second part of his exclusive interview with The Sun, David reflected on his 40-year friendship with Jackson, who died last Thursday aged 50.

Snaps ... David with Jackson, click image to see them in full

Snaps ... David with Jackson, click image to see them in full

Enlarge

David, 56, said: “There is nobody who knew Michael like I did. He was so gifted, it’s hard for me to picture him gone. There is a whole side to him people never saw.

“For instance, people always think of him as talking in that high, soft voice, but he didn’t really speak like that — it was a facade.

“Still to this day I am not sure why he did it. The Michael I knew talked like a real man, acted like a real man and shook a hand like a real man.”

David, who has made millions as a concert promoter and TV personality, was 16 when the Jacksons family moved into a mansion only a short drive from his own family home in Encino, California.

He first got to know Michael Jackson when he called at the house to take the Thriller star’s sister, La Toya, on a date.

David said: “It was just puppy love, nothing serious. La Toya had the flu so Michael — who was nearly 12 at the time — asked me to drive him to a memorabilia sale. I had no clue what memorabilia even was at that time.”

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The outing proved to be the start of a life-long friendship — and a shared love of shopping, collecting and eating in fast food restaurants.
And despite the huge personal wealth Jackson enjoyed at the height of his career, David revealed that the superstar always loved a bargain.

He said: “He loved haggling over the price in stores. If something was $4,000 (£2,400), he would cheekily start them at $200 (£120). He was an arch negotiator. People thought he was absolutely nuts but he actually got away with it sometimes.”

David told how Jackson was always incredibly generous with his friends.

He said: “One time when we went to Disneyland he bought me more than 200,000 dollars-worth of rare memorabilia, spent about the same on himself and had three limousines come and collect it all.”

David added that he and Jackson were inseparable as young men.

He said: “We were best friends — always staying over at each other’s houses, living in sleeping bags or going on trips together.

“We both loved music and would often play a game where we tested each other on which artists had sung which songs. If I won I got to keep one of Michael’s stage costumes. If he won he got some of my film posters or a rare piece of Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix memorabilia.”

Fan ... MJ loved Eminem

Fan ... MJ loved Eminem

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David, who called Jackson ‘M’, told how the star always kept up to date with music and revealed his favourite contemporary artists were Beyonce, Eminem and Dr Dre, the Black Eyed Peas and Kelly Rowland — whom he had a crush on.

He added: “His all-time favourite vocalist was Whitney Houston. Michael always said she could sing the Yellow Pages and it would sound great.”

Fans of the singer will no doubt be fascinated to learn that Man In The Mirror and Heal The World were Jackson’s favourite songs from his own body of work.

David added: “She’s Out Of My Life and One Day In Your Life were his favourite of the ballads.”

In the late Seventies, David and his pal embarked on another shared hobby — plastic surgery.

David, who found fame in the UK on the 2006 series of TV’s I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, said: “Michael and I had always felt insecure about the way we looked.

“Michael became obsessed with the idea of having plastic surgery. He would say to me, ‘Don’t you want to look better?’

"So I went for it in grand style — even though I have a huge ego I have always felt I was never good-looking — so I got a nose job, cheek bone implants, a second nose job, even bigger cheek implants, and the removal of those cheek implants when I ended up looking like a chipmunk!

“After each operation Michael would always come over to my apartment in Beverly Hills and look after me.

Burned toast ... Jackson was like the rest of us

Burned toast ... Jackson was like the rest of us

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“He would play me music, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and burn the toast unmercifully.”

By the early Eighties David began to regret his own surgery, but Jackson showed no signs of slowing down.

David said: “I begged him not to have any more, I said, ‘Your nose is perfect’, but the plastic surgeon we were using kept encouraging him to have more procedures.

"I believe he was just trying to keep the relationship going with Michael, but he wasn’t being honest with him.
“Even his family tried to say enough is enough. This guy made a fortune on my nose, Michael’s nose, Janet’s nose and La Toya’s nose. Tito and Jackie were smart, they left their noses alone.”

David explained that the key to his enduring friendship with Jackson was he always treated him like a “normal” person.

He said: “When we would take a trip together, I would always make Michael get out of the car and fill up with gas. He would say, ‘Who is the star here?’ and I would say, ‘When you are with me, I am!’

“We would always go to McDonald’s, Michael loved their French fries, or KFC. He loved that chicken, although he would take the skin off because he thought that made it organic — that would crack me up.

“I remember we once went to Disneyland. He was in disguise and we watched Captain EO, a Disney 3D movie which he starred in.

“When we came out I said, ‘You were brilliant’ and he went, ‘Oh thanks, have you only just realised?’. Then when we got home I made him Moonwalk in my kitchen — then I tried it and fell flat on my face!”

David also revealed that Jackson was a voracious reader with a passion for classic literature.

What the Dickens? ... 'M' loved to read

What the Dickens? ... 'M' loved to read

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He said: “What a lot of people don’t know about Michael is that he was always reading. He was an intelligent man. His favourite poet was Robert Burns and he was obsessed with the novels of Charles Dickens.

“He would scour antique bookstores looking for first editions of his work.

“He loved Shakespeare and got me into the plays too. He was also fascinated by English history, especially Henry VIII, and loved collecting costumes from that period.”

David told how Jackson passed this love of books on to his own children Prince Michael Jnr, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II.

He said: “He home-schooled the children and always had them reading the right books. He was a great father, but he was strict. He believed in manners and showing respect to adults and behaving properly. Michael loved being a dad, he should have done it years before he did.”

David also refuted claims by Jackson’s former nanny, Grace Rwaramba, that the children were nervous around him, and he said: “They loved Michael with all their hearts.”

And he told how he believes Jackson’s mother Katherine — who was yesterday awarded temporary custody of his children — should raise them in Jackson’s absence.

He said: “Katherine is a natural. She has raised so many children — she was even like a mother to me.

“Michael loved his mother more than anyone and would want Katherine to raise the kids. I hope Michael’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe will not challenge this, for the kids’ sake.”

It has been well documented that Jackson’s relationship with his father Joe was less harmonious.

David witnessed this first-hand when he spent time in the Jackson family home as a teenager.

He said: “Michael was scared of Joe. Michael and I would take trips just to get away from him. Joe was always demanding but he wasn’t a bad man — he perhaps went about things the wrong way but what he truly wanted was more for his kids than he had.

“Joe eventually mellowed and Michael didn’t resent him like people think he did. Later in life, they got to know each other and made peace.”
The family, and David, stood firmly by Jackson when the star faced a third set of child molestation allegations in 2005 brought by 15-year-old Gavin Arvizo. After a four-month trial, the singer was found not guilty.

David said: “When he went through that trial, my heart bled for him, because he was innocent.

“Michael loved spending time with kids because they didn’t expect anything from him. Accusations always came from the parents. Michael loved being around children because of the childhood he missed out on.”

David also believes Jackson never recovered from the emotional and financial strain of the court case.

He said: “Michael was never the same afterwards. It was a terrible thing to be accused of, especially when there was a district attorney hell-bent on proving he was guilty.

“There were friends of his — I am not naming names — who turned their back on him at that time. I just thought. ‘What a bunch of p***ks’.”

Exclusive chat ... our Caroline with David Gest

Exclusive chat ... our Caroline with David Gest

Enlarge

But while David stuck by Jackson in the bad times, he insists they shared mostly good times together.

He said: “The Michael Jackson I will remember was smart, articulate and made me laugh. His death was a huge shock but it brought back so many happy memories. I will remember the time we went into a pancake house late at night after watching The Four Tops perform on Sunset Strip.

“The waitress was in her seventies and had no clue who Michael was.

“I started talking in a dumb fake foreign accent and Michael started laughing — she slapped him across the face and told him not to be rude to foreigners! No one had ever done that to him.”

Michael famously acted as best man when David wed his now ex-wife, the singer Liza Minnelli.

David joked: “Michael, Liza, Elizabeth Taylor and I looked like the friggin’ Adams Family in those wedding pictures. They are really scary to look at, but Michael made a very touching speech.”

All around David’s London flat is the evidence of his lifelong love of collecting. And Jackson memorabilia, much of it signed, features prominently in his collection, which is worth around £10million.

One signed photograph carries the poignant hand-written message: ‘To David Gest. Remember, unbounded immortality is yours, just create it. Michael Jackson, 1998.’

David said: “There will never be another Michael Jackson — he was a musical innovator, a great dancer and you know what else? He was one hell of a friend."

c.iggulden@the-sun.co.uk

Dr. Conrad Murray You are busted!

Don't forget, there was a nurse who said Michael had trouble sleeping and needed Medicine to get sleep, cause he would wake up in middle of night. Michael asked for the medicine mentioned in the TMZ article, but she said No to him before.

TMZ report

http://www.tmz.com/2009/0...1#comments


[Edited 6/30/09 21:06pm]

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

Neverland is 35 minutes from my house, I live in Santa Barbara, California. Just may go by there??

This is imperfect and long, but there is is something I like about Dwele's Human Nature tribute. http://www.youtube.com/wa...N1L3YwbLK0

PaisleyPark5083 said:

You're gonna have too, when you step outside, people will be outside, just jump in the crowd, I know I would if I had the opportunity.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I will probably go with my nieces, they are huge Michael Jackson fans.

Copycat said:

Holy Moly! when was this put out? I haven't even found the Times Mag yet.

mcw00 said:

[Edited 6/30/09 21:21pm]

so cute you can hear his voice start to change

Hey guys, just wanted to share these video clips... if you're wondering how Stevie is feeling over the loss of his younger motown brother, Michael



and

mcw00 said:

Its fabulous.

is joe short or is don just huge?

awww that David Guest article was a nice read.
[Edited 6/30/09 21:39pm]

None of this funeral or public viewing business has been confirmed by the family though, has it? There are so many fans going out there and I dont think its even sure that its going ahead?

Arnotts said:

That's just it, nothing's confirmed of anything regarding a funeral. Me personally I'll just do the funeral and then celebrate his life in some way.

What a wonderful video. That party looked like a lot of fun. That was a great era too with great celebrities. You couldn't have a party like that these days without a bunch of foolishness breaking out.

cdcgold said:

He didnt even remember the name of his grandchild, Jackson Jackson?

Arnotts said:

Shows you how really close he was to his family.

An Appeciation



Quincy Jones on Michael Jackson: 'We made history together'
The man who produced 'Off the Wall' and 'Thriller' remembers his protege.
By Quincy Jones
June 30, 2009
Link


Like the world, last week I was devastated by the news that Michael Jackson had suddenly left the room. This blessed artist commanded the stage with the grace of an antelope, shattered recording industry records and broke down cultural boundaries around the world, yet remained the gentlest of souls.

Michael Jackson was a different kind of entertainer. A man-child in many ways, he was beyond professional and dedicated. Evoking Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr. and James Brown all at once, he'd work for hours, perfecting every kick, gesture and movement so that they came together precisely the way they were intended to. Together we shared the '80s, achieving heights that I can humbly say may never be reached again and reshaped the music business forever.

For some reason I have had the honor of meeting young performers when they reach the age of 12. There was Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Tevin Campbell and, of course, Michael Jackson. I was fully aware of Michael and impressed by the achievements that he'd reached with the Jackson Five, but it never crossed my mind that we would eventually work together. But as is always the case, divinity interceded into the process.


In 1978, Sidney Lumet pulled me kicking and screaming into doing the music for "The Wiz," and in hindsight I'm so glad he did. As the scarecrow, Michael dove into the filming of "The Wiz" with everything that he had, not only learning his lines but those of everyone in the cast. Prior to filming, Michael and I were working at my home and he asked if I could help find him a producer to work with him on his first solo album from Epic.

At rehearsals with the cast, during the part where the scarecrow is pulling proverbs from his stuffing, Michael kept saying "So-Crates" instead of "Socrates." After about the third time, I pulled him aside and told him the correct pronunciation. He looked at me with these big wide eyes and said, "Really?" and it was at that moment that I said, "Michael, I'd like to produce your album."

It was that wonderment that I saw in his eyes that locked me in. I knew that we could go into completely unexplored territory, a place that as a jazz musician gave me goose bumps.

I pulled my "A-team" crew together, anchored by Rod Temperton, one of the best songwriters who has ever lived, and we embarked on making "Off the Wall." I simply loved working with Michael. He was so shy he'd sit down and sing behind the couch with his back to me while I sat there with my hands over my eyes with the lights off. We tried all kinds of tricks that I'd learned over the years to help him with his artistic growth, like dropping keys just a minor third to give him flexibility and a more mature range in the upper and lower registers, and more than a few tempo changes.

I also tried to steer him to songs with more depth, some of them about real relationships -- we weren't going to make it with ballads to rodents (i.e. "Ben"). And Seth Riggs, a leading vocal coach, gave him vigorous warm-up exercises to expand his top and bottom range by at least a fourth, which I desperately needed to get the vocal drama going. We approached that record like we were going into battle. "Off the Wall" would sell 10 million copies.

Anyone who tells you that they knew a record was going to be a big hit is a flat-out liar. We had no idea "Off the Wall" was going to be as successful as it was, but we were thrilled. Michael had moved from the realm of bubble-gum pop and planted his flag square in the heart of the musical pulse of the '80s, but what came next, I don't think any of us were ready for.

The 'Thriller' saga

The drama surrounding "Thriller" seemed to never end. As we were recording the album, Steven Spielberg asked me to do a storybook song with Michael for "E.T." We were already behind schedule on "Thriller," but great, no problem. The movie was a big hit, we loved Steven, and so, off to work we went with Rod Temperton and Marilyn and Alan Bergman writing the song. Naturally, of course, this would evolve into Steven wanting us to do an "E.T." album.

Four months to complete "Thriller," already behind schedule, no problem. Off to work we went. In any event, it all worked out . . . Michael and I won Grammys for the album, and it became a collector's item.

With two months to get "Thriller" done, we dug in and really hit it. Michael, Rod, the great engineer Bruce Swedien and I had all spent so much time together by now that we had a shorthand, so moving quickly wasn't a problem. I told Michael that we needed a black rock 'n' roll tune -- a black "My Sharona" -- and a begging tune for the album. He came back with "Beat It" and Rod came back with "The Lady in My Life."

Rod also brought in "Thriller" and Michael sang his heart out on it. At one point during the session the right speaker burst into flames, which none of us had ever seen before. How's that for a sign?

We finished the album at 9 a.m. the morning we needed to deliver the reference copy. We had three studios going all night long. Michael in one putting final touches on "Billie Jean," Bruce in another, and Eddie Van Halen, who I brought in, in yet another recording his parts for "Beat It."

We all gathered in Studio A to listen to the test pressing with this enormous anticipation. This was it, the eagerly anticipated follow-up to "Off the Wall." And it sounded . . . terrible. After all of that great work we were doing, it wasn't there. There was total silence in the studio, and one by one we walked across the hall for some alone time. We'd put too much material on the record. Michael was in tears.

We took two days off, and in the next eight days, we set about reshaping the album, mixing just one song a day. Rod cut a verse from "The Lady in My Life," and we shortened the long, long intro to "Billie Jean," something Michael hated to do because he said the intro "made him want to dance."

MTV breakthrough

We delivered the album and watched "Billie Jean" -- thanks to Michael's debut performance of the moonwalk on the 25th anniversary of Motown special -- "Beat It" and "Thriller" just explode, fueled in part by heavy video rotation on MTV. Prior to "Billie Jean," MTV wasn't playing videos with black artists. "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Thriller" took us straight to the stratosphere. After those three videos, virtually every video on MTV was trying to emulate their style.

Michael, the music and MTV all went to the mountaintop. It was the perfect convergence of forces. In the music business, every decade you have a phenomenon. In the '40s you had Sinatra, in the '50s Elvis, in the '60s the Beatles, in the '70s the innovation of Dolby, despite the best efforts of Stevie Wonder and Elton John. In the '80s you had Michael Jackson. For everyone from 8 to 80, he was the biggest entertainer on the planet. Followed up with "Bad" and the collective on "We Are the World," we all made history together. We owned the '80s and our souls would be connected forever.

Shortly after "Thriller" came out and simply chewed up everything in its way, I went to see Count Basie at the Palladium with Benny Carter and Ed Eckstine. Basie was like a father to me, having kind of adopted me when I was 13, and he wasn't in the greatest shape. He was in a wheelchair and when he saw me, he said with a sense of pride, "Man, [what] you and Michael did, me and Duke would never even dream about nothin' that big. We wouldn't even dare to dream about it." You can't imagine how proud I felt, hearing that from one of my idols, not realizing that it would be the last time that I'd see him alive.

There will be a lot written about what came next in Michael's life, but for me all of that is just noise. I promise you in 50, 75, 100 years, what will be remembered is the music. It's no accident that almost three decades later, no matter where I go in the world, in every club and karaoke bar, like clockwork, you hear "Billie Jean," "Beat It," "Wanna Be Starting Something," "Rock With You" and "Thriller."

In every language on the planet, from prison yards in Thailand to Thrilltheworld.com, that will be the beautiful, grand legacy of Michael Jackson.

I hope the one on crutches really did hurt his leg doing kung fu and didn't get it purposely hurt for missing a dance step.

kibbles said:

You are not alone! When the news broke about Michael you would have thought my family was at a funeral! He was a household name...

graecophilos said:

Why is Brian Oxman still working for the Jackson family?!

He gave Tito pure hell for even getting married in the first place because he was afraid that the female fans would view the group differently. It was always about business with him, the hell with any of the boys having a personal life. Such a loving father.

People Magazine

vainandy said:

Word.

bboy87 said:

this makes think of the torture this amazing artist was going through as i find out more and more, especially with the 50 shows looming

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no no no no no
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go....
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no no no no no