Remembering my friend Michael Jackson

By Al Bell

1:00 PM on 08/29/2009
Remembering my friend Michael Jackson

The last time I met with Michael, we saw each other from across the room and he made a point of coming over to say "hello." Instead of greeting me with something like, "Al - it's great to see you," he instead simply grinned at me and said, "By the time I get to Phoenix!"

He related to me by remembering the 18-minute song that I produced with others for Isaac Hayes' "Hot Buttered Soul" album.

Michael always had a great sense of humor and even more important, he had a great sense of love for all of his friends and family.

That, more than anything else, is what is important to remember about Michael Jackson -- The 'spirit of love' was at the forefront of all of his thoughts and of everything he did.

In order to understand Michael Jackson, we must examine not just what he said, but what he did. When we do that, we see that it all was about love. While on earth, that 'spirit of love' manifested itself through him and influenced how he dealt with people, whether it was adults, children, musicians, producers, business associates, family, or friends.

Of course, because he arguably was the greatest entertainer of all time, he was always targeted by people who sought to bring him down to their level. I find it interesting how a person like Michael Jackson could envelope this planet with so much love while "contrary spirits" were determined to cause this man irreparable psychological and emotional distress. He did not deserve any of that, but I guess if there weren't controversy, perhaps he wouldn't have been as renowned and legendary as he is.

I personally choose to remember the positive attributes of Michael, those things we all know to be true about him. For instance, Michael was an absolutely awesome athlete, for he was an indescribable dancer. I'm sure those people who danced with him, and the choreographers who worked with him, had never seen or worked with anyone like him before - or since.

He also was a student of the arts. He studied motion pictures, including the old silent movies and the old musicals. Everything he saw, everything he studied, influenced every step of his dance routines and the totality of his creative thought processes. He studied the great singers, dancers, and musicians, and was an appreciator of virtually all genres of music. He loved jazz, opera, soul, and gospel, and was particularly fond of and inspired by some of the truly great artists of our times, including James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and the penetrating soul of Isaac Hayes and Mavis Staples.

As an artistic leader within the recorded music industry, Michael Jackson always pushed the boundaries, innovating new sounds and images that had never before been heard or seen. When he created the "Thriller" phenomenon, he sought out one of the greatest creative and artistic arrangers of all time, Quincy Jones, to help him with the music and production. Then he went to director John Landis to co-write and direct the 14-minute video. Through this collaboration, he birthed his greatest audio and video work of art. The video has consistently been called the best music video of all time.

In an interview with Brian Monroe of Ebony/Jet magazine, Michael Jackson said, "You want what you create to live - whether it's sculpture or painting or music." He quoted Michelangelo by saying, "I know the creator will go, but his work survives." That is why, Michael said, "I attempt to bind my soul to my work - that's how I feel. I give my all to my work. I want it to just live."

Two months ago 'the spirit' that existed in that carnal body we called Michael Jackson transitioned from this plane to the next. But Michael Jackson's thoughts, his soul, and his spirit still live in his music, and thereby he lives through it - still among us.

Remembering my friend Michael Jackson

By Al Bell

1:00 PM on 08/29/2009
Remembering my friend Michael Jackson

The last time I met with Michael, we saw each other from across the room and he made a point of coming over to say "hello." Instead of greeting me with something like, "Al - it's great to see you," he instead simply grinned at me and said, "By the time I get to Phoenix!"

He related to me by remembering the 18-minute song that I produced with others for Isaac Hayes' "Hot Buttered Soul" album.

Michael always had a great sense of humor and even more important, he had a great sense of love for all of his friends and family.

That, more than anything else, is what is important to remember about Michael Jackson -- The 'spirit of love' was at the forefront of all of his thoughts and of everything he did.

In order to understand Michael Jackson, we must examine not just what he said, but what he did. When we do that, we see that it all was about love. While on earth, that 'spirit of love' manifested itself through him and influenced how he dealt with people, whether it was adults, children, musicians, producers, business associates, family, or friends.

Of course, because he arguably was the greatest entertainer of all time, he was always targeted by people who sought to bring him down to their level. I find it interesting how a person like Michael Jackson could envelope this planet with so much love while "contrary spirits" were determined to cause this man irreparable psychological and emotional distress. He did not deserve any of that, but I guess if there weren't controversy, perhaps he wouldn't have been as renowned and legendary as he is.

I personally choose to remember the positive attributes of Michael, those things we all know to be true about him. For instance, Michael was an absolutely awesome athlete, for he was an indescribable dancer. I'm sure those people who danced with him, and the choreographers who worked with him, had never seen or worked with anyone like him before - or since.

He also was a student of the arts. He studied motion pictures, including the old silent movies and the old musicals. Everything he saw, everything he studied, influenced every step of his dance routines and the totality of his creative thought processes. He studied the great singers, dancers, and musicians, and was an appreciator of virtually all genres of music. He loved jazz, opera, soul, and gospel, and was particularly fond of and inspired by some of the truly great artists of our times, including James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and the penetrating soul of Isaac Hayes and Mavis Staples.

As an artistic leader within the recorded music industry, Michael Jackson always pushed the boundaries, innovating new sounds and images that had never before been heard or seen. When he created the "Thriller" phenomenon, he sought out one of the greatest creative and artistic arrangers of all time, Quincy Jones, to help him with the music and production. Then he went to director John Landis to co-write and direct the 14-minute video. Through this collaboration, he birthed his greatest audio and video work of art. The video has consistently been called the best music video of all time.

In an interview with Brian Monroe of Ebony/Jet magazine, Michael Jackson said, "You want what you create to live - whether it's sculpture or painting or music." He quoted Michelangelo by saying, "I know the creator will go, but his work survives." That is why, Michael said, "I attempt to bind my soul to my work - that's how I feel. I give my all to my work. I want it to just live."

Two months ago 'the spirit' that existed in that carnal body we called Michael Jackson transitioned from this plane to the next. But Michael Jackson's thoughts, his soul, and his spirit still live in his music, and thereby he lives through it - still among us.

TMZ Gets Punk’D With Fake Jackson Document
By: Roger Friedman // Saturday August 29, 2009
Website TMZ got punk’d today by a concert promoter who wants a chunk of Michael Jackson’s money.

The site has published a letter purportedly from Frank DiLeo, Michael’s manager, instructing anyone who wants to produce a Jackson tribute concert to come through him. The letter bears a scrawled, indeciperable signature and the very funny sentence “Frank Dileo is the manager of Michael Jackson (deceased) in life and in death.”

The problem is, DiLeo tells me it’s not his letter, nor is it his signature. He didn’t write it, and has no idea who some of the people are who are named in the letter including a Fadi Rashed. “I’ve never heard of Fadi Rashed,” says DiLeo, and a Google search doesn’t help either.

DiLeo immediately called TMZ’s Harvey Levin, but Levin has yet to remove the fake correspondence.


Who wrote this piece of fiction? Well, yours truly received an email post-haste from publicist Ren Gravatt, who represents Patrick Alloco, of AllGood Entertainment in New Jersey. Alloco, in business officially and unofficially with a group that wants a piece of Jackson’s estate, claims to be suing DiLeo over Jackson family concerts that were supposedly to take place in Texas.

Gravatt was all too quick to send me the TMZ posting with this added information: “This latest expose piece on Frank DiLeo and his partner, Mark Lamicka, spells out the same sort of dubious behavior that has landed Mr. DiLeo and his company in Federal Court with AllGood Entertainment.”

The only problem with that last assertion, of course, is that DiLeo has never been served, and is not in federal court with AllGood Entertainment.

Strangely enough, Alloco is still trying to sue everyone connected with Michael Jackson over his alleged concert scheme, even through the singer is dead. The theory behind this latest move —especially after Gravatt’s email—is that Alloco and his group—including Joseph Jackson, Leonard Rowe, and Tohme Tohme—may have fabricated the letter to make DiLeo look bad.

TMZ, like a lot of blogs, would do well to check each piece of paper that comes in rather than wind up in situation like Dan Rather—and have to deal with fiction.


http://showbiz411.blogs.t...#more-2563

[Edited 8/29/09 21:37pm]

Okay so far I have these books that I want to get..

Michael Jackson: For the Record

In the Studio with Michael Jackson

Moonwalk

any others anyone would recommend?
[Edited 8/29/09 23:06pm]

EmeraldSkies said:

Dancing The Dream
The Visual Documentary
Before He Was King (pre order this)

One of my hopes is that someone takes the time and does a documentary that tells the truth, and puts the BS to rest

bboy87 said:

You know we'll never get that.

Timmy84 said:

fixed it for u .. lol

Something I found
Michael Jackson to be buried in a gold casket - encased in cement - says brother Marlon

Michael Jackson’s three grief-stricken children have penned goodbye letters to “Dear Daddy” to be placed inside his coffin.

Jackson’s brother Marlon makes the revelation in a world exclusive interview in which he tells the secrets of the King of Pop’s funeral, which will take place on Thursday.

The children – Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Blanket, seven – have written “Daddy we love you, we miss you” on notes which will be placed in his coffin, alongside the singer’s trademark single white glove.

Lying in state in an £18,000 gold-plated casket, the drug-ravaged singer has been fitted with a special wig to give him flowing shoulder-length locks, Marlon says.

And a make-up artist has painted his face to ensure he is buried as if he was taking to the stage for his last bow.

After an emotional sunset funeral, Jackson’s coffin will be immediately encased in deep concrete to deter grave robbers and ghouls.

CCTV cameras linked to sensors will activate an alarm to warn security guards of any would-be trespassers at the grave.

A PRIVATE SERVICE

And in marked contrast to Jackson’s life – lived in full public glare since the age of five – the 45-minute service will be held away from the cameras, limited to close relatives and friends.

Marlon, 52, said: “This will be Michael’s final curtain call – the last show. His shell will be gone but his spirit lives on.”

Soul legend Aretha Franklin will sing at the graveside. Jackson’s close friend Diana Ross will be there too, so will Motown record label founder Berry Gordy.

Jackson will be buried in Holly Terrace Grand Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park, five miles from Hollywood in North Los Angeles, alongside stars including Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable.

The cemetery is closed to the public and is surrounded by high walls. Anyone visiting has to show ID.

In the nine weeks since Jackson died, his body has been kept in the refrigerated morgue at the cemetery, apart from the day it was driven in an armed police convoy to his Staples Center memorial service last month.

Marlon said: “This will be a private ceremony. His hairstylist has made his hair special and a make-up artist has gone in and fixed him up so he’s ready for the big day.”

A small wake will be held afterwards at the Jackson family compound in Encino. “This is the final step, the final curtain will be closed as regards to Michael’s life,” said Marlon.

“It’s a quiet place where the children will be able to visit in private to pay their respects.” Initially the funeral was scheduled for yesterday, which would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday.

But the burial was moved, said Marlon, because their mother Katherine is a Jehovah’s Witness and the religion doesn’t recognise birthdays. Marlon said: “I wanted to lay him to rest on the day the Lord created him. But my mother really didn’t want to bury him on that day.”

We can reveal that Jackson’s children have spent the last week-and-a-half on a break at Katherine’s Las Vegas home, visiting their uncle Jackie and playing with their cousins as the family try to spare them from the funeral preparations.

Marlon said: “They’re doing good. They’re finally getting to the stage of learning to live with it. You never get over something like that.” Marlon revealed how Paris had spoken to him about his twin brother Brandon, who died when he was just a few hours old.

He said: “After the memorial service Paris said to me, ‘Uncle Marlon, I’m sure my daddy is glad to see Uncle Brandon’. That was really special. I said, ‘Wow, that was the sweetest thing you could have said’.

LAST PERSON TO SEE HIM ALIVE

“I have two brothers in Heaven now. Some day we’ll all be able to meet up there.”

Jackson died at his rented home in Los Angeles on June 25 after being given a lethal cocktail of drugs.

On Friday the LA county coroner ruled that his death was homicide.

More than two months after his death, the family’s anger at his physician Dr Conrad Murray, who administered the potent narcotic Propofol and was the last person to see him alive, mounts by the day.

Marlon said: “Michael died and someone is to blame – and it’s the doctor who was with him.

“Conrad Murray was the last person to be with Michael and he knows exactly what went on and he’s not saying.”

Dr Murray’s only public comment so far has been a short statement on video website YouTube.

Marlon said: “I don’t think anyone tried to kill Michael on purpose but something went wrong, something happened and, yes, some of my family do think it’s murder.

“He had too many ‘yes’ men around him. With a bunch of ‘yes’ people around him there was no doubt he was headed for destruction. I’m talking about the doctors who were around him, the people he had working for him. It’s sad to say but these doctors would do anything for the money.”

Even though Jackson was slowly losing his battle against prescription drug addiction, he tried to shield it from his relatives, Marlon revealed.

He said: “Michael was a very private person. He didn’t like people to pry into that.

“At one point there was concern about the prescriptions, about his painkillers and whether he was taking too much, but he seemed to have everything under control.

“Michael was trying to escape from what he had created. He put himself in a box and the only way he could escape from it was to come up with different disguises to experience what others take for granted in life – going to the store, walking down the street. The fame became a monster and he was pretty much boxed in a corner because everybody wanted a piece of him.

HE WAS A GREAT DAD

“At the beginning all that stuff is great but then at the end… Everybody was judging him – and all the ridicule that went with it.”

Marlon struggled to remain composed as he spoke with emotion about the last time he saw his brother alive: “It was couple of weeks before he died. He was fine, he was great.

"He was laughing and joking with the kids. He was getting ready for the tour (to the UK for his London O2 dates) and he was excited about his show, but mainly we were talking about the kids. Michael did a great job in raising them. They are not celebrity kids.”

Marlon said fun-loving Blanket was squirting people with a water pistol at the family get-together.

“Blanket is 007 – he’s always on a mission. He’s so active,” he said. “Prince is really good at electronics. He is more into technical things. And Paris is just very precious. She has such a sweet heart. They are all pretty observant. They are very respectful.

“Their lasting memory of their dad will be the great times they had with him. Michael won’t be here but he will live forever in our hearts, in our souls. He will always be missed.”

Katherine Jackson has guardianship of the children while Debbie Rowe, the biological mother of the two eldest, has been granted visiting rights.

The identity of the surrogate mum who gave birth to Blanket has never been revealed.

But Marlon said: “I don’t care where those kids come from – Michael was their daddy. He raised them from birth.

“Anyone can have a kid, anyone can be a father. But it takes something special to be a daddy.”

And taking a swipe at Jackson’s skin specialist Dr Arnold Klein, who has repeatedly refused to refute speculation that he fathered Prince Michael and Paris, he said: “People like Klein just want money or fame. Those were Michael’s kids regardless of where they came from and that’s all that counts.”

The children are to be taught at home, following the curriculum of a local private school.

Marlon said: “They will be home-schooled at the Encino compound where we studied as kids. They have the room there for classrooms and a big theatre for lessons.”

Marlon, one of the Jackson Five, left Encino aged 18 when he married wife Carol Ann but kept in constant touch with his younger brother.

He said: “When Michael and I got together we always got on to talking about the old days.

HE LOVED PRACTICAL JOKES

“On that last day he was reminiscing about how we once wet rolls of toilet tissue and threw them out of hotel windows. And how we filled up trash cans with water and threw the water down on to the street. We were pranksters, the pair of us.

“I just remember the last thing we said to each other was, ‘I love you’, and his last line was always, ‘I love you more’. And that was the last thing he said to me.”

Growing up in extreme poverty in the city of Gary, Indiana, Michael and Marlon lived in a two-bedroom house his parents bought for £500.

Marlon, who was just 17 months older than Michael, became his closest friend. The two little boys shared a bed.

“Michael and I slept in the same bed in a triple bunk,” he said. “Jermaine and Tito shared another bed and Jackie had the third bed to himself because Randy was just a baby.

“Michael and I used to look out of the window across the road across the field and say to each car that came along, ‘When I grow up I want to have that car’.

“That was as far as his ambition went. Wanting to be a superstar never really dawned on us.”

Michael loathed their dad Joe, accusing him of beating him as a child, which Joe, who lives apart from Katherine, has always denied.

But Marlon insisted: “My father beat us a lot of times. I felt resentful.

“That sort of discipline wasn’t abnormal in our neighbourhood but it doesn’t mean it was right.”

And Marlon believes the beatings may have fatally damaged Jacko’s self-esteem and ability to fend for himself.

BROTHERS PLAN TRIBUTE SONG

“It does a couple of things to you – it forms you into this person who is not able to confront people when they’re not satisfied with things.

“It also makes people able to take advantage of you. I found a lot of my siblings were that way.”

The Jackson brothers – Marlon, Tito, Jermaine and Jackie – have pre-recorded a reality TV show which is set to be broadcast in the US several days after the funeral.

Marlon said: “We started shooting this in February so this has been planned for a long time.

“I think it’s also likely that at some point we will all get together to do a tribute song for Michael.”

Still struggling to come to terms with his grief, Marlon wakes early every day.

He said: “Every morning I get up around 6.30am and sit out on my porch and since Michael died there has been a little humming bird sitting there.

“He’s been there five times now and he just lands for around five seconds.

“The last time he was there I said, ‘OK Michael, how are you doing? I hope you’re doing alright’ and I think he is.

“In my heart I know he’s at peace.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/c...5-21633985

CAPTAIN EO TO RETURN TO DISNEYLAND IN JANUARY 2010. OFFICIAL ANNOUNCMENT WILL BE MADE 9/10

Captain EO has now received the green light to return to Tomorrowland, but the timing was too tight to make it by HalloweenTime. Hooter and the gang will now land at Disneyland this January to boost winter attendance, with the official announcement coming from Jay Rasulo at the D23 Expo.

http://miceage.micechat.com/

In the Studio with Michael Jackson

babybugz said:

NO! That's one video i've never sat and watched. Where was Michael when they needed him?! LOL

babybugz said:

NO! That's one video i've never sat and watched. Where was Michael when they needed him?! LOL

babybugz said:

NO! That's one video i've never sat and watched. Where was Michael when they needed him?! LOL

ViintageJunkiie said:

Michael stole this song for WBSS

graecophilos said:

MJ wrote WBSS in 1979, dude. And put it out in 1982, don't you mean THEY stole it for Body?

Timmy84 said:

yeah, I was just bored, Timmy. C'mon, don't choo think I know the facts?