DonRants said:

Hmm, actually,I don't think anyone is writing Quincy out of history. I think Quincy said this because he was annoyed and angered by Jian's question that working with MJ was "challenging." As a matter of fact if you look on Jian's facial reaction right as Quincy starts responding to this question, he(Jian) seems to be surprised with the energy(anger?) that Quincy is responding with.

Quincy's response is to denigrate MJ. Basicly saying "He is just the singer and I am the Producer. I tell him what to sing.." In other words, "I am the Puppet Master. MJ is the puppet. How can I be "challenged" by a mere song and dance man?"

Now let me state this. I have mad respect for Quincy and his work. But I find him tactless and classless in the way he has choosen to relate to the media about MJ, especially after MJ died. The presuppositions (unstated assumptions) of a lot of his statements, including this one, is that MJ was "nothing special" and "It was I, Quincy Jones the Great who is mainly responsible for the successes of"Thriller", "OTW" and "Bad". Now he doesn't come out and say this...but that condescention is there in all those interviews and frankly its sad and unnecessary.

Scorp said:

as usual, taking the context, the real meaing of a statement relating to MJ and twisting it, distorting it to uphold the narrative.....

u qouted that part and the other guy but conveniently omitted the rest of the statement that provides clarity when he added "a producer has to do that"....

and the real reason why he's saying this is because he knows that establishment figures along w/the majority of the following is doing their best to rewrite history and marginalize if not practically nullify the role Q played in establishing MJ'S success as an adult solo artist

he's calling out the liars when he said that

he knows a sea of MJ fans act in a position of influence based on the platform given to them and make inaccurate assessments when the subject is mentioned in regards to the nature of their collaboration together when most of them wasn't even alive on the planet.....what he said here is to call out the narrative....

outside of this.......from 1982 up until the point of his statement in 2014 (as the narrative kicked into overdrive), he never made such a claim....

he knows he's being thrown under the bus, as everyone else who was associated with MJ'S past up unto the pinnacle of his career with THRILLER....

and as he said, the story about him not liking BILLIE JEAN is a lie......I never believed that for a second......that lie was cooked up by a member of the following and that's why he said he knows who is responsible

see, people think they slick

what happened was, a member of the following used BILLIE JEAN as the catalyst to suggest MJ didn't need Quincy because of that record's success as arguably being MJ'S most successful single of his career, knowing MJ wrote the song, using that as the springboard to continue fueling the narrative.........

Quincy said what he said in this interview this to get underneath the skin of the following, he knows those words will p*** them off

if we're gonna quote someone, quote everything...leave nothing out.....

the narrative has created hostility all across the board........

[Edited 5/22/14 20:15pm]

[Edited 5/22/14 21:40pm]

do you honestly believe that Quincy Jones believed that Michael Jackson was "nothing special"

do you honestly believe that?

I've seen over 50 interviews that totally proves the exact opposite

the real problem is that the narrative has left people hanging dry, everyone associated w/the mix....

Quincy knows the majority of the current following despises him

I think a huge part of the problem is that the following presumes individuals in relation to MJ, especially between 1969-1984 don't read papers, don't watch TV, or have people tell them what's being said about them

u said yesterday that you acknowledged how many of MJ's current fans discredit Quincy's accomplishments before they collaborated and when they collaborated

over the past 5 years, I've read articles, heard comments about their collaboration suggesting Quincy played a minor role in the production of those albums OFF THE WALL, THRILLER, and BAD

the spin and the re-writing of history is taking place as we speak, and the generation coming up who are drawn to MJ's musical legacy are believing the misrepresentation

this don't just apply to him, but the Jackson Five/Jackson's themselves in relation to the brothers, their contribution is not being acknowledged either

do you really believe Quincy is trying to take all the credit?

in countless interviews, he's always said MJ was the most astute and most prepared artist he's ever worked with in the studio

the story about him disliking BILLIE JEAN, that ain't nothing but a lie

what's most sad about all of this

if MJ was allowed to live his life as he was meant to be, this story would not ended in tragedy

and we wouldn't be sitting here right now responding to a second posthumous album

God, I'm really disappointed by the whole Xcape project. So many fillers, so many production options I hate.

The only good thing is to hear MJ's voice.

Apart from that, there are far too many very average compositions on this cd.

Off to listening to the new Roots' cd. 100 times better than this shit.

Scorp said:

do you honestly believe that Quincy Jones believed that Michael Jackson was "nothing special"

do you honestly believe that?

I've seen over 50 interviews that totally proves the exact opposite

the real problem is that the narrative has left people hanging dry, everyone associated w/the mix....

Quincy knows the majority of the current following despises him

I think a huge part of the problem is that the following presumes individuals in relation to MJ, especially between 1969-1984 don't read papers, don't watch TV, or have people tell them what's being said about them

u said yesterday that you acknowledged how many of MJ's current fans discredit Quincy's accomplishments before they collaborated and when they collaborated

over the past 5 years, I've read articles, heard comments about their collaboration suggesting Quincy played a minor role in the production of those albums OFF THE WALL, THRILLER, and BAD

the spin and the re-writing of history is taking place as we speak, and the generation coming up who are drawn to MJ's musical legacy are believing the misrepresentation

this don't just apply to him, but the Jackson Five/Jackson's themselves in relation to the brothers, their contribution is not being acknowledged either

do you really believe Quincy is trying to take all the credit?

in countless interviews, he's always said MJ was the most astute and most prepared artist he's ever worked with in the studio

the story about him disliking BILLIE JEAN, that ain't nothing but a lie

what's most sad about all of this

if MJ was allowed to live his life as he was meant to be, this story would not ended in tragedy

and we wouldn't be sitting here right now responding to a second posthumous album

I said that is the pressuposition of his statements. i.e. for some of the things he has said to be true that assumption has to be true. It is implied in what he says. Even if some people are re-writing the narrative, Quincy is falling into the trap if he lets that determine his feelings about and what he says about MJ publicly. I remember watching an interview after MJ passed where Quincy related how hurt he was that MJ had hired and had paid Teddy Riley much more than he had ever been paid. So there is obviously some hard feelings there.

I loved those clips you show but they are from the era when MJ and Quincy clearly had a good relationship. If I was to do the same to back up what I am saying I would have to show clips since MJ passing. But the first clip you showed was very interesting. The grammy went to Michael AND Quincy, not to Quincy alone for production...

DonRants said:

I said that is the pressuposition of his statements. i.e. for some of the things he has said to be true that assumption has to be true. It is implied in what he says. Even if some people are re-writing the narrative, Quincy is falling into the trap if he lets that determine his feelings about and what he says about MJ publicly. I remember watching an interview after MJ passed where Quincy related how hurt he was that MJ had hired and had paid Teddy Riley much more than he had ever been paid. So there is obviously some hard feelings there.

I loved those clips you show but they are from the era when MJ and Quincy clearly had a good relationship. If I was to do the same to back up what I am saying I would have to show clips since MJ passing. But the first clip you showed was very interesting. The grammy went to Michael AND Quincy, not to Quincy alone for production...

Rightly so as MJ is credited as co-producer on the four tracks he wrote for Thriller.

Cloudbuster said:

Rightly so as MJ is credited as co-producer on the four tracks he wrote for Thriller.

Oops. Three of the four, actually. There's no co-producer credit for The Girl Is Mine.

the majority has beef with anyone who threatens the narrative....anyone...family, friends, confidants, contemporaries, luminaries, real representatives of the press and radio, ANYONE

his mother

Janet got ripped to shreds 2 years over a spin cycle narrative that was never true

even Rebbie was attacked in late 2010....

the hate is way bigger than Q.....

and Pop culture is what's killing music anyway......it has already done it....tapping into it, exploiting it, raking it dry, and leaving it bare as a cupboard in the end...no replinishment, no cultivation......nothing...

No, the majority doesn't have a damn beef with anyone, most fans just want Michael to be respected as a musician and songwriter but above all as a damn human being!! That man worked his butt off to be taken seriously in the music industry and not just to be looked as a singer and dancer like Q made it seem he was. Michael was a musical genius and that's something that Q can't take away from him.

These people get ripped because they've made statements that don't need to be said in public and in fact are false. Your hatred for post-thriller tho is a bit strange to me, isn't it boring to be talking about a man that you don't respect after a certain period? I said this to you before on here, I don't talk much about Prince's late 90s music because I honestly dont like it - so why are you sir speaking about MJ when you seemingly don't feel him like that.

If you're saying that pop culture killed music that's false - what is killing music at the moment are CEO's and managers that don't know SHIT about music but MONEY. Your arguments have been said so many times in the history of recorded music tho, from the 1920s to the 1950s to the late 70s and 80s... Pop culture is a manifestation of current trends and tastes of people at the moment and if real artists aka the ones that actually know how to sing, dance or play instruments would get signed we would get better music on the radio but it's all about the looks nowadays because half of the people on the billboard charts can't sing, dance or play good music but most people find them attractive.

Meet the conjurers of Michael Jackson's ghost

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Michael Jackson came back to life last Sunday on the Billboard Music Awards telecast. And the team that orchestrated his high-tech resurrection is beaming through their fatigue.

"It scared us to death to create an image that had to look, feel and function for four minutes like an entertainer everyone in the world knows," says Frank Patterson, CEO of digital effects firm Pulse Evolution. "You have to see his eyes and moves and believe it was him."

WATCH: See the performance of 'Slave to the Rhythm'

MORE: Jackson mirage heralds future of posthumous shows

After a week of social and online media speculation about how the effect was pulled off, Florida-based Pulse exclusively invited USA TODAY to its Bay Area studios, located in the former headquarters of George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, to explain the details behind Jackson's performance of Slave to the Rhythm, off the late singer's new album, Xscape.

But first, a plea. "It's not a hologram," says Pulse Executive Chairman John Textor, sitting in the room where the Jackson effect was crafted with Patterson and visual effects supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum, who worked on Avatar.

So what is it? "An illusion," Patterson says.

Indeed, Pulse refined a 19th-century magician's technique called Pepper's ghost, which Textor — then leading Oscar-winning graphics company Digital Domain — also employed to summon the ghost of slain rapper Tupac Shakur at the Coachella music festival in 2012. The effect involves projecting an image on glass or plastic at a 45-degree angle, which brings that image into the viewer's field of view.

But the Jackson illusion was infinitely more complex to pull off. "Tupac had no hair, and just stood there, where Michael had to be all over the place," Patterson says.

Pulse Executive Chairman John Textor, left, and CEO Frank Patterson discuss the creation of the Michael Jackson illusion at the Pulse studio in San Rafael, Calif., on May 21, 2014.(Photo: Martin E. Klimek ,USA TODAY)

Here's how things went down over eight long months of development.

Pulse first recorded Slave's gilded backdrop and real dancers in staggering 8K resolution (4K TVs are state of the art), using two $50,000 Red Dragon cameras. Next, a computer-generated Jackson circa 1991 (the period chosen by the Jackson estate) was subjected to an arduous animation process that was crucial to its success.

"You have to get across what's called the 'uncanny valley,' which says the closer you get to making a digital human real, the creepier it gets," says Patterson, adding that the illusion still lacked believability two weeks before the awards. "In the end, with all the intricate details in Michael's face and gestures, we feel we got across."

Come showtime, Pulse hung six high-powered projectors overhead and aimed the high-resolution footage of Jackson dancing and singing down at a piece of Mylar.

To the audience assembled at Las Vegas' MGM Grand, it looked as if a life-size Jackson was in front of them. The illusion was cemented by the presence of live dancers (foreground) and band (background).

"When the people who knew Michael best started crying at the show, we knew we'd done something," Textor says. "Then we started crying."

http://www.usatoday.com/s...n/9437881/

Why Billboard Music Awards' Michael Jackson Can't Be Called a 'Hologram'

• NEWS

By Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter | May 22, 2014 10:48 AM EDT

The 2D "Pepper's Ghost" effect, and the potential for interactive AI, will be discussed at next month's Entertainment Technology in the Internet Age confab.

Michael Jackson's virtual performance was one of the highlights of Sunday's Billboard Music Awards, but it actually wasn't a "hologram," as was widely reported. It does, however, presage some exciting news about where the technology is heading.

The imagery of Jackson -- and previously Tupac during his "performance" at Coachella in 2012 -- was actually created with an old magician's trick using a mirror, a 2D effect known as "Pepper's Ghost."

"[While Jackson] was a Pepper's Ghost effect, we are looking at ways to make [these experiences] more realistic and interactive," said USC compsci research professor Paul Debevec. "I see it actually becoming three-dimensional and also interactive so that the performers are responding to the audience — almost puppeteered through motion capture while we start to build artificial intelligence into these performances. That’s pretty far off, but I think that’s where it needs to head."

Debevec will discuss this topic as part of the upcoming Entertainment Technology in the Internet Age conference, held on June 18-19 at Stanford University.

Additional topics at the conference, which is being co-produced by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the Stanford Center for Image Systems Engineering (SCIEN), include the potential of the Holodeck, as imagined in Star Trek. “The Holodeck might not be as far off as you might think, and it might look different than you think,” said Dolby exec Pat Griffis, co-chair of the conference.

Technology strategist Dave Singhal, another scheduled presenter, projected that training, simulation, gaming and Hollywood entertainment will be among the first applications of "Holodeck" experiences.

Also on the program agenda is a keynote from Darcy Antonellis, CEO of multiplatform video services provider Vubiquity (and former CTO at Warner Bros.), who will discuss evolving Web business models for entertainment. Conference topics also include net neutrality and transmedia storytelling.

http://www.billboard.com/...sic-awards

Just wanna say I downloaded the XSCAPE album yesterday and I am in LOVE with it . Aside from the remixes.. The orignal version songs are all really good in my opinion. I am very surprised it sounds so good. Wasn't interested in another project like Michael, but it's a million times better.

Fave tracks:

Love Never Felt So Good (of course)

Chicago

Do You Know Where Your Children Are (I think this song is more Michael Jackson than any other MJ song EVER!)

& Blue Gangster is hot!

GoldDolphin said:

the majority has beef with anyone who threatens the narrative....anyone...family, friends, confidants, contemporaries, luminaries, real representatives of the press and radio, ANYONE

his mother

Janet got ripped to shreds 2 years over a spin cycle narrative that was never true

even Rebbie was attacked in late 2010....

the hate is way bigger than Q.....

and Pop culture is what's killing music anyway......it has already done it....tapping into it, exploiting it, raking it dry, and leaving it bare as a cupboard in the end...no replinishment, no cultivation......nothing...

No, the majority doesn't have a damn beef with anyone, most fans just want Michael to be respected as a musician and songwriter but above all as a damn human being!! That man worked his butt off to be taken seriously in the music industry and not just to be looked as a singer and dancer like Q made it seem he was. Michael was a musical genius and that's something that Q can't take away from him.

These people get ripped because they've made statements that don't need to be said in public and in fact are false. Your hatred for post-thriller tho is a bit strange to me, isn't it boring to be talking about a man that you don't respect after a certain period? I said this to you before on here, I don't talk much about Prince's late 90s music because I honestly dont like it - so why are you sir speaking about MJ when you seemingly don't feel him like that.

If you're saying that pop culture killed music that's false - what is killing music at the moment are CEO's and managers that don't know SHIT about music but MONEY. Your arguments have been said so many times in the history of recorded music tho, from the 1920s to the 1950s to the late 70s and 80s... Pop culture is a manifestation of current trends and tastes of people at the moment and if real artists aka the ones that actually know how to sing, dance or play instruments would get signed we would get better music on the radio but it's all about the looks nowadays because half of the people on the billboard charts can't sing, dance or play good music but most people find them attractive.

that's the thing, MIchael Jackson was ALREADY respected, revered, admired...whatever it is u want to call it.....he already had it when he reached what turned out to be the pinnacle of his career......at 25-26, he was already recognized for his triple talent on the highest level, on the grandest stage....

he had teenagers and grown folks trying to emulate what he brought forth....

he already had it....the problem is, the current following refuses to admit that because if they did, then they would have to acknowledge major problems and miscalculations began to manifest during the late 80s...

and u are 100% wrong about what u think I don't like....

I have all of MJ's solo albums, including the special editions of OTW and THRILLER

I still listen to the original Dangerous CD I bought when the album was released....w/the cracked CD case and everything......

even as OTW remains my favorite album by MJ, when Dangerous was album, I wasn't listening to OTW

This week alone, I've been listening to the INVINCIBLE album

I listen to all of the albums in balance, because the one thing that did remain consistent was the message MJ luminated but got offset w/the false image

I still listen to Man In The Mirror all the time just like it was 1988 when the song was released

in that regard nothing has changed....I've always remained endeared to the message

that's the first mistake u made, jumping the gun, making the assumptions.....but I know what's up and what I've listened to since Thriller

when I first heard Break Of Dawn, I said that was one of MJ's greatest moments ever as a recording artist...ever...so that means, I'm not stuck on Thriller or measuring his work vs that period of his career

EArth Song and Heal The World are personal favorites...I've seen many of his younger fans who said themselves they felt those songs were corny

Another Part of Me is my favorite song on BAD.....

I always enjoyed listening to SMILE, LITTLE SUSIE, MONEY, TABLOID JUNKIE (strong melody), THIS TIME AROUND, the songs that were not released as singles here in the states, all on the History album.......

I actually bought the HIstory album twice because I scratched the original CD I had

his evolving lyrical content over time indicated he began to regret going full scale pop..the fans never noticed though

so we can finally set aside this misomer for good that I hate his music post Thriller

MJ never needed the false image......the false image has created way too much hostility and disregard and ill will when it never had to be this way...

there would not be 2 seperate fanbases, everything had the potential to evolve w/a natural flow and continuom...it was all there

we can sit here and pretend like the false image did not fuel the scrutiny and ridicule..we are fooling ourselves......

because from 1983 to 1984, MJ received a level of respect that was unmatched

when HISTORY was originally conceived, the initial plan called for MJ to released two CD'S worth of all new music, but he scrapped that plan and on the first CD featured all of his classic hits...BECAUSE he was trying to regain the original following he knew he had lost....proof is in one of the feature photos in the album booklet...the picture of him standing on his toes sporting the wingtip dress shoes and the original presentation of the glittered socks while performing during the Triumph Tour.......

the thing he was trying to regain, he would have never had to try to regain it if he would have remained who he was meant to be

I don't worry about people disliking me.... because I know what Iv'e witnessed over this 27 year odyssey

Pop Culture, and Pop Music is not a distinguishable genre, it preys on what has been cultivated by communities who would otherwise lack a voice.......it then taps into it, and reinterprets it as if it created teh genre itself, extracts all of the virtue out of the source and leaves it out to dry, or lack of a better term, throws it under the bus......Pop Culture has no origin to speak of..it's predatory by nature........and when it devours a particular form of expression or the person who best interprets it, it moves on to the next party to victimize...

it's brutal...but it's real.....

[Edited 5/23/14 21:17pm]

PatrickS77 said:

when Michael died,Quincy made some mean-spirited remarks about MJ's children and their race....."he didn't want to be black...just look at those children",Jones said (or something to that effect).The irony is that all of Quincy's own children are half-White.He didn't even date women of his own race!

Cinnamon234 said:

PatrickS77 said:

And you shot right through Scorps deluded, tired old drivel.

And it is indeed very tired. No ones saying MJ was perfect. Far from it but neither is Quincy. I can be objective about Michael and accept that he had many faults. Someone like Scorp is incapable of being objective when it comes to Q. He can't ever admit when Quincy is wrong. Anyhow, enough about Quincy. I'm really not interested in anything he has to say about MJ. It's the same bitter shit time and time again. We get it. You don't care for MJ. He's a sell out, you're the main reason he became a big superstar,etc. Blah blah blah. I'm just happy to see "Xscape" having healthy second week sales. I hope it has longevity on the charts. It's a great album.

it's the exact opposite...me personally, I was horrified what I saw transpiring.....I stopped seeking the entertainment value when there was no longer a legit reason to do it.....

and there is no where what I've posted the last couple of days that would suggest Quincy Jones was perfect.....it was all strictly relating to his own accomplishments and what both men achieved together....

and I don't care if there are people who are tired...that's a huge part of the problem

maybe if we weren't so "tired", MJ would still be present making viable music that his talent made possible.....

[Edited 5/24/14 19:05pm]

SoulAlive said:

when Michael died,Quincy made some mean-spirited remarks about MJ's children and their race....."he didn't want to be black...just look at those children",Jones said (or something to that effect).The irony is that all of Quincy's own children are half-White.He didn't even date women of his own race!

I remember that. It was the very day after Michael died on one of the morning shows. I was so heartboken at the time and I remember how outraged I was, wishing I could get to him at that point to rip him in two. I remember thinking, 'he must have great disdain for Michael to say something like that and Michael had just died.' I mean, people were grieving around the world. We needed words of comfort. Mike's friends, people who knew hm, were offering just that...but not Quincy. I lost all respect for him that day. And yes, the irony... given his children's genetic makeup.

Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' Returns To Hot 100; Legend Lands 50th Hit

• ARTICLES
• NEWS
• CHART BEAT
• THE JUICE

By Gary Trust & Keith Caulfield, New York | May 28, 2014 5:44 PM EDT

The late King of Pop's 1983 smash returns thanks to a viral video. Plus, 'Slave to the Rhythm' debuts, marking Jackson's milestone 50th Hot 100 hit

Thanks for sharing this SoulAlive. Interesting, the two performances that we were talking about has had such a chart impact. Brilliant.

yeah,it's amazing.Michael is gone and yet he is still having hit singles.His music will live on forever,as each new generation embraces it.

A business-focused biography of Michael Jackson is coming;

Michael Jackson's Multibillion Dollar Career Earnings, Listed Year By Year

Michael Jackson’s latest posthumous album, Xscape, debuted earlier this month with opening week sales of 157,000, landing at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart. That will undoubtedly fatten the total amount the King of Pop has raked in since his death—well over $700 million in the past five years.

But Jackson earned far more than that during his life, thanks both to his musical prowess and his far less celebrated business savvy. In addition to releasing the best-selling album of all time and grossing hundreds of millions of the road, Jackson paved the way for modern musician-moguls by launching his own sneakers, clothes, video games and other ventures.

His total lifetime total: $1.1 billion, or just shy of $2 billion when accounting for inflation. Add adjusted posthumous figures, and the number soars to nearly $3 billion.

“He was extremely smart,” says rapper-actor-entrepreneur Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges. “From my perspective, because I’m business-oriented and savvy, I noticed and even read up on everything he did.”

Jackson helped create a fundamental shift in the monetization of fame, and that’s the notion at the core of my book, Michael Jackson, Inc, the first business-focused biography of the King of Pop, which will be published on June 3rd by Simon & Schuster’s Atria imprint.

At the end of the book is a table of annual earnings estimates for Jackson’s entire adult solo career, formulated by talking to over 100 entertainment industry insiders over the course of two years. But today, Forbes readers get a sneak peek at that research.

Highlights include the $134 million he made in the two years after the release of Thriller (an inflation-adjusted $306 million), the $125 million he banked in 1988 at the height of the Bad Tour (an inflation-adjusted $247 million), and the $118 million he earned in 1995 after scoring a nine-figure payout for merging his ATV publishing catalogue with Sony’s own (an inflation-adjusted $181 million).

“He had good instincts . . . more, more, more; better, better, better,” says manager Sandy Gallin, who managed Jackson for much of the 1990s. “He would, in his mind, negotiate the same way. No matter what anybody would offer, he wanted more.”

Jackson’s earnings prowess was so great that, even after child molestation allegations rocked his career in 1993, he recovered and had one of his best years ever in 1995. But after a second round of accusations turned into a lengthy trial in 2005, the King of Pop was unable to regain his peak financial form—in his lifetime, that is.

Only after his sudden death in 2009 did Jackson once again start earning nine-figure sums annually. The executors of his estate scored a whopping $250 million new record deal from Sony, released concert film This Is It (which grossed over $260 million), and launched two Cirque du Soleil shows.

Jackson’s gaudy postmortem totals were also boosted significantly by earnings from the assets he accumulated in life—namely, the Sony/ATV publishing catalogue that contains the copyrights to most of the Beatles’ biggest hits, as well as other songs by the likes of Lady Gaga, Eminem and Taylor Swift.
Today, Jackson’s heirs still own half of that company, worth about $2 billion, through his estate. The King of Pop purchased the catalogue’s core in 1985 for $47.5 million, and it adds tens of millions to his bottom line every year.

“He had a kid’s heart, but a mind of a genius,” Berry Gordy told me in an interview for Michael Jackson, Inc. “He was so loving and soft-spoken, and a thinker. . . . He wanted to do everything, and he was capable. You can only do so much in a lifetime.”

Michael Jackson, Inc: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire will be published by Simon & Schuster’s Atria imprint on June 3rd.

https://music.yahoo.com/blogs/music-news/michael-jackson-s-multibillion-dollar-career-earnings--listed-year-by-year-161433802.html

Marrk said:

Cloudbuster said:

A few minor errors, yeah, but overall great work by a generous man who clearly respects his subject.

I've got a few, this is the best book (after death ) on MJ without a doubt. Even if you ony have a passable interest in him, it's really worth owning.

Both this one and the Michael Bush book are the best to have come out since his death, the most true to re-capturing his vision and most inspirational.

Thanks for sharing these articles NaughtyKitty. Very interesting. My first reaction was it was an impersonator, but these articles suggest otherwise. I think they have some more work to do such as syncing the lips with the song and getting it to look more like MJ. But clearly another technological leap forward. I remember reading a while ago in an article lamenting live acts such as MJ and Britany Spears lip-syncing on "live" tours. The author dismissively said " I guess next the act will just stay home it will be a hologram out on tour." He or she may be proved right.

NaughtyKitty said:

Meet the conjurers of Michael Jackson's ghost

Why Billboard Music Awards' Michael Jackson Can't Be Called a 'Hologram'

Its neat that MJ's legacy can live on like this, even if it is a little weird. Not a big fan of LA Reid in general, the whole thing feels a bit pander-ish. You all know the D track finished, likely too good to be included.

Somehow I missed the Bible Music Awards, but that song seems like an odd choice for such a themed event. And to "reanimate" a dead man during a Bible awards ceremony sounds like poor taste.

I also saw this today. Absolutely awesome.

I saw tyhe Xscape documentary yesterday. La Reid is totally akward with his headbopping and his bold and the beautiful acting method. Also akward to see Timbaland diss the old versions of songs. What year is this ? etc

Jacko’s security team spills secrets from his wacky world

June 2, 2014 | 8:01pm

In 2006, Bill Whitfield was hired by a friend to work security for a mystery client who turned out to be Michael Jackson.

To his shock, Whitfield, who had previously done security for Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell, was to be the entirety of Jackson’s new security detail. So Javon Beard, who had done security at a resort and at a treatment plant but never for a celebrity of this magnitude, was also recruited.

Whitfield and Beard spent 2½ years working together as Jackson’s security team, and often served as Jackson’s sole conduit to the outside world, planning every aspect of his life to ensure the safest possible conditions and keeping him shielded even from his own family — whom Michael required to make appointments before he would see them.

Modal Trigger

Michael Jackson’s personal security guard Javon Beard keeps an eye on things as the pop star returns home from a trip to England and Japan in 2007.Photo: ©BAUER-GRIFFIN.COM

In their new book, “Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days,” written with journalist Tanner Colby, they share their own perspective on the complex reality of Michael Jackson’s life in the years leading up to his death in June 2009.

Here, they reveal some of the craziest stories from their time with the King of Pop.

Family troubles

Whitfield was waiting for his boss to emerge from his home on Feb. 27, 2007, as Jackson prepared to attend Elizabeth Taylor’s 75th birthday party at a resort on Lake Las Vegas, Nev., when he heard a loud smashing sound and saw a gray Mercedes SUV crash through the partially open gate. Whitfield wound up facing down the driver, his laser-sighted pistol pointed straight at the man’s chest, only to realize just seconds before he was about to pull the trigger that it was Jackson’s younger brother, Randy.

Randy refused to leave until Michael paid him money he claimed he owed him, standing outside the house screaming, “Michael owe me money! I want my f–kin’ money!” When he told Michael what was happening, he “raised his eyebrows for a moment,” then “winced” and said, “Get rid of him,” according to Whitfield. When Randy still wouldn’t leave 30 minutes later, a distraught Michael told his staff, “I’m just going to go to bed.” Randy stayed for two more hours before their father, Joe Jackson, was called, and convinced Randy to leave.

Michael was so distraught from the incident that he bailed on Taylor’s party, even though he’d been anxiously preparing for it for two weeks, including hiring Roberto Cavalli to design a special outfit for him, and flying in his hairstylist and makeup artist.

Michael’s panic attack

Jackson was so paranoid about safety that even with a fully armed security staff on premises, “he was always going around the house at 3 [or] 4 in the morning, checking locks on all the doors,” recalls Whitfield, who notes that Jackson “trusted no one” and “didn’t sleep much.” Jackson even had “panic buttons” installed in several rooms for him and his children to press if there was trouble. “The alarm didn’t sound inside the house,” writes Whitfield. “Just in the [security] trailer, to alert us. And it was a loud-ass alarm.”

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Randy JacksonPhoto: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

The first time the panic button was pressed, early one morning in April 2007, Whitfield heard it in the security trailer, ran around the house toward the kitchen door and stormed the kitchen with his semi-automatic Glock drawn — only to find Jackson and his children quietly eating their cereal. “They saw me and they froze,” he writes. “[Jackson’s son Blanket] was across the room by the TV, where the panic button was mounted on the wall. He was just walking around, hitting buttons.” While everyone was safe, Jackson was not happy about having a weapon pulled on his family. “Oh,” writes Whitfield, “he got on me about that.”

Shocked by the real world

Whitfield recalls the first time Jackson ever saw homeless people, from the window of his limo while driving around Las Vegas in early 2007. According to Whitfield, “Mr. Jackson saw these people and said, ‘Why are these people out there?’ ”

“Those are homeless people, sir,” Whitfield replied. “He was like, ‘Really? Wow.’ ”

Jackson asked Beard, who was driving, to pull over, and he watched them in amazement from his limo. He then asked Beard to call a homeless woman over toward the car. Jackson gave her $300, leaving her close to tears as she thanked him profusely. But as Beard started to pull away, they noticed a man she was with try to take the money, so Jackson gave the man $300 as well. “The lady started crying,” writes Beard, “like she’d been saved.”

Jackson then spent the rest of the night giving hundred-dollar bills to homeless people. “It’s just amazing,” he later said. “This country is so rich, and these people are poor and living on the street.”

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Bill Whitfield stays close to Jackson and his daughter Paris in Las Vegas, also in 2007.Photo: ©BAUER-GRIFFIN

Kissing in the back seat

While in Virginia in September 2007, Jackson told Whitfield that he needed to pick someone up from the airport. When Whitfield asked if the person needed to be vetted, Jackson said no, and referred to his mystery visitor simply as “Friend.” This visitor, it turned out, was Jackson’s secret girlfriend.

When they picked her up at Dulles Airport, they found a raving beauty, about 5-foot-4 with an Eastern European accent and dark, curly hair. They picked her up and drove her to a Hampton Inn in Chantilly, about 45 minutes from where Jackson was living. For the week or so that she was in town, Whitfield would drive Jackson to see her after the kids went to sleep. They would sneak in through the hotel’s emergency exit, and Jackson would stay there for hours but never spend the night, always making sure he was home before his children awoke. Whitfield and Beard believe the relationship was special for Jackson, as he would have them get gifts for her, such as engraved items from Tiffany.

Jackson and “Friend” were always affectionate and cozy. Whenever they were together they would “hold hands, sit very close together in the car, hug, kiss,” according to Whitfield. There were even times when they’d arrive at a destination, and whichever man was driving them would struggle to get their attention because they were making out in the back.

More famous birthdays today, May 29: LaToya Jackson, singer and daughter of Michael Jackson, born in Indiana in 1956;

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Wow, talk about sloppy lazy reporting....found this article from a few days ago re: LaToya's birthday May 29

http://www.yareah.com/2014/05/28/famous-birthdays-today-may-29-john-f-kennedy-carmelo-anthony-latoya-jackson-melanie-janine-brown-daniel-tosh-gregg-sulkin-kristen-alderson/

Gosh that MJ was so amazing! Having a daughter that's older than him! That guy is MAGIC!!

[Edited 6/4/14 12:09pm]

Good article and I believe this will be a good book. But I have to call Bullshit on the homeless people part. Impossible that MJ travels as much as he does, sings songs that he does (We are the World, Man in The Mirror, Do you Know where Your Children Are for example) and only saw homeless people for the first time in 2007 when he is almost 50! It is amazing how MJ could get people to believe he was so inncoent.

Whitfield recalls the first time Jackson ever saw homeless people, from the window of his limo while driving around Las Vegas in early 2007. According to Whitfield, “Mr. Jackson saw these people and said, ‘Why are these people out there?’ ”

“Those are homeless people, sir,” Whitfield replied. “He was like, ‘Really? Wow.’ ”

DonRants said:

Good article and I believe this will be a good book. But I have to call Bullshit on the homeless people part. Impossible that MJ travels as much as he does, sings songs that he does (We are the World, Man in The Mirror, Do you Know where Your Children Are for example) and only saw homeless people for the first time in 2007 when he is almost 50! It is amazing how MJ could get people to believe he was so inncoent.

Whitfield recalls the first time Jackson ever saw homeless people, from the window of his limo while driving around Las Vegas in early 2007. According to Whitfield, “Mr. Jackson saw these people and said, ‘Why are these people out there?’ ”

“Those are homeless people, sir,” Whitfield replied. “He was like, ‘Really? Wow.’ ”

I totally agree

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/paul-ankas-newest-single-features-duet-with-michael-jackson/article18892638/

Love Never Felt So Good is featured in a major ad campaign for Jeep, and Anka says there are “many, many more songs” from his sessions with Jackson. “They’ll all come out,” he says, “as they need them.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/10859712/Queen-to-Release-New-Album-With-Unreleased-Freddie-Mercury-Songs.html

"They've been hanging around for years and Michael's estate haven't really been able to make their mind up about what to do with them.

"So we suggested we finish them and see. They're pretty good – one of them is great."

The duet failed to make the listing for the King of Pop’s posthumous album Xscape and it remains unclear whether fans will hear it on the new Queen release.