Source: 2013 Billboard Music Awards/MJ WAS A CUTIE PIE
As I was watching tonight’s awards show I was pleasantly surprised to see tributes to Michael. Chris Brown gave a great performance to his new hit, “Fine China” with a surprise guitar solo by Orianthi from “This Is It.” (See 4:15-4:29) Chris ended the performance with a silent tribute to his idol Michael Jackson. He finished the song behind a lighted panel emulating Michael’s silhouette dance and ended with MJ’s signature pose. (See 4:29 – 4:49)
Tracey Morgan is another bigtime MJ fan. He gave honor to Michael tonight with his outfit. Here’s what he said.
“Since this is a music show, it’s the perfect time for me to talk about an artist, that was and is special to us: Michael Jackson. (He raises his arm for more applause) I went to a show and Michael was wearing this (he grabs his jacket and slightly pulls it open) and I said to myself, “this is the dopest thing I ever saw” and it showed me that Michael wasn’t about being big, he wasn’t about being bigger, he was about being the biggest. So I went out and had one made. (The crowd yells and applauds) Michael, this is for you.”
He raised his arm to the sky to Michael.
The outfit that he is referring to was the jacket that Michael wore to his 30th anniversary celebration in 2001.
This is Tracey’s version he had designed in 2012 which is covered in Swarovski crystal at the cost of $20,000.
When you’ve been covering Michael Jackson for any significant period of time, you come to believe that nothing can shock you anymore. Since I began reporting on Michael Jackson for various media organisations, he has announced the biggest concert residency of all time and then died before he could complete it. A doctor has been jailed for his homicide and a posthumous album has caused international scandal by containing tracks allegedly sung by an imposter.
For many years, Michael Jackson’s life (and after-life) has been a quagmire of scandal, controversy and legal wrangling. Presently, entertainment company AEG – which promoted Jackson’s ‘This Is It’ concerts – is on trial over what the singer’s family feels is a modicum of responsibility for his death. Already, witnesses have testified that Jackson was banned from the stage during some rehearsals for fear he would injure himself. A producer has testified to weeping as she saw Jackson rambling at rehearsals that God was speaking to him. She told jurors she had warned senior production members she believed he was dying and needed to be transported to hospital, only for her pleas to go ignored. Less than a week later, he was dead.
To a seasoned Jackson correspondent, none of this was surprising. It seems that not a week goes by without some drama or another engulfing the deceased music legend or those closely associated with him, from copyright disputes to kidnap allegations. But last week there was a development in the Michael Jackson sphere which truly did surprise me. Wade Robson, who has staunchly defended Michael Jackson for 20 years and even testified for him in his 2005 trial, filed papers against various organisations connected to the pop legend, seeking multiple pay-outs for alleged childhood abuse.
The choreographer claims he was sexually abused for seven years, from age seven to age 14. The news has rocked the Michael Jackson community. Those who loved him have sprung to his defence while those who built careers on attacking him had reacted with undisguised glee. Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe has labeled the financial demands ‘opportunistic’ and Jermaine Jackson has branded the choreographer ‘full of shit’.
Civil rights lawyer Tom Mesereau, who defended Jackson in his 2005 trial, has suggested the claims are ‘suspicious’ as their public filing coincided so neatly with the AEG trial. Indeed, the allegations broke as make-up artist Karen Faye testified that she and others had raised repeated concerns about Jackson’s health but had received callous responses from those in charge. Robson’s televised interview days later ensured little media attention was paid to testimony from an AEG employee that financial papers proved Murray was the company’s employee, not Michael Jackson’s. Wade Robson has repeatedly worked for AEG and apparently already has future work lined up with the corporation, but his lawyer has denied any connection between the court cases.
In light of Robson’s sudden change of tune, I have dusted off my complete trial transcripts from the 2005 government prosecution of Michael Jackson. While many news reports have mentioned that Robson testified for Jackson in the case, few have made any particular effort to underscore the gravity of his testimony.
Wade Robson was such a compelling and assured witness that Michael Jackson chose him to open his defence case at trial. Under sustained and sometimes aggressive questioning by government prosecutor Ron Zonen, Robson not only denied any impropriety on Jackson’s part, but did so repeatedly, vigorously and convincingly – even mocking prosecutors and describing the mere suggestion of sexual abuse at Jackson’s hands as ‘ridiculous’.
As a side-note, the idea that in a trial about alleged child sex abuse, a genuine abuser would choose somebody they had molested for seven years as their first witness to undergo unrelenting government cross-examination may seem somewhat far-fetched to the casual onlooker.
When viewed alongside some of the comments he made on the Today Show this week, Robson’s testimony is likely to cast more than a reasonable doubt over his new claims. He answered clearly and competently to detailed questions about various examples of alleged misconduct. The testimony is so immensely damaging to his new legal demands for money that he and his lawyer have already floated two potential, but arguably equally unconvincing, explanations for the bizarre u-turn.
When the story about his demands for money went live last week, Robson’s lawyer was quoted as saying the choreographer had recovered ‘repressed memories’, a story many suggested could have been designed to explain away Robson’s strenuous denials in the 2005 trial without admitting to perjury. However, Robson’s claim was met with such incredulity – many eminent psychologists do not even believe in repressed memories and even those who do took rather a dim view of Robson’s somewhat extreme story – that he has since changed tact.
Robson claimed in his TV interview this week that the real reason he told jurors he was not molested was that he had not realised that what Jackson allegedly did to him was abusive – another claim guaranteed to raise many an eyebrow. He was a successful, professional 22-year-old man at the time of his testimony.
Under oath in 2005, Robson was asked repeatedly about particular acts and whether he knew Michael Jackson to have performed them upon any child. He responded vehemently that not only had he never witnessed any such behaviour, but he was steadfast in his opinion that Michael Jackson would never have engaged in it.
Looking back over the 2005 court documents, the latest explanation for his testimony simply does not stand up to scrutiny. For instance, he was asked specifically whether Jackson had touched his body. Regardless of whether he believed Jackson’s conduct to constitute sexual abuse, if Jackson had indeed touched his body, the clear answer would have been ‘yes’. But it wasn’t ‘yes’. It was ‘no’. Over, and over, and over again.
He even testified that after what he now claims were several years of sexual abuse at Jackson’s hands, he returned to the scene of the alleged crimes more than 20 times in later life, with friends and relatives in tow, for relaxing getaways. He also testified to remaining in touch with Jackson and still considering him a close friend. Indeed, several years after the trial, Robson continued to socialise with Jackson.
Shortly after Jackson’s death was announced in 2009, Robson wrote that Jackson was ‘one of the main reasons I believe in the pure goodness of humankind’. According to Jackson’s brother Jermaine, Robson and his mother helped him pen portions of his autobiography about the media’s unfair portrayal of his brother as a child molester. Indeed, since Jackson’s death Robson has paid public tribute to the star repeatedly, as recently as 2012. He even applied last year for a job choreographing a tribute show to his alleged molester, but did not get the gig.
Wade Robson has filed a creditor’s claim against Jackson’s Estate, seeking a cash pay-out for alleged childhood abuse. He has also filed a civil lawsuit against various Jackson-affiliated companies, seeking further financial compensation for his alleged abuse.
He insisted this week that his new claims were ‘not about money’.
The full transcript of Robson’s testimony on May 5, 2005, totals almost 14,000 words and runs across 60 pages of A4. It includes lots of repetition and discussion about where he lived, when his parents separated and various other tangential asides. Below, I have extracted what I believe to be the key testimony. It is difficult to see how, given the existence of this sworn testimony, Robson could ever convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Jackson had ever acted inappropriately in his presence.
A cynical person might therefore interpret Robson’s high profile TV interview this week as an attempt to avoid ever getting into a courtroom and having a jury test his new claims. How many more high profile public attacks can Jackson’s Estate suffer before it is forced to begin considering a settlement? At this stage, the ability to damage the Estate’s earning potential is about all Robson has got on his side – because the evidence is firmly on Michael Jackson’s.
Here is the testimony nobody else in the media is showing you. See for yourself.
When 60 Minutes’ Lara Logan and producer John Hamlin toured a secret warehouse where Michael Jackson’s personal effects are stored, they found a surreal collection of statues, arcade games, and crystal-encrusted clothing– but the most fascinating item they found was a simple handwritten note.
“At the age of 21, he wrote a manifesto,” explains Hamlin, “scribbled to himself on the back of a tour itinerary in 1979 that described his mission statement for what he wanted to become.” The document is folded and worn, and it appears to be hand-written by Jackson in ballpoint pen during a moment of inspiration.
The document reads:
“MJ will be my new name. No more Michael Jackson. I want a whole new character, a whole new look. I should be a tottally [sic] different person. People should never think of me as the kid who sang “ABC,” [or] “I Want You Back.” I should be a new, incredible actor/singer/dancer that will shock the world. I will do no interviews. I will be magic. I will be a perfectionist, a researcher, a trainer, a masterer [sic]. I will be better than every great actor roped into one.”
Logan, who reported on Michael Jackson’s estate for 60 Minutes this week, said the letter was the most personal find in the vast warehouse of belongings she toured with archivist Karen Langford.
”One of the things that I discovered is that it was very hard to get a sense of who Michael Jackson was by the end of his life,” says Logan. “Because under this siege of accusations and stardom, the real Michael Jackson kind of disappeared. I was hungry for a sense of who Michael Jackson was as a person, and what could be more personal than something he wrote like that when he was so young.”
In the note, Jackson also expressed a desire to improve himself by studying the work of great entertainers. In the margin of the document he added this promise: “I will study and look back on the whole world of entertainment and perfect it, take it steps further from where the greats left off.”
Hamlin, a music industry producer as well as a 60 Minutes producer, says about the letter: “It’s not unusual for young artists, musicians, actors, to daydream about how big a star they wanna become, but for someone to write it down at age 21 and actually execute it almost to the T is remarkable. He set his goals, and he did exactly what he said on the back of that piece of paper.”
Administrator’s Note: That reporter Lara Logan ruined what was a good interview because she wanted to talk about drama. I didn’t like her or her disrepectful ways at all. I wish they had gotten Anderson Cooper or someone else to do this report. John Branca tried hard not to say how much Michael is making because he knows that more vultures are waiting to take what they can get. CP♥
Lady Gaga bought a Jackson crystal glove last December; photo courtesy of Julien’s Auctions
Tonight, May 19, CBS “60 Minutes” will air a segment on Michael Jackson’s legacy and personal possessions.
Jackson accumulated a half-billion in debt at the end of his life says a CBS news website promoting the show. But now it seems The Michael Jackson “The Immortal World Tour” earns Jackson’s estate millions, but his possessions sit in storage, specifically in five 20,000-foot California warehouses.
One fan who saw a clip of the upcoming segment on a CBS news website commented online, “I couldn’t believe the reporter was handling those clothes when OBVIOUSLY they shouldn’t have been handled without gloves.”
Darren Julien of Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, which auctioned off an autographed version of the “Beat It” jacket this weekend for $10,000 at New York City’s Hard Rock Café offered, “Michael Jackson fans are very passionate and outspoken.”
Julien said that for the short term, not wearing gloves to handle the gloved ones’ items is not that serious.
“Long term,” he said, “oil on hands expedites deterioration, but only for clothing.”
Julien would know firsthand about Michael Jackson memorabilia. He told me that Jackson hired him, when he was still alive, to “clear” his beloved Neverland of its contents.
“It took 90 days, 30 men and 10 semi-trailers,” said Julien. The folks at Julien’s Auctions catalogued the items and put them on exhibition. But then it seems Jackson had a change of heart…
“It was the greatest auction that never happened,” said Julien. Apparently, concert promoter AEG came through with an advance for the “This Is It” tour and Michael Jackson no longer needed to sell. TheLA Times reported the advance was about $30,000.
Jackson and Julien settled for an undisclosed amount and “ended on good terms,” reported Julien who estimated that the Neverland items his company cleared were worth somewhere between $2 to $6 million.
Why broadcast a segment about Jackson memorabilia now?
“The estate is trying to reach out to fans and make them feel more part of the singer’s career,” offered Julien. (My money is on the AEG suit as another reason.)
According to the Daily News, tonight’s “60 Minute” broadcast will show a crystal glove Jackson wore on the “Billy Jean” tour, estimated at $80,000. So how many legitimate sequined gloves are out there? Julien estimates there are 20 and that each true glove is heavily documented.
“The designer did something special to each glove that no one else would know about,” said Julien.
In 2009, Julien’s Auctions sold the glove the King of pop wore during the 1983 “Motown 25” celebration where he performed the “moonwalk” for the first time. The glove sold for $420,000 to a Hong Kong businessman.
Clearly, lots of money has changed hands in the name of Michael Jackson. What’s nice is that, in this case, the children, and not some overseas collector, will have their father’s things.
I’m thinking any Dad, Michael Jackson or not, would want that—even if that means 5 full warehouses.
Source: madandcrazy (Published June 27, 2009)/The Michael Jackson World Network
I was fortunate enough to work with MJ early in my career. He was an incredible artist. Talented beyond your wildest dreams. Extremely generous, and a hard worker. I actually went from a staff assistant at the Hit Factory in NYC to freelance engineer under Swedien and MJ. They were due to start in Los Angeles when the Northridge earthquake hit so they moved to New York. One room was all Bruce, the second room was the writing room. I started assisting Bruce’s writing partner Rene Moore. I would track stuff with Rene, and Bruce would come in and tell me what I did wrong, sit in for a few hours and set us straight. After a couple months MJ arrived and the entire tour rig was moved in along with Brad Buxer, Andrew Scheps, and Eddie Delena. I continued to assist them until the whole crew moved to L.A., they decided to take me with them. I would assist Bruce during the day, and help out every where else at night – assisting, engineering, programming, and on one song playing guitar. We had two rooms at Record One, and two rooms at Larrabee where I met John. At one point in NYC we had just about every room at the Hit Factory. The crew was great, and I learned so much from all of them. I learned to engineer from Bruce Swedien, John, and Eddie, and got to sit in with producers like MJ, Jam And Lewis, Babyface, David Foster, Teddy Riley, and Dallas Austin.
I was actually asked to leave the project early on because there were too many people around and MJ didn’t know me. Luckily, I was rehired about 10 days later. At the wrap party MJ apologized profusely, and expressed his gratitude. Truly the most sincere man you will ever meet.
Some random memories:
One morning MJ came in with a new song he had written overnight. We called in a guitar player, and Michael sang every note of every chord to him. “here’s the first chord first note, second note, third note. Here’s the second chord first note, second note, third note”, etc., etc. We then witnessed him giving the most heartfelt and profound vocal performance, live in the control room through an SM57.
He would sing us an entire string arrangement, every part. Steve Porcaro once told me he witnessed MJ doing that with the string section in the room. Had it all in his head, harmony and everything. Not just little eight bar loop ideas. he would actually sing the entire arrangement into a micro-cassette recorder complete with stops and fills.
At one point Michael was angry at one of the producers on the project because he was treating everyone terribly. Rather than create a scene or fire the guy, Michael called him to his office/lounge and one of the security guys threw a pie in his face. No further action was needed . . . . .
During the recording of “Smile” on HIStory, Bruce thought it would be great if Michael would sing live with the orchestra. But of course, we didn’t tell the players that. We set him up in a vocal booth off to the side. They rehearsed a bit without vocals in, then during the first take Michael sang, just about knocked them out of their chairs.
His beatboxing was without parallel, and his time was ridiculous.
His sense of harmony was incredible. Never a bad note, no tuning, even his breathing was perfectly in time.
Once, while we were taking a break, I think we were actually watching the OJ chase on TV, there was a news program talking about him being in Europe with some little boy. I was sitting next to the guy while the news is making this crap up. He just looked at me and said this is what I have to deal with.
I spent close to 3 years working with him, and not once did I question his morals, or ever believe any of the allegations. I wasn’t even a fan then. I saw him interact with his brothers kids, other people’s children, and at one point my own girlfriend’s kids. I got to spend a day at Neverland with them. A completely incredible human being, always looking for a way to make all children’s lives better. Every weekend at Neverland was donated to a different children’s group – children with AIDS, children cancer, etc., and most of the time he wasn’t there.
He was simply living the childhood he never had. In many ways he never grew up.
I was assisting Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis while they recorded the background vocals for “Scream” with MJ and Janet. The two of them singing together was amazing. Super tight, no bad notes. One part after another. When they took a break they sang the showtunes they used to sing as kids. Again, perfect harmony. Mj refused to sing the “stop f*ckin’ with me part” because he would NOT curse.
I was the tape op for the recording of the background vocals on “Stranger in Moscow”. Scared the hell out me. Michael was dropping in and out on syllables, rearranging the notes and timing as he put it down. No Pro Tools at the time, just 2″ tape, and my punches.
I erased a live keyboard overdub that he played one night. He came in the next morning, replaced it, and never uttered another word about it.
I was there when Lisa Marie was around. They acted like two kids in love. Held hands all the time, and she hung out at the studio for quite a while. I never questioned their love for each other.
We recorded a Christmas song during the summer of ’94 that needed a children’s choir. Michael insisted that the entire studio be decorated with xmas lights, tree, fake snow and a sled for their recording. And he bought presents for everyone.
The last weekend of recording on HIStory he came to me and Eddie Delena, and said “I’m sorry, but I don’t think any of us are going to sleep this weekend. There’s a lot to get done, and we have to go to Bernie on Monday morning”. He stayed at the studio the entire time, singing, and mixing. I got to spend a couple quiet moments with him during that time. We talked about John Lennon one night as he was gearing up to sing the last vocal of the record – the huge ad libs at the end of “earth song”. I told him the story of John singing “twist and shout” while being sick, and though most people think he was screaming for effect, it was actually his voice giving out. He loved it, and then went in to sing his heart out. . . .
Later that night, while mixing, everyone left the room so MJ could turn it up. This was a common occurrence during the mixes, and I was left in the room with ear plugs, and hands over my ears, in case he needed something. This particular night, all the lights were out and we noticed some blue flashes intermittently lighting up the room during playback. After a few moments we could see that one of the speakers (custom quad augspuergers) was shooting blue flames. Mj liked this and proceeded to push all the faders up . . . .
MJ liked hot water while he was singing. I mean really hot !!!!! It got to the point that I would melt plastic spoons to test it.
Bruce and I were talking about walking to the studio everyday in NYC, and what routes we took. Michael looked at us and said we were so lucky to be able to do that. He couldn’t walk down the street without being harassed. It was a sad moment for all of us.
The studio crew got free tickets to the Janet show so we all went right from work one night. About halfway through the show we see this dude with a long beard, dressed in robes dancing in the aisle behind. I mean really dancing . . . it was Mj in disguise. Kind of like the costume Chevy Chase wears in Fletch while roller skating.
He got one of the first playstations from sony in his lounge . . . we snuck in late at night to play the games that hadn’t been released yet.
A couple people on the session hadn’t seen Jurassic Park while it was out, so MJ arranged a private screening for us at Sony.
He was a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral . .
I was lucky enough over the course of 3 years to have access to the multitrack masters for tour prep, videos, and archive purposes. To be able to pull these tracks apart was a huge lesson in production, and songwriting. A chance to look into the minds of geniuses.
Of all the records I’ve worked on, MJJ was the only company to give platinum award records.
One day we just all sat in the studio listening to his catalog with him for inspiration. He loved the process, he loved the work. ~ Rob Hoffman
************
June 28, 2009
By the way, to elaborate a bit on the Notorious B.I.G. session, it was kinda like this. Michael used to call people to ask them to participate on albums. It was interesting knowing that nearly anyone on the planet would come to the phone if it were Michael calling. Anyway, I heard rumors that B.I.G. was going to come, and I was excited about that! I knew that I would be the one to record that, as I had recorded nearly all of that tune, “This Time Around”.
So, Dallas and I were expecting him any minute, and pretty much on time, Notorious strolls in. He was quite an imposing figure when he walked in, as he was quite popular at the time. I had no idea what to expect from him in terms of attitude, but he seemed nice when he walked in. No problem. But almost immediately, he blurted out, “Yo, Dallas, can I meet Mike?” To which, Dallas replied that he thought so. Biggie went on to talk about how much this opportunity meant to him, as Michael was his hero. Anyway, Dallas tells him that we’re going to lay down the rap first, so Biggie heads in the booth, we get some headphone levels and get ready to start recording.
So, we hit the big red button (on a Sony 3348 machine), and away we go. During his first take, Dallas and I looked at each other, because it was spot on. wow. I was impressed, and so was Dallas. We listened back, and Dallas was like, “Wow, I think we got it”. As I recall, we took another take for good measure, but I’m fairly certain that we ended up using the first take. So, Notorious comes in, and asks if he can meet Michael now. We sent word to the back room where Michael was working that Biggie was finished and wanted to meet him.
Simply for security, Michael’s security would enter and make sure that no one was in the room that shouldn’t be, and once that was confirmed (it was just me, Biggie and Dallas), Michael came in. Biggie nearly broke out in tears…I could tell how much this meant to him. Well, Michael could have this effect on anyone, even the most hardcore rappers! Biggie was tripping up on his words, bowing down and telling Michael how much his music had meant to him in his life. Michael was, as always, very humble and kept smiling while Biggie just went on and on how much he loved Michael. I watched Biggie just become this big butterball of a man, and it was really very sweet to witness. After all, we are all just people.
Michael finally asked to hear what we had done, and we popped it up on the big speakers and let her go. Michael LOVED it and was excited to tell Biggie that! “Oh, let’s hear it again”, I recall Michael saying, and we listened again. Michael just loved it…and thanked Biggie for coming all the way from Philadelphia. Biggie asked rather sheepishly whether he could get a photo, and Michael agreed. A shot was taken, we listened again, and Michael thanked Biggie. Michael said goodbye and stepped out, leaving Biggie standing there looking completely stunned.
Michael Jackson spent his life breaking music industry records. Four years after his death, the pop star’s estate has delivered another first: Jackson is now the only person, place or thing to have inspired two Cirque du Soleil shows.
The Montreal-based acrobatic-theater company presented a sneak peak of its new Jackson tribute show, “One,” at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
The show shares many features with “Immortal,” another Cirque production that capitalizes on the enduring public fascination with the King of Pop.
In both, performers dance, somersault and glide above the crowd in dramatic riffs on Jackson’s number one hits.
But unlike “Immortal,” which is a touring show, “One” will have a permanent home in Vegas when it opens June 29. “Immortal” is scored by a live band, whereas “One” will feature original recordings.
Creative Director Welby Altidor said he tried to channel Jackson’s famous knack for pushing boundaries.
“If Michael was an acrobat, how would he fly? How would he do the things Cirque du Soleil does?” he asked.
The 20-minute preview Tuesday looked like Cirque’s typical display of elaborately costumed, often airborne, attention deficit theater.
Each scene featured at least five separate points of action at any given time, with actors taking advantage of the full three-dimensionality of the space — flying over the crowd, climbing ropes to the ceiling, and dancing off to the wings in ramps.
The show is not biographical, and no one directly portrays Jackson. Instead, it presents emotional, if fairly literal, takes on the pop star’s hits.
During the act set to “Stranger in Moscow,” a huddled figure wanders in the snow. Performers don bejeweled prison stripes for “Smooth Criminal.” And for “Bad,” they do tightrope tricks amid a scene of urban decay.
The show does portray a general sense of Jackson-ness.
Paparazzi-like monsters with flashing headgear torment four main characters. Dancers appear in white fedoras and white jackets over shimmering bikinis. They moonwalked and leaned to precariously acute angles.
Pictures and stock footage of Jackson also drift on and off a giant LED screen that serves as the show’s backdrop.
The Jackson estate is co-producer of both Cirque shows. In addition to sharing in revenue from the box office and merchandizing, the estate earns royalties on the music used in the productions.
While some fans might be leery of what appears to be another money grab, “One” is likely to fit right in on the Strip, which has also hosted Beatles and Elvis-themed Cirque shows.
As acrobats tumbled and bounced in Las Vegas, the spirit of the late performer was also hovering over an entirely different production a few hundred miles away. A wrongful death trial is currently playing out in a Los Angeles court between Michael Jackson’s mother and concert giant AEG Live.
Altidor acknowledged that the trial has put the singer’s name back in the headlines, but he hopes no one will be thinking of the tabloid side of Jackson’s life when they come to the Mandalay Bay theater.
“We’re really focusing on the positive; all the things he brought to the world,” he said. “That’s what we want to celebrate.”
