Book: Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days / Review @pg8

[HIStory]

My U.S. friend told me there was a television special about the Simpson criminal trial. She said she was glad there was no mention of Michael harboring Simpson after his acquittal as these authors have stated.

Who stated what?

 

[Tygger]

Who stated what?

She said Bill Whitfield said Michael told him he harbored Simpson at Neverland after his acquittal.

 

[HIStory]

She said Bill Whitfield said Michael told him he harbored Simpson at Neverland after his acquittal.

Where did Bill Whitfield say that? Source?

 

[SoCav]

Where did Bill Whitfield say that? Source?

It's in the book:

Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about Mike LaPerruque for very long. He fell out of favor with Mr. Jackson right after he showed up. Couple days after the Vogue shoot, we were in Jersey driving home from the mall. It was me, Mr. Jackson, and Mike, and it came over the radio that O.J. Simpson had been arrested in Las Vegas. This was the time he got busted for armed robbery, trying to steal some of his own sports memorabilia from some people at a hotel. This news came over the radio, and Mike LaPerruque said, "They finally got him! They finally got O.J."

Mr Jackson was in the backseat. He said, "What? What's that about O. J.?" Mike said, "They finally got him." "What do you mean they finally got him?" "He was arrested, in Vegas." Mr Jackson didn't really react. He just said, "Oh." We stopped a few minutes later and Mike had to run inside a store to get something, and Mr. Jackson said, "Bill, I didn't like that." I said, "What's that, sir?" "I didn't like that comment about O.J. O.J. and I were friends. No one knows this but he stayed with me at Neverland after he was acquitted." I sat there thinking, Whaaaat? I'd never heard that before.

I didn't get a clear sense on whether he thought O.J. was guilty or not, but I think his sympathies were with O.J. on the way he was hounded, how even after he was acquitted, people never left him alone. Mr. Jackson said he knew exactly what O.J. was going through. He said, "O.J. should have just left the country. He should have left and never come back." So after Mike made that O.J. comment? Mr. Jackson wasn't feeling him so much.

 

[HIStory]

Thanks. Stories like this would have been better left untold. It's exactly stories like this which give the press ammunition for negativity. So far luckily they did not really seem to have picked up on it, but imagine the headlines "MJ and OJ were friends". It was not too wise from the BGs to include this.

 

[LastTear]

Whatever people believe now OJ Simpson was found not guilty so there was nothing wrong with Michael 'harbouring him' straight after his trial.

 

[gerryevans]

Whatever people believe now OJ Simpson was found not guilty so there was nothing wrong with Michael 'harbouring him' straight after his trial.

ITA... MJ's friend was found innocent and he didn't abandon him. Didn't take the leap that that his friend murdered his wife. Believed in him as a jury did. Wish MJ had had friends like he was.

People can say MJ was naïve and in denial then and later, but then that's what's routinely said about MJ fans.

After how authorities went after MJ and persecuted him, it's understandable he continued to empathize with OJ even in later years, and still could even believe in him.

You tend to see the world through your own experiences.

Thanks. Stories like this would have been better left untold. It's exactly stories like this which give the press ammunition for negativity. So far luckily they did not really seem to have picked up on it, but imagine the headlines "MJ and OJ were friends". It was not too wise from the BGs to include this.

Also, agree a tabloid could run a negative story about their relationship, but a tabloid could take anything and twist it into a negative about Michael. It's a matter of how many copies they hope to sell that week to what extent they'll twist it.

 

[HIStory]

I do understand why Michael would give OJ the benefit of doubt. He had his own experience with being accused and the whole world believing he was guilty, while he knew he was innocent. So I think based on his own experience he just assumed it could be the same with OJ. I personally do not think he was right if he assumed OJ was innocent, but I can see how and why MJ would think so based on his own experience with law enforcement and the media reporting about his case. He just projected himself on OJ, in this case. Unfortunately Michael tended to be a terrible judge of character as we can see from the herd of backstabbing people whom he called "friends". I think it comes from his own goodness and thus assumption that other people are like that too when mostly they aren't.

So I can see why MJ would say this, but it's a sensitive subject and I think there was no need for the BGs to include everything and this should have been left untold.

 

[Warszawa320]

ITA... MJ's friend was found innocent and he didn't abandon him. Didn't take the leap that that his friend murdered his wife. Believed in him as a jury did. Wish MJ had had friends like he was.

People can say MJ was naïve and in denial then and later, but then that's what's routinely said about MJ fans.

After how authorities went after MJ and persecuted him, it's understandable he continued to empathize with OJ even in later years, and still could even believe in him.

You tend to see the world through your own experiences.




Also, agree a tabloid could run a negative story about their relationship, but a tabloid could take anything and twist it into a negative about Michael. It's a matter of how many copies they hope to sell that week to what extent they'll twist it.

This story was already in the tabloids before...

 

[Bonnie Blue]

So I can see why MJ would say this, but it's a sensitive subject and I think there was no need for the BGs to include everything and this should have been left untold.

Oj gave an interview after mj's death where he told the story about escaping to neverland with his children after his trial, i guess with everything else going on it didn't receive much publicity. It seemed to have been jerms who was his main friend and he was the one who approached mj on oj's behalf to ask if oj cd get away from the paps and have some seclusion. Mj agreed, we all know how hospitable he was, and Oj made it clear that mj wasn't at the ranch during his visit. Agree, I don't think it shd be made of anything more than it was, mj let loads of people use neverland when he wasn't there(klein's bear pals spring unfortunately to mind).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgnk_G6csEY

 

[Tygger]

Since this was public information, I do not know for fact that Michael told his bodyguard he harbored Simpson at Neverland and if this was the reasoning behind Mike LaPerruque's termination.

My friend was glad it was not mentioned simply because it causes others to judge Michael's actions. Whether one believes Simpson was guilty or not will in turn cause one to judge Michael unfavorable or favorably or complete unnecessary analysis of his reasoning.

 

[ivy]

ITA... MJ's friend was found innocent and he didn't abandon him. Didn't take the leap that that his friend murdered his wife. Believed in him as a jury did. Wish MJ had had friends like he was.

You so nicely pointed out the double standard in this thread.

for a few pages people discussed the party story in which Grace claimed MJ's friends didn't attend or wanted to be publicly associated with Michael even after he was found "not guilty".

Then we see posts about people not being happy with Michael not turning his back on a person who was found "not guilty".

If your argument is that MJ should have treated a person who is found not guilty as guilty that justifies how MJ's friends and public treated him as well. as MJ fans we can't have it both ways.

 

[Tygger]

Ivy, you are confusing the issues.

There were posters disputing that these authors’ stated there was a party after Michael’s acquittal when technically there was not. There was a concert headlined by Michael’s brother Tito after Michael's acquittal and Tito decided to not perform and instead give “thanks” to those who were probably ticket holders and others who were told of the event and asked to appear in a show of support. Those posters disputed the authors' account of a so-called acquittal party but, they did not dispute Michael receiving inadequate support from others during the party that happened before the trial began.

As for those being upset with Michael harboring Simpson, that is their view based on if they feel Simpson was guilty or not. The authors purposely stated Michael did not confess his personal feelings regarding Simpson’s guilt or innocence because they do not want to offend readers. The reader however is free to draw a conclusion that Michael would not harbor a man he felt was guilty of a heinous crime. This is where judgment of Michael's actions and/or unnecessary analysis of his reasoning occurs.

 

[AliCat]

To make the story plausible, what did Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson have in common? The same attorney, Johnnie Cochran.

In 1993, Johnny Cochran, along with Howard Weitzman, were the Attorneys who signed the settlement between the Chandler's and Michael Jackson.

Reacting to news of Cochran's death Tuesday, Jackson had kind words for the lawyer he considered "a great humanitarian."

"Johnnie Cochran was a true gentleman who embodied class, brilliance, honesty and integrity," Jackson said in a statement. "His fight for justice transcended color, age or economic status. ... I loved him, and I will miss him. I am proud to have called him my friend."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/03/30/defense-lawyer-johnnie-cochran-dies-at-67/

Those are nice sentiments that Michael Jackson had to say when Johnnie Cochran died in March of 2005. Maybe the plausibility is Johnnie Cochran called Michael Jackson on October 3, 1995 and asked him to take OJ Simpson and his children in. Michael Jackson isn't here to confirm the story!

 

[ivy]

As for those being upset with Michael harboring Simpson, that is their view based on if they feel Simpson was guilty or not.

Actually this is exactly my point. You and some other are upset with OJ Simpson story because you feel Simpson was guilty - despite of being found not guilty.

And that's no different from Michael's so called friends, celebrities, media and public treating Michael. Michael was found not guilty but these people "feel" he was guilty.

As far as I'm concerned it's a double standard for MJ fans. If we go around and saying "Michael was found not guilty", the same standard should apply to OJ, Casey Anthony, Zimmerman and so on. If you "feel" these other people were guilty despite the verdict, other people can also "feel" Michael was guilty despite the verdict.

 

[Justthefacts]

Boom goes the dynamite

 

[Tygger]

Ivy, you confused the issue between a so-called acquittal party as per these bodyguards and those posters being against their false tale.

You are now confusing my previous post as I stated my friend was against this tale being told because she did not want Michael to be judged by others unnecessarily which is consistently the case.

You will have no luck finding any post where I said I or my friend personally felt Simpson was guilty (or innocent for that matter) anywhere on this forum. That is your assumptions.

 

[Paris78]

Retweetet von Bill Whitfield
I'm only human @luv2dance73 · The fans have spoken. Remember the Time or the bodyguard book is a hit. http://www.rememberthetime-book.com/fan/

Bill Whitfield @MJBODYGUARDS · June 12th
Been crazy busy, had a chance to catch up on reviews. Thank you ALL! #rememberthetime

 

[Annita]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/what-michael-jackson-would-have-felt-about-xscape.html

What Michael Jackson Would Have Felt About Xscape
By Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard
June 13, 2014 | 4:06pm
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What Michael Jackson Would Have Felt About Xscape
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Michael Jackson’s bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard imagine how the King of Pop would have reacted to a remixed album of unreleased tracks.

Ever since Michael Jackson died, there have been many arguments over how his estate has handled his musical legacy. The latest one erupted last month with the release of Xscape, the album of Michael Jackson’s unfinished demos, updated and polished by LA Reid, Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins and others. Last week, we even got a hologram of Mr. Jackson, singing and dancing from beyond the grave. Some fans are overjoyed just to have his music back in the spotlight. Others are calling it a terrible violation of what Jackson would have wanted if he were alive.

In the studio, Jackson was a perfectionist, carefully obsessing over every detail of his songs before releasing them to the public, and it was well-established in his lifetime that he didn’t like his record label remixing and changing his music. But whenever you’re dealing with the legacy of a great artist, things are going to get complicated. Having worked as Mr. Jackson’s personal security team for two-and-a-half years, spending days and weeks at his side, going to and from the recording studio and listening to him work at home, we feel we can offer some unique insight on how he might feel about this album and the controversy it’s created.

We were with Mr. Jackson during the time he was working on the remixes for the 25th anniversary release of Thriller. Those remixes were Sony’s idea, not his. We’d hear him on the phone all the time, arguing with his manager about not wanting to do them. Whenever the subject of the remixes came up, he’d say, “There are some things you should never touch.” We must have heard him say it a dozen times. As far as he was concerned, that album was perfect. You don’t go back and add hip-hop beats to Thriller. It’s a classic, and you don’t touch it. But Sony told him he had to. They told him he had to get in the studio and do these remixes to make himself new and hip again.

We first started taking him to the studio to do work on the tracks around February of 2007, and from there the process just dragged on forever. At that point, the anniversary of the release date was ten months off, in November. That came and went, and the album still wasn’t done. He kept putting it off and putting it off and the remixes kept taking longer and longer to finish. All sorts of stuff had been planned, TV specials, appearances—none of it happened. He wasn’t cool with it. By January of 2008, Jackson was living at the Palms resort in Las Vegas, using the recording studio there. One of us was with him in the studio nearly 24/7 while he worked, trying to catch up and finish these songs he was contractually obligated to do, but that he didn’t want to do. He wasn’t going in there with enthusiasm. You could tell that. Once the album came out there was all this hype in the media, but inside his camp it barely registered. He never talked about it like it was a big deal. We heard more excitement in his voice talking about going to the movies than we ever heard when he was talking about Thriller 25.

So, yes, he hated remixes. But we saw another side of Jackson, too. There was one night when we were staying at the Palms, at the same time he was working on these remixes for Thriller 25. He told us he wanted to go to the club downstairs. He didn’t want to make an appearance; he just wanted to hang out and do some people watching. This club had a VIP balcony that overlooked the crowd, so we set it up for him to go down there. We were in the club for maybe two to three minutes when all of sudden the deejay started playing one of his songs; they were mixing it, cutting it together with a bunch of other tunes. Mr. Jackson was bopping his head along to it, and he said, “Wow, I didn’t know that they still played my music.”

We were like, “What?!” We told him, “Sir, they still play your music all the time. In bars, clubs, everywhere.”

He said, “Really?”

He seemed surprised. He’d been out of the spotlight and beaten up by the tabloids for so long at that point that he really felt like maybe the world had moved on, that he wasn’t as popular anymore. It really made him happy to hear his songs in the club like that. He wanted his music to be remembered. Other artists often reached out for permission to sample his songs. Jackson’s attorney would call and say, “Tell Michael that Kanye West wants to sample such-and-such. What does he want to charge?”

We’d relay the message to Jackson, and he’d say, “Nothing. Tell them it’s fine if they just use it. The more they use my music, that means my music stays alive.” He could have charged a fortune, but he didn’t. He just wanted his music to be out there in the world. He wanted to be an inspiration, to be connected to this younger generation of artists and
producers
who were following in his footsteps. He wanted them to build on his legacy.

Jackson believed there are some things you should never touch, but he also wanted his music to be used and kept alive. So what would he have thought of Xscape? Honestly, he probably would enjoyed some aspects of it, and other aspects not so much. If he were here and he listened to the album and he heard even one wrong note, he’d be furious. He’d obsess over it for days, not stopping until he found a way to make it right. But if he saw young people in the club, dancing to this new single “Love Never Felt So Good”? That would have filled his heart with joy like you couldn’t imagine. To hear all these young producers talking about his genius in the studio? To have the #1 album in over 50 different countries? To know that he was still the King of Pop? That was important to him, too.

Michael Jackson’s final years took a heavy toll on him. He was hunted by the paparazzi, run down by the tabloids, beset by legal and financial problems. That we witnessed, only two things brought him real happiness during that difficult time: the love of his three children and the dedication of his fans, the people who never forgot about the music while the media was only obsessed with scandals and rumors. Those fans may never agree on whether the Jackson estate is doing the right thing or the wrong thing. We may never agree about the best way to honor his legacy, and we will all make our own choices about what albums to buy and what projects to support. But we can all agree on one thing Michael Jackson would have wanted: he’d want us to keep the music alive—in the club, on the dance floor, and in our hearts.

© 2014 Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, authors of Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in his Final Days

Experts in the field of private protection, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard served for two and a half years as the personal security team for Michael Jackson and have worked with numerous other high-profile clients, including Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Alicia Keys, and Shaquille O’Neal. For more information please visit rememberthetime-book.com, and follow the authors on Twitter

 

[gerryevans]

Retweetet von Bill Whitfield
I'm only human @luv2dance73 · The fans have spoken. Remember the Time or the bodyguard book is a hit. http://www.rememberthetime-book.com/fan/

It's both a heartwarming and heartbreaking read, especially the little tidbits for me.

Heartwarming...Paris desperately wanting to win a teddy bear for "daddy" at an arcade, finally winning it with the BG's help, and being so overjoyed in securing it for MJ and grateful to the BG for helping her.

Heartbreaking...MJ being out and about and being called the p word.

 

[Petrarose]

Annita thanks for the article from the bodyguards. They said what many of us fans have said over and over about the music. However, some will still not want posthumous songs, thinking Michael would not like it, or it is not Michael's work, and I guess that is there right to have those ideas and feelings. About remixes, I think it is not that Michael does not like remixes, but that he feels certain songs should not be tampered with. They are classics and should be left alone. I agree with him on that. However, certain songs can lend themselves to being remixed to embrace another generation that he wants to love his music. After all, he was all about having his music being embraced by generations.

Gerryevans I always knew people would call out names to him in public and always felt saddened by that. I know as soon as he left the courtroom on the last day, he knew that would continue to happen. Look into those eyes in any of the photos taken during the trial, especially the one from the last day and you see the magnitude of the sadness, pain, hurt, tragedy in there. If I had to write a story about the effects of greed/persecution/fraud and would use those eyes on the cover.

 

[Soundmind]

It's both a heartwarming and heartbreaking read, especially the little tidbits for me.

Heartwarming...Paris desperately wanting to win a teddy bear for "daddy" at an arcade, finally winning it with the BG's help, and being so overjoyed in securing it for MJ and grateful to the BG for helping her.

Heartbreaking...MJ being out and about and being called the p word.

did that happen regularly or was it on one occasion?

 

[Paris78]

Retweetet von Bill Whitfield
KING @KingMikeJ · 7 h.

"He’d want us to keep the music alive - in the club, on the dance floor, and in our hearts." - Whitfield & Beard. @MJBODYGUARDS

 

[GreenEyes]

did that happen regularly or was it on one occasion?

They only bring it up as happening once in public, at a shopping mall. But they said that he did receive regular death threats. I think that's why Michael got so nervous and paranoid in his later years (who wouldn't). This is what the book says, as spoken by the bodyguard Bill:

He didn't trust strangers. Whenever he got caught in a crowd, he'd be real frantic and nervous. We were at a shopping mall in Virginia one afternoon. Javon had gone to get the car. I was waiting with Mr. Jackson by the exit with mall security. Somebody had recognized him and a small crowd had formed. He was signing a few autographs, waving to folks. It was a friendly situation, not a mob or anything. As Javon pulled up and opened the door for Mr. Jackson, this guy from the back of the crowd yelled out, "Fuc*in' child molester!"

I heard it plain as day. I looked at Javon; he'd heard it too. We were just praying that Mr. Jackson had missed it. But after we got in the car and drove for a bit, he leaned forward and said, "Guys, did you hear somebody say something back there?"

"No sir" I said. "I didn't hear anything. You hear anything Javon?"

Javon shook his head. "No sir."

Mr. Jackson said, "I thought I heard someone say something very mean. I could have sworn. You guys aren't lying to me, are you?"

"No sir."

We didn't want to lie to him, but we knew what would happen if we confirmed it. Hearing someone call him a child molester? That would completely shut him down. He'd close the door and vanish into his room for at least a week, and we didn't want that to happen.

 

[AliCat]

Maybe the bodyguards have a point about Thriller 25 or at least according to this one critic at the time when Thriller 25 was released:

Thriller is the biggest-selling album of all time; it says so on the cover of this reissue package. What it doesn't say is that, on a worldwide scale, it outpaces the Eagles, Pink Floyd, and Celine Dion by more than just a marginal million or so: At 100 million+ copies sold, it's estimated to have sold more than twice its nearest rival.

And so people try to concoct explanations. The album was focus-grouped for broader appeal-- but then why haven't focus groups worked so well since? Jackson made the racial crossover breakthrough on MTV-- but once that door was opened, why didn't the sales crossover work for others? Jackson's stunning dancing and videos exploded pop's visual formatting-- but the Thriller album, until DVD-era reissues like this one, wasn't a visual experience.

When Thriller opens, those 100 million sales feel just. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" is pure confused, shocked teenage rush. So there's another theory: Thriller is the best-selling record ever because it's the best record ever. That one holds up for six minutes and two seconds, during which Jackson and Quincy Jones mix the tension of rock'n'roll with the rapture of disco and hit perfection. But then you get "Baby Be Mine"-- one of the original tracks that wasn't a single-- and the momentum fades: On the heels of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", it should maintain the temperature; instead, it goes nowhere, starts nothing.

Thriller is inconsistent in style, which gives it something to appeal to everyone, but it's oddly tough to listen to even the great bits sequentially-- its peaks are from different mountain ranges. "Thriller"'s joke-shop horror segues well into Eddie Van Halen's headbanging guitar on "Beat It". But to follow that into the paranoid celebrity funk of "Billie Jean", the meltingly tender "Human Nature", and the smooth R&B of "P.Y.T."? These are all brilliant singles, though; Thriller's greatness lies in its great songs not in it "working like an album."

For this edition Jackson's called in some current big guns to provide remixes, and sadly they do provide the consistency the originals gloriously lack. Will.i.am sets the tone: He takes Macca off "The Girl Is Mine" but decides it can't work without someone sounding like an idiot and steps manfully in himself. There's a general reluctance to use what these guest stars are good at: will.I.am is a consistently slick, inventive pop producer but nobody wants to hear him rap, whereas on Kanye West's "Billie Jean" a guest verse might have added dynamics to the mix's clumsy claustrophobia. Fergie's gift as a pop star is the way her crassness shifts into oddness-- so on "Beat It" her nervous reverence is a waste of time. Only Akon comes off well, flipping the meaning of "startin' somethin'" and turning the song into a joyful seducer's groove, and here it's Jackson's own mush-mouthed new vocal that spoils things.

The remixes aren't a missed opportunity-- they're an imaginative way to wring bonus material from sessions overseen by a notorious perfectionist. It could be a lot worse. The last time Thriller got reissued it included "Someone in the Dark", a horror from the E.T. soundtrack showcasing Jackson's most saccharine side. We're spared that, and the token MJ rarity here is "For All Time", recorded during the Thriller sessions (and then later rejected for Dangerous). A glistening, slightly overdressed piano ballad, it might have made a nicely sappy album closer-- if we didn't already have the subtler, understated, and underrated "The Lady in My Life", possibly Jackson's most soulful solo performance on the record.

The DVD footage, with all the videos you'd expect, is much better. Watching the famous Motown 25th Anniversary performance of "Billie Jean" in particular I'm struck by how angular Jackson's dancing is, how tense: Knees and elbows spiking out, body freezing into indecipherable alphabets. And then how beautiful, the way he simply flows out of each position, the release that made his music so joyful given kinetic form.

The biggest-selling album of all time, then, and you should probably take the "of all time" literally. His highest-clout guest stars here have shifted around one-twentieth the copies Thriller has, and in a dwindling industry it's hard to imagine anything similar happening again. Fluke it maybe was, but as a unification move it worked-- the last time, maybe, one person could incarnate almost all of pop, all the corny and all the awesome in one mind. We live now in the world of the "long tail"-- Thriller was the big head.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11163-thriller-25th-anniversary-edition/

 

[gerryevans]

They only bring it up as happening once in public, at a shopping mall. But they said that he did receive regular death threats. I think that's why Michael got so nervous and paranoid in his later years (who wouldn't). This is what the book says, as spoken by the bodyguard Bill:

Thanks,GreenEyes...I have the hardback, and couldn't easily find the particular passage where someone actually swore and called out "c...mo..." to him, but I knew I saw the "p" word too, but that was in the narrative where the guards weren't specifically speaking, but (I'm assuming Tanner Colby) narrated. That narrative section was about MJ becoming a recluse in Vegas...

******

"And who could blame him? For years, going back to the Chandler scandal and even before, the tabloid backlash against Jackson had been unrelenting. Everything he did, every move he made, was taken and turned into yet another chapter in the crazy life of 'W**** J****' On a good day, he was called a weirdo, and a freak. At the low end, a criminal and pedophile. If spending millions of dollars to clear his name in court wasn't enough to change people's opinions about him, why engage with the public at all? Jackson withdrew. He buried himself in family life and creative projects and found some measure of happiness there. But the more he disengaged, the more his debts and his legal entanglements festered. To wipe them out, Jackson was being told he needed to go back onstage. To preserve his privacy and peace of mind, he mostly wanted to stay out of sight.
He couldn't do both."

 

[Petrarose]

Since this thread has Michael as a good Father I thought I would post his Father's Day photos here:

 

[ivy]

Petra

did you send those flowers?

 

[Petrarose]

Petra

did you send those flowers?

Yeah I sent it to Michael for Father's Day. Hope he likes them.

 

[ivy]

that's so nice. Can we post, share, tweet this?