Good Morning - another day - another series of news releases, memories and tabloid ish
(just remember, ish is ish, please don't take it seriously)
MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE CONCERT DEADLINE
Concert promoter Randy Phillips has revealed he is battling against time to stage a glittering show in honour of the late Michael Jackson.
Randy Phillips is desperate to stage a Michael Jackson tribute show on the pop icon's birthday.
Randy - who is chief executive of AEG Live, the company behind the London comeback shows Michael was due to perform - worries he hasn't got enough time to organise a glittering celebration on August 29, which would have been Michael's 51st birthday.
Randy said: "The number one item I'm discussing is presenting 'This Is It' the production, hopefully with the Jacksons and maybe his sister Janet, and other artists.
"We have to make some hard decisions this week otherwise it will be too late to even contemplate doing anything on August 29."
Randy is keen for the show to be broadcast around the world, just as Michael's memorial was last week.
He added to digital radio station BBC 6 Music: "What we're thinking about is one massive tribute that's broadcast around the globe. We've opted to go to broadcast television, either cable/satellite, or traditional broadcast."
Meanwhile, it has been claimed Michael had been planning to emulate Fred Astaire on the 'This Is It' tour.
The 50-year-old star wanted the shows to feature routines in the style of his favourite dancer and had been studying his famous moves.
Dance instructor Dormeshia Edwards - who was helping Michael rehearse for the tour - told the New York Daily News newspaper: "Michael kept saying he was working on a big project, and it was just known as 'the project'. He was studying styles, trying to figure out what he might want to do.
"He would take four-hour sessions to learn one count of eight, and he would make sure he was completely comfortable with each routine before he moved on.
"He had such a love and respect for dance. You could see there was thought behind every moment."
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/michael-jackson-tribute-concert-deadline_1109763
Michael Jackson's estate open for business
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two weeks after Michael Jackson's death, administrators of his estate are temporarily authorized to reopen for business and negotiate, ...
Coroner's official seeks records from Jackson doc
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — A county coroner's official visited the office of Michael Jackson's dermatologist on Tuesday to follow up on a subpoena seeking additional medical records.
Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said outside the Beverly Hills office of Arnold Klein that the doctor had been cooperating in the investigation.
Klein's attorney, Richard Charnley, said in a statement that his client will provide the documents Wednesday.
Craig Harvey, the coroner's chief of operations, would not specify what records were being sought.
Investigators have focused on the role drugs may have played in Jackson's death.
In recent TV interviews, Klein said he had sedated Jackson for past medical procedures. He denied ever giving the pop star an unnecessary dose of drugs.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hPLRw0C5J9ESGnxkc_F6I2QbVoFwD99EKV704
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A view of Michael Jackson from the nosebleeds
July 15, 2009 01:14 am
— Before fame was a death sentence, I went to see Michael Jackson perform at the big coliseum in Montgomery, Ala., the same place I saw, on other exciting evenings, Minnie Pearl and, twice, the world-famous Lipizzaners.
I was about 19, which would have put Michael at 13.
He was still part of the Jackson Five, and I was employed at a local grocery warehouse in the summer before starting back to college. You might say we were both working our way through school.
The musical act was as fluid and harmoniously wonderful as any I'd ever seen. The seats were nosebleed.
My friends and I didn't know all the Jackson family dynamics back then. We assumed little Michael, being the baby and so cute and all, was the pet. He certainly was the star. I guess all families can back you up or bring you down, and his, over the years, seemed to do both.
I gave up on "new" music at about age 30, retreating into traditional country and Motown and the ample music encyclopedia from my growing-up years in the 1960s. So I lost track of Michael musically, though I heard enough on the entertainment news to know he still had "it," whatever "it" is. And the tabloid headlines made it clear his personal life was one of strife, despite great riches, or maybe because of them.
Since the famous pop star died, I've thought a lot about the Mississippi bluesmen. Most of them made their music in relative obscurity. They were known in Europe before being recognized in their own land. Most kept their day jobs.
And most died poor, without even the temptation of making bizarre purchases and furnishing palatial estates. They were doing good to keep body and soul together. And, so, they kept body and soul together.
Leland, Miss.'s Son Thomas had his electric power turned off while he was entertaining a big Republican gala down in Jackson, Miss. Talk about your songs waiting to be written. He told a reporter it was just one of those things. Another reason to sing the blues.
I once covered the funeral of bluesman Sam Chapman. It was at an old schoolhouse in Hollandale, and a lot of his fans came. The casket was not gold. It was open.
One by one, pilgrim musicians paid musical tribute to their fallen hero, same as at Michael's funeral. Only Sam's send-off wasn't covered by major networks, only a newspaper or two. It was, however, equally memorable. The tributes were basically the same: heartfelt. Only, Sam was a tree that fell in a managed forest, if not an empty one.
They are saying Michael had lost virtually everything but his talent, which he had too much of ever to exhaust. And I'm wondering if that was all bad, the back-to-basics approach to life. Perhaps, despite his tribulations, he found time at the end to remember what he loved about music in the beginning.
From the nosebleed seats long ago, he seemed to be having fun.
Rheta Grimsley Johnson writes for King Features Syndicate.
http://www.normantranscript.com/opinion/local_story_196011454
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Today in
Michael Jackson History
1972 - Michael Jackson's single "I Wanna Be Where You Are" hit #16 in the U.S. Michael Jackson History
1995 - The maxi single for Michael Jackson's "Scream" was released.