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March 19, 2009 - Let's try this again

MsSnoop

MsSnoop

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Sorry about that - I had a problem posting the news - all the computer codes were going 'nuts.

Jackson concerts in high demand

Five new shows have been added to Michael Jackson's London concerts series, bringing the total to 50.

"We stopped it at 45 in the pre-sale to save shows for the public sale," said Randy Phillips, CEO of AEG Live, promoter of the shows. Jackson could do 100 shows if he wanted, Phillips says, but he has other goals, including film and recording.

Phillips says that allotments from each night of the first 45 shows also will be available to the general public, meaning those who did not pre-register for tickets. More than 90 percent of tickets sales are from the United Kingdom, but "the rest is France, Germany, Poland, everywhere in the world. People bought tickets from Botswana," Phillips said.

The intensity of demand has been a "shot of adrenaline" for Jackson, Phillips said.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/mar/19/181835/jackson-concerts-in-high-demand/


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AEG / Viagogo Honeymoon Over?

While a little bit of strife crept into the cozy relationship between concert promoter AEG Live and secondary ticketing site Viagogo last week, Pollstar’s John Gammon has it on good authority the waters are smoothed over – for now at least.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that AEG Live took legal action after discovering Viagogo was, well, cheating by offering discounted blocks of tickets for Michael Jackson’s 50 shows in London to other resellers – tickets AEG shunted to Viagogo to be sold at inflated prices.

Viagogo sent an email, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal, to scalpers and resale services offering to cut bulk deals on its inventory.
On Friday, AEG scored a temporary victory in court. A judge ordered the agent, Viagogo Ltd., to agree not to offer or provide Jackson tickets to any resellers.

AEG’s reaction when Viagogo’s infidelity was discovered?
“We went nuclear,” upon seeing the missive, AEG Live Chief Executive Randy Phillips said in an interview. “It was not our intent to sell to brokers.” Except for Viagogo apparently. For some reason, the company’s CEO was reluctant to talk to the WSJ when they attempted to contact him to get his side of the story.

Viagogo Chief Executive Eric Baker didn’t respond to three voice messages left on his cell-phone over the weekend. AEG’s Phillips was willing to talk though, telling Gammon the company was only protecting its interests.
“We weren’t trying to kill them in court or rescind the deal because it’s too far down the road for that,” he explained. “We just wanted to make sure they comply with the terms.”

So exactly how many tickets does Viagogo have its hands on? Last week, The Times of London estimated the number at between 500 and 1,000 per show. Turns out that figure might be a little low.

From the WSJ:

Tickets to Mr. Jackson’s 50-date run at the O2 Arena were normally priced at £50 to £75 ($70 to $105). Those seats sold out in five hours, according to AEG, which is owned by billionaire Phil Anschutz’s Anschutz Corp. AEG says it set aside about 10 percent of the seats, or 1,700 a night, as “official premium” tickets, to be sold for several times those prices. Mr. Jackson’s role, if any, in the markup plan wasn’t clear. Mr. Jackson’s manager, Tohme Tohme, declined to comment.

For those of you bad at math (I know I am), that’s approximately 85,000 tickets set aside to be sold at seriously inflated prices on Viagogo. It’s impossible to be certain about the number though, because Phillips told Gammon only seven percent of tickets were set aside.

Of course, it’s easy to tell the “official premium” tickets on Viagogo from tickets that are being scalped, right? Not so much, according to the WSJ.
The main ticketing Web site for the concert series, MichaelJacksonLive.com, contains a link to Viagogo, where premium tickets are mixed in with resold tickets. The latter are supposed to be offered only by fans, though there is no way to determine whether any given ticket is being resold at a markup, or part of the premium offering. On Sunday, the higher-priced tickets were listed between £145 and £275 ($204 and $386).

Phillips told Gammon the deal originated when the company received “a number of approaches” from secondary sellers including Viagogo and Seatwave.

Viagogo was chosen after meetings with AEG Enterprises managing director Jessica Koravos and AEG Live U.K. chief Rob Hallett. The company won the deal because it has a secure site and it agreed not to sell tickets to other brokers, which meant AEG had to monitor only one site. Phillips defended the Viagogo deal, saying making a premium on such a small number of tickets allowed more tickets to be sold for £75. “If it’s £100 for Tina Turner and £160 for Madonna, what should it be for the comeback shows of the biggest pop and rock star the world’s ever seen?” he said, adding he believes he could have sold 200 Jackson shows at the O2.
He dismissed a report in The Times that AEG tried to keep the deal quiet, pointing out that the company’s logo is on Jackson’s site along with clear links to Viagogo’s site.

The AEG Live chief also took the opportunity to speak out about a number of issues that have been raised about Jackson’s shows. Phillips attempted to quell any fears that Jackson would not be able to perform 50 shows, telling U.K. papers the King of Pop is in “great shape,” and clarified reports alleging that AEG would “self-insure” the shows and take financial responsibility for any mishaps. “We’re still talking to potential insurers but we’re prepared to take some liability if none of them want to take it all,” he said.

Of course, this whole episode raises a question. What exactly was Viagogo’s motivation here? Were they just trying to make even more money by offering discounted blocks of tickets to other resellers in return for a cut of their profits? Or did they suffer from a kind of buyers’ remorse? It’s possible Viagogo is worried that Jackson will bail on some or all of the shows and they’ll end up holding a bunch of useless tickets. (Or worse, having to refund a lot of money.) By shifting some of their inventory to other resellers, the company would have its money no matter what happens.

So why wasn’t anyone at AEG Live keeping an eye on Viagogo? Good question. Apparently when a source close to the company told The Times of London last week, “There are systems in place to make sure people cannot buy multiple tickets and sell them on,” they were only talking about fans.

As for AEG’s reported outrage at Viagogo’s behavior, “If you lie down with dogs…”


--Jim Otey
http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/archive/2009/03/17/654875.aspx

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by Elissa Corrigan

A Facebook campaign has been launched to ask Michael Jackon to dedicate a song to murdered Liverpool toddler James Bulger.

The 'Thriller' singer is due to perform around 20 shows in London's O2 Arena and a petition has started to try and persuade Jackson to devote 'Heal the World' to the memory of James. Tickets for the pop icon's concert comeback tour sold out in just six hours and many more are fetching more than £1,000 each on Ebay.

The creator of the Facebook group is Canadian, Ali Lightfoot. She says she has been profoundly touched by the Bulger story despite living thousands of miles away from Liverpool. And she wants to raise awareness for James's mother Denise Fergus's long running charity work by getting 50-year-old Jackson to dedicate a track to her and her son.

Campaign creator Ali Lightfoot said: "Although I am a Canadian, I have been so profoundly touched by James Bulger's story. "So I've decided to help raise awareness for his mother, Denise Fergus's campaign to open a Red balloon Learner Centre in Liverpool.

"Since Michael Jackson was James's favourite singer I thought why not try to get MJ involved somehow and hopefully bring attention to Denise's cause? "'Heal The World' was also James Bulger's favourite song and it would be such an honour for James's family if it was dedicated to him.

"Denise Fergus and her husband Stuart are in full support of this petition and have even joined my Facebook group. "I would love it if I could help get more signatures to help bring some happiness to Denise's life after her terrible loss."

James's mother Denise Fergus has been a life long fan of Michael Jackson and thinks the campaign is a great idea.

Denise said: "I have been a fan of Michael since I was a school girl. "I think he is great and a brilliant performer. "'Heal the World' was played a James' funeral and it will always be one of my favourite Michael Jackson songs. "It would be great if Michael could sing it in memory of him, I hope people get involved and sign the petition."

http://www.clickliverpool.com/culture/culture/123416-michael-jackson-to-dedicate-heal-the-world-to-james-bulger.html



Today in
Michael Jackson History​

1988 - Michael Jackson paid $28 million for the Sycamore Ranch in Santa Ynez Valley, CA.

1994 - Janet Jackson's single "Because Of Love" hit #10 in the U.S.

1996 - In Paris, France, Michael Jackson and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz announced their partnership in founding the Kingdom Entertainment group.

2001 - Michael Jackson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.
 
still a little 'nutty' but I'm not changing it...just adding to it.

Additional News and Mentionings:

Michael Jackson to "American Idol?"

Newsday - Here's what I know so far, and will fill in details as they come: As Jackson fans know, tickets for his London concert series this summer went on sale ...

The Osmonds? Give me Michael Jackson any day

Belfast Telegraph -
By Frances Burscough Michael Jackson has moon-walked all over the headlines since the dates of his 2009 farewell tour were announced. ...

SOUND BITES: Hilary McRae makes a winning debut

The Daily News Online - McRae sounds a little like Michael Jackson, Fiona Apple, Chicago, Jamie Cullum, Lisa Stansfield and Gloria Estefan, but mostly she sounds like a fully ...

Enjoyable video on what inspires Michael Jackson - Thriller era - looks like it was filmed at Hayvenhurst​



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The video "Jermaine Dupri's Take on Jackson's sold out shows" isn't functioning -could someone post it in here, please?
 
I love it how they always manage to bring MJ's name in every unrelated article! :lol:


Britney Spears Madness (Photos, Video) Crush for Suleman Octuplets From Paparazzi

By Julie Pike
Mar 19, 2009

Britney Spears used to draw this kind of attention when she was in full meltdown mode. Two of the Nadya Suleman octuplets have shown up at the Octomom house and it was like Britney was making a middle of the night run to the hospital. Photographers went wild in a paparazzi crush that was more than embarrassing as the desperate snappers tried to get that one blurry shot of the kids.

The paps are shown hanging on the side of the vehicle. Another picture from the Orange County Register shows the photographers trying to force the garage door open and eventually some snappers were trapped inside and eventually they broke the garage door.

TMZ has some of the video here and adds, "La Habra will never be the same. OctoMom Nadya Suleman brought two of her brand new kids home last night, and it was as if someone was giving away free Michael Jackson tickets inside the house."

The freak show continues and many are outraged that Nadya had the children for what some believe was exactly for this type of publicity. It was the worst mess since the Britney late night hospital run or perhaps that Paris Hilton jail house ride.

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272625387.shtml



Manchester International Festival unveils programme

The Manchester International Festival has unveiled an impressive line up for its second ever event, with work from Punchdrunk, Rufus Wainwright, Elbow and Zaha Hadid amongst others.

By Bernadette McNulty
Last Updated: 4:44PM GMT 19 Mar 2009

Manchester is a city well-known for its confidence and it was with a fair amount of swagger that the second Manchester International Festival unveiled its programme today.
Arts festival press conferences are not usually the stuff of excitement, let alone a biannual event that bills itself as a the world’s only festival entirely based on newly commissioned work. Try selling that to punters in an already saturated festival market.
But with true Mancunian chutzpah – and the touch of pop culture’s own Midas king Damon Albarn – MIF has, after only one outing, developed an impressive reputation. In 2007, the biggest success was the commission of Albarn’s Monkey opera which has gone onto be a worldwide touring sensation. But other groundbreaking events, like art performance Il Tempo del Postino, drew rave reviews which have allowed the ambitious festival to punch above its weight.
And 2009 looks like living up to that reputation. On an auspiciously sunny day, festival director Alex Poots unveiled a meaty line-up that included a new production, It Felt Like a Kiss, from theatre company Punchdrunk, who wowed London a couple of years ago with their Masque of the Red Death, the debut of Rufus Wainwright’s first opera, a collaboration between Mercury-winners Elbow and the Hallé orchestra and architect Zaha Hadid creating a special pavilion for chamber music.
Poots added, almost casually, that they’d also got Kraftwerk teaming up with Steve Reich at the Manchester Velodrome, Antony and the Johnsons doing a show with light, New York art über-couple Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson giving their first UK performance, and Malian superstars Amadou and Mariam teaming up with a local orchestra.
Short of Michael Jackson coming on stage and declaring that he was moving all fifty nights of his tour to the Manchester Arena, little could have been more exciting. Taking place just over two weeks at the beginning of July you wondered how they would fit everything in.
Poots admitted all this new work – all these odd collaborations - was a ‘risky’ business. But in these fearful, risk-averse days being bold might just be a wise artistic and commercial move. The lure of experiencing something utterly unique, something visceral and groundbreaking, is exactly what might draw audiences in, particularly from abroad.
Along with Punchdrunk taking over a sixties office block to create a haunted-house-come-fairground-ride, audiences will also be able to experience four-hour live artist installations at the Whitworth Gallery and the transformation of the Royal Exchange into a bingo hall where they will be playing the game along with the performers.
Perhaps after criticisms that the inaugural festival was so international you forgot it was in Manchester, there is a stronger city representation. Along with the shows by local heroes Elbow, there will be a musical paean to Tony Wilson written by the Durutti Column’s Vini Reilly and Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller will lead a procession created by local people through the city centre.
Poots has also been smart enough to include success stories from last time. So Damon Albarn will be back again, creating the music with the Kronos Quartet for It Felt Like a Kiss, as will ballet dancer Carlos Acosta. MIF also nods towards the spirit of the times, with more than 30% of events free to the public, and a strong emphasis on environmental themes.
Towards the end of the conference, Rufus Wainwright, looking like a pale Romantic poet, stood up to introduce an excerpt from his opera Prima Donna, explaining how the festival had rescued his work after the New York Met had lost its nerve. As the brief snatch of beautiful music hovered tantalisingly in the sun-dusty air, you could only admire the confidence of this exciting festival and dream of a long, hot summer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...International-Festival-unveils-programme.html
 
Hey Billboard I am loving it...

U.K. Study Claims Live Beats Recorded Music Revenue
March 16, 2009 - Global | Touring



By Juliana Koranteng, London

This year's ILMC (International Live Music Conference), the annual confab for international promoters, agent and venue owners, kicked off with a positive outlook despite the global recession.

The event, which took place March 13-15 at the Royal Garden Hotel, London, saw the number of delegates increase by 50 to 1,000 compared with 2008, organizers said.

The occasion was also used to disclose figures indicating that the U.K. live music industry has for the first time surpassed the country's recorded-music sector in revenue terms.

Using figures based on the live-performance tariffs collected by U.K. collecting society PRS for Music, live music generated £1.28 billion ($1.79 billion) compared with £1.24 billion ($1.74 billion) yielded by the recorded business.

"It showed that recorded music's share of consumers' disposable income was going down, while the share for live music was going up," said Will Page, PRS' in-house economist and a speaker on the panel called 'The Recession Session.'

Page noted that Michael Jackson, who is booked for 50 nights at the London O2 Arena, boasted one of the fastest selling tours in history. Recent shows by former boy band Take That, hit female group Girls Aloud, and veterans Cliff Richard and the Shadows had also sold out.

These big hitters indicated that 2010 ticket sales in the U.K. might even surpass 2009 sales figures, he estimated.

But the panel, chaired by Stuart Galbraith, CEO of promoter Kilimanjaro Live, admitted the industry still needed to be cautious despite the upbeat numbers.

"The recession seems to be deep-seated and longer compared to the one in the late 1980s. It means we're going to see an impact on our business," Galbraith asserted.

Neil Warnock, of U.K. booking agency the Agency Group, said business in the major music markets like the U.K., France and Germany continued to thrive. "But countries like Russia, China and parts of south-east Asia, are real recessive territories," he said.

The success stories are coming at a price, as major acts commanded even higher fees while smaller acts lost out, warned Phil Bowdery, president of touring at Live Nation International Music.

"The bigger acts seem to be getting stronger and are selling tickets. But the acts that used to mid-level are the ones suffering now," he declared.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i01058b4cfb43337689f20e6ac490df3a
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you'd think that they'd resist calling him that five letter word for that article about little James. but no. apparently, the ability to be sensitive has gone down with the passing of time.

thanks for the news.
 
vncwilliam said:
you'd think that they'd resist calling him that five letter word for that article about little James. but no. apparently, the ability to be sensitive has gone down with the passing of time.

thanks for the news.
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Yeah it's so hard for them to call him by his birthname.
 
Thursday, Mar 19, 2009
Exclusive details on Michael Jackson's tour from promoter Randy Phillips

Posted by Melinda Newman
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Michael Jackson in Paris? C'est possible. Munich? Wilkommen!
Hitfix just interviewed AEG Live president/CEO Randy Phllips, the man behind Michael Jackson's comeback slated for this summer at the O2 Arena in London and he told us the London shows might not be the end. As previously reported, Jackson sold out 750,000 tickets for 50 shows.
"We could have done 200 shows if he was willing to live in London for two years," Phillips says.
Phillips also cleared up something for us-sort of. In his very, very brief appearance at his own March 5 concert announcement (thanks for showing up, MJ), Jackson said "These will be my final show performances in London," leaving unanswered questions as to whether the U.K. concerts were his last shows ever or just his last shows in London.
"What he meant was London," Phillips tells Hitfix. "The truth is our deal is in phases and the only phase he's agreed to is London. It's very possible there are other cities. We call it his Capital Market Residency."
Choreographer Kenny Ortega of "Dirty Dancing" or "High School Musical" fame, depending upon how old you are, is working with Jackson on the show.
Although many folks have their doubts that Jackson will make it to the stage on time-British bookies are even taking bets-Phillips told The Daily Telegraph in the U.K., ""If Mike gets too nervous to go on, I'll throw him over my shoulder and carry him on stage. He's light enough."
And just a little bit of extra minutiae, the tour's tagline, "This is It," came from Jackson himself. "I said, 'Mikey, that's perfect. This is the place to be'," Phillips says. And yes, he admitted, he does call Jackson "Mikey."


http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12...l-jackson-s-tour-from-promoter-randy-phillips
 
Yeah it's so hard for them to call him by his birthname
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its what anyone called jackson in the uk gets called.its a standard thing for articles
 
macca doesn't really feel the same disrespectful way. Paul did nothing to irk the media, but the five letter word was uttered after it was clear that the media's atttempts to predict MJ's downfall, clearly turned out to be wrong. and they added the W word before it. so, clearly there is a difference.

on another note..lol...looks like Randy Phillips is uttering big confidence, because he's calling the whole thing a deal, tho he admitted that MJ only agreed to London. lol. i can only hope Randy Phillips' confidence is backed up by MJ, as time goes by. lol
 
macca doesn't really feel the same disrespectful way. Paul did nothing to irk the media, but the five letter word was uttered after it was clear that the media's atttempts to predict MJ's downfall, clearly turned out to be wrong. and they added the W word before it. so, clearly there is a difference.
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neither name is being disrespectful. americans dont understand the meaning behind these nicknames and how they are used so you take it the wrong way when its printed


another note..lol...looks like Randy Phillips is uttering big confidence, because he's calling the whole thing a deal, tho he admitted that MJ only agreed to London. lol. i can only hope Randy Phillips' confidence is backed up by MJ, as time goes by. lol
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i just hope phillips doesnt pile the pressure on mj to agree. he doesnt seem to mind telling the media about this plan that mj hasnt even agreed to
 
I think all Michael needed was a confidence boost, and once he steps out on that stage and he gets that feeling back again from performing live, he'll want to extend the tour to other parts of the world. It's entirely up to Michael.
 
elusive moonwalker said:
neither name is being disrespectful. americans dont understand the meaning behind these nicknames and how they are used so you take it the wrong way when its printed

well...whether or not the chicken or the egg was first, the american media used it in a bad way, and attributed initially and mostly to aritlces where they depicted him as being weird in the worst possible way. and it's hard for me to believe you feel this way about the W word as well. were other Jacksons called W****? and if so, who?
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vncwilliam said:
elusive moonwalker said:
neither name is being disrespectful. americans dont understand the meaning behind these nicknames and how they are used so you take it the wrong way when its printed

well...whether or not the chicken or the egg was first, the american media used it in a bad way, and it's hard for me to believe you feel this way about the W word as well. were other Jacksons called W****? and if so, who?
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Yeah cus i've only seen michael get called that but not the rest of his family.
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The wedding singer: Lionel Richie romances a new crowd


By Adrian Thrills
Last updated at 11:15 PM on 19th March 2009
The stipulation from Lionel Richie's record label, keen to secure an interview that focused on his latest album, was as specific as it was bizarre: don't mention The Commodores.

Putting aside the fact that it would be nigh-on impossible to get through an encounter with one of pop's greatest balladeers without making some reference to the soulful sextet with whom he launched his career 40 years ago, it seems that nobody bothered to mention this ludicrous guideline to Lionel himself.
Within minutes of walking into his London hotel, Richie is reeling off anecdotes about his early days in Tuskegee, Alabama - as one of The Commodores.

'Those guys will always be my family,' he sighs. 'That's where it all started for me. We flew around the world having a great time, and we happened to make some music along the way.

'We didn't think of what we were doing as work. We played gigs and went to parties. We were college guys who formed a band and ended up a serious group.

'We were also the funkiest kids on the block. Everybody thinks of me as a ballad man, but that wasn't always the case. The only reason I ended up writing ballads was that the other five guys in The Commodores were so good at coming up with dance tunes.
'I figured out that the best way to get some songwriting credits was to pen a few slow numbers. Little did I realise that my slow songs - Easy and Three Times A Lady - would turn out to be big, worldwide hits.'

The romantic ballads initially written to give Richie a voice in his hometown band have been the making of him. Subsequent solo hits, such as Hello and Stuck On You, have helped him to 100 million album sales and five Grammys.

An unashamedly sentimental streak has also brought some ridicule - but he isn't too perturbed by that. 'I've had all the snide comments,' he smiles. 'I've been called sappy, saccharine, sticky and syrupy. But my ballads are real stickers. They're the songs that get played at weddings.

Enlarge

'There was one reporter who was always criticising my music. Then, one day, he came up and told me that Hello was a classic ballad. So, what had changed? He'd just got married!

'People might listen to gangsta rap or grunge. But, sooner or later, every guy falls in love. And that's when he listens to a Lionel Richie song. You're going to get to me sooner or later.'

Richie, who still sports one of pop's most carefully groomed beards, turns 60 this year, but looks younger. He puts his trim figure down to an idiosyncratic exercise regime - he works the land at his Alabama home, cutting down trees and chopping logs - and a healthy lifestyle.

'Music can be an unforgiving business and you have to be tough to survive,' he says. 'I saw people die through drugs when I was younger, and I didn't want to go down that road.

'I remember the first time someone offered me cocaine. I was in New York, straight out of college, and was tempted to give it a try. Then the guy asked me for 100 dollars. I wasn't even making 100 dollars a week then, so I said no. That was the end of my drugs story. I had a beer instead.'

Richie's survival instincts are evident on his new album, Just Go, the 14th of his solo career. Out this week, it finds him drafting in the cream of today's hip-hop and R&B writer/ producers, among them Ne-Yo and Akon, a team whose well-crafted arrangements provide a fine platform for a voice that is still soulful.

Raised in a middle-class household - his father was a military systems analyst, his mother a headmistress - Richie learnt how to play piano and saxophone as a child.
He later studied at the Tuskegee Institute, a prestigious local college, but left to start The Commodores in 1968.

The band's big break came soon afterwards , when they supported The Jackson Five.

'That was some education,' he says. 'We were the opening act for a group of kids between the ages of seven and 12. They were all screaming for Michael Jackson, so it was tough for us. The only other time I've felt that kind of pressure was when we supported the Rolling Stones.'

Having maintained contact with Jackson over the years - the pair co-wrote We Are The World, America's answer to Band Aid, in 1985 - Richie has some sympathy for the troubled star, who returns to the stage in London in July.

'As a kid, Michael never got the chance to develop his basic communication skills,' he says. 'So he doesn't have a clue about the kind of life experiences most people take for granted.

'Most seven-year-olds play in the sandpit or mess around in the playground. Michael was spending time in the recording studio. He went straight into showbiz. When he got to 18, he was rich. But if you give a teenager $90 million, they're going to create their own world. And that's what Michael did.'

Lionel is happy to talk about his own children, too. Twice married and divorced, he admits to being absent, on tour, for much of his adopted daughter Nicole's childhood, and vows that he won't make the same mistake with his two younger children, Myles and Sofia.

He adds, however, that he and Nicole, 27, now get on well. Having overcome drug problems, Nicole (who became famous in her own right when she starred alongside Paris Hilton in reality TV show The Simple Life) has since settled down to start her own family.

'I used to see more of Nicole backstage than I did at home,' says Richie. 'Balancing music and family life was tough back then. I was in the middle of some amazing success, but I also had a family who could upstage my love of music. As your kids grow older, you have to weigh all those things up. It's about finding stability, but Nicole's doing very well now.'

Having recently taken a break from a busy schedule to attend a 'father and daughter day' at ten-year-old Sofia's school, Lionel (now in the middle of a UK tour) at last seems to be getting the balance right.

Before he leaves, however, there is one more question that needs to be answered: whatever happened to the sculpted likeness of his head that starred in the famously schmaltzy video for his signature tune, Hello?

The news is not good. 'The bust was made out of very soft clay and was hard to keep in one piece. At the end of the shoot, they were moving it, but it fell and splattered all over the floor. I should have tried to keep it.

'I keep a lot of memorabilia. The only thing I don't have is that bust.'

JUST GO is out now on Mercury. Lionel Richie plays the MEN Arena, Manchester, tonight and tomorrow. His UK tour continues until April 8. For details, visit ticketmaster.co.uk

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...-singer-Lionel-Richie-romances-new-crowd.html
 
Victory2004 said:
vncwilliam said:
Yeah cus i've only seen michael get called that but not the rest of his family.
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yeah..but my question isn't just directed about the rest of the family, but anyone named Jackson, where the W word was added, and applied to the depicition of 'weirdness' in the most negative way, in articles, after that Jackson defied the idea of a falling career.
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vncwilliam said:
well...whether or not the chicken or the egg was first, the american media used it in a bad way, and attributed initially and mostly to aritlces where they depicted him as being weird in the worst possible way. and it's hard for me to believe you feel this way about the W word as well. were other Jacksons called W****? and if so, who?
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thank you.
i agree...
We already know how Michael himself feels about this atrocious "nickname" ... so why would anyone want to defend it?
 
well...whether or not the chicken or the egg was first, the american media used it in a bad way, and it's hard for me to believe you feel this way about the W word as well. were other Jacksons called W****? and if so, who?
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im not talking about the W word but J.A.C.K.O. the american media may use the word J.A.c.k.o as a negative but that is not its intention or meaning when its used by the UK press unless W is put b4 it

wait...what's the meaning behind these "nicknames" :unsure:
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cause usa fans think that word is disrespectful and was somehow created just for mj when its not. anyone (normally male) with a name that ends in son, such as gibson jackson or anyone whos name begins with Mac in the uk and other countries such as OZ gets called J.A.c.k.o or gibbo or macca for mac. nothing more nothing less. ***** is obviously attached to mj its not attached to janet cause shes female. thats it nothing more nothing less. if other coutries want to use the word as a negativethats upto them but when u see it printed and said in the uk its not a negatvie its just what ppl get called when they have that name.. that is totally different to the w.ac.k.o

We already know how Michael himself feels about this atrocious "nickname" ... so why would anyone want to defend it?
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im not defending the name j.a.c.k.o just stating the fact behind the meaning of the word and what it really means.
 
elusive moonwalker said:
im not talking about the W word but J.A.C.K.O. the american media may use the word J.A.c.k.o as a negative but that is not its intention or meaning when its used by the UK press unless W is put b4 it


cause usa fans think that word is disrespectful and was somehow created just for mj when its not. anyone (normally male) with a name that ends in son, such as gibson jackson or anyone whos name begins with Mac in the uk and other countries such as OZ gets called J.A.c.k.o or gibbo or macca for mac. nothing more nothing less. ***** is obviously attached to mj its not attached to janet cause shes female. thats it nothing more nothing less. if other coutries want to use the word as a negativethats upto them but when u see it printed and said in the uk its not a negatvie its just what ppl get called when they have that name.. that is totally different to the w.ac.k.o
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I think I'll agree. We know MJ doesn't like it of course, but here in the UK -unless they use the word W--cko in the front- they just use it as a nickname indeed. Many celebs here have their own nicknames given to them by the press, even if they don't like it. lol
 
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