Hey All
I wanna start off by saying thank you to everyone who came to the event last night, it was a huge success, with 4 massive surprises that were only planned for on the day.
Firstly, as many of you have seen/heard Michael called our party. I was asked by the Jackson family manager to announce to the party that we had experienced a "severe technical fault", which at the same time the entire Jackson team, minus manager Danny left the room.
They made their way to the hotel office where they awaited the call. I followed shortly after to check everything was going ok, when the call came in and Tito answered i ran back to the ballroom and asked everybody to be silent.
Michaels voice was coming from all directions in the room, but nobody knew it was live as we didn't formally announce it, but sure enough, people reliesed and became silent, and we heard the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G72Ra_25M3A
It was a surreal moment for me, to have Michael Jackson, The King of Pop call the party that myself, The North Devon Hospice and Maximum-Jackson have worked so hard on for the last 2 months. It still feels surreal now.
When he giggled was the moment when it hit most people, ask you can tell in the video.
Anyway, the other surprises . . .
The second big surprise was not only did we have Tito attend, but also two of his sons from 3T, Taj and TJ. In the original quote from Tito it stated that himself and "other Jacksons" would be attending the party. We had no idea who these extra Jacksons were until about 3 days ago, by which point we thought it be good to leave it as a surprise for guests.
Thirdly, Janice, the family PA brought us some "stuff" to auction at the party. I knew she was bringing this "stuff" but didnt know exactly what it was, and only found out yesterday afternoon during preparations. Janice and Taj visited the hotel to see how we were getting on in the afternoon to the surprise of everyone. Taj mingled with performers and staff whilst doing photos and autographs.
Later, whilst on our way to a private press conference in the hotel right before the party (hence why we started late, we were upstairs lol, sorry people) Janice showed me the fedora, it was a WHITE SMOOTH CRIMINAL fedora, signed in black marker and was amazing, especially considering it was on signed only last Wednesday.
Lastly, we had another exciting auction item: Lunch with Tito, Taj and TJ. This came about after the end of the auction when i was told some girls were saying "if the guys were available for a date as a prize i'd pay more than what the fedora went for!", so i went and suggested the idea to TJ and Taj, who said go and check with Tito, who said it was fine, but he was under the impression we only meant TJ and Taj.
So myself, Taj and TJ made our way to the raised area, where the dialogue flowed as follows (may not be exact, i am very tired)
Me, to audience: "Now we have a special additional auction prize . . . Taj and TJ, who have agreed to meet the winner at 1 o'clock tomorrow afternoon (today) for a date, where you can bring a guest."
TJ, to me: "(You can bring) Two guests, dad is coming aswell."
Me, to TJ: "You tell everyone, i dont want to get in trouble" *laughs*
TJ, to audience: "Our father Tito is coming aswell."
At this point Tito turned around to look at us and look surprised but amused, after which he put his hat on and made his way to the raised area. The auctioneer took over then and began the bidding.
Tito, to audience: "Come and hang at the house for a bit, ill even cook."
Me, to Tito: "What will you cook?"
Tito, to audience: "Fish, chips *audience laughs*, anything they want, bring the family."
Me, to Tito: "At this rate we'll end up having another party." (I said this because it was getting more and more all the time)
Tito, to me: *Laughs* "Yea, that would be cool."
The fedora sold for over £1500 (not sure on the exact amount, am very tired) and the lunch for over £2000, with all of it going to charity.
Will post the rest later . . . lots more to come.
ur such lucky ducks
