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.......and my what a big gang we are :swoon:
Welcome to a new week with the MJJCommunity and I hope it's a great one for you :flowers:
On with today's News:
Michael Jackson News:
NEW AKON SINGLE TO FEATURE MIJAC: Songwriter Claude Kelly had no idea King of Pop would end up on track.
*Budding singer/songwriter Claude Kelly wrote Akon's recently-leaked track "Hold My Hand," which to Kelly's surprise, included added vocals from the legendary Michael Jackson.
"I wrote the song and gave it to Akon with the intention of it going to maybe Whitney Houston, but Akon said he wanted to cut it himself. I thought, 'It doesn't get any bigger than this'," the 27-year-old New York native tells Billboard.com. "A few months after, Akon plays the song for me and all of a sudden I hear Michael Jackson's voice. I was literally shaking by the time the song was over."
The track, which has since been pulled off the Internet, is in the running to be the first single from Akon's new album, due later this year. According to Kelly's manager Michael "Make" Mentore from Star Power Media/Make Moves Management, the song will appear on Jackson's upcoming album as well.
Since penning the collaborative track, Kelly has been tapped to work not only with Akon and Whitney Houston but also with Jennifer Hudson, Frankie J, Brandy, New Kids On The Block, Toni Braxton, recent Def Jam signee Unique and Leona Lewis, including the latter's second single, "Forgive Me," which will be released in the coming weeks, reports Billboard.com. He also wrote the entire debut solo album for Corbin Bleu from "High School Musical" fame.
LINK
Michael Jackson Mentionings:
Monday, July 07, 2008
The Eleven Most Resonant Live Performances Of All Time
By: David Schultz
Give or take a couple days, this article pretty much marks my third anniversary with
Earvolution. Over those three years, I’ve seen a whole host of shows and been part of audiences who walked away from them with a wide range of feelings and opinions. As for the artists, regardless of the size of the venue or the composition of the crowd, once the show is done, they’re usually off to do it again in another city for a different audience. Outside of the expansion of the musical horizons of the fans in attendance, one thing all these shows have in common is that no matter what transpired, very little changed in the macrocosm; in the long run, a single show rarely has much of an effect on the world.
As great a personal thrill as it may be to hear a phenomenal band for the first time at South By Southwest, to see the growth and increasing popularity of favorites like Tea Leaf Green, U-Melt and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals or simply to be in the room while My Morning Jacket kills at Radio City Music Hall, it takes a very rare performance to resonate outside of the range of the venue where it took place and affect more people than those who happened to be in attendance. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen.
What follows, in no particular order, isn’t a list of the best live concerts ever staged. That would be a somewhat academic exercise, populated as it would be with large scale efforts like Woodstock and Live Aid. Rather, this list – which in the spirit of Spinal Tap goes to 11 – consists of a group of performances that had relevance beyond the notes that were played and resonated well beyond the time and place of their occurrence.
FULL ARTICLE
MJ bit:
Michael Jackson – Motown 25: Yesterday, Today & Forever, March 25, 1983
Madonna notwithstanding, Michael Jackson is the defining superstar of the 80s and his coronation to becoming the self-proclaimed King of Pop began with the performance of a single song. To commemorate Motown Records’ 25th anniversary, many of the label’s most revered performers, including Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross gathered together for an NBC TV special. As part of the show, Michael Jackson, who with
Off The Wall had established himself as a solo act, reunited with his brothers as the Jackson 5 for a medley of hits including “I Want You Back,” “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “I’ll Be There.” After completing the mini-set, Jackson remained alone on stage and spoke about the magic moments of the past. For as much he liked the old songs, he also liked the new, which at the time meant those on the recently released
Thriller. With an off screen band playing Quincy Jones’ super-funky rhythm, Jackson picked up a black fedora from the floor and proceeded to deliver the performance of his career – a blistering version of “Billie Jean” that included the debut of the moonwalk. It’s hard to explain the impact of those three backwards steps but for weeks after NBC aired the special, kids would spend hours trying to duplicate Jackson’s mindboggling moves. Propelled by that one performance, the video for “Billie Jean” went on to shatter MTV’s then impenetrable color barrier and
Thriller went on to become an International phenomenon. Dancing like he’s floating above the stage, this is the Michael Jackson that most of us prefer to remember. Even if the performance seems a little dated twenty-five years after the fact, it contained everything set Michael Jackson apart and launched him to the highest stratosphere of superstardom.
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And the hits just keep on rolling out
MIAMI - On any given night, as the fabled moon rises over Miami, the densest concentration of pop stars per square foot is likely to be found not in some South Beach nightclub, but in a quiet warehouse section 15 miles to the north. Rolls Royces and Ferraris fill spaces reserved for Justin Timberlake or Jennifer Lopez.
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"It's like an auto show," says Iggy Pop, who recorded most of 2003's "Skull Ring album" at the studio founded 50 years ago as Criteria.
In these days of cheap digital home recording programs, professional studios seem like endangered species - Hit Factory's original New York studio closed its doors in 2005, and Sony Studios in Manhattan shuttered a year ago. But in Miami, the Hit Factory has brought a second life to one of the hardest-working spaces in the recording business, a place where hits have been innovated, defined and refined for five decades.
A who's who of artists - from James Brown to Bob Marley to the Rolling Stones to
Michael Jackson to Madonna - have worked at the studio now known as the Hit Factory Criteria.
LINK
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Rahsaan Patterson
20 Questions
[7 July 2008]
8. Of those who’ve come before, the most inspirational are?
Chaka Khan. Her honesty, her ability to know and understand—without words—that in a lot of ways we are one in the same. I don’t mean vocally. I want that to be clear and understood. It’s not about me sounding like her or anything like that. It’s deeper than that. It was deeper than that as a child listening to her. That’s what drew me into her and that’s what, before I understood how and why I would relate to an artist such as herself as well as the Prince’s and the Michael’s (Jackson), the Marvin Gaye’s, and Al Green’s and all the greats, it took me to become and grow into the artist and understand that that’s who we are, this is what our path is, and it’s not always easy.
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Kenya: The Cutting Edge
Michael Lochali poses the perennial question: What's in a name? And his fascination is his own name, which, he gloats, he shares with famous people. "In sports, we have Michael Jordan, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Mike Tyson and our own Mike Kipyego. In music, there is Michael Jackson, while in the corporate world there is Safaricom's Michael Joseph and Michael Power of Guinness. In politics, there was Michael Wamalwa, and in diplomacy, US envoy Michael Ranneberger."
LINK
Michael Jackson HIStory:
1997 - Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" was certified 25 times platinum by the RIAA.
1998 - Michael Jackson and his financial partner Don Barden announced their intentions to build an entertainment Neverneverland called "Majestic Kingdom" in Detroit.
MJJCommunity Weekly News:
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