On Saturday October 8th, the Jackson family will participate in a tribute concert extravaganza for their beloved Michael in the UK. The promoters of the event is a promotional company known as Global Live and as the details of the tribute were being release, controversy emerged. First, Global Live decided to have the rock band KISS perform at the tribute. The main problem with that was the lead singer of the band, Gene Simmons, had terrible things to say about Michael the day after Michael died. The things that he stated I am not going to post on this blog for sanity reasons. Second, the timing of the tribute - the event will occur around the time of the Conrad Murray Murder Trial. Even though the event falls on a Saturday and court proceedings do not occur on weekends, it is still odd and downright inappropriate to do a tribute concert when the murderer (or murderers) are not in jail and justice has not been completely served. Third, not everyone in the Jackson family are supporting the tribute mainly because of the timing. Jermaine, Randy and Janet have released statements stating that they will not participate in the event. Fourth, the performers - Black Eyed Peas were in the line-up but were suddenly out of the line-up. Chris Brown was rumored to be in the show, but because of his criminal record, he was barred from entering the UK. Fifth, the tickets issue - I am not familiar with the issue with the tickets, but I can assume that the ticket situation is a mess.
Image of the Michael Forever tribute logo:
Jermaine and Randy's joint statement:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/11/jackson.tribute.acts/
http://www.billboard.com/news/janet-jackson-not-attending-michael-jackson-1005332002.story#
http://thatgrapejuice.net/2011/10/chris-brown-barred-uk-black-eyed-peas-pull-jackson-tribute/
Many Michael fans have/had various issues with this tribute. Over 30 MJ fan clubs have basically created some sort of a petition to get Global Live to cancel the event because of the many issues that surround the tribute. Michael fans, like myself, are very passionate about Michael and want to support a tribute that honors and respects him and his legacy. I get that and I totally understand the reason why so many fans wanted this tribute to not occur. In fact, I do not support the Michael Forever tribute and I do not care who is involve with the tribute. However, I also do not support the Michael Jackson Immortal Tour in a form of Crique du Soleli. The Michael Jackson Estate head by executors, John Branca and John McClain are handling the Immortal tour and had a preview of the tour last weekend (first weekend of October) in Canada. I have to be honest, I was disgusted when I saw the pictures and video of this event. What horrible timing. It seemed as though many of the Jackson family haters/non-supporters did not even mentioned or completely ignored the fact that the Estate decided to promote this Immortal Tour when a trial was occurring.
Music legends L.A. Reid and Kenneth Babyface Edmonds -
Musical director of the Immortal Tour Greg Phillingaines and wife (maybe, who knows) -
The Jackson family -
Video of the Immortal Tour preview:
John Branca, along with the Estate's lawyer an friend of Branca and resident MJ hater, Harvey Levin (he runs that damn tmz.com & TMZ TV) Howard Weitzmann were on the CNN show "Tonight with Piers Morgan" on October 3rd. The two men were on there, from what I understand, to discuss and promote the Immortal tour and to chat about Michael's legacy. I did not see the interview because I do not have cable but I am glad that I did not see the interview. I am one of those fans that believe that these Estate handlers/executors had something to do with Michael's murder. In some way, they knew exactly what happened to Michael. I do not want my money being given to people who never had Michael's best interests. A lot of people like to assume - and in some ways it is a little true - that the Jackson family makes money off of Michael but so does the estate. They make A LOT of money off of Michael.
When I saw picture of Katherine along with Marlon, Tito, Jackie, Michael's, Randy's & Jermaine's kids, regarding the opening of the Immortal Tour, I saw a family very excited about the event. At the same time, it is bittersweet for them having to be at an event that would have never happened if Michael was not murdered.
I noticed that Jackie and Marlon never showed up one day of the court proceedings for their brother's murder trial but were at the Immortal Tour event and will perform at the Forever Michael tribute. I do not know about you all, but if my brother was murdered and there is a trial, I would do everything in my power not to miss one day of court unless there was an emergency. It seems so odd that neither brother has never made any mentioning of the trial on their twitter accounts. It was like adding insult to injury when Jackie tweeted his reaction to the Immortal Tour event -
Ugh. His brother died so that he can enjoy that event. The least that Jackie could do is to go to at least one court proceeding. We will see about that one.
I have no plans to watch the Forever Michael tribute online - oh wait a minute - I read on facebook that the event will not be online because of the copyright/license of Michael's music. However, even if the event was to be online, I would not want to see it anyway because I would have to pay $4.99 for it. LOL, oh, the comedy. SMDH. As for the Immortal Tour, I have no idea if the tickets went on sale in my hometown (Philadelphia) but I am not interested in buying the tickets or looking at the tour. I do not care about those things. Since Michael's passing, I have lost interest in a lot of things because of what I believe happened to Michael and my disgust with the entertainment industry as a whole. All of these events would not be possible if Michael was living today. Too many people had their own personal agendas and wanted their piece of the pie. Why would I support any of these events? I am not implying that his family are those people with agendas, I am referring to the promoters from Global Live.
At the end of day, if a successful tribute to Michael happens (if that even exists), it has to be done correctly, professionally and reasonably. Michael's family has to be involved and their star power (via from Michael and Janet) cannot be used to promote agendas for montentary gain. The executors have to be people that Michael actually liked and trusted. In other words, if the executors of Michael's estate were not Branca and if it was someone else that Michael liked, then maybe the Immortal Tour would have me interested. These people creating the tributes to Michael have to understand what Michael was about. For example, instead of assuming that because Michael was a supposed fan of KISS, do research and find out who Michael actually liked in music. Michael was a fan of Kanye West, Jay -Z, Alicia Keys, etc. The fans who are coming to the events MUST BE respected. If there are complaints regarding the ticket situation, notify them that there will be a solution to the problem instead of putting it under the rug.
Personally, I have no idea how the Forever Michael tribute or the Immortal Tour will do with the people. The events might be successful or it might be big time flops. Whichever the case, I will not be interested in the last result. I feel that tributes to Michael should be done when justice is served for him and that ALL of the guilty parties will get what is coming to them.
Image of the Michael Forever tribute logo:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/11/jackson.tribute.acts/
(25-7-2011) After the announcement of the planned tribute concert to Michael Jackson this morning, Jermaine and Randy Jackson posted the following statement on Jermaine's Twitter account:
July 25, 2011
Today's press conference in Los Angeles announced a tribute concert to Michael to be attended and supported by the Jackson Family. However, we want to make clear that this does not reflect the position of the entire family.
While we wholeheartedly support the spirit of a tribute that honors our brother, we find it impossible to support an event that is due to take place during the criminal trial surrounding Michael's death. As everyone knows, those proceedings commence September 20th, and this "Michael Forever" concert takes place in Cardiff, Wales, UK,on October 8th. In light of this, we feel it is inappropriate to be involved with such an ill-timed event and its promoter, Global Live.
Furthermore, the decision to proceed with this concert disrespects opinions and wishes expressed in the strongest terms to Global Live during conversations in April when this event was presented to the majority of the family as an idea already in its advanced stages.
There will come a time and place for an amazing and deserving tribute to Michael. But we feel that the most important tribute we can give to our brother at this time is to seek justice in his name.
JERMAINE JACKSON & RANDY JACKSONJanet Jackson's statement:
http://www.billboard.com/news/janet-jackson-not-attending-michael-jackson-1005332002.story#
"Because of the trial, the timing of this tribute to our brother would be too difficult for me," her statement reads.
The group, the Black Eyed Peas (BEP) not going to be at the show -
Due to "unavoidable circumstances" we can only assume were "reading the Internet," the Black Eyed Peas have yanked their performance from October 8th's Michael Forever tribute concert in Wales, a maligned event honoring Michael Jackson that is taking place without the consent or aid of the late star's estate. Fans have literally begged the show's promoters to call off the concert, but it is proceeding as planned (well, sans Peas) with Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé (via video feed), Cee Lo Green, Smokey Robinson, Leona Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Ne-Yo, Gladys Knight, La Toya Jackson, and curiously, Alien Ant Farm, among another artists.Chris Brown not going to be there either (did you know that he was added? That was news to me.):
http://thatgrapejuice.net/2011/10/chris-brown-barred-uk-black-eyed-peas-pull-jackson-tribute/
Chris Brown, whose criminal record includes domestic violence charges stemming from the 2009 assault of pop starlet/then-girlfriend Rihanna, was consequently denied VISA grant and thusly barred from the United Kingdom. While rumors swirled that the ‘She Ain’t You’ singer would instead perform via pre-taped performance like fellow pop star Beyonce, those rumors were silenced with insiders reporting the family didn’t want to put a ‘negative slant on the day’.
Music legends L.A. Reid and Kenneth Babyface Edmonds -
Musical director of the Immortal Tour Greg Phillingaines and wife (maybe, who knows) -
The Jackson family -
Video of the Immortal Tour preview:
John Branca, along with the Estate's lawyer an friend of Branca and resident MJ hater, Harvey Levin (he runs that damn tmz.com & TMZ TV) Howard Weitzmann were on the CNN show "Tonight with Piers Morgan" on October 3rd. The two men were on there, from what I understand, to discuss and promote the Immortal tour and to chat about Michael's legacy. I did not see the interview because I do not have cable but I am glad that I did not see the interview. I am one of those fans that believe that these Estate handlers/executors had something to do with Michael's murder. In some way, they knew exactly what happened to Michael. I do not want my money being given to people who never had Michael's best interests. A lot of people like to assume - and in some ways it is a little true - that the Jackson family makes money off of Michael but so does the estate. They make A LOT of money off of Michael.
When I saw picture of Katherine along with Marlon, Tito, Jackie, Michael's, Randy's & Jermaine's kids, regarding the opening of the Immortal Tour, I saw a family very excited about the event. At the same time, it is bittersweet for them having to be at an event that would have never happened if Michael was not murdered.
I noticed that Jackie and Marlon never showed up one day of the court proceedings for their brother's murder trial but were at the Immortal Tour event and will perform at the Forever Michael tribute. I do not know about you all, but if my brother was murdered and there is a trial, I would do everything in my power not to miss one day of court unless there was an emergency. It seems so odd that neither brother has never made any mentioning of the trial on their twitter accounts. It was like adding insult to injury when Jackie tweeted his reaction to the Immortal Tour event -
Ugh. His brother died so that he can enjoy that event. The least that Jackie could do is to go to at least one court proceeding. We will see about that one.
I have no plans to watch the Forever Michael tribute online - oh wait a minute - I read on facebook that the event will not be online because of the copyright/license of Michael's music. However, even if the event was to be online, I would not want to see it anyway because I would have to pay $4.99 for it. LOL, oh, the comedy. SMDH. As for the Immortal Tour, I have no idea if the tickets went on sale in my hometown (Philadelphia) but I am not interested in buying the tickets or looking at the tour. I do not care about those things. Since Michael's passing, I have lost interest in a lot of things because of what I believe happened to Michael and my disgust with the entertainment industry as a whole. All of these events would not be possible if Michael was living today. Too many people had their own personal agendas and wanted their piece of the pie. Why would I support any of these events? I am not implying that his family are those people with agendas, I am referring to the promoters from Global Live.
At the end of day, if a successful tribute to Michael happens (if that even exists), it has to be done correctly, professionally and reasonably. Michael's family has to be involved and their star power (via from Michael and Janet) cannot be used to promote agendas for montentary gain. The executors have to be people that Michael actually liked and trusted. In other words, if the executors of Michael's estate were not Branca and if it was someone else that Michael liked, then maybe the Immortal Tour would have me interested. These people creating the tributes to Michael have to understand what Michael was about. For example, instead of assuming that because Michael was a supposed fan of KISS, do research and find out who Michael actually liked in music. Michael was a fan of Kanye West, Jay -Z, Alicia Keys, etc. The fans who are coming to the events MUST BE respected. If there are complaints regarding the ticket situation, notify them that there will be a solution to the problem instead of putting it under the rug.
Personally, I have no idea how the Forever Michael tribute or the Immortal Tour will do with the people. The events might be successful or it might be big time flops. Whichever the case, I will not be interested in the last result. I feel that tributes to Michael should be done when justice is served for him and that ALL of the guilty parties will get what is coming to them.
Michael from the 1970s.
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Links:
Articles:
Randy and Jermaine's Joint Statement -
Janet's statement-
The Group the Black Eyed Peas Not Going to Concert -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/8808053/Black-Eyed-Peas-pull-out-of-Michael-Jackson-tribute-concert.html
Chris Brown Can't Come-
Video:
From youtube.com
Tweets:
Jackie Jackson's tweet about the Immortal Event from his twitter account (verified).
Pictures:
The logo of the "Michael Forever" tickets were from google.com, picture of Michael from the 1970s from my personal harrdrive. The pictures of the arrival for the Immortal show from google.com
