I have made it vocal on this blog that I am not
a supporter/fan/groupie of the Michael Jackson Estate. Since Michael was
murdered in 2009, it has often bothered me how the executors came about, the
2002 will that Michael supposedly signed surfaced and why the third executor
decided to not be one of the executors of the estate. On Tuesday April 10th,
the Immortal Tour will come to my hometown Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo
Center. That is one of many things that the estate has plans for this year that
I refuse to support. I had a change of heart in the beginning of this year when
I stated on my facebook account that I was thinking of going to the event. I
have heard and read how good it was and I looked online at the prices and saw
that the prices were reasonable. I had a plan of how I was going to plan that
day.
Then, sometime in March, I was getting ready for
work when I had an epiphany – I cannot go to this concert/event. I cannot give
my money that I worked for to these people. I cannot betray Michael. I cannot
support an event created by the very people who killed this man. I know there
are people reading this blog that believe that the Estate executors are doing
the “right thing” for Michael and his legacy. However, I remembered what
Michael said about his issues with Sony and that he had a lot of problems with
his lawyer and now executor of his estate, John Branca. I know that Michael was
in a business that was evil, cruel and wicked and part of being in the music
business is that people will betray you. That is the norm in the business of
music because after all, the music business is a business. I cannot ignore those
things because of an concert because that would be selfish of me.
I cannot ignore this bad feeling that I have
about the Estate executors and their handling of Michael’s legacy. The things
that I am saying about the estate might not be backed up by concrete facts
right now. That is mainly because no one is really doing an extensive research
on these executors. There is an article that discusses John Branca’s role in
Michael’s life but that is about it. The article is entitled How Jackson Nearly Lost His Prized Music Catalouge, done by Johnnie L.
Roberts. If there were more articles done on questioning
the role of these executors, maybe there will be concrete facts to be used as
sources to the claims out there. I cannot pay for a ticket to the event knowing
that the money is not only going to his mother and children, but I believe, the
money is going to other people. It was
that realization that made me stick to what I stated last year that I will not
go to the Immortal Tour.
Michael in 1993.
This year is a huge year regarding Michael’s
music because the Bad and Thriller albums will be celebrating
major milestones. The official facebook account is no longer promoting the Immortal Tour since it became the top touring
act in the U.S., read here: Why Michael Jackson Is the Top Touring Act in America Again, it is now getting ready to promote the 25th
Anniversary of Bad. There have even
been rumors of director Spike Lee doing a documentary to celebrate that
milestone. ( It looks like that is true regarding the documentary.)Read here: Spike Lee Making Documentary for 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson's Bad. Spike Lee would have to ask permission from the
Estate to use Michael’s music in order to do the documentary. That means that the Estate will be behind
this documentary. As exciting as this news sounds, I cannot fully support it.
I went to see This is It in 2009, which was distributed by Sony Pictures and I went for two reasons: Michael and that the money being made from the movie will go to his mother and children. That was the only time I gave anything to the Estate. In a way, it is a hard decision to make as a fan because I am a fan first before I am an activist. Before all of the conspiracies talk occurred, it was about being a fan. However, as I got older and I start to really understand the toll Michael and other entertainers had to take in order to stay in the business, I cannot blindly support things just because it would satisfy my interests. I cannot forget the sacrifices that Michael had to make so that he can become not only a legend but the greatest entertainer of all time.
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Update 5/27/2017 - I am posting an link to a blog that goes into detail with how the executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson truly operates. Please take the time and bookmark the blog to read more about these horrible people.
http://marcoballetta.com/category/lies/
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Links:
Articles -
"How Jackson Nearly Lost His Prized Catalogue", thewrap.com, by Johnnie L. Roberts from 2010
http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/michael-jackson-1-can-john-branca-save-jackson-again-22420
"Why is Michael Jackson the Top Touring Act in America, Again", forbes.com, by Zack O'Malley Greenburg from 2011
http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2011/12/12/why-michael-jackson-is-the-top-touring-act-in-america-again/
"Spike Lee Making a Doc for 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson's Bad" blogs.indiewire.com. by Ashley Thomas from 2012
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/spike-lee-making-doc-for-25th-anniversary-of-michael-jacksons-bad-he-talks-go-brazil-go-more#
Statement for the Executors of the Michael Jackson Estate concerning the fake songs -
http://web.archive.org/web/20111019074742/http://www.mjjunderground.com/2010/11/13/confirmed-no-changes-to-michael/
Update on 5/27/2017 - http://marcoballetta.com/category/lies/
The official logo to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Bad.
I went to see This is It in 2009, which was distributed by Sony Pictures and I went for two reasons: Michael and that the money being made from the movie will go to his mother and children. That was the only time I gave anything to the Estate. In a way, it is a hard decision to make as a fan because I am a fan first before I am an activist. Before all of the conspiracies talk occurred, it was about being a fan. However, as I got older and I start to really understand the toll Michael and other entertainers had to take in order to stay in the business, I cannot blindly support things just because it would satisfy my interests. I cannot forget the sacrifices that Michael had to make so that he can become not only a legend but the greatest entertainer of all time.
For this, I cannot support an Estate that does not respect
Michael’s art and his sacrifice for his art. The Estate made a terrible move of
supporting the Michael album that had
three songs that did not have his vocals. The songs did not sound anything like
Michael and when the Estate was supposed to look into the situation, they
decided to release a statement without actually looking into the claims:
http://web.archive.org/web/20111019074742/http://www.mjjunderground.com/2010/11/13/confirmed-no-changes-to-michael/
http://web.archive.org/web/20111019074742/http://www.mjjunderground.com/2010/11/13/confirmed-no-changes-to-michael/
We’ve just received confirmation from the Estate of Michael Jackson that NO changes will be made to “Michael” despite a large number of online petitions.Many fans are still outraged that “Breaking News” will even be released, but at the same time many of us love it. According to our poll, “Do You Think the Vocals on ‘Breaking News’ are Michael’s?” 238 of you voted Yes, 272 voted No and 165 are still undecided so clearly there’s no overwhelming result.A rep for the Estate confirmed the album is “well into manufacturing” and “the track list on www.MichaelJackson.com is accurate.”
The statement (the original one) was well
written but did little to nothing to end the confusion and the chaos that was occurring
regarding the fake songs. This is not something that should be ignored because
the Estate will release more albums of songs that Michael sung but probably did
not complete and there will be the doubters, understandably so, that will
question the credibility of the songs.
These things should not happen and because of the doubt that
I have, I cannot risk giving my money to this Estate when it not only made $500
million dollars since Michael’s death but that it is not certain that the money
will actually go to the beneficiaries. The Estate doe s not need my money if
they have made so much money and even if I do come around and decided to give
them my money in order to view the Immortal tour or see the Bad 25 documentary,
I would want to know who will actually receive the money. There are people out
there who might not understand where I am coming from or why a fan like myself
is stating these things. That is fine because those people do not understand
the situations that he went through in order to achieve his goals and what he
had to give up in order to be a legend. Maybe I chose to learn from his life
instead of getting excited over situations that will not change the legacy of
Michael Jackson and has no real basis in the world.
Michael performing in 1987/1988.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 5/27/2017 - I am posting an link to a blog that goes into detail with how the executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson truly operates. Please take the time and bookmark the blog to read more about these horrible people.
http://marcoballetta.com/category/lies/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links:
Articles -
"How Jackson Nearly Lost His Prized Catalogue", thewrap.com, by Johnnie L. Roberts from 2010
http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/michael-jackson-1-can-john-branca-save-jackson-again-22420
"Why is Michael Jackson the Top Touring Act in America, Again", forbes.com, by Zack O'Malley Greenburg from 2011
http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2011/12/12/why-michael-jackson-is-the-top-touring-act-in-america-again/
"Spike Lee Making a Doc for 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson's Bad" blogs.indiewire.com. by Ashley Thomas from 2012
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/spike-lee-making-doc-for-25th-anniversary-of-michael-jacksons-bad-he-talks-go-brazil-go-more#
Statement for the Executors of the Michael Jackson Estate concerning the fake songs -
http://web.archive.org/web/20111019074742/http://www.mjjunderground.com/2010/11/13/confirmed-no-changes-to-michael/
Update on 5/27/2017 - http://marcoballetta.com/category/lies/
Pictures:
From my personal harddrive.
