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June 27, 2007

Michael Jackson memorabilia dispute continues

A battle over ownership of Michael Jackson memorabilia is headed back to a Nevada courtroom, where the King of Pop is seeking the return of items withheld from the auction.

Janet Jackson is also seeking the return of items held back during a May 30 -31 memorabilia auction at the Hard Rock hotel- casino in Las Vegas.

District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ordered 60 itmes impounded at the Clark County courthouse while she sorts out ownership and decides whether to punish the company that brought the items to auction.

Gonzalez scheduled a July 16 contempt -of court- trail after deciding June 12 that Universal Express Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., violated earlier court oreders to whithold some of the more than 1,100 items offered at auction.


Source: AP/LVJR/MJJFourm/eMJey

Jackson Versus Jay-Z Club Royalties Suit

Michael Jackson, R. Kelly are among a dozen music publishers who have banded together against Jay-Z's 40/40 Club with a federal lawsuit for allegedly skimping on royalties. The popular 40/40 Club, which is co-owned by Jay-Z and tow business partners, has danced around licensing rules to entertain clubgoers with "unauthorized public performance of musical compositions," according to the lawsuit filed yesterday in a Manhattan federal court.

Broadcast Music Inc. led the charge on behalf of Jackson and more than a dozen artists and music publishing companies, seeking unspecified damages for copyright infringement from the club co-owners, Desiree Gonzalez, who has the primary responsibility for operations and management, and Juan Perez.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is not named.
Jackson's "Billie Jean" and "Don't Stop," "Thoia Thoing" by R. Kelly and "Gold Digger" by Kanye West, Ray Charles and Renald Richard, were among seven unlicensed songs played at the club during a random visit by a BMI researcher on two nights in March 2006.

Even singer Pharrell Williams, who has collaborated with Jay-Z has his song "Touch" played without a license.
BMI spokesman Jerry Bailey said the company holds the licensing rights to 6.5 million songs, which half of those played in the Untied States, and has tried unsuccessfully to license the 40/40 Club since it opened in 2003. The sports bar and lounge on West 25th boasts a $4 million multi-level space with dozens of televisions to view sporting events, and several private VIP rooms.

Michael Shen, a lawyer for the club, said he had not yet seen the lawsuit and declined further comment.
The legal action comes one month after the nightspot was hit with a class action lawsuit for allegedly keeping a cut of workers' tips in violation of minimum wage laws.
Celeste Williams, a former waitress at 40/40, accused the club of "willfully failing and refusing to pay [its workers] at the legally required minimum wage" since the nightspot opened in 2003.
Her lawyer claimed 100 staffers have been ripped off - although club management said Williams worked at 40/40 for only four days in December 2005 - in the suit seeking unspecified damages.

Source:Nypost/MJJForum/eMJey

June 26, 2007

Michael Jackson To Pay Torrance Law Firm For Overdue Fees

An attorney for Michael Jackson said Tuesday that the pop star will agree to a judgment directing him to pay $216, 000, plus interest, to Torrance law firm tha sued him for overdue fees.

The law firm of Ayscough & Marar sued Jackson on Feb 21, 2006, in Torrance Superior Court. Work that the firm did for Jackson included obtaining court orders to delay discovery in civil cases and keeping information from being released to the public while Jackson's child molesation trail was in progress in Santa Maria in 2005.

Ayscough & Marar also helped defend Jackson against former business associate Marc Schaffel alleging the singer owed him $1.4 million for past work.

Ayscough & Marar's case against the singer was moved to Los Angeles courthouse last October at the request of Jackson's lawyers. Trail of the case was scheduled to begin today.But Jackson's lawyer, Marshall L. Brubacher, agreed to a judgement against his client after Judge James C. Chalfant ruled that the entertainer's lawyers could not use many of the defenses they had hoped to raise during trial.


Brubacher told Chalfant that agreeing to the judgment made economic sense for his client.

"We want to stop the hemorraging," Brubacher said.

Brubacher also said he and Jackson's other lawyers will not challenge the judgment later on the basis that their client was not present in court.

Chalfant said he was striking the defenses because of Jackson's failure to turn over information requested by the law firm, and for ignoring the June 12 court order to finish a deposition the singer walked out of on Feb. 27.

Michael McCarthy, an attorney for Ayscough & Marar, said yesterday that Jackson was to resume the despostion last Friday but never showed up.
Brubacher said after today's hearing that he does not know why Jackson didn't appear for the depostion, but the lawyer told Chalfant that Jackson would have not known the answers to the questions McCarthy intended to ask.

McCarthy said interest on the judgment amounts to another $40,000, meaning his clients are actually entitled to $256,000. McCarthy said he also will ask Chalfant to order Jackson to pay him about $280,000 for the lawyer's work in representing the law firm.

Brubacher said he has not yet figured out how much interest there will be on the judgment, and that the additional $280,000 McCarthy wants is too high.

"This was a simple case," Brubacher said. "We tried to settle this several times."

Jackson countersued the law firm last Aug. 29. The singer's allegations included a claim that one of the firm's lawyers threatened to expose confidential information about him to the media.

Chalfant later dismissed the Jackson countersuit, finding it lacked merit, said Brent Ayscough, a partner in Ayscough & Marar. He said Jackson remains mired in debt because of his lifestyle.


Source:KNBC/MJJF/eMJey

June 15, 2007

20 People Who Changed Black Music – Michael Jackson

When it comes to the history of black music -- or simply music, period -- very few people have achieved accolades, success and the adoration of fans throughout the world like Michael Joseph Jackson.
Not only has Jackson dominated pop and R&B charts over the course of five decades, he ushered in the MTV era, helping the burgeoning network draw viewers in the 1980s with his music videos that were more feature-film than a few minutes of smoke and mirrors to sell a song. The most awarded recording artist in history, Jackson is a double inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – as a member of the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist.
With his albums reaching platinum status multiple times over, Jackson has truly earned the symbolic Guinness World Records title "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time." And the electrifying dance moves he displayed in his sold-out shows -- brilliantly captured in his Emmy Award-nominated, "moonwalk"-punctuated performance at "Motown 25" in 1983 -- are still being imitated by today's R&B upstarts and impersonators across the world.
Yet despite Jackson's extraordinary talent, his personal life has recently overshadowed his untouchable musical abilities. But true fans remain loyal.
"He is a super talent regardless of the stuff that's happened," said Niecy Davis, assistant programs director for Radio One in St. Louis. A self-proclaimed "die-hard Michael Jackson fan," Davis said she's followed the Gloved One's career for more than 30 years, from the "Jackson 5" cartoon of the 1970s to the famous video debuts of the 1980s and 1990s that were appointment television for everyone.
"I was glued to all of his videos. The choreography was always good, and the music just had a feeling to it," Davis told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "Michael Jackson has always been unique and daring. Man, he is just the bomb."
It all began for Jackson in the early 1960s. Touring with his brothers in their native Indiana, Jackson, and the group that would become the Jackson 5 won a local talent show in 1966. The winning song was a rendition of The Temptation's "My Girl," with Michael singing the lead. It was only a matter of time before the Jacksons would become label mates with the Temptations, signing with Motown Records in 1968. A string of hits would follow – "I Want You Back," "ABC," The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There." In addition to the success the group saw, Michael Jackson was a solo cash cow for Motown, releasing "Got to Be There" and "Ben."
Life wasn't all roses with Motown for the Jackson 5, and the group -- with strict disciplinarian father/manager Joe Jackson leading the way -- signed a contract with CBS Records. The move angered Motown, and a suit accusing the group of breaching their contract was filed. In the end, the group had to rename themselves The Jacksons and brother Jermaine -- who was married to Motown head Berry Gordy's daughter -- was replaced by the youngest Jackson son, Randy. From 1976 to 1984, Michael Jackson was more than a front man for The Jacksons. As the lead songwriter, he penned such hits as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)," and "Can You Feel It."
As the 1980s approached, Jackson was once again focusing on a solo career and, after appearing in "The Wiz" as the Scarecrow and performing songs produced by music impresario Quincy Jones, Jackson started a business relationship that would reap big rewards.
In 1979, Jackson released "Off the Wall," an international chart-topper that produced four Top 10 hits, including "Don't Stop 'Til You get Enough" and "Rock with You." The Jackson/Jones collaboration spent 48 consecutive weeks on the Top 20 charts, with song lyrics and music written by Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, to name a few.
The next year, Jackson won his first awards for his solo work. He won Favorite Soul/R&B Album (for "Off the Wall"), Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Single (for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough") at the American Music Awards. That hardware would be followed by two Billboard Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male (for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough").
The Jackson 5-less Michael Jackson was a true phenomenon, said Al Payne, operations manager for Radio One in Richmond, Va.
"When Michael broke out on his own, it was obvious that he would take the world by storm," Payne told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "From his moves to his showmanship to his Quincy Jones-infused grooves, Michael was and really always will be a major force in R&B."
That force hit with vengeance in late 1982 on the wings of "Thriller," the biggest selling album in history, with worldwide sales totals that surpass 104 million. It delivered a slew of classic tracks -- the first album to garner seven top-10 Billboard Hot Singles -- including the title cut, "Beat It" and "Billie Jean," which was the first music video by a black performer to be aired on MTV.
Ironically, Jackson's entry into music video history would not come easily, despite his subsequent mastery of -- and influence on -- the medium.
An October 2005 article in Blender, lauding "Billie Jean" as its top pick of "The 500 Greatest Sings Since You Were Born, details how CBS Records heads Walter Yetnikoff "went ballistic" at the music channel's refusal to air the video. "I said to MTV, 'I'm pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I'm not going to give you any more videos. And I'm going to go public and f---ing tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy.'" "Billie Jean" was promptly put in heavy rotation, and neither Jackson nor MTV ever looked back."
Even the critically-acclaimed, often-referenced video for "Thriller" was a groundbreaking piece of filmmaking: Directed by John Landis, it was 13 minutes long and even led to a VHS release entitled, "Making Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'," which become the best-selling music home video ever.
Davis says she can still remember racing home to catch one of Jackson's music videos, regardless of how many times she had already seen them.
"I was sitting in front of MTV everyday trying to catch the entire 'Thriller' video," Davis told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
The relatively new concept of music videos didn't hurt record sales; "Thriller" was the No. 1 song for 37 weeks and as a certified Platinum album 27 times over, stayed on the Billboard charts for 122 weeks -- or slightly more than two years.
At an age where most people are beginning to find their way professionally, Jackson was being lauded in ways that many veteran musicians never see. The New York Times called Jackson a "musical phenomenon" when he was just 25, saying, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else." While Jackson was easily a crossover act, appealing to white audiences as well as blacks, his success also helped black artists get mainstream radio play for the first time since the 1970s.
"Michael Jackson took the baton from James Brown and worked his own magic into it," Payne said.
Jackson also showed his humanitarian side, serving as one of the forces behind "We Are the World," sharing co-writing honors with Lionel Richie in 1985. With 20 million copies sold, "We Are the World" won Song of the Year honors at the Grammy Awards. Jackson also allowed "Beat It" to be used in anti-drunk driving ads and was honored at a White House ceremony for lending his song to the cause.
The 1990s saw Jackson marry and divorce twice -- to Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie, and to Debbie Rowe, a dental hygienist. His union with Rowe produced two children, Michael Joseph "Prince" Jackson, Jr. and Paris Katherine.
Despite all of the controversy, Jackson remains one of the most popular musical icons of all time. He is especially beloved overseas, where throngs of fans appear whenever he is out in public. Even in the United States, Davis said, his star still shines bright, if not in mainstream circles.
"He is a super talent, regardless," Davis told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "Sometimes you find super talented people that are very eccentric, and that's Michael Jackson. People get wrapped up in his personal life. And at the end of the day, that's really none of our business."

Source: blackamericaweb.com

June 07, 2007

Michael Took The Children To See The "BODIES" Exhibition In Vegas Yesterday

Michael Jackson and his three children, all unveiled, got the VIP tour of "Bodies ... The Exhibition" on Wednesday and went home with a miniature skeleton.

Jackson stopped at one point to lecture his children on the evils of smoking after they viewed a smoker's lung. Later, he stressed the importance of healthy eating.

After taking a tour of "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition," they stopped in the gift shop and purchased everything from a 33-inch skeleton to anatomy and pathology books to T-shirts featuring bones, brains and "a thinker."

Source: http://www.normclarke.com