We here at Planet Jackson are taking the day off to be with our families. We wish you and yours a happy, healthy, safe holiday. This year has been a rollercoaster year for me. I uprooted my family to move several states away, underwent a career change, started this blog and witnessed two of my closest friends pass away suddenly several months apart. In between their passing, I had to suffer the untimely death of my absolute favorite artist, Michael Jackson. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I love the Jacksons--Michael, Janet, and the Jackson 5. Michael's death shook me to the core even moreso than the passing of people who I saw on a daily basis; I am still in mourning.
It might seem like I am listing a lot of negative things here, but I see them as positives. Each challenge I have faced, especially the passing of my friends, has taught me not to take anything for granted. I am thankful for even the smallest of pleasures: the sound of my children's laughter, the taste of a good meal, the sound of the rain, the sunshine on my face, the fragrance of a flower, each moment I have to spend with friends and family. I take time to see and to savor now. I tell everyone who is special to me how much I love them. I know now, each time might be the last. I take each day at a time. Most of all, I have come to realize what is important to me and which things are not worth worrying about. I have reaffirmed my true gratitude for everything life has to offer. Today, as you sit down with your loved ones (even if that just means you and your pets or houseplants), what are you thankful for?
The iconic white glove Michael Jackson wore in 1983when he premiered the moonwalk during Billie Jean at the Motown 25th Anniversary special has set the auction world ablaze. The glove was auctioned off by Julien's Auctions for US$420,000 including taxes and fees ($350,000 excluding them) this past Saturday at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City's Times Square. Hong Kong businessman Hoffman Ma won the auction on behalf of the Ponte 16 Resort Hotel in Macau.
Michael gifted the glove to Walter "Clyde" Orange of the singing group the Commodores backstage after his performance that night. Orange felt it was time to sell the piece of music history. Other Jackson items were also up for auction: the fedora Jackson wore that same night fetched $22,000 against an estimate of $2,000 and a jacket that Jackson wore on his 1989 "Bad" tour sold for $225,000 — 20 times its low estimate of $8,000.
Julien's also auctioned off memorabilia from other musicans on Saturday including items once belonging to Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Mariah Carey, but the buzz was about Michael Jackson. His presence dominated the cafe as did two giant photos of Jackson on either side of the auction block and a huge picture of his famed glove at the center.
Michael Jackson perfected and popularized the moonwalk, notably on his Motown 25 “Billie Jean” performance. But variations of the moonwalk already existed prior to that performance, thanks to the likes of Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., Daniel L. Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson and Jackson, Eleanor Powell, Bill Robinson, Three Chefs, Tip Tap and Toe (ft. Ray Winfield), and Earl Snakehips Tucker.
I don't mean to bring negativity, but you all should know Beyonce has said several negative things about the Jackson family in the past. One of them is: "I grew up upper-class. Private school. My dad had a Jaguar. We’re African-American, and we work together as a family, so people assume we’re like the Jacksons... I didn’t have parents using me to get out of a bad situation" Beyonce said this during an interview with Elle magazine. I think the statement was incredibly disrespectful and caused a lot of fallout for her. Rightfully so. The statement was directly aimed at Janet. Janet is said to have responded with, 'Beyonce has a lot of growing up to do.' Because of the fallout, Beyonce has been careful to smile and pretend like she is a huge Jackson fan and even wanted to do a tribute a the BET awards this year. (Supposedly the Jackson family nixed that idea because of her previous statements.) If you have a hard time believing Bey would say something mean one minute then nice the next or vice versa, remember the Taylor Swift incident? People were hailing her as a saint for giving Taylor her time to speak at the VMA's. Beyonce later came out several weeks later and admitted she knew Kanye was going to do it ahead of time and that 'he was just standing up for true art' or something to that effect. When this started to generate a tiny buzz on the blogs, the story was buried. Just like the Taylor incident, I'm sure she did this to generate good press for herself more than to honor Michael. My point in all this is to say, I think it is perfectly fine to appreciate her performance of the tribute, but please consider the source. It may or may not be sincere, so be careful who you praise and venerate. I am not a Beyonce hater. I enjoy a lot of her songs and loved her last tour before Sasha Fierce. I just don't like a lot of the things she says and does. She was one of the people responsible for putting down Michael so she gets the side eye.
Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor accused of killing Michael Jackson announced last night he is returning to work. The doctor is in arrears with his child support and has not worked since Jackson's death. For those of you interested in booking an appointment with the New Millennial Dr. Death you can find him at the Armstrong Medical Clinic, Acre Homes, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Murray has admitted to administering Propofol and various benzodiazepines at Michael Jackson's home without a pulseox monitor, a defibrillator, and other monitoring equipment as well as leaving Jackson alone while on the medication; Murray says he was only gone for a few minutes. Police investigators say he was gone for at least an hour while Jackson slipped into respiratory depression leading to an eventual cardiac arrest. Murray maintains he did not give Jackson "anything that should have killed him."
If you feel like rolling the dice on whether or not the good doctor will be taking phone calls and visiting the loo during your important medical procedures, please book an appointment now. His receptionist is standing by.
I stayed up live chatting the AMA's with a group of folks from around the world. You would be surprised at how many international fans were trying to see this show. Some of my online friends in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Greece, the UK, and Scandanavia could not see the broadcast on television, so I kept up a stream of consciousness commentary on the show. I'm going to be honest with you: I haven't watched the AMA's in years and can't remember ever voting. That all changed this year with Michael Jackson's five nominations. I really wanted to see if he would be properly honored, so I tuned in. Spoiler alert: Michael won 4 of the 5 categories in which he was nominated.
Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist Favorite Pop/Rock Album Favorite Soul/R&B Artist Favorite Soul/R&B Album
He lost out to Taylor Swift for Artist of the Year. Even those who didn't really listen to Michael's music know he is artist of the millennium, let alone artist of the year. Where was Kanye when you need him?
Overall, the show was pretty dull and the producers seemed to be stalling on the good stuff and incorporating as much filler as possible. Half the show was devoted to country music and the other half seemed to be teen pop. At one point I threatened to scream if I saw one more Disney "star" come up to present an award. Shouldn't they have been doing homework or something?
Anyway, here is some of what I wrote.
I would give it an 8. I didn't like Janet's pants and she seemed to be just going through the motions in places. I also don't think she put any live vocals into it. Her makeup was flawless. She looked good and it was nice to see her honored as the opener, but I have seen her do much better. She had more fire in her eyes at the VMA's.
Some things never change. I thought it was totally inappropriate for him to bring his various children up onto the stage, plus the youngsters looked totally uninterested. He omitted Randy and I don't think he mentioned MICHAEL's kids either! What an ass!
Black Eyed Peas! Love them! I was hoping for pump it up and I've Got A Feeling. Why is Fergie in lingerie? She doesn't have to shake her pum pum to get attention. I like her darker hair. will.i.am is so far out there. Great club music. Love Apl's mohawk. Oooh, Taboo's wearing a sparkly glove like Michael! Did you see it? His already high sexy factor just increased exponentially! I have to admit I squealed with delight when they incorporated Nirvana. Yes, folks, I am a Nirvana fan. We like all kinds of (good) music over here on Planet Jackson.
Whitney's vocals are back! Last night's performance was miles better than her Central Park performance last month. Whitney has also thickened up! I really thought it would never happen, but she had a bit of a tummy and hips in that fitted white dress. I wonder why she wore it? Her makeup was flawless, but the wig needed a brushing. I could have done without that bit of hollering towards the end. When Samuel L. Jackson came out to introduce her, I half expected him to just say "she's a bad mother fcuker". He looked quite distinguished with his salt and pepper hair and pewter dress shirt.
Timbaland is back! I really missed his beats in hip hop. It's like he has some sort of embargo against working with the genre that made him. Ooooh, his autotune doesn't seem to be working, he doesn't sound good. That lady in the black dress looks scary. I like Nelly Furtado's hair. Okay, they incorporated some of Thriller at the end! Did you catch it?
Rihanna's set was weird and spectacular. I thought it had shades of S & M and I ain't mad at that. It made me sit up and pay attention. I did NOT like the costume.at.all. Her vocals were...she should have left out the guns as well. Do I sense a subconscious death wish here? Russian Roulette, her gun tatts, and this set? That tat on her neck and throat=epic FAIL!!!!! So tacky! This girl is having a slow public breakdown. She, Lauryn Hill, and Cassie just need to go away to some island to recuperate. Oh, scratch that. Islands are what got Lauryn in trouble in the first place.
Lady GaGa
I didn't like the costumes at all and I didn't care for her legs cocked open at the piano either. Is she wearing some sort of modified jockstrap? That whole set looks so dangerous! Broken glass, fire, and smoke everywhere. How is anyone else going to perform? I hope she doesn't get glass in her eye. I'm totally confused. I love her voice. She is singing live and she is fantastic. I really don't understand why she does all the gimmicks. She doesn't have to be Marilyn Manson. She's Lady Ga Ga and that should be enough. I felt like I was watching one of those crazy late-night specials on HBO (some of y'all know what I mean), so FAIL.
Let's see if she lives up to the hype. (She didn't.) She's been on the mommy track for a minute now. She never was much of a live singer. She is going to get pilloried for her mommy thighs. Twins in your late thirties will do that, LOL. Well, I liked the second pair of shoes and I loved the walking up the dancers' backs, but my favorite part was when gravity took over and brought that mighty ass down! At least she had plenty of cushioning! That was mean, wasn't it?
I was also a bit taken aback when Jermaine thanked Allah. That would have been fine if that were his award but it was Michael's. Michael learned about Islam but he wasn't Muslim. I bet Katherine had a fit when she heard that, too. She's a devout Jehovah's Witness. I wonder how they managed to keep Joe from attending and accepting? You know he probably wanted to. He was probably outside with the bouncers tombout 'don't you know who I am?' Jermaine was exceptionally self-centered tonight. You would have thought it was his award. At least he mentioned Michael's message: "Start with love and let's love each other."
50 Cent and Eminem kind of phoned in their performance. It wasn't anything spectacular. Eminem has squandered his potential on senseless beefs, anger, and drugs. 50 was always just hype. By the way, when you have to bleep out a good solid 4 seconds of your performance at a time then your song is too profane. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys could have just cued up a video of their VMA performance for that New York song. I felt like I was watching the exact same thing. Alicia did a decent job on her solo. I liked the spinning piano in the air.
TAYLOR EMINEFFING SWIFT??? At least she is acknowledging the Jacksons. She does NOT deserve this award. There is no way. What happened to the other awards? I know I'm not crazy. They have only presented three of the five in which Michael was nominated. WTF???
Why are they having Adam Lambert hump that woman's face (I later realized that was a man)and feel up the crotch of that woman on the pole? He knows he did not like it one.bit. What's with the man-kiss? He knows good and well he wanted to wear some spangled Liberace suit. All the screaming! Freddie Mercury he is not. He sounds like I did when they announced TS as the winner over MJ. I'm still screaming.
Ryan Seacrest, this show sucked. I'm never watching again. I feel so let down. This is B.S. Taylor did NOT deserve to win that award and she knows it. I never thought I would say this, but where is Kanye? I'm pissed because 1. there was no tribute 2. Michael didn't win artist of the year. I refuse to believe his fans did not vote for him in droves. this is a conspiracy! Even if, by some glaring omission Michael were not nominated, Taylor Swift still should not have won. She just doesn't have the chops. What she apparently does have is an army of 2-year-old fans who texted and voted on-line ad nauseum. 3. the show was extremely boring 4. 2 of Michael's awards were presented off-air and they didn't even bother to tell us that during the show. People were left wondering what happened. 5. Adam Lambert's closing number was disgusting and vulgar. I have seen him in person and he has no personality or stage presence; I guess he went for the shock value so we wouldn't notice his stumbling (he tripped during his set) and screeching and general lack of real showmanship. I am officially through with him and the whole American Idol fakery machine.
Planet Jackson Worldwide is a blog dedicated to news about Michael Jackson and the Jackson family. It is written with love and the utmost respect to honor the memory of Michael.
Planet Jackson-Blog Administrator
Disclaimer
This blog is intended for entertainment purposes only. The opinions expressed by the authors are their opinions only. The administrator claims no responsibility whatsoever for opinions expressed by commentors in the comment section. The copyrights for all direct quotes, videos, and photos remain with their original holders and are used in accordance with the Fair Use & Copyright Act. Whenever possible, every attempt is made to credit the original source for materials used on this blog. Unless otherwise noted, all text is copyright Planet Jackson Worldwide.
Planet Jackson Worldwide is now available for mobile devices
