Spike Lee wrote a letter to Michael

Legendary filmmaker Spike Lee, directed two controversial videos for Michael Jackson as well as the eulogy on film to accompany the posthumous single "This Is It". Jackson and Lee collaborated on both videos for "They Don't Care About Us. The first version was filmed in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and Salvador da Bahia, Brazil and featured local residents and the cultural music group Olodum. It showcased the both the crushing poverty and resilient spirit of the area. The second video depicted Jackson as a prisoner in a prison filled with discontent inmates. Scenes of Jackson handcuffed and protesting in the mess hall were interspersed with images of police brutality, genocide, execution, and bigotry. This duo of videos remains among Jackson's most powerful in his catalogue.

Lee continued his support of Jackson by staging a community-wide birthday party in honor of Michael in Brooklyn last August 2009. At the beginning of this year, Lee released a touching music video ode to Michael to accompany the single "This Is It." The video featured scenes from Michael's life and his hometown of Gary, Indiana. Now, Lee has penned a letter to his friend for the luxurious coffee table book, Opus: Michael Jackson. The Opus is a massive 26 lb. book containing photos, drawings, letters, and more celebrating Michael. He had considerable input into the work and it is the last official book to gain his approval before his passing.

Read the text of Spike Lee's touching personal letter to Michael below:

October 10, 2009

Dearest Michael,

Last week I made a pilgrimage to your birthplace, Gary, Indiana. I stood
inside your family’s modest three-bedroom home on 2300 Jackson Street. I felt
the magic. It started there, nine kids plus your parents, jam packed, livin’ on
top of each other pursuing The American Dream. For this alone 2300 Jackson
should be declared a National Landmark. One has to go back to the beginning to
clearly see the entire journey. Gary, Steel town, Midwest, blue collar, hard
workin’, hard livin’, great work ethic and simple basic values. It’s there early
where you learned ‘you had to sing and dance like your life depended on it’
which it did. You and your family made the dream a reality. But as we all
finally learn (sooner or later) dreams have costs and costs have consequences. I
truly cherish the short time we worked together, visiting my home in Brooklyn,
huggin’ and kissin’ my newborn daughter Satchel, as if she was your own
daughter, our fantastic journey to Brazil to shoot the video for ‘THEY DON’T
CARE ABOUT US.’ I regret never getting to inform you that our video was directly
responsible for the great film CITY OF GOD being conceived and made. Michael,
your life touched people the world over you will never know. Michael, I’m one
year older than you, we grew up together. I had my Afro just like you. I wanted
to be like you. Wanted the cute girls to fawn over me the way they did you (the
girls were not going for it. They’d rather make goo-goo eyes at your pictures
plastered all over their bedroom.) At that young age I had no notion of what I
wanted to do in my life. You made me see the possibilities even though I could
not sing or dance a lick despite coming from a musical family. You, Jermaine,
Tito, Jackie and Marlon showed us the way. You guys were young Black boys like
us. Upon us was a new day, a new world and it’s on us to make the most of it. In
closing Michael, you checked out of here way, way too soon but while you walked
this earth in your physical form you changed it. You changed the World, changed
the Game forever.

May you rest eternally in Peace.

Love,
Spike Lee

P.S. Brooklyn luvs ya!

Re-post: Spike Lee's tribute to Michael Jackson "This Is It"

Iconic filmmaker, Spike Lee, will world premiere his tribute video to Michael Jackson entitled "This Is It" tonight at 7pm on his website www.40acres.com, but you don't have to wait! We have it right here on PJWN in its entirety. The short film is a fantastic look at Michael's roots and the town that loves him.

World Premiere: Spike Lee's tribute to Michael Jackson "This Is It"

Iconic filmmaker, Spike Lee, will world premiere his tribute video to Michael Jackson entitled "This Is It" tonight at 7pm on his website www.40acres.com but you don't have to wait! We have it right here on PJWN in its entirety. (Pass your cursor over the area where the video should be and click to play.) The short film is a fantastic look at Michael's roots and the town that loves him.

Michael Jackson's Birthday Party in Brooklyn: A Spike Lee Joint

On-and-off-again rain showers be damned, thousands turned out today in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to celebrate what would have been Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday. For what was essentially a joyous block party — but held in a giant meadow, and helmed by Spike Lee — some said they almost didn’t make it for reasons other than the weather.

"I was kind of emotional this morning, but I pulled myself together,” said a Michael Jackson impersonator who goes by Gritty, channeling “Bad”-era MJ (with extra sequins).What about the dance-offs between the other fans dressed in tribute?“There’s always somewhat of a rivalry,” Gritty adnitted, in between having his photo taken with fans. “But I just represent a piece of him. We can never be the best.”

DJ Spinna played a roughly five-hour set, with Lee and other famous Brooklynites and Jackson fans cutting in — including Ed Lover (of 105.1FM, “Yo! MTV Raps” and — everyone’s favorite — the “Ed Lover Dance” fame) and Tracy Morgan introducing crowd karaoke to “Black or White,” “The Way You Make You Feel,” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin.’ ”

For “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin,’ a song whose lyrics have famously confused listeners — at least until this summer, when it seemed to be blasting out of everyone’s car or cafe in homage — party organizers handed out “Yeah, yeah!!!” and “Mama se, mama sa, ma ma coo sa!!!” placards. People got the lyrics, but just waved the cards in excitement at the wrong time, despite Lee’s attempts to dissuade them: “You gotta wait till your part comes up! Put it down!”

Rev. Al Sharpton gave a blessing that somehow included a nod to Ted Kennedy and the fourth anniversary of Katrina. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz popped in to proclaim the occasion “Michael Jackson Memorial Day.” “Whatever Spike Lee wants in Brooklyn, Spike Lee gets,” Markowitz said, not ruling out future Michael Jackson memorial events. Would Markowitz call this a Spike Lee joint, then? “It is a Spike Lee joint. It is a Spike Lee joint!”

Spike Lee is throwing Michael Jackson a 51st Birthday Party

Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us (Official Music Video) -
You could say that Spike Lee always had a special connection to Michael Jackson: They were born a year apart, both to musical families. Back in the day, every Saturday morning, Lee, like many other black kids across the country, sat down in front of the TV, glued to the “Jackson 5” cartoons. “We’re of the same era,” Lee told The Root. “I wanted my Afro to be perfectly round like Michael’s, all that stuff.”
Years later, the two ended up working together, collaborating on a music video for “They Don’t Care About Us” in Brazil. The two never worked together again, but Lee found himself hit hard by Jackson’s death.
So he decided to throw Michael a birthday party.
Not just any birthday party: A “Brooklyn style block party,” Lee says. “It’s going to just be how we do it, Brooklyn style, I’ll leave it at that. It’s going to be a joyous, festive, celebratory party.” Free.
Anybody and everybody is invited to attend Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday party on Saturday, August 29, from noon to 5 p.m., at Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, New York. DJ Spinna will be spinning all things Jackson, from the Jackson 5 to the Jacksons to Michael Jackson. The Brooklyn borough president will be on hand to declare Aug. 29 “Michael Jackson Day.”

Jay Z and Spike Lee Shoot Rocawear Ads

Jay-Z and director Spike Lee are in their hometown of Brooklyn, NY filming and shooting for Rocawear’s 10th Anniversary adverstising campaign.

Sonia Sotomayor the Movie?

Rosie Perez is eager to tackle the role of a lifetime by playing Sonia Sotomayor if a biopic of the Supreme Court nominee were ever to be made. Sotomayor's confimation hearings start today in Congress.

"Oh my God, I'd be so honored," the actress told the NY Daily News at screening of the documentary Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech at HBO Studios. Perez would relish the challenge the role would present, playing a real person, who is still alive and able to judge the performance. There is no denying the parallels in the life stories of the Bronx-born-and-bred boricua judge, who pulled herself up from the housing projects to find wild success, and the Brooklyn-bred Perez.

Rosie, watch your back, I think there's been a J-Lo sighting.....where's Mookie?