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Author Topic: MICHAEL JACKSON 1958 - 2009  (Read 183273 times)
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Kat_Gram
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« Reply #340 on: July 04, 2009, 01:18:53 PM »

I read that Puzzler. I hope that when they cast that net in CA they uncover
who was involved in prescribing not just to MJ but to others and that the doctors involved have some serious measures taken. We've had doctors here who have had their prescribing practises monitored and taken away. There was one big case where the pharmacy was involved. The " patients " were actually drug dealers. So was the pharmacist. I can't remember all the complex details of this scam,but what made it worse was that the customers were on social assistance and we paid the pharmacist thru tax dollars. It was big and as complex as the Madoff scam.   
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Kat_Gram
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« Reply #341 on: July 04, 2009, 02:27:22 PM »

I know how getting a prescription filled here works. I have two numbers. One for health services ( doctor, hospital, any other covered service ) and a drug number. The pharmacy has to have the drud id number for me when filling a prescription. They won't fill it unless they have me on file with that number or I have the card that I show them if it is a new drugstore. All the drugstores are not connected so they can't see my drug  history. That is where the common number is used by the health agency that does the monitoring. There are some drugs ( narcotics ) that are on a schedule where the dispensation is always monitored. It can all be traced back to me thru this drug id number.
..
In the USA, isn't there the same type of sytem thru the DEA number ?
..
If, so, how was all this going on with no red flags going off in the DEA ?
..
If I wanted to bypass the system to obtain regulated drugs, I would have to have the  cooperation of a doctor and a pharmacist where my id number did not appear.
..
I am thinking that MJ and his circle must have found a way to bypass all of the system regulations in the US if his drug use was so rampant.   
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MuffyBee
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« Reply #342 on: July 04, 2009, 03:23:05 PM »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/04/AR2009070400502.html
US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary
July 4, 2009

Massive demand for Jackson memorial tickets

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than half a million fans from around the world applied for 17,500 free tickets to Michael Jackson's public memorial service next week, organizers said on Friday as a massive security operation got underway. The life and music of the self-proclaimed "king of pop," who died of sudden cardiac arrest last Thursday, will be celebrated on Tuesday at the Staples Center, a basketball arena in downtown Los Angeles.

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« Reply #343 on: July 04, 2009, 03:47:15 PM »

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MICHAEL_JACKSON_NEVERLAND?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
Jul 3, 8:01 PM EDT

Neverland closes until after LA Jackson memorial

By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press Writer
 LOS OLIVOS, Calif. (AP) -- Like an old Western boomtown, the makeshift village that sprang up around the gates of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch was vanishing Friday, with visitors and vendors packing up tents, tarps, posters and CDs.

The dwindling fans were replaced by curious tourists spending the holiday weekend in nearby scenic towns.

A steady stream of weekenders drove up to the estate and took pictures or added their names to memorial poster boards. A Jackson impersonator with a white glove and shiny jacket danced for onlookers.

In deference to the pop star and his family, no events would occur at Neverland until after Tuesday's public memorial service in Los Angeles, according to a statement from Colony Capital LLC, which took control of Neverland in a venture with Jackson after he nearly lost the estate to foreclosure.

With the party over, several of those peddling T-shirts, bottled water and flowers said they would be off to Los Angeles by the end of the day.

Others were simply heading home.

"We've got to get back to work," said Jason Osborne of Santa Maria. He had designed shirts with a friend that contained an image of Jackson and the words, "I Paid My Respects at Neverland."

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MuffyBee
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« Reply #344 on: July 04, 2009, 05:13:10 PM »

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-07-02-jackson-news_N.htm
Fan tickets to Jackson memorial to be determined in random drawing
July 4, 2009
By Kelley L. Carter and Arienne Thompson, USA TODAY
Step 1 for a ticket to Michael Jackson's memorial service: Register at staplescenter.com.

Tim Leiweke of concert promoter AEG Live on Friday announced ticketing details for the service, to be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT at the Staples Center:

There will be 17,500 tickets for fans; 11,000 at Staples Center and 6,500 for the Nokia Theater for a big-screen simulcast across the street.

Registration at StaplesCenter.com will continue until 6 p.m. Saturday. Then there will be a random drawing of 8,750 names, who will receive two tickets each for one of the locations. Those selected will be notified Sunday between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.; they'll get a code for Ticketmaster, which will provide specifics for Monday morning pickup. Wristbands will tag official ticket holders.

Leiweke urged fans to stay away from Staples Center. "There will be no distribution of Tickets at Staples Center or L.A. Live, so don't come down here." He also said there would be no funeral procession.
A free worldwide pool feed will be available for any media outlet, and officials urged fans to follow the funeral on TV and online. "You might want to consider watching from the comfort from your own home," said councilwoman Jan Perry. No details about what the service would entail were released.

Fans who had gathered around the Staples Center were satisfied with the ticket-distribution plan. Los Angeles resident Brent Trueheart, 20, who had the letters "MJ" and a silhouette of Jackson shaved into his hair, said: "I think this is great. They're letting the fans come through, and I want to go and show the family that we are here for them." Seconds after the announcement, he was already registered via his cellphone.

Sylvia Hernandez, 38, from West Covina, Calif., had booked a hotel room when the service was reportedly at Neverland Ranch, outside Santa Barbara. She's determined to try to get a ticket, and came downtown just in case. "I was going to stay at home," she said. "I had my computer set up to get online because I had a feeling that's how they were going to do things. But then I thought they might actually have people down here doing a first-come first-serve thing, so raced down here." She's pleased tickets will go by random drawing and headed home to sign up.

Service organizers stressed that tickets would not be sold and urged the public to respect the family's wishes and not attempt to profit if they were lucky enough to get a ticket. Fans also worried that people might try to make a buck. "I like this plan. I think that it's really, really dignified," said Atlanta resident Deborah Houston, 55, in town to visit relatives. "But unfortunately I think people are going to try to sell tickets to this." She's doing her part to ensure tickets land in the hands of true fans. "I got on the phone and told my nieces and nephews to get online and try to get some."

Just before ticketing details were announced, a report surfaced that a powerful drug was found in Jackson's home. A law-enforcement official told the Associated Press that the sedative Diprivan was discovered. The drug, also known as Propofol, is an intravenous anesthetic usually used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness, something not usually found in a private home.

Meanwhile, the California Attorney General's office is joining the investigation into inappropriate prescribing of drugs by Jackson's physicians. The office will assist Los Angeles police in retrieving data from the state drug database as they look for doctor names, dates and dosages. (They also assisted in the Anna Nicole Smith case.)

On Thursday, Jackson's older brother Jermaine spoke out in an interview with the Today show, saying that he would be "hurt" if toxicology results indicated that his brother's death was drug-related.

"In this business, the pressures and things that you go through, you never know what one turns to," he said. "I don't know about these things, because I hate anything with drugs."

In other Jackson news
:

AEG, which was producing Jackson's scheduled This Is It Tour, is seeking to recoup the money lost from the tour cancellation via a tribute show, movie or album. There's 100 hours of high-definition Jackson video footage, said CEO Randy Phillips, plus the company is considering producing a Michael Jackson tribute concert at London's O2 Arena, the venue in which Jackson was scheduled to perform.

The hearing to determine guardianship for Jackson's children is now scheduled for July 13, delayed due to a request of ex-wife Debbie Rowe's attorneys. Rowe is reportedly still deciding whether to seek custody of the children she had with Jackson. She is the mother of Michael Jr., 12, and Paris, 11. Jackson's youngest child, Prince Michael, 7, was born to an anonymous surrogate.

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« Reply #345 on: July 04, 2009, 06:19:37 PM »

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iJN6FHrmT75HzSZChIb2PDzFEDXgD997SJLG0
More than 1 million seek tix for Jackson memorial

38 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 1.2 million people have now registered to get tickets for Michael Jackson's memorial service next week.

Only 11,000 tickets will be given out for the Tuesday service at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Another 6,500 tickets will be given away for the Nokia Theater overflow section next door.

The only way to get tickets is to register for free at staplescenter.com. After 6 p.m. Saturday, 8,750 names will be randomly selected to receive two tickets each.

Notifications will go out on Sunday.

City officials are preparing for massive crowds. Assistant Police Chief Earl Paysinger says anywhere from a quarter-million to 700,000 people may try to reach the arena, even though a wide area around Staples Center will be sealed off to those without tickets.

City Councilwoman Jan Perry strongly urged people to stay home and watch the memorial on TV. The ceremony will not be shown on Staples' giant outdoor TV screen and there will be no funeral procession through the city.

No details were given about the actual memorial events, which come as the nation's second-largest city struggles with a $530 million budget deficit. Perry said the cost of police protection for "extraordinary" events like the memorial is built into the Police Department's budget, but she still solicited help for "incremental costs."

Last month, donations covered about $850,000 of the city's $1 million cost for the Los Angeles Lakers' NBA championship parade. Critics had blasted the idea of using city money when it is considering layoffs to close its budget gap.
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« Reply #346 on: July 04, 2009, 06:40:39 PM »

I know how getting a prescription filled here works. I have two numbers. One for health services ( doctor, hospital, any other covered service ) and a drug number. The pharmacy has to have the drud id number for me when filling a prescription. They won't fill it unless they have me on file with that number or I have the card that I show them if it is a new drugstore. All the drugstores are not connected so they can't see my drug  history. That is where the common number is used by the health agency that does the monitoring. There are some drugs ( narcotics ) that are on a schedule where the dispensation is always monitored. It can all be traced back to me thru this drug id number.
..
In the USA, isn't there the same type of sytem thru the DEA number ?
..
If, so, how was all this going on with no red flags going off in the DEA ?
..
If I wanted to bypass the system to obtain regulated drugs, I would have to have the  cooperation of a doctor and a pharmacist where my id number did not appear.
..
I am thinking that MJ and his circle must have found a way to bypass all of the system regulations in the US if his drug use was so rampant.   
I wish I could answer, but I'm not sure. I do know that I take a medicine that is a controled substance, and I do have to see the doctor once a year. He then continues to give me refills. There has to be some system, there just has to be, I can't understand either, but I did read that the investigation was going international, he must have been buying drugs from all over.  I have to say that I've never heard of a person that was addicted to anesthesia before, that is a first for me.
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Zoe you will always be in my heart and soul


« Reply #347 on: July 04, 2009, 06:45:44 PM »

Thank-you Muffy for those two articles. ( Last month, donations covered about $850,000 of the city's $1 million cost for the Los Angeles Lakers' NBA championship parade. Critics had blasted the idea of using city money when it is considering layoffs to close its budget gap.) There better be donations or money from the Jacksons for this venture, this state is way in the hole, and to me there is no excuse for using city money. I don't care who he was.
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trimmonthelake
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« Reply #348 on: July 04, 2009, 11:05:05 PM »

http://mhutch.blogspot.com/
the news of the day.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Michael Jackson Dark Side

Michael Jackson Dark SideMuch has been written over the past few weeks about the bright side of Michael Jackson's personality and talents, but just like everyone else - there was a dark side to Michael's personality, so I thought I would write about some of those issues today. As a rule, I usually focus on the positive aspects of people I meet and write about - but when someone as famous as Michael Jackson dies, it is important to view the whole person and not just some created figure that was made by the powers that be in Hollywood.

The three most evident dark sides to Michael Jackson's personality were his strange behavior around young boys, his apparent addiction to plastic surgery and in the end his his over reliance on drugs. Over the past week, it seems like every time I write something positive about Michael Jackson's music and the impact that it had on hundreds of millions of people around the world - I always get an email or someone commenting here about Michael Jackson's alleged abuse of young boys at his Neverland Ranch. While I do not know what went on at the ranch behind closed doors, I do know that something was not right because grown men are not suppose to act like that around young children.

Then we have Michael Jackson's apparent addiction to plastic surgery. Over the years, when reporters that interviewed Jackson asked about his excessive plastic surgery - he would often times answer their question by say that he had not gone under the knife to change his appearance. To me - when someone has an addiction, even to plastic surgery, they tend to lie about it to people around them and also to reporters that ask them questions. Both friends and enemies of Michale Jackson knew that he had plastic surgery on many different occasions and the fact that he felt like he had to lie about it proves to me that Jackson was addicted to having plastic surgery.

Of course, then we learned last week about the various types of prescription drugs which were found in Michael Jackson's home after his death. According to some police sources, there were many kinds of drugs found in Michael Jackson's rented home in Los Angeles. Some were prescribed to Jackson directly while others were obtained by Jackson through other doctors and some police sources believe that Jackson used other names in order to get more drugs to feed his ever growing habit. The people that Michael Jackson hired to take care of him seemed to be more concerned with failing to get the drugs Michael needed to feed his habit than to insisting that he get help to better control the types and amounts of drugs he was taking each day.
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« Reply #349 on: July 04, 2009, 11:11:24 PM »

http://www.bloggernews.net/121467
Michael Jackson – Uri Geller (Spoon Bender) Speaks Out
Posted on July 4th, 2009

by Simon Barrett in Celebrity News, Music News
Read 223 times.

I sometimes wonder what is happening in the news world. I have to admit that I feel the coverage of Michael Jackson’s death has me speechless. He had not had a hit for years, his trail of unpaid bills is legendary, and his brushes with the law makes one give serious thought to the word pedophile, yet he still garners a huge following.

He did command a large and loyal group of fans though. I guess the fans were relatively safe, as they were mostly female.

Michael Jackson was famous for his eccentricities, a collection of exotic animals, his own private theme park, and an assemblage of ‘hangers on’ that were at his beck and call, including (so we are told), a doctor. In fact a mobile clinic!

It turns out that one of his friends is no less than spoon bender Uri Geller! Uri awed the world many years ago with his ‘mind over matter’ trick of bending flatware with his thoughts. It was a delightful sleight of hand, and as a showman he should be applauded. Of course Geller has maintained that it is all real.

How fitting that HLN should feature Geller in one of their (way too many) programs talking about the death of Michael Jackson. Both Jackson and Geller deal in ’snake oil’, one only has to look at the court records to see the financial ’snake oil’ that Jackson worked with. No shows for concerts, breaking recording contracts, outstaying his welcome in the middle east, payoffs to families accusing him of inappropriate actions towards young boys. Nasty stuff, not things that I would want on my resume.

Geller on the other hand is just your regular con man. He has been debunked more times than Michael Jackson has had plastic surgery. I was looking at Gellers web site and found this gem.

    A book-and kit, which includes a cassette, quartz crystal, and an orange circle meditation card, is designed to help readers gain self-confidence, lose weight, and solve other problems through visualisation, psychokinesis, and other mind/body concerns. A most wonderful and helpful guide. A must for every person. The kit includes an insightful 144-page book; an audiotape containing techniques for both tapping into your inner resources and exercises directed at specific problems such as beating stress and slowing down the aging process; an orange meditation circle used to generate mental power; and a quartz crystal that serves as a tool for psychic healing and the mind. Through the Mindpower kit, Uri Geller encourages the reader to take control of their physical and emotional.

Oh and you can order this for the low, low price of 30 pounds UK, about $50 US. What bothers me about this advert is the fact that the last sentence does not make sense.

    Through the Mindpower kit, Uri Geller encourages the reader to take control of their physical and emotional.

Physical and emotional what? If you are going to rip off the public, at least have someone to edit the content.

It is also rumored, although I did not have the patience to wade through his web site that there is an interactive guide to spoon bending!

Uri Geller has the credibility of a three day old donut. I am surprised that HLN would give him a podium. But there again, other than his fans Michael Jackson did not seem to have many friends, at least not of legal age.

Simon Barrett


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« Reply #350 on: July 05, 2009, 08:23:42 AM »

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/michael_jackson/390944/The-astonishing-Michael-Jackson-family-pictures-that-could-blow-custody-battle-apart.html

Jacko: The Family Album
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« Reply #351 on: July 05, 2009, 08:25:47 AM »

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/michael_jackson/392287/5-dodgy-doctors-named-to-cops-Michael-Jackson.html

5 dodgy doctors named to cops
05/07/2009

US drug cops have been tipped off about FIVE doctors who it is believed supplied Michael Jackson with vast quantities of drugs.
The Drug Enforcement Administration phones have been "red hot" since they joined the investigation into the star's death.

One name that has cropped up is a Beverley Hills doctor dubbed "Mr Chill". The middle-aged medic has been linked to half a dozen A list celebrities who rely on him to write prescriptions for any kind of drug.

The DEA will also talk to Anna Nicole Smith's doctor, Sandeep Kapoor. The Playboy model died of a suspected overdose aged 39.

A DEA source said: "There are a small number of unscrupulous doctors in Hollywood who do this kind of thing. We know who they are."

The dodgy docs were panned by another doctor who deals with the fallout of drugs, running the Wonderland rehab clinic.

Dr Howard Samuels, 57, was contacted by the worried Jackson family who were trying to get Michael, 50, into rehab prior to his death.

He said: "Those doctors are just vultures - praying on addicts."

Last night Jackson's personal doctor, Conrad Murray, revealed how the singer had a pulse when he found him. Murray, who is not a suspect, is helping cops with the investigation.

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« Reply #352 on: July 05, 2009, 08:30:22 AM »

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/michael_jackson/392035/Family-fury-at-father-Joe-Jackson-Michael-Jackson.html

Family fury at father Joe Jackson

05/07/2009
DAD Joe Jackson has sparked a series of family rows by attempting to take control of Michael's funeral arrangements - and pushing for a THIRD autopsy on the star.
While the grief-stricken family have put on a united front for the TV cameras, behind the scenes tension at the family's £1m home in Encino, California, reached boiling point.
Furious Joe, 80, blew up after Michael's lawyers revealed he had been ditched from the singer's will. He tried to take over the funeral arrangements and, convinced Michael had been poisoned, wanted yet another autopsy.
A source close to the family said: "Jermaine, La Toya and his wife Katherine all told him he had no control over the clan any more."
But La Toya and sister Janet have also have paid £100,000 so Joe - who Michael claimed beat him as a child - can be guarded around the clock after receiving DEATH THREATS.
The source added: "There are some very, very crazy Michael fans out there who blame him for what happened."
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« Reply #353 on: July 05, 2009, 08:35:06 AM »

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/391570/Michael-Jackson-locked-boys-in-his-bedroom-and-fed-wine-from-babies-bottles.html

Michael Jackson locked boys in his bedroom and fed wine from babies' bottles
Former housekeeper reveals how star plyed them with booze before sexually abusing them
By Douglas White, 04/07/2009
MICHAEL Jackson's former housekeeper today reveals how the star would lock boys in his bedroom for days, plying them with booze before sexually abusing them.
Adrian McManus also told the News of the World he even issued veiled DEATH THREATS to his staff to STOP them telling cops about it.
"Every night I went home feeling sick to my stomach," said Adrian, 47, one of the Neverland Five who sued him for wrongful dismissal. "He was a lonely, deranged, sick human tragedy.
"And he wasn't playing at being a boy again, this man was molesting boys."
Trusted Adrian, who worked for the star for four years, had the only keys to his downstairs private quarters which included his main bedroom with the children's rooms in a loft above him.
"He was at his happiest when he had little boys with him," she said. "He would lock himself in his bedroom for days at a time with them. He acted inappropriately with at least ten boys."
Teetotaller Jacko also kept wine in his room to spike soft drinks - which he gave his young guests in babies' bottles. "He would buy dozens of these baby bottles for the older kids," said Adrian. "It was obvious he was drinking and slipping wine into their drinks.
"Michael filmed the boys with cameras and videos, and packed photo boards with their naked bodies."
She tells how she saw Jackson abuse Jordy Chandler in his room. "I saw Michael kiss and touch Jordan. They both bounded into the bedroom, soaking wet, after playing under the waterfall at the side of the house.
"Then Michael just lent forward slowly and kissed Jordan on the lips. Michael then moved his hand down. I froze and realised that my boss was a paedophile." But Adrian and other staff felt they would be in danger if they spoke out about what they saw. "On one of my first days Michael said very calmly, 'You know Adrian if you do or say something I don't like, I will have someone take care of you - but it wouldn't come from me.'
"I took that as a death threat." Adrian says she witnessed Jackson's physical decline as years of plastic surgery took their toll.
Even in 1993 the star, enjoying a comeback with the Dangerous tour, was already a wreck.
Adrian said: "He weighed no more than nine stone and he'd lost so much of his hair he had weaves put in every couple of months.
"His nose was always a problem. Now and again he wore plasters around the side to cover or support it. It was severely caved in.
"In his closet he had a jar of fake noses and stage glue, which he told me he used for disguises - but some were similar to his real nose, just without the hole."
Adrian also revealed the star dabbled in the occult. "In his room he had a Ouija board and voodoo dolls which he and the kids played with," she said.
"He loved collecting books on oddities, like midgets, the elephant man and aliens. He also had a wide selection of books on mind control and manipulation."
Adrian even claimed the star wed Lisa Marie Presley for her dad's lucrative back catalogue. She said: "Michael wrote a note on his bedroom pin board 'Got to acquire the song list for Elvis'. Within days Lisa Marie turned up at the house."
But she said her most vivid memories are of the abuse. "Michael Jackson is no hero, but a depraved monster who went through some very dark times. Now he's dead, the world should know the truth."

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« Reply #354 on: July 05, 2009, 08:41:21 AM »

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/381146/Michael-Jackson-Boyhood-and-the-father-he-feared-Joe-Jackson.html


Boyhood and the father he feared

28/06/2009
THE little boy scurries under the kitchen table in terror.
Inches away his father's belt whistles past . . . Joe Jackson's eyes are bulging with rage.
He is shouting wildly for his second youngest son to stand still. There is no hiding for long as blow after blow rains down.
Eight-year-old Michael Jackson takes the pain.
"I got it more than all my brothers combined," Jackson later recalled. "I would fight back and my father would kill me, just tear me up."
Such brutal scenes were common at the two-bedroom house in Gary, Indiana, that Joe, wife Katherine and their nine children called home.
The boys of the house - Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Randy and Michael - were often tripped or pushed into walls as the bullying continued.
It set the tone for a turbulent father-son relationship that not only moulded Michael Jackson into the King of Pop, but also sewed the seeds of his personal destruction - ending with his untimely death on Thursday at just 50.
Click here for all Michael Jackson death and tribute stories
Things couldn't have been more different years earlier, as Katherine gazed into her baby boy's big brown eyes for the first time on a warm night in August 1958.
As with every one of her kids, she lavished him with love. But if Katherine doted, Joe's capacity for nastiness was its equal.
One night while Michael slept, Joe decided to teach the children a lesson because they kept leaving the bedroom window open.
 I'd stare at kids playing. I couldn't imagine freedom
He climbed in, wearing a frightening mask, and started screaming and shouting.
It was an episode that left Michael with nightmares about being kidnapped from his bedroom.
And, scarred by his brutal childhood, he later spoke candidly about his strict upbringing - even blaming Joe for passing on the skin-whitening disease vitiligo, one of the catalysts for his obsession with his looks.
Jackson confessed in a tearful 1993 TV interview: "My mother is wonderful but I don't understand Joseph.
"My father beat me. I don't know whether he wanted a golden child. He was very strict, very hard and stern. Just a look would terrify me.
"I was scared of him as a kid and when I was older.
"There were times when he would come to see me and I would feel sick. And I would say: 'Please don't get mad Joseph. I am sorry Joseph.'"
But then there was nothing conventional about the upbringing of the most famous man on the planet.
Joe planned his musical creation meticulously, and from early childhood, Michael got used to hard work.
"I remember singing at the top of my voice and dancing with real joy and working too hard for a child," he once said.
"There were times when I'd come home from school and only have time to put my books down and get ready for the studio."
It was an ethic learned from his parents - Joe earned the weekly crust driving a crane at a steel mill while Katherine worked in a department store. Both were music lovers, passing on their passion to their son.
Michael's talent for singing undoubtedly came from Katherine. His first memories were hearing the soft strains of her rendition of You Are My Sunshine.
She also brought him up into the Jehovah's Witness religion, which gave him the faith that his talent and path were the work of God.
It was a message underlined in 1970 when Michael ran into Sunday night TV legend Ed Sullivan. "Never forget where your talent came from," said the host. "It's a gift from God."
It wasn't long before Michael's unrivalled qualities on stage started to shine as he joined brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon in The Jackson 5 - with manager dad Joe as the driving force.
Joe's time playing R&B guitar with local band The Falcons had given him the know-how to make the family band a success.
For Michael, performing was second nature. But honing his skills was the result of Joe's fearsome tutoring. The hours he forced his children to put in were punishing, and that hunger for success had a devastating toll on Michael's early years.
The singer sighed: "There was a park across the road from the Motown studio, and I can remember staring at those kids playing games.
"I couldn't imagine such freedom, such a carefree life - and I'd wish that I had that kind of freedom."
Having a father as manager and professional mentor deprived Michael of the paternal love he craved. In his 1988 book Moonwalk, he said: "One of the things I regret most is never being able to have a real closeness with him.
"He built a shell around himself over the years and, once he stopped talking about our family business, he found it hard to relate to us.
"I still don't know him, and that's sad for a son who hungers to understand his own father. He's a mystery man to me."
Joe's brutality came to the fore most when the brothers lined up to rehearse every day after school. But the sessions were fraught with tension as quick-tempered Joe was quick to lash out - with Michael bearing the brunt.
Punishments were meted out for missing an intro, dropping a beat, or screwing up a dance step.
Michael once said: "My father was real strict. If you messed up, you got hit, sometimes with a belt, sometimes with a switch (cane).
"Dad would make me so mad and hurt that I'd try to get back at him and get beaten all the more.
"I'd take my shoe and throw it at him, or I'd just fight back, swinging my fists. That's why I got it more than all my brothers combined.
"I would fight back and my father would tear me up. I do remember running under tables to get away from him, and making him angrier.
"We had a turbulent relationship."
That intensity, however, translated into huge success for the fledgling The Jackson 5.
At talent shows, their professionalism put them head-and-shoulders above the rest and soon they were regulars on the club circuit. It was then - aged nine - that Michael first encountered women as they got gigs in strip clubs.
He said: "I used to stand in the wings of one place in Chicago and watch a lady whose name was Mary Rose.
"She'd take off her clothes and panties and throw them to the audience.
"My brothers and I would be watching this and my father wouldn't mind. We were exposed to a lot doing that kind of circuit."
In another club a small hole had been cut though the dressing room wall into the women's toilets. Michael said: "You could peek through this hole, and I saw stuff that I've never forgotten."
As the group's fame grew, the spotlight increasingly fell on young Michael - and his amazing talent for singing and dancing which would one day make him the world's greatest performer.
Jacko blossomed. He also had the opportunity to study music world icons of his time close up - and he lapped up this opportunity to hone his stage craft. Few youngsters dreaming of a life performing could lay claim to watching masters such as James Brown from the wings.
Michael recalled: "Some musicians may feel they got their education from the streets.
"I'm a performer at heart. I got mine from the stage."
By 1969 The Jackson 5 were enjoying radio airtime and even had an offer of a first TV slot on The David Frost Show in New York.
But before they could make the trip to the Big Apple, Motown Records came knocking.
Such was the talent and graft the brothers had put in, the audition was a resounding success - and as soon as the band signed it was clear that the massive Motown machine had a phenomenon on its hands.
I Want You Back was released in October 1969 and sold two million copies in six weeks, sending The Jackson 5 straight to Number One.
The legend was beginning and they went on to record four studio albums with Motown.
But as Michael quickly learnt, fame had its drawbacks.
"It hurts to be mobbed," he admitted, belying a lifelong discomfort with his megastar status.
"You feel as if you're going to suffocate or be dismembered. There are a thousand hands grabbing at you.
"One girl is twisting your wrist this way while another is pulling your watch off.
"They grab your hair and pull it hard, and you fall against things and the scrapes are horrible."
 I didn't look in the mirror as my father told me I was ugly
More heartache stretched ahead though as as he got older. Growing up in the limelight, teenage Michael became acutely self- conscious of his changing looks.
Aged 14 his appearance altered dramatically as he left his boyhood behind him and shot up in height to 5ft 10in. The cute little kid of the group became a gangly adolescent.
It wasn't a happy time for Michael. He recalled: "My skin broke out in acne. I got very shy and was embarrassed to meet people because my complexion was so bad."
In a tearful 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Michael admitted: "I was so shy I would wash my face in the dark. I wouldn't look in the mirror because my father would tease me about being so ugly."
So was to start an obsession with appearance that never left the star, his broad Afro - American features and hair being a constant reminder of Joe's jibes.
But despite struggling through enormous personal challenges, nothing was slowing the Michael Jackson pop juggernaut.
In Autumn 1971 he cut his first solo record Got To Be There, followed in 1972 by Ben, and The Jackson 5 performed their first world tour the same year.
But problems with Motown weren't far away. By 1974 the band were calling for more creative control and after a dramatic showdow they left the label and signed with Epic/CBS. From then on they were known simply as The Jacksons.
Yet Michael's runaway success was soon to take on a whole new dimension as he forged a solo career which would see him cemented as a global superstar . . .

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« Reply #355 on: July 05, 2009, 08:46:04 AM »

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/michael_jackson/392304/Police-to-quiz-singerrsquos-3-kids-Michael-Jackson-death-probe.html
Police to quiz singer’s 3 kids
05/07/2009
DETECTIVES plan to interview Michael Jackson's three children as part of a death probe they reckon could take SIX MONTHS.
Prince, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Blanket face informal questioning after Jacko's funeral.
Los Angeles Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration officers will quiz the superstar's family, staff and friends in a bid to piece together his final hours.
Yesterday the investigation went international after law enforcement authorities discovered drugs prescribed to Jackson from abroad. Sources say he had pill boxes from England and Dubai at his home.
Californian attorney general Jerry Brown ordered a THIRD review of Jacko's death - sending the state's narcotic agents to the scene.
The enquiries could mean it is six months before agents can determine the exact cause of Jackson's death at 50 on June 25.
A source at the DEA said yesterday: "Jerry Brown's team is very thorough and will go over every aspect of the drug matters."
In a new twist, it emerged that Jacko's doctor Conrad Murray - who was with the superstar when he collapsed - was quizzed again on Thursday for the third time in a week.
Afterwards, Dr Murray declared: "I am not worried at all. I'm not a suspect."




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« Reply #356 on: July 05, 2009, 08:55:27 AM »

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/07/04/bodyguard-who-dialled-911-revealed-for-the-first-time-115875-21494855/
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Bodyguard who dialled 911 is revealed for the first time
The Mirror UK from Annette Witheridge in Los Angeles 5/07/2009
 
This is the loyal bodyguard who calmly took control as a panicking doctor fought to save Michael Jackson’s life.
Alberto Alvarez – seen here beside Jackson in one of the last pictures taken of the singer in public – is the only person besides Dr Conrad Murray who knows what happened in those final chaotic moments.
The softly-spoken minder’s voice was later heard around the world on the tape of his call to the emergency services, politely asking for help.
His identity has been kept under wraps, but today the Sunday Mirror can reveal he is in the middle of a tug-of-war between the police and Jackson’s family.
Alberto has been questioned by detectives over several days. Jackson’s parents Joe and Kathleen are also trying to get him on-side to help with their own private investigation into their son’s death.
Gentle giant Alberto, who is 5ft 11in and a muscular 15st, briefly emerged from hiding to tell us that he had been ordered not to talk.
“Loyalty is everything in the security business,” said Alberto, 32. “I am going to go away for a few days to work out what to do.”
His wife Anna fought back tears as she told how her husband’s life has been turned upside down by Jacko’s death.
“He is going through a lot and needs time out to think about everything and decide what to do,” she said at the modest bungalow they share with Alberto’s father, brother and sister.
“It’s been really hard. He has to get away. We haven’t got a lawyer or anyone to help us through this.”
Alberto, who drives a sporty black Mazda car and owns a pitbull terrier, was so loyal to Jackson that he didn’t even tell neighbours that he worked for him.
“He would disappear for days at a time. I guessed he was in security because of his size,” one neighbour said.
“I often saw him out running and over the last few months he was putting on more weight, really bulking up. He’s a big, muscular guy, but gentle. I told him off when he first moved here about five years ago because he walked the pitbull without a leash. I said he couldn’t do that, there were kids around. He was very polite and apologised.”
Alberto was downstairs at Jackson’s Beverly Hills home when Dr Murray called for help. He had been trying to revive Jackson for almost 30 minutes before screaming at a chef to call an ambulance.
The live-in doctor, who had worked for Jackson for three years, told police that the phone land lines at the £70,000-a-month rented estate had been cut off for security reasons. And he claimed he didn’t want to call from his mobile because he did not know the full address.
Alberto calmly took control, telling the 911 operator that they had “a gentleman here who needs help and he’s not breathing”. Not once did he betray his employer by revealing his name.
Last night, a source who knows Alberto told the Sunday Mirror: “He is fiercely loyal and still wants to do the right thing by Michael Jackson.
“He is helping the police but he is being pulled in the opposite direction by the Jackson family. They want to keep him on salary and make him sign a confidentiality agreement, so they can make sure the information he has remains under wraps.”
On duty, Alberto was always just a step behind Jackson, protecting him from over-zealous fans and potential nutters.
He was pictured in May alongside the singer, who was holding an umbrella to protect himself from the blazing heat, and children Prince, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Blanket, wearing their usual masks to hide their faces.
The family had spent the day at the luxurious Beverly Hills Hotel, near the Carolwood Drive home where he died.
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« Reply #357 on: July 05, 2009, 09:05:36 AM »

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/07/05/michael-jackson-to-be-buried-without-his-brain-115875-21495043/
Michael Jackson to be buried without his brain
WORLD EXCLUSIVE  The Mirror UK by David Gardner in Los Angeles 5/07/2009
Organ removed as investigators seek clues to star's death
Michael Jackson will be buried this week– without his brain. As his family tries to finalise details for the King of Pop’s funeral on Tuesday they have been told it will be held back for tests.
They faced the grim choice of waiting up to three weeks for Jackson’s brain to be returned to them or go ahead and bury him without it – which they have decided to do.
 Los Angeles Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey confirmed that neuropathology tests will be carried out to see if it holds any clues to the exact cause of his death.
But the examination cannot begin until at least two weeks after the death when the brain has hardened sufficiently to slice it open.
Jackson died from a cardiac arrest at his Beverly Hills mansion on June 25 after a suspected overdose of painkillers.
Sources at the coroner’s office revealed that his brain was removed before his body was released to relatives the next day.
A forensic neuropathologist will test Jackson’s brain for, among other things, past drug use and whether he has suffered overdoses in the past.
The brain can also show any past abuse of alcohol or if the deceased had suffered from any one of a number of diseases. The source said that removing the brain is the “only way to carry out the tests”.
“The tissue has to be examined,” he said. “I can’t tell you how long that is going to take.”
One expert explained that the Jackson family could decide to wait and bury the brain with the rest of the body. But it is far more common for the lab to burn the remains once they’ve been examined or for them to be placed into the grave at a later date.
“It’s up to the family. They can bury him and then bury the brain later on,” said Dr Cyril Wecht, a former coroner and one of America’s foremost forensic pathologists.
But he added: “It’s rare for the body to be held back for two weeks or more.”
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Zoe you will always be in my heart and soul


« Reply #358 on: July 05, 2009, 10:17:34 AM »

Wow, thanks for all the links, very interesting to say the least     I'm disgusted by all this, and this absurd memorial at the Staples Center, enough already 
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« Reply #359 on: July 05, 2009, 10:31:11 AM »

Thanks Puzzler.I have to say I am disgusted with this big show for MJ.
Enough already.   
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