Michael Jackson, R.I.P.

That bothers me too.

I heard that in his will, Michael left all (and hopefully the rights to his name) to his mother and his children. Joe was conspicuously absent. I'm sure Joe will find a way to help himself to it, however.

I haven't paid much attention to the 24/7 coverage of this, but got the impression somewhere that Michael had a lot of debt. At any rate, in the coming years the rights to his name and memoribilia will make another fortune, just like Elvis.

I am okay with shafting Joe Jackson. Re: the will, I don't know if this is anything other than hearsay, but what I've read is that, in an effort to heal the rift between Michael and Paul McCartney, Michael left his portion of the Beatles catalog to Paul. Which, if true, is pretty swell.

Again, hearsay, but I read somewhere or other that he died with $650 million in debt (!!!), but owned $1 billion in assets. Of course, assets don't equal cash, which is why he had to sell Neverland Ranch, but even without the memorabilia there's some break-even point in there somewhere.

The London O2 promoter of MJ's 50-show residence, AEG Worldwide, have announced that ticket holders have the option of a full refund or may elect to receive their tickets at the asking price as souvenirs.

Many are up in arms at the blatant attempt by AEG to cash in on MJ's death, a death which was surely insured against by them. In effect, AEG is attempting to double their money with this wheeze.

So the despicable Papa Joe and AEG are both after the post mortem ching-ching. Collect the whole set!

Here are a couple of corrections to misconceptions about MJ:

His mother no longer lives with Papa Joe as they are estranged because of Joe's adultery, so MJ's kids shouldn't be subjected to Joe's severe discipline. Katherine was granted temporary custody of MJ's brood but denied the right to administer his bequest to them on their behalf.

MJ was not broke. He is reported to have had about $600K in the bank and $1 billion in assets, which include a 50% stake in the Sony division which owns the Beatles' back-catalogue of hits.

AEG Live is in talks with The Jacksons to see if a tribute concert can be staged in replacement of MJ's residency here in London. I doubt it will come off as early as 13 July

Tribute schmribute. Unless they can dance like Smooth Criminal, it's no replacement.

Maybe not.

So this is the kind of thing you folks get caught up with?

I'm just glad we're not bombarded with 24 hour coverage of the burial plans and will controversy of McMahon, Fawcett, and Mays respectively.

If this thread doesn't interest you, there are thousands of other ones you can read. I'm not sure why (though I have my suspicions) you feel the need to piss in everyone's cornflakes.

Personally I don't give two hoots, I just read all the threads and post in the ones I have something relevant/funny (or what I find funny) to add.

So as I give not a **** about Michael Jackson I wouldn't have posted only I remembered an article I read about the insurance that I thought it may interest BoaB.

What you could do is start a thread called "Why do people care so much about Michael Jackson" and discuss your annoyance there. The mass grieving for celebrities is an interesting topic for debate but this isn't an active forum so posting it in the sole RIP thread is pointless.

You can count the number of people who participate here on one hand, none of them are stupid enough to be trolled, none of them "deserve" to be trolled. I personally think your point (if I am right in assuming the blanket media coverage is your point) is a good one for debate. So make a thread.

X<3 \o/

Michael Jackson's death, to me, was bizarre to think about considering where he existed in my mind. I never bought any of his records, but I always knew that there was a gold mine of music history to be discovered there. I suppose a lot of the negative publicity and immature jokes sort of repelled me from digesting his catalogue for a long while, but I always thought maybe he really did just want to help kids have a really fun time.

Now, I do think it's fairly disrespectful to concern yourself with where Michael's money goes. Can't we just say R.I.P. and let it be?

Very much different a sentiment than when you initially posted here. Are you essaying the role of pot or kettle today?

I prefer semi-skimmed milk with my cornflakes, thanks.


stchrissie: Thanks, btw, for the further clarification.

That was originally part of my death thread but I decided it would be more relevant here.

I am the spoon that stirs the stew.

Rip mj

Well, I never bought any of Jackson's records either, but that doesn't mean I lived under a rock the way our Texan acquaintence apparently was for the last 20 years. Jackson was the BEST at his job — second to none both as a singer and dancer. Today's "stars" still blatantly imitate what only he could do. But the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. It is obvious that he needed help; yet, sadly, no one could give him what he needed because of who and what he had become.

He also wrote much of his own material (including 'Billie Jean,' 'Beat It,' 'Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough,' all but two of the tracks on Bad including 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Dirty Diana,' etc. etc. etc.), something that is almost unheard-of now in the pop world.