More than a year after pop singer Michael Jackson was acquitted of all charges in the child-molestation case against him, 17 previously sealed documents from his case have been made public.

The documents, of varying lengths, were posted late Monday on a Web page run by the Santa Barbara Superior Courts. The page can be accessed Here.

The documents revolve around motions filed by attorneys in the case in December 2004 and January 2005 . There are responses to motions filed by attorneys in the case, and even replies to responses to motions.

“We had boxes of stuff that was previously sealed,” said Darrel Parker, assistant trial courts executive officer. “I believe there are still more documents that will come out.”

Parker said some previously sealed documents in the case already have been made public, and that the documents are being released as they are sorted through.

“They’ve been trickling out,” he said.

Parker said that special precautions were taken in the high profile case, such as sealing documents that could have prejudiced the trial and not allowing cameras in the courtroom.

“A good deal of the pleadings were sealed and/or redacted,” he said.

Source: Santa Maria Times

Michael Jackson is celebrating his birthday Tuesday in an unnamed location in Europe, Access Hollywood has learned.

Earlier Tuesday, Michael’s kids threw him a surprise birthday party.

“He was totally shocked,” Michael’s spokeswoman, Raymone K. Bain, told Access Hollywood.

Michael had cake, although Raymone wasn’t sure if it included all 48 candles!

A puppet show also was part of the party surprise. Raymone told Access that Michael is having “a really great day” and is receiving gifts and messages from fans all over the world.

Tuesday’s party follows a surprise party thrown by fans in Ireland Monday.

Michael Jackson has been living in Europe since leaving Bahrain in May.

Source: Access Hollywood

Happy Birthday Michael!

Today the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is 48. Congratulations and many happy returns Michael, from everybody here at Exclusive MJ, and also from all your fans all over the globe. Today we will all be thinking of you and hope that you enjoy your special day. Let’s hope this year brings you much joy and happiness.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!!

Michael Jackson’s record breaking (and still record holding) 1982 album Thriller is still proving popular amongst the British public after it was deemed to be their 2nd favourite album of all time.

A poll was conducted by BBC Radio 2’s Music Club to find the greatest 100 albums of all time. With over 220,000 people taking part, only 201 votes separated Thriller from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which finished top. Ironically, an album of which Michael probably owns most of the tracks!

Here are the Top 5 albums voted by BBC Radio 2 listeners;

1. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
2. Thriller - Michael Jackson
3. Joshua Tree - U2
4. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
5. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

Source: MJNI

By Matilda Egere-Cooper

A spectacular musical based on Michael Jackson’s greatest hits is making its way to London’s West End.

Thriller Live features more than 80 performers including a gospel choir, children’s ballet and West End singers and dancers to reinterpret the singer’s most memorable songs.

Producer Adrian Grant has hailed the show a “musical celebration” and says it will help to revive Jackson’s status as the King of Pop.

“It’s to remind the public that Michael Jackson is still a great artist, and to put his music back out in the public domain,” says Mr Grant, who founded the original Michael Jackson British fan club in 1988.

“A lot of his music has been covered at the moment and if you go to the nightclubs and hear a Michael Jackson track, people get up and dance, so he’s still very popular.”

Developed in eight months, Mr Grant first came up with the idea for Thriller Live back in 2002 following the success of his annual Michael Jackson Tribute show.

“We’ve been doing the annual Michael Jackson tribute since 1991 and it’s been getting bigger and bigger each year,” he says.

“So we decided that as the show got bigger we would look at a West End production.”

The beginning of the show focuses on the singer’s Motown years with the Jackson Five before moving onto the infamous Thriller period and his most recent chart moments.

“It’s not a story, it’s just Michael’s hit singles on stage,” Mr Grant says.”It’s a song and dance performance, and it’s very much like a spectacle of singers and dancers.”

As a result, he adds, no-one is faced with the challenge of playing Jackson himself.

“We made it very clear from the very beginning that we couldn’t get anybody to play or imitate Michael because we don’t think there’s anybody that could really do that, and it would become like a parody.

“We have several different singers, with children from the age of eight singing the early stuff.

“We’ve got a range of different singers interpreting his music, but nobody’s actually playing Michael Jackson.”

Although the superstar has not been involved in the development of the musical, he gave Mr Grant his blessing, who has already written several authorised books on Jackson’s career.

So far the one-day musical has generated a buzz around the country and beyond, but it is Mr Grant’s hope that it could eventually go on tour.

“The interest has been really good. We’ve got people from all over Europe coming, from Germany, Spain, Italy, and all over the UK,” he says.

“But we’ll see how it goes on the day, get the public’s feedback and decide from there what we’d like to do. We’ve had interest from people who want to take it on the road.”

Thriller Live is showing at London’s Dominion Theatre on 27 August.

Source: BBC News

A wildfire burned about 40 acres of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch on Friday, coming within a quarter-mile of the main residence, officials said.

No structures had caught fire at the 2,500 acre estate, Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Jeff Ross said.

About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze along with water-dropping helicopters, Ross said.

Jackson, 47, was not at the house. He has been living in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Bahrain since being acquitted of child molestation charges in California in June 2005.

Source: Associated Press

Date: October 9th, 2006.
Territory: Worldwide
Author: Lynton Guest
Details: 320 pages, 40 mono, 156mm x 234mm, Hardback

News of Michael Jackson’s appearances in court on paedophile charges in 2005 was broadcast to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Everyone had opinions about the testimony and the witnesses as the drama was played out in the small town of Santa Maria in California. This book not only tells the story of that trial but of what was secretly going on behind the scenes - a far more important and mysterious tale than that unfolding in the courthouse.

‘The Trials of Michael Jackson’ reveals the sensational events which led to the downfall of a megastar at the hands of the mighty Sony company and an obsessive but compliant prosecutor. Using previously unpublished material, personal interviews and evidence gathered during research on three continents, Lynton Guest uncovers the truth about the bitter feud between one of the biggest corporations in the world and pop music’s greatest legend.

For the first time, the reasons behind Martin Bashir’s infamous documentary and the strange decisions taken by the Santa Barbara prosecutor, are laid bare. The incredible machinations of the men from Japan and their American allies were designed to ensure nothing less than the destruction of Michael Jackson and billions of dollars of profit for Sony.

This book takes us on a roller-coaster ride, from the ashes of a defeated Japan in 1945 to the twenty-first century celebrity culture which now spans the globe. It provides the most authoritative look yet at the music business and its extreme excesses over the last forty years. But more than anything else ‘The Trials of Michael Jackson’ shows how the man who gave us ‘Thriller’, the biggest selling record of all time, was hunted down and all but destroyed by forces beyond even his control. As Jackson attempts to put his life back together in Bahrain, those who seek to benefit from his demise have not gone away. They remain in the shadows, watching and waiting. It’s time they were held up to the light.

About the author:
Lynton Guest entered the music business in 1967 aged sixteen. As a member of the group, Love Affair, he had a number one hit in fourteen countries with one of the most iconic pop records of the sixties, Everlasting Love. Thereafter, he was a songwriter and producer, had a legendary manager, Robert Stigwood, ran an independent record label and released the theme to the hit television series Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy (starring Alec Guiness) which won an Ivor Novello award.

In the 1980s Lynton went to Kings College, London, where he graduated with honours in Ancient and Medieval History. His dissertation was on the trading patterns and archaeology of the Indus Valley civilisation (c3000BC-1200BC). While studying at Kings, Lynton began writing prolifically for newspapers and magazines and had his first book (on the business of football) published in 1990. Three more books on football followed, all of which were sports best-sellers. During this time he also contributed regularly to the London Sunday Telegraph, was a consultant to several sports organisations (including the Football Association and the Football League), and began analysing financial matters for merchant bankers eager to participate in football’s revolution of the 1990s.

In 2005, Lynton released a CD of remixes of some of his favourite records from the sixties, including Everlasting Love. The CD, called OnceAndFuture by Science of Sound won the prize for Best Compilation CD of 2005 at the Los Angeles Music Awards. He is an Associate of Kings College.

The publishing company he’s attached to is fairly young… started in 1993, it seems the books this author has done although on sports apparently they sold well… but you know that the UK and soccer… how he’ll translate this to US and the world I don’t know…..he doesn’t seem to have any contacts…..

Here’s their contact info if anyone in the UK would like to contact them.

All enquiries should be made by phone, fax, email or post.
You may email the Director Meuryn Hughes on:
info@aureus.co.uk
Telephone No. (01656) 880033
Fax No. (01656) 880033
International Telephone No. +44 1656 880033
International Fax No. +44 1656 880033

Postal address for correspondence:
Aureus Publishing Limited
Castle Court, Castle-upon-Alun
St Bride’s Major
Vale of Glamorgan
CF32 0TN
Wales, UK

Source: Aureus Publishing Limited

By Terry Schermerhorn

Michael Jackson was hit with a suit last month by his ex-wife Debbie Rowe, demanding more money — now he’s telling her to beat it.

The Gloved One handed over $8 million in support and legal fees to Rowe in a settlement after their 1999 divorce. He got custody of their two children, Michael Jr., 9, and Paris, 8.

Rowe is now fighting for custody and wants Jackson to pay about $245,000 in new legal fees.

In his response, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday but released Thursday, Jackson argues he has already paid her prior legal fees and the millions dictated by the settlement and charges that she broke a nondisclosure clause.

The case will be heard by Judge Robert Schnider on Sept. 5.

Source: FOX News

Report by Katy Lewis;

The man who had plastic surgery on the road to being a leading Michael Jackson impersonator, will be seen by clubbers in Luton this month! He told us all about his work, and meeting the man himself!

Liquid Envy
25 August 2006

NAVI at Liquid Envy
20-44 Gordon Street
Luton
Beds
LU1 1QP

Liquid Envy is designed to cater for two distinct age groups.

At the weekends Liquid will be open for the over 18s and Envy will be strictly 23s and over.

Clubbers in Luton will be able to witness the man described as the world’s no. 1 Michael Jackson impersonator this month, when Navi does his act at the Liquid Envy club in Gordon Street.

But this is no ordinary tribute act, for Navi has gone to extremes to make sure that he gives the most accurate representation possible of the King of Pop by having plastic surgery to make his features look as close to the real thing as possible!

In 17 years as an impersonator, Navi, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, has performed on five continents, in over 33 countries and at least 80 major cities worldwide.

His work has also led him to be employed by companies such as MTV, Sony Music, Coca Cola, Vodafone, and Virgin Mega-stores and he has made adverts, appeared in films and done stints in pop videos. He has also worked as a decoy to protect Michael from his hoards of fans.

As well as his numerous club appearances, one of his latest ventures will be to appear in “Thriller: The Musical” at London’s Dominion Theatre for one night only at the end of August.

But in Navi’s list of achievements nothing ranks higher than working for Michael Jackson himself, which he has also done on several occasions. One of these was as the opening act at Michael’s birthday party during August 2003 in Los Angeles, where his performance received a standing ovation from Jackson himself. The following day Navi was invited to visit Michael’s home ‘Neverland Ranch’, which he says is one of his most memorable experiences to date.

He told us what clubbers can expect to see when he performs at Liquid, how he became an impersonator and all about meeting the man himself.

You have been described as the world’s No. 1 Michael Jackson impersonator. How do you become that?
Navi: I think I’m described as that because I’ve performed in 39 different countries on five continents and done over 200 international shows. I now do around 125-150 shows a year. As a Jackson impersonator, it is such a brand, that you are sometimes bigger than other big artists!

What can people expect from your “act”?
Navi: It’s the visual impact of the Michael Jackson “magic”, the energy, and the visual strength of the Jackson show. I do songs like Thriller, Billie Jean, Black or White and dance to them, sometimes with other dancers, and the costumes are replicas of those that he’s worn.

I will be doing my club style at Liquid which will be up tempo and visually very strong, but I also do a cabaret type show, which is more intimate. Different places require different shows and I think that’s why I am so busy because I can adapt.

Do you sing as well?
Navi: Well, we sing a long with it. We have mikes and it looks and sounds live but I have to be honest, it’s not 100 per cent live because it’s difficult to sing and do a performance at the same time.

It’s a Michael Jackson experience, the Michael Jackson effect - the strength and vision - it’s the closest thing to him but not as good!

That’s very modest of you! How did you become a Michael Jackson impersonator?
Navi: When I first came over from Trinidad in the late 70s / early 80s it was Jackson mania everywhere. It was around the time of the Thriller album etc. and it really gripped me but I was just a fan who didn’t know anything about the tribute world. Then I did the make up one day and started working as a lookalike.

Then I had an injury and broke my nose and had reconstructive surgery for that. After I had that done, I realised that plastic surgery would be no different so I went down that route to look more like Michael.

So, how many operations have you had?
Navi: I will say I’ve had a “few” operations since then, more than one, but they have taken my work and my strength as an impersonator to different levels.

Do you book in for an op whenever Michael changes then?
Navi: No - but I wouldn’t mind it being like that though! Basically your face is a canvas and I’ve got my own look. I am very much darker than him but I’ve got the features so the look only comes out when I’ve got the make-up on. But basically I keep a look of Michael around the mid-1990s.

So if he changes radically will you too?
Navi: There has been talk of him doing weights and stuff, I don’t want to change but if he changes very radically I might have to in order to get the work.

You say that as well as doing shows, you’ve worked as a decoy for him, what have you done?
Navi: I’ve done some promotion of his albums and I’ve come out of hotels and stuff. Basically if he’s in a hotel I can be called in to take the crowd somewhere else, or if he’s not there I come along to take the crowd there. All sorts of things really.

Is that frightening sometimes?
Navi: Yes - it can be very scary. When I was in Thailand once I had 12 bodyguards and 36 police escorts and was chased by 2,000 people who didn’t speak English so it was hard to try and tell them to get back and off me.

In the end I had to stoop down and the police made a dome over me and called more police. I was extremely frightened.

What would you have done if he had been convicted at his trial?
Navi: At the trial I was inside the courthouse and I was also pictured outside with a banner saying “Smooth but not a Criminal”. Every morning there was a raffle and you queued for tickets. They only let about 40 people in and I think I was actually in the court room for about seven days. It was surreal, watching this man I had been impersonating for 17 years and thinking I have studied you and I believe in you.

I didn’t want to impersonate somebody who had been convicted with evidence but I knew he was innocent from being inside the courtroom because from 115 search warrants they couldn’t find one piece of evidence, they couldn’t even get a drink charge to stick.

But during that 18 months he was on trial I think I had one of the busiest years ever workwise.

So, if he’d been convicted with evidence would you have thrown in the towel?
Navi: Totally. I wouldn’t have impersonated him anymore if he’d been convicted with evidence.

You’ve performed in front of him haven’t you?
Navi: Yes - I performed at his birthday party and I can tell you I was a bag of nerves. You’re in front of this person that created your product, it was very nerve wracking.

And you met him as well?
Navi: Yes - he said “you’re a great dancer, do you practise every day?” And I thought “is he SERIOUS?”
But he is very humble, and when I said “you’re a great dancer too” he said “really?!”

He really makes you feel like he is overwhelmed to meet you, that you’re the talented one and that he’s learning from you. He’s either taking the mickey or he’s very humble. I really couldn’t tell but he’s like that with everyone so I think it’s genuine. I think that he’s around so many big names all the time that he just loves Joe public and seeing what they can do. It makes him feel good that you are not surrounded by showbiz and are back in reality so to speak.

You were also invited to his home, Neverland, what was that like?
Navi: It was amazing. It was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Disney World meets Peter Pan. You go through these big gates and there’s all this land cultivated, about 2700 acres I think. There’s a theme park, a zoo and a cinema - it has it all.

The main thing I noticed was that there were a lot of underprivileged and disabled children there and he employs some 60 staff to look after them and feed them, all free of charge.

I spoke to one girl from the Virgin Islands with cerebral palsy and Michael had flown her and her mother and two companions over and paid for everything - flights, hotels and spending money. And nobody ever hears about this.

Why doesn’t he tell people what he’s doing do you think?
Navi: I think he’s just a very private man. When a court case came up ten years ago he was advised to let it go by his record company. But he understands that there is a private and public domain and opinion is important whatever the situation which is why he went through the trial. It cost him a lot of money but he had to put it right once and for all.

Source: BBC

By Roger Friedman

A strange turn of events among the peripheral people in Michael Jackson’s world has taken place.

According to court papers obtained by this column, the young man who, in 1994, settled with Michael Jackson for $20 million was allegedly physically assaulted last year by his own father.

Jordan Chandler, now 26, filed a request for a restraining order against his father on August 5, 2005. The reason for the order was that Evan Chandler, formerly a dentist and an aspiring screenwriter, had allegedly hit Jordan over the head from behind with a twelve and a half pound weight. He’d also allegedly sprayed him in the face with mace and tried to choke him.

The two men, according to court papers, were living together in a luxury apartment in New Jersey.

The bizarre case was remanded to trial by a pair of appellate judges on June 8th of this year. This followed a reversal of the restraining order by another judge who felt that Evan Chandler’s actions did not represent a pattern of abuse and didn’t qualify as domestic abuse. The appellate judges disagreed, reinstated the restraining order, and sent the case to trial.

These last judges sounded a little surprised in their ruling that the restraining order had been lifted in the first place. “The judge also found that the weight could cause serious bodily injury or death,” they wrote, indicating that they felt Evan Chandler meant to harm his son.

This means that soon enough Evan and Jordan Chandler will be in a public dispute in a New Jersey courtroom. For Jackson watchers, this is nothing short of shocking: the Chandlers have done everything possible to remain out of the public eye since settling with Jackson in 1994 for a little over $20 million.

In what has now been a much-reported story, Jordy Chandler, then 12 years old, alleged that Jackson molested him on numerous occasions between 1991 and 1994. His uncle, Ray Chandler, published a book about the case in 2005, as did Jackson’s longtime PR man, Bob Jones. Both books detailed Jackson’s inappropriate relationship with the boy; Ray Chandler’s book also recounted the negotiations with Jackson’s attorney, Bert Fields, and his investigator, Anthony Pellicano, by which his brother and nephew got the $20 million.

At the time of this episode, Evan Chandler was divorced from Jordy’s mother, June, who had custody of their son and conceded that she’d let Jackson sleep in the boy’s room in her house for months without supervision. Jackson was then about 35 years old. Subsequently, June Chandler was cut off from her son and as of last year had not seen or spoken to him in a dozen years. She testified to all of this in Jackson’s 2005 child molestation trial.

A falling out between Jordy and Evan Chandler of this serious a nature immediately reveals a couple of things: that at the age of 25 Jordy was still living with his father, and that they had settled into a luxury apartment in New Jersey with panoramic views of Manhattan.

Prior to this they had owned a beach house in Westhampton, New York, and had had an apartment in New York. Public records show, however, that Jordy sold the beach house for $2.9 million in 2003. He bought a condo for $775,000 in West Harlem in June 2005 one week after Jackson was acquitted of child molestation and about six weeks before he accused his father of attacking him. At the time he purchased the coop, Jordy gave a PO Box in Jersey City as his address. It’s only conjecture, but it’s likely that Evan Chandler - whom his brother Raymond had said in interviews was seriously ill in 2005 - didn’t want his son to leave him.

News of the Chandlers’ domestic dispute comes as Jackson remains on the down-low somewhere in Europe, either in London or Dublin, as his lawyers try to work out what will become of his languishing career. Having beaten the child molestation charge, Jackson turned himself into a self-exiled celebrity. His Neverland Ranch was shuttered after California officials fined him for not paying his employees for four months and letting their insurance lapse. A $25 million lien was placed against Neverland in June in order to pay off one of Jackson’s attorneys. And a group of investors in Rancho Palos Verdes, California is currently holding a $2.2 mortgage on Jackson’s parent’s home in Encino, California.

More to come…

Source: FOX News