By Roger Friedman

The long and winding custody and visitation case between Michael Jackson and ex-wife Debbie Rowe is about to be settled.

According to sources, an actual settlement agreement has been reached by the two sides. Jackson has signed off on it, and now Rowe’s lawyers are apparently looking over the final wording before allowing their client to enter into the agreement.

The reason for Rowe’s reluctance is simple: In July 2005 they thought they had a settlement, until Jackson’s lawyers put in new wording that cut Rowe off from her kids forever.

Rowe refused to sign, and the situation became much worse. An appeals court eventually reinstated all her parental rights despite Jackson’s willingness to try and buy them from her.

Jackson and Rowe have two children, Prince and Paris, while Jackson’s third child, a boy nicknamed Blanket, was acquired by Jackson when he used an anonymous surrogate.

According to my sources, between the now defunct couple, Rowe is the only biological parent of Prince and Paris.

This is how Michael Abrams, Jackson’s lawyer, described the situation in a letter on July 5, 2005, to Rowe’s then-attorney Iris Finsilver: “As you know, one of our clients [Jackson] is the custodial parent of two children born by one your clients [Rowe].” He did not refer to Jackson as the children’s father.

Four years earlier, Rowe characterised the reason she had the children in her testimony. “I did it for him to become a father.”

A settlement now would be much different than the one that was drafted in July 2005. Rowe would likely get all the money Jackson has put in escrow since October 2003, when he cut her off from her alimony, and she will probably get a bonus as well.

But the main thing Rowe gains here is the ability to see her children on a regular basis. The settlement comes at an opportune time in Jackson’s strange life for Rowe. Until May, he claimed the non-Hague country of Bahrain as his residence. Now that he is domiciled in Ireland, the settlement will actually be enforceable.

Source: FOX News

Hearing Re: Accounting
Per PIO Allan Parachini

The Matter is called for hearing and argued.

The Court makes the following ruling:

As to the issue re: Whether or not a Termination of the original agreement or relationship did occur in Nov. of 2001 The Court finds in favor of the Defendant. Termination did occur any prospective expenses incurred after the termination are improper.

As to issue re: whether or not Mr. Schaffel was required to personally pay for the “What more can I Give” expenses as opposed to NVE paying, the Court finds in favor of the Plantiff. The Court finds there was no Breach by use of the NVE payments to pay for the expenses.

Counsel are to provide a Joint Proposed briefing for the court to review and forward a final copy ot the Referee with in one week.

The Court appoints John Qudarkirit, Retired Judge as Referee for all purposes of the accounting under Code
of Civil Procedures Section 639

Further Status Conf is set for November 3 2006 at 9:00 am

Source: MJFC

For over three decades Michael Jackson’s music has redefined contemporary culture. Now, using Dual Disc technology, Michael Jackson’s 20 greatest singles AND videos have been brought together to form the incredible boxset VISIONARY - The Video Singles.

The must-have boxset includes:

Michael Jackson’s 20 Greatest Singles AND Videos + 20 bonus tracks!
Each Dual Disc features the original audio version of the single along with a bonus audio track PLUS the single’s corresponding video!
All 20 discs are beautifully packaged in picture sleeve wallets featuring the original 7″ or 12″ cover art.
Collectively, the reverse side of each inner wallet creates an exclusive collage image of Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson
VISIONARY..THE VIDEO [CD+DVD (DualDisc)]
Only $149.98
Release date: 11/14/2006
Label: LEGACY
Selection #: 700406 (1EXK700406 )
# Discs: 20
Availability: On Preorder

Source: Sony Music Store

By Roger Friedman

Michael Jackson is running an annual deficit of about $30 million a year. Not only that: his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, and her former attorney, Iris Finsilver, have been accused by Jackson’s attorneys of working “undercover” with the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office during their prosecution of Jackson on child molestation charges.

Those are just two of the revelations in a stack of papers finally made publicly available in the ongoing child custody case between Rowe and Jackson, who were married for three years and had two children, Prince and Paris.

The papers go on and on, stacks of them, and show a long and contentious battle that started soon after Rowe and Jackson were divorced in 2000.

The papers had been sealed when the former couple was using a private judge to help them through their case. But Judge Stephen Lachs was forced to recuse himself from the case last December when Jackson’s attorney accused him of being biased against Jackson. That seems like it was a major tactical error as it helped push the case into a public forum.

Much of the proceedings have been dry, but some of them prove pretty wild. Unknown until now, for example: a July 2005 settlement negotiation between Jackson and Rowe almost netted Rowe $4 million in exchange for seeing her kids once a year and giving up most other rights.

She was ready to sign the papers, until Jackson’s lawyers sneaked in a provision by which she would lose her parental rights for good. The plan fell apart, and Rowe subsequently had all her rights restored by an appeals judge.

The settlement offer, however, produced a letter from Jackson’s attorney, Thomas Montague Hall, that makes for alarming reading. On July 20, 2005, he wrote to Finsilver: “Penal Code 273 makes it a serious crime to take money in exchange for giving up a child. We need to be very careful to make sure that no one can say Debbie gave up the children in exchange for money. Debbie certainly doesn’t want any criminal exposure and I’m sure she does not want to create any risks for Michael. She certainly knows that are people who would love to try and prosecute him for any such action. So we have to avoid giving them the chance.”

Hall continues: “My suggestion is that we put language into the stipulation which clarifies what the money to Debbie is for. My suggestion is that we include some recital about Debbie incurring emotional distress, loss of privacy, and actual legal expense as a result of being dragged unwillingly into the [child molestation] case…Such recitals could separate the money from the children.”

Rowe, according to the papers, has already received approximately $11 million from Jackson as well as a house in Beverly Hills that she subsequently sold.

Jackson - claiming that his ex violated their original confidentiality agreement - cut off her spousal payments in October 2003 after Rowe gave a TV interview about her horse-raising business. The unpaid money, roughly $1.6 million, sits in an escrow account until the case is resolved.

In the end, though, it’s unclear where Jackson would have gotten $4 million for Rowe in July 2005. Nearly a year later, in May 2006, his accountant gave a secret affidavit in the custody case claiming that his client’s finances were in shambles and put Jackson in the red to the tune of $2.3 million a month. The conclusion offered was that even Jackson’s recent refinancing hadn’t helped the situation.

But the voluminous papers are even more revelatory. For one thing, it was only said that Judge Lachs had been hired in 2003 by Jackson and Rowe to deal with their issues. In fact, he’d been on the job since 2000, trying to sort out the miserable state of their affairs.

The papers also show a continued level of high-pitched enmity between Finsilver - whom Rowe dismissed earlier this year - and Jackson’s attorneys Hall and Michael Abrams.

Their letters are filled with accusations, bile and of lots of capital letters and underlining, indicating personal squabbles and petty vendettas on both sides that would make even the most contentious divorce adversaries blush.

Hall, for example, accuses Finsilver of listening in on phone conversations between Jackson and Rowe, and then counseling Jackson without his attorney’s knowledge. Finsilver responds that Hall has done everything he can to undo settlement negotiations and was not informing Jackson of the status of his case.

But one of the glaring errors of the case was the ouster of Lachs, who no doubt was thrilled to see an exit sign after five years of bickering.

In all that time, for example, he’d never even seen Jackson in court. The singer had managed to avoid the entire proceedings. In April 2005, Lachs told the parties: “It is though we are treated in this case as though he [Jackson] doesn’t exist.”

Source: FOX News

Michael Jackson has parted ways with new record label Two Seas and collaborated with U.S. producer Teddy Riley, according to Sound Generator.

Despite signing a new album deal with the newly established, Bahrain-based label, founded by Gut Records chairman Guy Holmes and Prince Abdulla Hamad Alkhalifa, Jackson is said to distanced himself from the organisation after a row with Holmes.

Jackson’s publicist, Raymone Bain, confirmed the stat had “cut all ties” with Holmes, while also confirming the formation of a new holding company for his business interests - the Michael Jackson Company, Inc., which will act as a publishing and recording label for his 2007 album release.

Taking over the role of the now defunct MJJ Productions, the company will be charged with restructuring Jackson’s personal and business affairs.

Moving onto the Teddy Riley situation, with an announcement coming this month that Riley was involved in producing the entirety of Jackson’s comeback set, which is still reportedly on course for a 2007 release. In a statement at the beginning of the year, Riley revealed he was spearheading a New Jack Swing revival - a musical style he had helped pioneer in the mid-1990’s with BLACKstreet and SWV. Most of the acts involved are set to release new music next year under Riley’s guise, with a big tour also planned.

Source: Sound Generator

REPORTS REGARDING MICHAEL JACKSON OPENING A THEME PARK IN IRELAND ARE ERRONEOUS

Washington, D.C. ……Reports originating from Irish tabloids, being widely reported today, that Michael Jackson plans to open a Leprechaun theme park are erroneous and ridiculous.

Please check with this office before disseminating any information reported out of Ireland, because most of the information reported thus far has been inaccurate.

Source: Raymone Bain

Sony Ericsson joins forces with Sony ATV Music Publishing to showcase new music talent

September 19, 2006, London - Sony Ericsson today announced the next step in the company’s comprehensive mobile music strategy, a new promotional space for breaking new and developing artists called ‘M-BUZZ’. Complementing the company’s unique music offering of Walkman® phones, services and accessories, M-BUZZ is yet another building block in Sony Ericsson’s extensive mobile music offering to music fans worldwide.

To maximize its reach the new M-BUZZ initiative will use both Sony Ericsson’s established PlayNowâ„¢ service, which has been enhanced to include full track music and allows consumers to download music to Sony Ericsson phones in just 4 clicks, and the web (http://www.m-buzz.com/). M-BUZZ will enable music fans everywhere to experience featured artists’ full tracks, videos, biographies, gig schedules and other content, allowing them to check out tomorrow’s stars up close and personal.

Sony Ericsson also announced today that it has entered into a ground breaking partnership with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. M-BUZZ will initially showcase a limited number of artists and bands each month hand picked from the Sony/ATV’s worldwide roster. It will initially offer content for download to the phone with new commercial aspects being developed later as additional features are incorporated into the M-BUZZ space.

“Today’s announcement is another great example of the cooperative spirit that exists between Sony Ericsson and other Sony Group companies, which gives us a unique opportunity to bring appealing, innovative content to our mobile phones,” says Miles Flint, President of Sony Ericsson. “M-BUZZ enables music fans not just to hear new, unsigned acts, but also to find out more about the musicians through interviews, home movies and more, creating a new mobile music experience.”

“Sony/ATV Music Publishing is always looking for new and compelling ways to promote our artists and song writers,” said David Hockman, Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing. “This partnership with Sony Ericsson gives our musicians and writers unprecedented exposure to music fans around the world, and we are very pleased to join with Sony Ericsson in bringing this unique music channel to consumers.”

“M-BUZZ is all about breaking new artists; it’s about giving tomorrow’s stars, the artists that have not yet been picked up by major record companies, the exposure they deserve and the possibility for them to reach a wider audience. Sony Ericsson is very excited to be providing this new stage and taking on a more active role in the music industry going forward. Music is about innovation, creativity and change, and with the addition of M-BUZZ we will broaden our already wide music offering even further at the same time as we are allowing people to discover fantastic new music that otherwise might pass them by,” explains Martin Blomkvist, Head of Content Acquisition and Partner Management at Sony
Ericsson.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Sony Ericsson to provide our artists and songwriters the opportunity to have their music heard by Sony Ericsson’s many millions of global customers,” said Lauren Berkowitz, Vice President of Global Digital Business for Sony/ATV Music Publishing. “When it comes to breaking new and developing artists in the digital age, music publishers are in a great position to lead such initiatives, as we frequently work with artists very early in their careers, usually well before they have been heard on a larger scale.”

The first phones offering M-BUZZ will be the W850 and W950 Walkman® phones announced earlier this year and scheduled to ship in European, Asian and Latin American markets during the second half of 2006.

Artists on M-BUZZ at launch will include Kish Mauve, Embassy, Dirty Perfect, FKLV, Iggy, The Head Set, Bobby Kray, Anjulie, Lights and Monte*Rosa.

http://www.m-buzz.com/ will go live on October 2 and downloadable content will be made available, in a phased approach, in 20 markets which already offer secure full track over-the-air music download services through Sony Ericsson’s PlayNowâ„¢ service.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications serves the global communications market with innovative and feature-rich mobile phones, accessories and PC-cards. Established as a joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in 2001, with global corporate functions located in London, the company employs approximately 6,000 people worldwide, including R&D sites in Europe, Japan, China and America. Sony Ericsson celebrates the 5th anniversary of the start of the joint venture on 1st October, 2006.

Sony Ericsson is the global title sponsor of the Women’s Tennis Association, and works with the Association to promote the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in over 80 cities during the year. The tour culminates at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid, Spain, from 7 to 12 November. For more information on Sony Ericsson, please visit http://www.sonyericsson.com/

About Sony/ATV Music Publishing: Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a worldwide music publishing joint venture between Sony and Michael Jackson. Sony/ATV Music Publishing owns or administers copyrights and catalogs by such artists as The Beatles, Beck, Brooks & Dunn, Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Fall Out Boy, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Mann, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Richie Sambora, Stephen Stills, KT Tunstall and Hank Williams, among others. On the web: http://www.sonyatv.com/

Source: Sony / ATV Music Publishing, MJFC

R & B performers Chris Brown and Ne-Yo lean heavily upon the influence of Michael Jackson as demonstrated during their performances at Ohio’s Germain Amphitheatre.

They both began their sets by being slowly elevated to the top of the stage. Their heads were bowed, hats tipped with their silhouettes illuminated. Be-Yo’s performance even added wind sound effects to emphasize his moves.

Ne-Yo has written songs for Mary J. Blige and Faith Evans as well as Mario’s Billboard hit “Let Me Love You.” He performed a medley of his songs and was mobbed by screaming fans as he attempted to move through the audience. His dance moves, like MJ, are a balance of grace and force.

Brown, 17, also demonstrated Michael’s showmanship and style, wearing a rhinestone studded white suit. He got everyone out of their seats singing “Rock With You” and a medley of Michael Jackson hits.

Source: MJFC

In an exclusive interview with New York Post’s Page Six, Chris Tucker said that Michael Jackson makes him laugh.

“He does this impression of my voice and it’s really hilarious.”

Source: MJFC, NewKerala.Com

Michael Jackson brought Paris and Prince along on a visit to a bookstore in Ireland.

The thrilled shopkeeper and her assistant called in to a local radio show to report on the trip. You can hear the report Here

On Thursday afternoon, the shop received a call from one of Michael’s personal assistants who told them that he had a client who wanted to take his children to the bookshop and wondered if they could arranged a private shopping trip. The assistant was adamant that he could not reveal the celebrity’s identity and visited the shop beforehand to assure security and privacy.

Although the mystery client was supposed to come in that evening, the appointment was changed to Saturday night.

The shop hosts a beautiful, inviting children’s section.

At 8:30 Saturday evening, a car pulled up and two very excited kids bolted out. The adult with them was a dead give-a-way in a black fedora, sunglasses and a scarf.

The children “had a blast, looking around and asking ‘Have you got this’ and ‘Dad, check out this, look at this fairy book! Dad, Dad, look at this!”

The children were not protected with masks or scarves, but dressed “completely normally …in pretty classy looking sportswear.”

By estimation, the children’s selections accounted for about 40% of the purchase.

The trip took about two hours.

Michael spent time in the entertainment section with music and movie books. The children frequently rushed over saying “Dad, look at this book. Look what we’ve got!” .

Michael bought music and film reference books, history and large coffee table books.

The shopkeepers presented Michael with a large picture book about Ireland. She said that he accepted it very graciously.

Source: MJFC