By Daniel L. Smith
Backstage Pass
There comes a time when something happens to let you know that you are in the middle of something big. Not that a chance to shadow Michael Jackson, the biggest pop star of my lifetime, with a video camera for eight days would be considered a slouch deal.
But it was a phone call I got after the first day on the job that drove it home for me. The phone rang and on the other line was the voice of a woman. “Hello Daniel. This is…. You remember me? We hung out a couple of times. Well, the last time did not end so nicely. You said I was very shallow. Anyway, I saw you on TV with Michael Jackson. Can you introduce me to him? I would like…” I hung up on her.
She lost me at, “Hello.” But the fact that she even had the audacity to call was a forebearer of what was to come over the next seven days that I filmed Jackson with my video camera.
I can’t take credit for the idea. When the word went out that Jackson was looking for a cameraman to document his visit to Japan, one of the co-promoters of the visit, Broderick Morris of Positive Productions, suggested me for the honor. I thanked him profusely for the recommendation. He told me wryly, “Be careful of getting what you wish for.”
It was right there in between all the lines. I was in for a hectic time.
It started right from the point that Jackson emerged from the baggage area to the arrival lobby at Narita International Airport. As he, Morris and Miss Universe Japan 2006 Kurara Chibana walked out to the throng of well wishers, Jackson pointed is finger at me and made a motion toward the crowd.
In TV talk, he was asking me to get him a shot of the crowd. Unfortunately airport security workers are not versed in TV talk. One of the women from the airport apparently thought he wanted someone to get rid of the cameraman. She tackled me from behind just as I was moving in for my money shot. I think I managed to get the King of Pop in about a quarter of the frame. It took the intervention of one of Jackson’s bodyguard to free me from the woman’s death grip.
Those bodyguards would prove to be my best allies over the days and would bail me out when I was overrun and besieged by frantic Jackson fans.
Whenever and wherever Jackson traveled in Tokyo, he was accompanied by hordes of fans, media and, hell yes, paparazzi. The paparazzi bordered on outrageous. Some rode motorcycles, others Mercedes, taxis or, in one case, a Jeep. One guy would simply run as far and as fast as he could until he could go not farther. He did this everyday.
When Jackson’s van pulled away from Big Camera, where he had gone earlier to shop, some 300 fans and media actually surrounded the van in mass. The driver broke free of the mass about 10 minutes later.
To stay at the hotel with the official Jackson entourage was to accept that every single person you met in the hotel lobby, and there were a lot of people always waiting in the lobby, were fans wanting you to pass something on to Jackson. Most of the items were simple ones, flowers, cards and gifts. One woman jokingly offered to give me her bra and panties. Well, I think she was joking.
Then there were the dozen or so calls I got from TV stations, magazines, radio stations and newspapers. All of them wanted me to spill the beans on what Jackson ate, or bought at the store, or did while he was in the hotel.
I was too busy filming to notice most of the time. But then I thought, “Is that the best question you can ask me?”
Or they wanted to know what I thought about Jackson. That was easy. He was great. He was nice, considerate and friendly for a guy who has to live his life in a fishbowl.
At the VIP Premium Party and the Fan Appreciation Party, he was considerate of his fans and generous with his time. At both events his fans seem genuinely touched by his actions.
When we were cruising over Tokyo in an U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter, en route to Camp Zama for a meet and greet with American service members and their families, Jackson marveled at the smoothness of the ride. He would tell me later, “I was a little apprehensive at first. But once we got up it was great. Very strong machine.”
When I nearly tripped backwards while filming him, he and a bodyguard actually broke my fall. “Are you alright Dan? You have to watched those steps,” he said with a smile.
No there was nothing difficult about working with the man himself. That was the must fulfilling part of this assignment.
The hectic stuff is dealing with the aftermath. I am still averaging five to six calls a day. Most from people who want me to give them footage. I guess the part about my footage being exclusive to Jackson and the promoter escapes them.
And I’m still dreading that return call, “Hello Daniel. I think we got disconnected.”
Source: Japan Entertainment
