Las Vegas dealmaker Jack Wishna has spoken out for the first time regarding failed plans for a project of Michael Jackson doing a show in Las Vegas, USA. He insists Michael was desperate to wow the Sin City crowds:

“I had him (Jackson) on the telephone when he was in Ireland and he was all excited about working in Las Vegas. It even got down to the detail of a statue of himself that he wanted out front (of the hotel).

He also came up with the idea of having his own slot machines. I have a signed contract that he wanted us to put together to market his slot machines in Europe and Asia.”

However, Wishna claims the proposal “went nowhere” after Michael suddenly became impossible to get hold of.

Source: Contactmusic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Raymone K. Bain
June 27, 2007

Washington, D.C. …. There have been several news reports regarding Mr. Michael Jackson that are untrue, defamatory and malicious in nature.

Mr. Jackson is not bedridden nor on any type of medication, including painkillers. In fact, Mr. Jackson is doing very well, and conducted a meeting with his advisers yesterday, which included Former Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti, and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., among others.

There was no press release issued from Mr. Jackson’s organization regarding any European tour plans. Despite reports to the contrary, Mr. Jackson is currently in the studio putting finishing touches on his music.

Mr. Jackson has not ‘left’ Las Vegas nor is he being ‘evicted’ from his residence in Las Vegas. He decided not to exercise the option to purchase the house. Period.

Mr. Jackson does not believe that his brother, Randy Jackson, has stolen money from him, nor does he believe that Randy, or any of his family members, would ever steal from him. Reports regarding the same were untrue and malicious.

Contrary to published reports, Mr. Jackson is neither losing, nor is he selling his share of the ATV/Sony partnership. Reports regarding the same are ludicrous, without merit, and are being written without sufficient personal financial information to make such an unwarranted pronouncement.

Mr. Jackson is concerned that his assistant, Grace Rwaramba, is constantly being attacked by Fox News’ Roger Friedman. There have been vicious and untrue reports concerning Ms. Rwaramba, who lives a very private life and has done nothing wrong, but is being attacked for her professional relationship and proximity to Mr. Jackson.

While in his entire career, Mr. Jackson has never uttered a disparaging word to any reporter, nor has he ever used or instructed his security to use any force toward any reporter, there are those whose vehement hatred for Mr. Jackson has reached a level where all journalistic integrity has been lost, in order to write reports for which there is no substantiation, are untrue, written to create a frenzy, or used to try and destroy Mr. Jackson’s image. They know who they are; and, this is a sad commentary…a commentary which Mr. Jackson’s attorneys will address.

Source: Raymone K Bain

A battle over ownership of Michael Jackson memorabilia is headed back to a Nevada courtroom, where the King of Pop is seeking the return of items withheld from an auction of family items.

Jackson’s sister, singer Janet Jackson, also is seeking the return of items held back during a May 30-31 memorabilia auction at the Hard Rock hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ordered 60 items impounded at the Clark County courthouse, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Monday, while she sorts out ownership and decides whether to punish the company that brought the items to auction.

Gonzalez scheduled a July 16 contempt-of-court trial after deciding June 12 that Universal Express Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., violated earlier court orders to withhold some of the more than 1,100 items offered at auction.

L. Joe Coppedge, a Las Vegas lawyer for New York-based Guernsey’s auction house, said Monday that the auctioneer had no stake in the continuing dispute and was complying with the court order to deliver the contested items.

“Per the judge’s order, we have delivered 35 items claimed by Janet Jackson and 23 items claimed by Michael Jackson, with two in transit to Las Vegas,” Coppedge told The Associated Press.

Overall auction sales were estimated at more than $1 million, topped by Michael Jackson’s black, military style coat with an “M” crest. Universal reported the jacket fetched $20,400.

Michael Jackson items withheld following a last-minute court battle included a steamer trunk of the pop star’s personal effects, his personal collection of Three Stooges photos, sheet music signed by participants in the “We are the World” charity fundraiser, and a piece of Australian aboriginal art that Jackson received in 1987 to mark record sales of his “Thriller” album.

Janet Jackson items withheld included the original certificate of her marriage to singer James DeBarge, high school notes, and script pages from her 1984 appearance on the “Diff’rent Strokes” TV series.

Gonzalez had accepted a confidential settlement May 30 allowing the auction to go forward, but prohibiting Universal Express from “selling, giving, conveying or transferring by any means” the 25 items specified by Michael Jackson’s lawyers.

Under the settlement, which had been confidential, Jackson’s lawyers dropped their effort to block the auction.

In a June 12 hearing in Las Vegas, the judge ordered the settlement to be enforced, made Janet Jackson a party to the agreement, and ordered Universal Express to pay some of Michael Jackson’s legal expenses.

Universal Express lawyer David DeToffol of New York has denied violating Gonzalez’s order, and instructed Guernsey’s to return the items to Universal Express, court records show.

DeToffol and a Universal Express lawyer in Las Vegas did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

Source: Associated Press

Michael Jackson has reportedly been hard at work on a brand new album between travels to Dubai, Las Vegas, and spots in Europe. Fans and industry insiders are wondering whether Jackson’s new material will prove to be the kind of sales blockbuster he’s had in the past, like historic multi-platinum releases Off The Wall and Thriller.

Producer Jimmy “Jam” Harris, who with partner Terry Lewis worked on all but two of Janet Jackson’s albums, also produced “Scream,” Janet’s 1995 duet with Michael.

Harris says that Jackson isn’t motivated by breaking sales records when he goes into the studio nowadays. He explained: “I don’t think a successful comeback should be based on statistics, I think making music will be the thing that makes him happy, you can’t put the cart before the horse. You can’t sell records until you make the songs. And I think for him, making the songs at this point is going to be the fun thing for him. And obviously the reward for him selling records is wonderful. I know for a fact, because I know him pretty well, that the statistics, he already has those, I mean, he’s got records that will never be broken again. And now in this point in his life it’s really about making great music. ”

There is no word on when Jackson will release a new album, but results of a British poll reported last week shows that the King of Pop should command healthy sales figures. PopScores, a monthly quantitative measurement of the emotional connection between artists and consumers, shows that 82 percent of Jackson’s fans are ready to buy the new material he releases.

Source: Jimmy Jam

Michael Jackson has settled the breach of contract suit that was brought by Prescient Acquisition Group.(See previous post.)

Prescient claimed that Michael owed the firm $48 million for its role in securing the financing that he needed to pay off the debt that was secured by his portion of the Beatles song catalogue.

The terms of the agreement between Prescient and MJ Publishing Trust were not disclosed and the case will not go to trial.

A spokesperson for Michael told reporters that the settlement means that the archive of music publishing rights would remain safe and sound.

Source: Reuters

Michael Jackson says in a court deposition that the Rev. Jesse Jackson and billionaire Ron Burkle gave him advice to help save him from financial disaster when he was fighting child molestation charges.

The Daily News said in Sunday editions it reviewed seven hours of transcripts, finding that the singer believed disloyal advisers took advantage of him financially before a Santa Maria, Calif., jury acquitted him of child molestation in June 2005.

Michael Jackson said in a deposition taken last summer in Paris that the entertainment industry was “full of sharks, charlatans and impostors.”

“Because there’s a lot of money involved, there’s a bunch of schmucks in there,” Jackson said. “It’s the entertainment world, full of thieves and crooks. That’s not new. Everybody knows that.”

Jackson testified that during his trial he received wise advice during bathroom break cell phone calls with Burkle, the billionaire friend of former President Clinton.

Burkle brought in Jesse Jackson, who has known Michael Jackson since he was a child, to help with the consultations, the newspaper said.

The deposition was made in preparation for a civil trial expected to begin this week in U.S. District Court. The case against Jackson was brought by a Hackensack, N.J. finance company that claims he cheated the company of $48 million.

Source: NY Daily News, Associated Press

Popscores is used by the record industry to discover the consumer’s feelings towards different artists. It is a monthly quantitative measurement of the emotional connection between 300 established and up-and-coming music artists and consumers across ten different demographic groups from teenagers to fifty year olds.

In a recent survey the music league table asked fans who they “loved” and whether they would buy all their new records.

An overwhelming 82% of Michael Jackson said they would buy all the new material he releases — the highest score of any artist. Michael is joint first with Muse as the acts with the most dedicated fans, Gorillaz are next.

Source: Sun, Popscores, MJFC-USA

British tabloid newspapers The Mirror and The Sun have issued apologies over publishing incorrect information regarding the attendance of the King Of Pop at the birthday celebration of Prince Azim.

The Mirror:

“THE Sultan of Brunei’s son, Prince Azim, has told us and we accept that pop legend Michael Jackson wasn’t paid a penny to join him for his 25th birthday celebrations last month, rather than the £5million we said.

Michael, who is a close pal of the Prince, was so keen to go he even covered his own air fares. We only wish the Prince had invited us as well!”

The Sun:

“WE are happy to make it clear that Michael Jackson was not paid £5million or any other sum for turning up at the birthday party of his friend, the Sultan of Brunei’s son, Prince Azim.

Sorry for suggesting otherwise.”

Source: The Mirror, The Sun

Jermaine and Tito Jackson will be filming a documentary on training to become a black belt with a Swindon martial arts professional, Matt Fiddes. Naturally, locals are hoping that somehow Michael will show up, as well.

The documentary is to be filmed in California, Devon and Swindon, England.

Matt is hopeful that Michael will turn up.

“I’d be really surprised if Michael doesn’t come over,” Matt said.

“Michael is aware of the programme and I am sure he will show support to his family,” said the 27-year-old.
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Michael is also a great fan of the late Bruce Lee, which he feels could provide further enticement.

The program has a working title of ‘So Far, So Good.’ It will feature a look at Tito’s fitness regime prior to releasing his new album. In this way, it is a reality based show. The film will star members of the family with a surprise celebrity guest and will air in Europe and the United States.

“The camera will be following them through the whole process of training towards a black belt,” said Matt.

“They will be doing intensive training.

“It will be a big shock for Tito as he hasn’t done much exercise but Jermaine is really fit. I’m training hard myself to get ready for it.

“It is hard to co-ordinate the Jackson family as they are all over the world.”

Filming is expected to start in October and Tito will arrive in town in the next couple of months to check out locations.

Tito and Jermaine Jackson both visited Matt’s gym in Station Road earlier this year to see how the martial arts school helps youngsters who drop out of school early.

Jermaine also used his visit to launch his national anti-bullying campaign.

Source: Swindon Advisor, MJFC-USA

By Shaheem Reid

During his set at Hot 97’s Summer Jam on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Chris Brown pulled out a red jacket similar to the one Michael Jackson wore in the “Thriller” video, donned a sparkly white glove and paid homage to the King of Pop.

Instead of imitating Jackson onstage, Brown might soon get to perform with him. Brown is trying to get the King of Pop to sing on a Will.I.Am-produced track that would appear on the teen sensation’s second album, Exclusive, due August 28.

“He called me for my birthday, and I told him we should do a song,” Brown said. “He was up for it.”

“Man, it was crazy,” Brown continued. “He actually spoke to me like a regular person, and he was like, ‘I like your music.’ He said his favorite song was ‘Shorty Like Mine’ that me and Bow Wow did. I appreciated talking to him.”

Source: MTV News