Tag: Michael Jackson

The Case Against Michael Jackson’s Doctor Grows Explosive

Posted by Kat – March 23, 2010

The circumstances surrounding Michael Jackson’s death was nothing short of tragic, and it’s only gotten even more convoluted. Jackson’s doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, has now been accused of behavior that is reprehensible: he supposedly stopped performing CPR on Jackson and then didn’t call the paramedics so that he could stop and go collect different drug vials. This seems to be yet another block stacked against the doctor, as the prosecution will be following this particular trail of evidence in the involuntary manslaughter case that could really turn the tide. After all, hiding evidence is a serious offense, and the prosecution won’t be letting it go.

Alberto Alvarez, the logistics director for Jackson himself, was the one to give this statement, a full account of the events as he saw them. Coupled with two other employees of Michael Jackson who also were called and arrived at the scene, the events seem pretty damning.

According to Alvarez, he had bolted to Jackson’s room and could see Jackson lying down on the bed with an IV in his leg. His eyes were open, his mouth was slack and he didn’t seem to be coherent. Murray was performing CPR until Alvarez took over. It was after he was declared dead that Alvarez claims Murray stated he needed to go back to Jackson’s home to collect items so that no one would know what Jackson had.

Granted, this certainly isn’t set in stone. The defense lawyer for Murray has already tried to rebuke this argument, especially since Alvarez allegedly has given different accounts now of what had happened, and in that first interview, Alvarez apparently did not tell the police that Murray tried to hide things. The trail itself is going to be messy, clearly, and the evidence seems to change day by day, but one thing’s for sure, this allegation isn’t going to be the last.

We Are the World’s Anniversary Will Be Honored

Posted by Kat – February 3, 2010

Ever since the original “We Are the World,” co-written by Michel Jackson and Lionel Richie, made waves everywhere to help encourage peace and humanitarianism, musicians have been inspired by that song to both write more music with that goal in mind, and to take the time to become humanitarians themsevles. Now, twenty-five years later, Lionel Richie has gotten together with Quincy Jones to give a new historic recording of “We Are the World.” Janet Jackson, Nick Jonas, Celine Dion, and Lil Wayne were some of the top musicians and singers, celebrities of the music world, who were there to record a new 25th anniversery version of the song. In fact, it was such a huge deal that ABC had news cameras available on Monday so that they could film the entire thing.

Of the different artists there for the recording was Janet Jackson, who was given the opportunity to sing the solo originally done by her brother, Michael, in the original recording. Also filling in for another musician was Lil Wayne, who performed Bob Dylan’s original part in the piece, to which he was hilariously adamant that he had not performed the part as well as Bob Dylan did. Over all, the atmosphere of the recording was hopeful, uplifting and clearly honoring the spirit of the original recording.

Curious about the actual range of musical celebrities they had at the performance of “We Are the World”? Well, with the youngest member being Justin Bieber, the fifteen-year-old singing sensation, then on the other end of the spectrum is Tony Bennet, who is eighty-three years old and represents a veteran of the musical world. If you’d like to see the new recording, you’ll be able to see it on February 12th in 3D with the opening of NBC’s broadcast of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Thriller To Be Inducted Into National Film Registry

Posted by Kat – January 1, 2010

If there is one thing that can be said about people these days, it’s that everyone – and I mean everyone – knows “Thriller.” If you don’t know the Thriller dance, you know the song. You know the Vincent Price voiceover, you hear the opening of a creaky door or remember the Wolfman scene. The amazing video directed by John Landis in 1983 has now become one of the single most identifiable music videos in the industry and truly revolutionized the way music videos were done since then. And now, it has been given possibly the greatest honor any video could get – on Wednesday, it was inducted into the 2009 National Film Registry in the Library of Congress.

A true testament to the enduring qualities of the video, this marks the first music video to ever be named into the registry. The decision to do so comes after Jackson’s death and the release of “This Is It,” a video documenting the process of what would have been his farewell concert. The National Film Preservation Board believed that the time was right. In fact, Steve Legget, the coordinator of the NFPB has stated that they felt it was time to examine the development of music videos, due to how different the recording industry has become in the last twenty years.

And other than Thriller, “The Muppet Movie” and “The Incredible Shrinking Man” are only a few other titles also entering the Registry this year. On top of that, Michael Jackson’s “Captain EO” is now going to be returning to Disneyworld, showing that after the star’s death, fans and music-lovers everywhere recognize his contributions and will miss the famous star. Thanks to the National Film Registry, though, no one will forget him. Michael Jackson’s contributions to the music world and the film world will be officially preserved as part of America’s Culture.