Michael Jackson Memorial

Hello,

The Michael Jackson Memorial was held yesterday in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. The ceremony was 177 minutes long. Some of the highlights included Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz singing "I'll Be There". This was one of her first big songs, its from her "Unplugged" CD. They were the original pair who sang this song on "Unplugged". An amazing performance by her and Lorenz.

An unconfirmed rumor that Stevie Wonder wrote the song he sang just for the Jackson Memorial. The song is "I'd Never Dreamed You'd Leave Me In Summer". Jennifer Hudson sang "Will You Be There/ Hold Me". She's looking beautiful with her pregnancy bump. Usher sang a Michael Jackson song "Gone Too Soon". Michael Jackson obviously sang this song with someone else in mind. The song went full circle when Usher sang it about him. Michael Jackson didn't write this song, instead it was written by Larry Grossman. (Although that sounds like a fake name.)

There were speeches made by Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Brooke Shields. The highlight of those speeches was Magic Johnson's both funny and poignant remembrances of Michael Jackson. He related a funny story about Micheal Jackson and his love of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Magic Johnson talked about the people who are left behind who can take care of Michael's three kids. He mentioned everyone but Michael's father. I think that was an intentional omission. Magic was friends with one of Michael's older brothers for 30 years now. Brooke Shields' speech was a low light, her speech seemed to more about Brooke Shields than anything else.

Overall it seemed to be a very moving ceremony. Michael Jackson left an impact on many people with his great music. The man is a musical genius and his influence will be felt for at least many decades to come.

Other Michael Jackson news: many people are trying to cash in on his death. Of the biographies written about MJ, the most popular one is Randy Taroborelli's "The Magic and the Madness". This book is selling anywhere between $5 and $146.20 on ebay.com. These prices are for old editions of this book. It was originally released in the mid-80's. Taroborelli has updated it a few more times over the years. However let me warn you again these are all dated editions of this book. Also these same greedy people have the audacity to charge for shipping in addition to the exorbitant prices.

I have a better solution. Taroborelli has updated this book yet again and it's available for pre-order on amazon.com for only $10.25 plus shipping. There's no doubt about this being the newest edition as the book has been renamed "The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story 1958-2009." You can pre-order this book at amazon.com and it will be released on August 5th. It's only now days that a book can be added to, updated and released to the public in such a short amount of time.

Also a whole bunch of magazines new issues are devoting many pages to Michael Jackson. Some people on ebay.com have apparently bought up large amounts of these copies and now are selling them for a premium price. A few ebay.com buyers are claiming these commemorative copies are "sold out". Do not fall for this trick. I was at a local grocery store and Barnes and Noble yesterday and they both have plenty of copies available of these magazines. I expect Barnes and Noble will also extend the sales dates of these magazines.

I've read about the first 50 pages of Micheal Jackson's autobiography "Moon Walk". Jackson lightly touches on his abusive father. His father Joe was a control freak and pushed his kids at a young age to be stars. Michael Jackson wasn't able to be a kid, he started performing at age 5. The Jacksons obviously had a father who was living his life through them. I also have "The Magic and the Madness" on hold at my local library. It's the 1991 edition. Of all the Jackson biographies, that is the one I'm most interested in reading.

Two non-Michael Jackson notes. Paramore's new CD is now available for pre-order at the iTunes music store. (BTW Happy Birthday to the Apple Apps store, it's now one year old.) There are two editions available. The first version is $9.99 and the second version is $14.99. Both versions of this will CD will be available on September 29th. You can hear the first single from the new album now at spin.com. The song is titled "Ignorance" and it rocks. From the opening few notes, there's no doubt this is a Paramore song.

Also I was watching "Mad Men" Season 1 last night. The team from Sterling Cooper just was able to get a new account. To celebrate they went to a bar. The songs were that late 50's sound. Then someone played Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and that brought the crowd to the dance floor. I know this is fictional but I can see this actually happening when rock and roll was introduced. Rock and Roll brought an attitude, a swagger, a whole new kind of music and a lot of energy. Not only that but "The Twist" is still an amazing song.

I also loved the final scene of Season 1, Episode 9 with Betty Draper shooting at the mean neighbor's precious pigeons. Nobody is going to call Betty Draper weak again. That's a very funny scene.

themusicaddict