# 7

11,000 Light Bulbs

The "Thriller" jacket created for the Bad tour in 1988 contained 11,000 light bulbs that would light up remotely during the performance and pulsate to the beat of the song. "Michael didn't want to be the one that turned on the switch," Michael Bush recalled. "That wouldn't have been magic."

Source: King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson

i like grapes

A cute story from David Gest (sometime in the 80s)

Michael was staying at my place on Dohney and was happy to come along. He really respected Burt (Bacharach) but wondered, as we all did, what made him tick. Burt had ordered a bottle of expensive French red wine, which he, Carole (Bayer Sager) and I were drinking. Michael never drank but that night he got interested in wine. Unbelievably; he didn’t even know what wine was.
‘What’s it made of?’ he asked me.
‘Grapes’, I said.
‘I like grapes,’ Michael said. ‘I think I’ll try some.’

So we poured Michael a glass and he drank it. He obviously liked it because he drank another one. We were drinking a 1982 Pomerol that tasted like candy, so he was bound to like it.
By this time, we all had a glass or two and the bottle was finished. So Burt ordered a second bottle. This time, Michael drank virtually the whole bottle. He had really acquired a taste for wine, fine wine at that, and was guzzling the stuff down. So we ordered a third bottle and Michael drank most of that as well. That’s when I knew we were going to have a problem that night.

The evening came to an end and I drove Michael back to my place. He was, understandably, happy. In fact, he was flying high, very high. In the car he was talking and laughing. He was singing ‘I Want To Be Where You Are’ and ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’.
Then he started singing more of his hit songs like ‘Ben’. He was giggling away all the time.
‘You’re going to be in trouble,’ he said. ‘I’m going to tell Joesph what you did.’
I wasn’t taking the bait. ‘I didn’t do it, you did,’ I said.

It took us a few minutes to get back to my place. The minute I parked the car and opened the door for him, Michael leaned out and threw up all over the place. He spent the rest of the night hanging over the toilet. He was as sick as a dog. I was up all night with him.
He kept saying, ‘I’m going to tell Joe you corrupted me,’ I was kinda worried he would but he never did.
It was his first taste of wine, something he would come to love a little too much in later years. I always felt bad about that night but it sure was funny!

michael the driver

Michael usually drove himself to Kingdom Hall and his field-service routes. He’d finally gotten his driver’s license in 1981, at the age of twenty-three. Initially he didn’t want to learn to drive. “I’ll just get a chauffeur when I want to go out,” he said when I began nagging him about getting his license. “But suppose you’re someplace and your chauffeur gets sick?” I reasoned.

Finally, he relented and took some lessons. After he began driving, Michael decided that he enjoyed being behind the wheel, after all. The first time he took me for a ride, he ventured up to Mulholland Drive, a winding road in the Hollywood Hills. It was a hair-raising experience. “I’ve got a crook in my neck and my feet hurt,” LaToya, who was also in the car, complained afterward. “I was putting on the brakes’ with my feet and ‘steering’ the car with my neck trying to keep it on the road. I was so scared!” It was white-knuckle time for me, too. Michael drove fast. He also had the same habit that I have: driving right up to the car in front and stopping on a dime.

After that, Michael started going out by himself. “You shouldn’t go out alone,” I told him. “Get Bill Bray to go with you.” But Michael wouldn’t hear of it. “I’m tired of having security with me every time I go someplace.”

When he began driving, Michael told me that he would never go on freeways; he thought they were too dangerous. So I was shocked one day when Michael suddenly drove us onto a freeway ramp. “Wait a minute, Michael, what are you doing?” “I can drive the freeways now!” he said, laughing. He had changed his mind about freeways when he saw just how long it took him to get around Los Angeles without using them.

Michael’s first car was a Mercedes. Then he bought a black Rolls-Royce, which he later painted blue. It was in the Rolls that he was stopped one day -- not for fans outside the gate, but by a Van Nuys policeman. “This looks like a stolen car,” the officer said. He didn’t recognise Michael, who wasn’t wearing a disguise that day. Michael explained politely that he did, indeed, own the car. But the officer went ahead and ran a check on the car, and found that Michael had a ticket outstanding.

The next thing Michael knew, he was sitting in the Van Nuys jail. Bill Bray bailed him out. I didn’t even know what had happened until he came home. “You should have asked the officer what a stolen car looks like,” I said after he related his adventure. Perhaps the cop had felt that a young black man didn’t belong behind the wheel of a Rolls.

But Michael was not only put out by the experience, he professed to be happy. “I got to see how it felt to be in jail!” he exclaimed.

(Source: Katherine Jackson's "My Family")

Lee brings Michael Jackson Bad magic to big screen

A crucifix is seen over the image of U.S. singer Michael Jackson on U.S. director Spike Lee's t-shirt as he poses during the photocall of the movie ''Bad 25'' at the 69th Venice Film Festival in Venice August 31, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Max Rossi

(Reuters) - Spike Lee's film about the making of Michael Jackson's 1987 album "Bad" may border on hagiography at times, but live footage and the singer's attention to detail when at the peak of his powers are a reminder of why he remains the "King of Pop".

The two-hour documentary called "Bad 25", which has its world premiere at the Venice film festival on Friday, is a familiar mix of talking heads - choreographers, producers and stars - and film of concerts, rehearsals and music videos.

Released to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Jackson's acclaimed follow-up to "Thriller", Lee provides few surprises for Jackson aficionados, but paints a picture of a genius at work who cared about every step of the production process.

"I think that it was too many years we've ... concentrated on stuff about Michael Jackson that had nothing to do with the music," Lee told reporters, 25 years to the day after Bad hit the shelves.

The documentary, which Lee called his "love letter" to Jackson, has the backing both of the singer's estate and his record label, giving Lee access to many of the key players in the making of what is regarded as a milestone album.

"It was a chance to really dig into his creative process," he added.

"We all are blessed with the final work, but it's rare that you get to see how something is put together. We just see the final product. We don't see the blood, sweat and tears, all the work that goes into how the masters work."

Among the novelties is footage taken by Jackson himself, using a handheld camera, of Siedah Garrett singing "Man in the Mirror", the song she co-wrote for the star, a cappella save for an off-camera clicking of fingers laying down the beat.

There are also small yet enlightening insights and hints as to Jackson's true character, be it his interest in women, competitive spirit, professional drive or obsession over the smallest riff and dance step.

Garrett, for example, recalls how Jackson playfully threw popcorn at her as she tried to record "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", earning her, but not Jackson, a sharp rebuke from the onlooking producer Quincy Jones.

"NOT OF THIS WORLD"

Sheryl Crow said she was often asked whether Jackson became aroused when they performed a raunchy rendition of the song on his record-breaking "Bad" tour. She did not provide an answer.

Actress Tatiana Thumbtzen speculated that mint on the singer's breath suggested he may have been prepared for a kiss at the end of the "The Way You Make Me Feel" video, despite strict instructions only to embrace the singer.

Lawyer John Branca, who administers Jackson's estate following his death aged 50 in 2009, recalled a meeting Jackson arranged with his arch-rival Prince.

"It was not a happy meeting," he said, adding Prince had brought along a "voodoo box" which Jackson feared meant he was trying to cast a spell on him.

That rivalry was part of a competitive streak in Jackson that drove him to try to top the sensational success of his 1982 album "Thriller", still the best-selling album of all time, with Bad five years later.

He even scrawled "100,000,000" on his mirror to remind him of his target. While industry estimates vary widely, Thriller is estimated to have sold between 60-110 million copies worldwide, while Bad went on to sell 30-45 million.

Nothing, it seemed, was too trival. In one sequence, Jackson comically re-enacts exactly how he wants two animated characters who feature in a commercial to behave.

On a more serious level, Lee explores how Jackson's Afro-American roots were important to him, despite his gradually transforming facial features that made him appear more Caucasian.

Several interviewees could not contain their tears as they remembered when they heard of Jackson's passing, and several voiced their conviction at the time that it was not true.

Crow was among those who struggled to explain Jackson's talent. "The molecules changed in the room," she said of his presence. "He changed the molecules."

Near the end of Bad 25 there is a memorable live performance of "Man in the Mirror", after which Jackson holds his hands aloft to form the shape of a cross.

"Michael's not here to answer that. I cannot say he's trying to be Jesus Christ," Lee said in answer to a reporter's question.

"I'm not going to say that Michael was saying he was Jesus Christ, but you look at that performance - he's somewhere else. That's one of the greatest performances ever. You see the way Michael's singing that song, he is not of this world."

(Editing by Steve Addison)
Source: Reuters

sweet, insightful and wonderfully naive interview (1982)

Friday, August 20th 1982, 3:30 P.M. Somewhere in San Fernando Valley. Bob Colacello arrives at the condominium that Michael Jackson and his family are temporarily renting while their house nearby is being redecorated. Michael, who everyone remembers as the boy lead singer of the Jackson Five, has built a solid solo career for himself—his last album, Off the Wall, has sold over 5 million copies in the U.S. alone. Though he also still records with his brothers, now known as The Jacksons, Michael has branched out to work with such superstars as Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones, Diana Ross and Steven Spielberg, all of whom are close friends. While waiting for a phone call from Andy Warhol in New York, BC and MJ began chatting about another close friend, Jane Fonda.

MICHAEL JACKSON: The night that Henry Fonda died, I went over there and I was with the family. They were talking and watching all the different news pieces. Although her father died, Jane was still able to show an interest in my career, asking me have I gotten the film yet, and I thought that was very sweet. I think that they had been expecting him to die for so long. Months and months and months ago she was talking as though it was going to be any day. It happened and there were tears sometimes and laughter sometimes and they ate a little.

BOB COLACELLO: So what are you doing? Have you gotten a movie to do?

JACKSON: Well, right now I'm just finishing up the album [Thriller —Ed.] and concentrating on that. I'm doing the other album as well, the E.T. album, at the same time. That album is a little new for me because I've never narrated a story.

COLACELLO: What is the E.T. album?

JACKSON: It's a storybook album, a double album and I'm narrating the whole story and singing the song which we have to come up with and write. We've been just meeting and talking about it with Steven [Spielberg] for I don't know how long—getting together and talking about making it the all-time storybook album.

COLACELLO: The album you're doing, you've written everything on it?

JACKSON: I've written four or five songs.

COLACELLO: Steve [Rubell] told me you're doing something with Paul McCartney?

JACKSON: Yes. Paul was just here and a song I wrote called "The Girl Is Mine," we sing together on my album. We're fighting over this girl in the song and it came out beautifully. For his album, we wrote and sang two songs together, his Tug ‘O War Part II. But for mine it's the song that I wrote. There's a rap at the end where we're fighting over her. It's funny.

COLACELLO: You're very open to working with other stars. Very often people aren't.

JACKSON: I'm not actually. Not at all.

COLACELLO: You worked with Diana Ross...

JACKSON: Only very special people. I mean, Diana's like a mother-lover-friend to me. She's wonderful. I just wrote, produced, and edited her next single, "Muscles."

COLACELLO: Did you write the lyrics, too?

JACKSON: Lyrics, music—I just finished that and it should be coming out at the end of the month.

COLACELLO: Where do you find the time to do all this writing?

JACKSON: On airplanes. I was coming back from England working on Paul McCartney's album, zooming along on the Concorde, and this song popped into my head. I said, "Hey, that's perfect for Diana!" I didn't have a tape recorder or anything so I had to suffer for like three hours. Soon as I got home I whipped that baby on tape.

COLACELLO: Do you care about politics at all?

JACKSON: I don't like talking about it.

COLACELLO: You don't get into that at all with Jane [Fonda]?

JACKSON: No, we do. She's wonderful. She teaches me all kinds of stuff. When I was on the Golden Pond set I stayed with Jane in the cabin and we were all alone on the water and we'd just talk, talk, talk about everything. It was the greatest education for me—she'd learn and I'd learn and we'd just play off of each other. We talked about all kinds of things, you name it: politics, philosophers, racism, Vietnam, acting, all kinds of things. It was magic.

COLACELLO: Where were you educated, because you were always on the road?

JACKSON: Private schools or tutors.

COLACELLO: You come from Gary, Indiana? What was it like growing up there?

JACKSON: Actually, I was so small I don't remember. When I was five I was touring, singing and dancing. Always gone, always out of school. I just remember little things like the corner store or certain people in the neighborhood. The high school behind us always had a big band with trumpets and trombones and drums coming down the street—I used to love that—like a parade. That's all I remember.

COLACELLO: Did you like performing as a child? Did you always love it?

JACKSON: Always did. I always enjoyed the feeling of being on stage—the magic that comes. When I hit the stage it's like all of a sudden a magic from somewhere just comes and the spirit just hits you and you just lose control of yourself. I came on stage at Quincy's [Jones] concert at the Rose Bowl and I did not want to go on stage. I was ducking and hiding and hoping he wouldn't see me hiding behind people when he called me on. Then I went up there and I just went crazy. I started climbing up the scaffold, the speakers, the light gear. The audience started getting into it and I started dancing and singing and that's what happens.

COLACELLO: How do you compare acting to performing on the stage?

JACKSON: I love both. Acting is the cream of the crop. I love performing. It's a phenomenal getaway. It you want to really let our everything you feel, that's the time to do it. With acting, it's like becoming another person. I think that's neat, especially when you totally forget. If you totally forget, which I love to do, that's when it's magic. I love to create magic—to put something together that's so unusual, so unexpected that it blows people's heads off. Something ahead of the times. Five steps ahead of what people are thinking. So people see it and say, "Whoa. I wasn't expecting that." I love surprising people with a present of a gift or a stage performance or anything. I love John Travolta, who came off that Kotter show. Nobody knew he could dance or do all of those things. He is like—boom. Before he knew it, he was the next big Brando or something.

COLACELLO: He hasn't done much lately.

JACKSON: I know. I think he's choosing scripts and stuff. It's always difficult for anyone trying to compete against their past achievements.

COLACELLO: Tell me, who do you think has made breakthrough in their work in any field?

JACKSON: I love Steven Spielberg so much. I just love James Brown. He's phenomenal. I've never seen a performer create electricity with an audience like James Brown. He's got everybody in his hands and whatever he wants to do with them, he does it. It's amazing. I've always thought he was underrated. I love Sammy Davis Jr., I love Fred Astaire. I love George Lucas. I'm crazy about Jane Fonda and Katharine Hepburn.

COLACELLO: I saw a picture of you with Katharine Hepburn on the set of On Golden Pond.

JACKSON: I feel honored to know her because there are a lot of people she doesn't like—she'll tell you right away if she doesn't like you. When I first met her, I was a little shaky because you hear things about her—Jane filled me in. I was kind of scared. But right away she invited me to dinner that day. Ever since then we've been best friends. She came to our concert—the first concert she's ever been to—at the [Madison Square] Garden, and she just enjoyed herself. We call each other on the phone and she sends me letters. She's just wonderful. I went to her house in New York and se showed me her Spencer Tracy's favorite chair and his private things in his closet, his little knick-knacks. I think he's just magic.

COLACELLO: Are you a fan of old movies?

JACKSON: Oh, yes. There was a lot of great art, great acting, great directing, great stories. When it comes to stuff like Captains Courageous or Boys' Town, Father Flanagan, Woman of the Year—that stuff is unreal.

COLACELLO: Why don't you write a story of your own?

JACKSON: That's what we're working on right now. We're kind of fooling with it, Quincy and Steven and I—hopefully we'll be able to do something with it. Steven wants to do a musical.

COLACELLO: Would you like to do Broadway?

JACKSON: Not yet. I think it's good for sharpening your skills. It's the best for really reaching the zenith of your talent. You go so far and reach the peak of it and you say, "Maybe this is the best performance I can do." What's so sad about the whole thing is that you don't capture that moment. Look at how many great actors or entertainers have been lost to the world because they did a performance one night and that was it. With film, you capture that, it's shown all over the world and it's there forever. Spencer Tracy will always be young in Captain Courageous and I can learn and be stimulated by his performance. So much is lost in theater, so much. Or Vvudeville. Do you know what I could have learned by watching all those entertainers? It would be unreal.

COLACELLO: Most plays are videotaped now, but not every night.

JACKSON: That's the thing. The actor's tense, he's being taped and things are not falling naturally. That's what I hate about Boadway. I feel like I'm giving a whole lot for nothing. I like to capture things and hold them there and share them with the whole world.

COLACELLO: It seems that what really motivates you is your desire to entertain people, to please people. What about fame and money? Could you imagine not being famous or does being famous bother you?

JACKSON: It never has bothered me except sometimes when you want peace. Like you go to the theater and you say, "Nobody's bothering me tonight, I'm wearing my hat and glasses and I'm going to enjoy this film and that's all there is to it." You get there and everybody's watching and staring at you and at the climax of the film somebody taps you on the shoulder for an autograph. You just feel like you can't get away.

COLACELLO: Is that why you live out here in the Valley as opposed to Beverly Hills where all the other stars live?

JACKSON: Yes, but it's just as bad. Beverly Hills is worse because they go there looking for them.

COLACELLO: You're very close to your parents. Do they live out here in L.A.?

JACKSON: Yes. My mother's upstairs. My father's at the office.

COLACELLO: What's your typical day like?

JACKSON: Daydreaming most of the day. I get up early and get ready for whatever I've got to do, songwriting or whatever it is. Planning the future and stuff.

COLACELLO: Are you optimistic about the future?

JACKSON: Yes. I always like to plan ahead of time and follow up.

COLACELLO: Liza Minnelli's a friend of yours, isn't she?

JACKSON: How could I forget her? I'm crazy about Liza. Add her to the list of my favorite people. I just love her to death. We get on the phone and we just gossip, gossip, gossip. What I like about Liza is that when we get together it's all show talk. I show her my favorite steps and she shows me hers. She's a show-stopping performer, too. She has real charisma. In the future I'd like to record her. I think a person like her should be heard on the radio and accepted that whole thing. She's magic on stage.

COLACELLO: Do you care about fashion much?

JACKSON: No. I care about what I wear on stage. You know what I love, though? I don't care about everyday clothes. I love putting on an outfit or a costume and just looking at myself in the mirror. Baggy pants or some real funky shoes and a hat and just feeling the character of it. That's fun to me.

COLACELLO: You like to act a lot just in everyday life?

JACKSON: I love it so much. It's escape. It's fun. It's just neat to become another thing, another person. Especially when you really believe it and it's not like you're acting. I always hated the world "acting"—to say, "I'm an actor." It should be more like a believer.

COLACELLO: But isn't that a little frightening when you believe it totally?

JACKSON: No, that's what I love about it. I just like to really forget.

COLACELLO: Why do you want to forget so much? Do you think life is really hard?

JACKSON: No, maybe it's because I just like jumping in other people's lives and exploring. Like Charlie Chaplin. I just love him to death. The little tramp, the whole gear and everything, and his heart—everything he portrayed on the screen was a truism. It was his whole life. He was born in London, and his father died an alcoholic when he was six. His mother was in an insane asylum. He roamed the streets of England, begging, poor, hungry. All this reflects on the screen and that's what I like to do, to bring all of the truths out.

COLACELLO: Do you care about making money?

JACKSON: I care about being paid fairly for what I do. When I approach a project, I put my whole heart and soul into it. Because I really care about it, I put everything I've got into it and I want to be paid. That guy who works should eat. It's that simple.

COLACELLO: You follow your own business very closely then?

JACKSON: Oh, yes.

COLACELLO: How old are you?

JACKSON: Twenty-three.

COLACELLO: Do you sometimes feel as though you missed out on childhood because you've always been performing in the adult world?

JACKSON: Sometimes.

COLACELLO: But you like people older than yourself, experienced people.

JACKSON: I love experienced people. I love people who are phenomenally talented. I love people who've worked so hard and been so courageous and are the leaders in ther fields. For me to meet somebody like that and learn from them and share words with them—to me that's magic. To work together. I'm crazy about Steven Spielberg. Another inspiration for me, and I don't know where it came from, is children. If I'm down, I'll take a book with children's pictures and look at it and it will just lift me up. Being around children is magic.

COLACELLO: There is something positive and encouraging about them. You have a lot of animals, don't you?

JACKSON: I used to. Right now I only have two baby deer, one's a boy and one's a girl. They're so sweet. They're gorgeous.

COLACELLO: I'll never understand how people can shoot deer.

JACKSON: I hate it. I hate taxidermy shops and all that crap. I have a llama. I have a sheep—he looks just like a ram with the horns. Louie is from the circus. He's the llama. The ram is called Mr. Tibbs and the fawns are Prince and Princess.

COLACELLO: What are you going to do with them when they grow?

JACKSON: Let them go in the yard and stuff. We have just about two acres.

COLACELLO: What kind of car do you have?

JACKSON: A Rolls. A black one.

COLACELLO: Do you like driving it?

JACKSON: I never want to drive. My parents forced me to drive. Quincy doesn't drive. A lot of people I know don't drive.

COLACELLO: Andy [Warhol] doesn't drive.

JACKSON: That's smart. But it's good when you want a little independence to get away. But I don't go many places, I don't know many places. I just drive down the street.

COLACELLO: You don't go out much?

JACKSON: Only to go to the Golden Temple, a health food restaurant. I'm a vegetarian. Or I go to the arcade and play the game.

COLACELLO: Are you interested in art?

JACKSON: I love to draw—pencil, ink pen—I love art. When I go on tour and visit museums in Holland, Germany, or England—you know those huge paintings?—I'm just amazed. You don't think a painter could do something like that I can look at a piece of sculpture or a painting and totally lose myself in it. Standing there watching it and becoming part of the scene. It can draw tears, it can touch you so much. See, that's where I think the actor or performer should be—to touch that truth inside of a person. Touch that reality so much that they become a part of what you're going and you can take them anywhere you want to. You're happy, they're happy. Whatever the human emotion, they're right there with you. I love realism. I don't like plastics. Deep down inside we're all the same. We all have the same emotions and that's why a film like E.T. touches everybody. Who doesn't want to fly like Peter Pan? Who doesn't want to fly with some magic creature from outer space and be friends with him? Steven went straight to the heart. He knows—when in doubt, go for the heart.

COLACELLO: You're religious, aren't you?

JACKSON: Yes, I believe in the Bible and I believe in God who's name is Jehovah and that whole thing.

COLACELLO: Someone said that's why you don't shave.

JACKSON: Oh no! I don't grow anything to shave. That's got nothing to do with it.

COLACELLO: So you're just a basic Christian.

JACKSON: I believe in truth.

COLACELLO: Do you read the Bible?

JACKSON: Yes, a lot.

COLACELLO: Do you go to church?

JACKSON: We don't call it church. It's Kingdom Hall. It's Jehovah's Witnesses.

COLACELLO: You mentioned that you are going to see Bette Midler tomorrow? Are you working on something together?

JACKSON: No, I go to this guy names Seth Riggs. When I sing, I like to get my voice all opened up—like a dancer warming up.

COLACELLO: So, it's like breathing classes?

JACKSON: Right. And right after I do mine, in she comes. She's always on time.

[Andy Warhol calls from New York.]

ANDY WARHOL: Hello?

JACKSON: Hi.

WARHOL: Gosh, this is exciting. You know, every time I use your Walkman I play your  cassette on it.

JACKSON: Have you seen Liza lately?

WARHOL: Yes, I did. She was in Europe but then I saw her at Halston's fashion show. She changed her hairdo. Her hair looks more like yours now. It's really curly in front and she looks really different and it's really pretty. She has a great new look. She went out to Halston's last weekend and she's in New York right now. How have you been?

JACKSON: I've been in the studio a lot. Writing lyrics and working on songs and stuff.

WARHOL: I might go see an English rock group at the Ritz tonight called Duran Duran. Do you know them?

JACKSON: No.

WARHOL: I went to see Blondie at the Meadowlands last week.

JACKSON: How was Blondie?

WARHOL: She was great. She's so terrific. Do you know her?

JACKSON: No, I never met her.

WARHOL: Well, when you come to New York I'll introduce her. Going on tour is about the hardest thing to do in the world.

JACKSON: Tour is something—the pacing. But being on stage is the most magic thing about it.

WARHOL: I can't wait until you do a really big movie. Have they asked you to do anything?

JACKSON: My room I loaded with scripts and offers. And a lot of them are great ideas. But the kind of person I am is that I have a person in mind that I'd like to work with and I'm trying to make sure I do the right thing. I just don't want to make a mistake.

WARHOL: Just do them all. You can't make a mistake. You're really good. Did you ever think you'd grow up to be a singer?

JACKSON: I don't even remember not singing, so I never dreamed of singing.

WARHOL: Are you still collecting clothes? Do you have a good designer?

JACKSON: Actually, I don't really get into that unless I'm going on stage. The only thing I like collecting is costumes or pirate coats or things like that. But everyday fashion I don't get into.

WARHOL: What do you wear?

JACKSON: Right now I have on corduroy pants with a big hole in the knee and a pink shirt and tie.

WARHOL: Do you go out a lot of stay home?

JACKSON: I stay home.

WARHOL: Why do you stay home? There's so much fun out. When you come to New York we'll take you out.

JACKSON: The only time I want to go out is when I'm in New York.

WARHOL: Do you go to movies?

JACKSON: Oh, yes. We're going to be working on the E.T. album. I had a picture session with E.T. and it was so wonderful... he's hugging me and everything.

WARHOL: I like Tron. It's like playing video games. Have you seen it?

JACKSON: Yes. It didn't move me.

WARHOL: Well, thanks a lot. See you soon.

JACKSON: I hope so. If you see Liza, say hello. Give her a big kiss and hug for me.

[AW signs off]

COLACELLO: Do you like the Rolling Stones? Do you know Mick at all?

JACKSON: I met him in a bathroom. He was in there with Keith—Keith Moon?

COLACELLO: Keith Richards.

JACKSON: Keith Richards. I came in there and said, "Oh, hi," and we just started talking. Then I just went back into my session. I don't really know him that well.

COLACELLO: Do you read a lot?

JACKSON: Yes. I love to read. I like philosophy and short stories. I like to keep up with the latest best-sellers. The Calendar in the Sunday L.A. Times is my favorite paper. It really lets you know what's going on everywhere. I have my favorite authors—it's not like I just read the best-sellers. I like to see what they are doing and keep with what people are interested in. There's a lot of physical stuff now.

COLACELLO: Do you exercise?

JACKSON: Every Sunday I dance for 30 minutes straight without stopping. I love to do that.

COLACELLO: Why Sunday?

JACKSON: That's just the day I pick. Like I fast every Sunday. I don't eat anything. Just juices.

COLACELLO: Why do you do that?

JACKSON: It flushes out the system, cleans out the colon. I think that's great. To really make it work you have to do it properly. That's the sewer valve of the system. You have to keep that clean like you clean the outside of your body. All these impurities come out of your system because you're not clean inside. It comes out in pimples or disease or through big pores. Toxins trying to get out of your system. People should keep themselves clean.

COLACELLO: You don't read page one of the newspaper.

JACKSON: No. I might look at it but I won't read it.

COLACELLO: Too depressing?

JACKSON: Yes. It's always the same old thing. I like to make people happy. That's what's great about show business. It's escapism. You pay your five bucks to get in and sit there and you're in another world. Forget about the problems in the world. It's wonderful. It's entertaining. It's magic.

Source: Interview Magazine

By BOB COLACELLO, ANDY WARHOL

Photography MATTHEW ROLSTON

make it sexy

On a chilly autumn night, gaffers rig motion-picture lights around the entrance to the Palace Theatre, which bears the title “Thriller” on its marquee. A cascade of shrieks—“Michael! Michael!”—drifts on the breeze from a few blocks away, where hundreds of fans strain against police barricades for a glimpse of their idol. Although everyone involved in the production has been sworn to secrecy, word of tonight’s shoot has leaked and been broadcast on local radio. Security guards patrol the set.

Michael Jackson, a shy pixie in a red leather jacket and jeans, stands in shadow in the theater’s entryway, talking with actress Ola Ray and director John Landis. The camera crew is making final preparations for a crane shot that will pan down from the marquee as Jackson and Ray, playing a couple on a date, emerge from the theater. Judging from the saucy looks she is sending his way, Ray is clearly besotted by her leading man, who responds by casually throwing an arm around her shoulders.

I am on set covering the shoot for Life magazine. Landis says that he needs a “ticket girl” in the background and orders me to sit in the booth—a prime spot from which to watch the performances.

Just before calling “Action,” Landis fortifies his actors with boisterous encouragement.

“How are you going to be in this shot?” he shouts.

“Wonderful,” Jackson chirps, barely audibly.

Seconds later Jackson steps into his nimbus of light, and it is as if he flips on an internal switch: he smiles, he glows, he mesmerizes. Landis executes the long crane shot, then moves in for close-ups and dialogue. “It’s only a movie,” Jackson reassures his date. “You were scared, weren’t you?”

Landis calls for another take and coaxes: “Make it sexy this time.”

“How?” asks Jackson.

“You know, as if you want to **** her.”

The star flinches and licks his lips uncomfortably, then gazes earnestly into Ray’s eyes. Landis gets the shot he wants and calls for the next setup, satisfied. He whispers to me, “I bet it will be sexy.”

Except from Vanity Fair The Thriller Diaries

smokey on michael

 

I spent when he was 10 or 11. A Motown artist named Bobby Taylor and I would take Michael to the golf course just to ride around on the cart while we played. If I hit a bad shot, he’d just laugh and tell me how I should’ve hit it. He never caddied or took a single swing in his life - he just came along and critiqued.

Smokey Robinson - wrote “Who’s Lovin’ You” for the Jackson 5 

forever michael - a remembrance

As I write this, it’s unbelievably been over 20 years since my first encounter with Michael Jackson. I’m not claiming to have been friends with Michael and I never really hung out with him, but he knew my name and he knew me by sight. After I found out that Queen Latifah, John Mayer and others who were on stage at Michael’s memorial had never even met him and also Usher and Mariah Carey only had “minimal contact,” I figured I had a right to speak up and tell my dumb little story. I’ve actually wanted to write down the details for years but I guess there was a part of me that never wanted to believe that the story was finished and I was always hoping for another chapter. I feel fortunate and lucky to have spent any amount of time with Michael Jackson because I have been a huge fan literally my whole life, and I truly believe he was one of the greatest singers and entertainers of all-time.

I was just a little kid when cutting out the Jackson 5’s cardboard records on the back of Alpha Bits cereal boxes and playing them meant more to me than the breakfast itself. And some of the first 45s my Mom bought for me (before I could even read) were “Mama’s Pearl,” “Sugar Daddy,” “Rockin’ Robin,” “Ben” and others. They were my introduction to Motown and soul music. As time went on, I loved Michael’s voice on mid-70s hits like “Dancing Machine” and “Enjoy Yourself” and I can remember straining to hear “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)” for the first time on my parent’s car radio over the family noise on an evening drive to the grocery store and knowing even then (as a mature musicologist at 10) that Michael was a force and just kept getting better. In my teens I bought “The Girl Is Mine” 45 featuring another one of my favorite singers, Paul McCartney before “Thriller” was released and I wore it out while still trying to keep it in good condition for the future. When the very first compact discs were being released, some of the early titles I remember buying were “Destiny,” “Triumph,” and “Victory.” In 1987, just before I moved to Los Angeles I bought “Bad” on vinyl. By the time I got to L.A. the “Bad” tour was big news but I spent all my money driving a van cross country to get to Hollywood and there was no way I could afford concert tickets. I had to find a job!

In the summer of 1988 I filled out an application for employment at Tower Records at 8801 Sunset Boulevard (the store is no longer there) and was told to go to the info booth in the middle of the store and ask for a manager. As I waited there, a customer approached and I turned my head to see Elton John standing next to me. “Hello,” I said in a way that told him I had obviously just moved here from Delaware and he said hello back. He had just finished one of his many shopping excursions picking up EVERY new release. Elton was one of many music industry and record company insiders who had an open account with the store and they could come in and grab anything they want at anytime and pay the bill monthly. I ran outside to the front of the store to use the payphone (still there at the time of this writing!) to call my parents to say I might have a job and I just met Elton John!! Hollywood was looking up!

Now keep in mind this is pre-internet days and the Compact Disc was a brand new format. When I started working at Tower, vinyl was being phased out and we still had a “tape department” (which is where I started). Tower Records was known for having the best selection of all music genres, period. People would shop at Tower to discover music and to find titles they couldn’t find anywhere else. The store was known for their expert buyers and deep catalog stock as well as having all the latest Top 40 chart hits. I had been to Tower Records on the east coast (South Street in Philadelphia) a few times but the Sunset store was the undisputed king. Celebrities could be seen any time of the day (the hours were from 9 A.M. to Midnight, 365 days of the year) and within a matter of weeks I had shaken hands with W. Axl Rose, Tony Bennett, Whitney Houston and Eddie Murphy. When Sylvester Stallone came in, he asked me if I would keep an eye on his car in the parking lot while he shopped (and I did until my manager came out and asked me “what the hell are you doing?” but hey, let’s see YOU say no to Stallone) and Bill Murray treated me like an old friend. I met some personal heroes like Ron Mael, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Bruce Springsteen. I even danced down the aisle with Mike Tyson after I helped him find “Rick James Greatest Hits” on cassette but that’s a whole other story. The employees were trained to assist the customers and ask them if they needed any help, so we always had a reason to talk to people and a good opening line (“Let me know if you need any help”) without freaking any famous people out. It was great. On any given afternoon you could see Paul Stanley or the legendary Gladys Knight walk into the store and while they shopped you could think of anything you ever wanted to ask them and actually have a one on one conversation (albeit sometimes very brief) with your idols daily. If you talk to anyone who worked at the Sunset store and they’ll have celebrity stories for you. For the first few months I kept a list on my refrigerator writing down the names of “stars” that I “met” and the date written next to their name.

Tower Sunset was known for their in-store sound system (Stevie Wonder even debuted his “Songs In The Key Of Life” album there by playing a vinyl test-pressing for a lucky group of shoppers in 1976) and by the time I got there, music videos were big sellers. Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalker” was a new release that was shown on the multi TV screens all the time. In the center of the store there was the “Information Booth,” where one or two employees always sat readily available for customers’ questions armed with telephones, catalogs of available products and a turntable. I felt important whenever I would get to do a shift at the info booth. I was good with music trivia and the customers appreciated my knowledge. Each employee would get to choose one or two new release album sides to hear during your 8 hour workday. Most had good taste but we also had to suffer through bad Dokken (who were popular enough at the time to have just released a double live album!), Wee Papa Girl Rappers and even Glen Meadmore. My two main choices to play were a bit more Top 40 oriented-“Hysteria” by Def Leppard and “Bad” by Michael Jackson, both of which contained multiple hit singles that kept topping the charts for over a year. Boy, did I take a lot of heat from all the “cool” record store workers for playing those albums! I remember this glam rocker that worked there named Dennis who complained out loud about how Michael Jackson “sucked” every time either side of the “Bad” LP was played and also a girl who commented every time Joe Elliott used the word “woman.” But hey, I knew the feeling-each time I heard the opening bass notes of the “Nothing’s Shocking” album, I thought I was gonna lose my minimum wage mind.

Another memory I have of the store is a large wall display with a big photo of Michael singing with arm outstretched promoting the “Bad” concert tour which had been going strong worldwide for over a year and Michael sold out the L.A. Sports Arena (18,000) on November 13, 1988.

I remember it was a quiet Sunday night (exactly two weeks after that concert) and I was standing at the register when I saw a man and a young boy walk in the tape room and start shopping for cassettes. My immediate thought was how strange the man looked with a big afro covered by a baseball hat, glasses, fake nose, buck teeth and cheap “Goodwill” clothes and even a few band-aids on his face and hands. I’m not sure what it was that made me put two and two together (but surely the fact that this weird adult guy was with a little white boy helped me realize it quicker) but all of a sudden I got nervous and shaky with the idea that this was the superstar himself in disguise. In order to stand closer to the stranger and the boy, I grabbed a box of stray cassettes and filed some tapes on the shelves just in time to hear the man tell the boy that he can pick out as many tapes as he wanted.

That voice!! I knew it!!

I walked back to the register bursting with excitement. Now, how can I tell anybody without looking like an idiot? One of my favorite characters and friends from those days was a cool cat named Larry J. who loved music and was an R&B encyclopedia that I was constantly questioning and hounding for trivia and knowledge. And he is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Larry was working the late shift with me that night and I called him on the intercom and asked him to come over to the tape room. I collected my composure and told him, “I think that guy down the aisle there is Michael Jackson.” He looked at the oddly-dressed customer and then back at me like I was insane and said “get out of here, man!” I told him about my voice test and pointed out the boy shopping with him. “Ah, man you’re crazy,” he said as he walked away through the security gate onto the main floor but then he turned back around toward me and looked me in the eye and whispered “it IS him.”

It turns out Larry knew it all along. Michael had approached Larry when he first walked in the store to say who he was just in case he did get recognized. But the costume made him look creepy and semi-homeless so most people would not even look twice at him. But hey, I figured it out!

A few minutes later, Michael and the boy were standing near the register and I told him to let me know if he needed any help. He showed me a few of the tapes and said he wouldn’t mind getting them on CD. I walked him through the CD aisle and effortlessly found what he was looking for. Michael liked all kinds of music and I remember him buying EVERYTHING from Steely Dan to Frank Sinatra, Boston to Ella Fitzgerald and Earth, Wind & Fire to Rolling Stones CDs. As a fan of Michael’s music, I already knew he loved Queen and the Bee Gees and I’ve even read about him being a Yes fan and apparently he was even obsessed with Nine Inch Nails in the ‘90s! Anyway, it was nice to see his tastes first hand and witness his enthusiasm about music history. I would give ANYTHING to see those itemized Tower receipts again! It was the era when everyone was getting rid of their vinyl and replacing them with CDs and Michael really got into building a definitive CD collection.

I don’t recall if I actually let on that I knew who he was right away, but he quickly trusted me as an employee and also someone who knew a bit about music. He filled up a shopping basket and I took all his CDs and cassettes and told him he didn’t have to wait in line and we could ring it all up in the “employees only” back room. He then handed me his American Express Platinum card (which read “MJJ Productions”) and followed me to the back of the store.

The celebrities liked it when you gave them a little special treatment and Michael was no different. In the safety of the back room Michael took out his teeth and removed the fake nose to talk to Larry and I. Michael saw the security guards coming in and out of a small second floor room with a “one way” security mirror they used to watch for shoplifters. Michael became fascinated with the idea and asked if he and the boy could go up to the security room and people watch for a few minutes. “I never get to watch people,” Michael said. He was so excited to just sit there, look at shoppers being normal without worrying about being seen or recognized.

With all the CDs and tapes accounted for, I ran Michael’s credit card and he signed the slip. I asked nicely, “would it be OK if we got you to sign a few things for the employees?” “Sure, but no pictures,” he said embarrassed by his outfit and also not wanting photos to get out revealing his disguise. I recall he was nervous and his hands were shaking at first which made me feel a little better about my own nervousness.

I grabbed a copy of his then current hit single “Smooth Criminal” on 7” vinyl and he signed the picture sleeve “To Jim.” Standing behind me was a line of employees with Michael items in their hands all wanting a signature making me wonder who was running the store on the main floor. And right there in the front, practically salivating, was glam rock Dennis holding a copy of the “Bad” LP to get autographed. Hypocrites!

Michael thanked me for my help and I shook his hand (and remember telling everyone afterwards that his hand was whiter than mine!) and we carried his boxes out to his car. I was shocked that he was driving his own car! I remember getting home that night after midnight and finding a good parking spot on Gower by my apartment, breathing in the cool nighttime air and feeling an incredible high that I was actually living in L.A. and I had just met the King Of Pop (although he wouldn’t be called that for a few more years!).

In the next eight months Michael came in to shop seven more times while I was on the clock. And always with the same goofy disguise. He started looking for me as soon as he walked in and I would see those big eyes coming towards me and he would enthusiastically say “Hi! How are you?” I would always feel like I was in the presence of extreme importance, equivalent to meeting Charlie Chaplin or Elvis. He was extremely polite and you could tell he really was a good guy. He valued my knowledge of music trivia and I’d always end up following him around answering his artist/song questions and carrying his stacks of CDs for him while he flipped through the sections of every artist he was interested in. He always had at least one young boy with him and sometimes two. He would always spoil them and let them pick out whatever they wanted and when he was finished shopping, they’d plop down an extra dozen cassettes on the top of Michael’s CD stacks. Man, I wish someone would do that for me!

Larry often teased me saying “Mike likes you!” and other employees would joke about my “friend” Michael Jackson. To this day, my friends remember that I was the chosen one that he decided to trust in while shopping for his music. We would browse through the whole Rock & Soul CD section together from A-Z and then go through all of the jazz, oldies and soundtrack sections too. Sometimes he’d say something like “I need to get a Little Richard CD” and I’d help him choose the best available title. It blows me away to think that many of the CDs he bought for his personal collection were recommended by me!

Another cool memory is when Michael stopped in on a really busy Saturday afternoon and the store was super busy. We were standing together browsing through the “I” section of CDs and two teenage girls were browsing to the right of us in the “J” section. One of them shrieked, “Michael Jackson!!” and we stopped dead in our tracks until we realized she was just excited by the “Bad” CD she was holding and she had no idea she was standing right next to the man himself. After a lengthy shopping spree, I helped him carry his purchases to his car again that day and oddly, the back seat was crammed full of just purchased stuffed animals that we pushed to the side to make room for all of the CDs. Once again, Michael was his own driver and as he pulled out onto Sunset Boulevard he gave me a wave goodbye as he drove away.

Each time he left the store I wondered if I would ever see him again but he kept coming back. By the fifth time I had acquired Michael’s signature on the CD trilogy of “Off The Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad” that I treasure to this day. I obtained them on three separate occasions (he signed them “Love to Jim-Michael Jackson”) and after that, I made a vow to myself not to ask him for any more autographs.

On the subject of Michael’s young companions, I only have one weird story and I’ll just state the facts. We were in the back room once and Michael asked if his young friend could use our bathroom (which also was for employees only) and I said yes because we did make exceptions. Now the kid was between 8-11 years old and Michael followed him right into the bathroom and they locked the door. They were only in there a minute or so but yes, I thought it was strange. But I really don’t know the full story or if the kid needed special help or whatever the reasoning was so I’ll leave it at that.

There was also a downside about working at the Tower store on Sunset-everyone wanted to work there and all of the good management positions were filled by long-time staffers and that left new employees to run the midnight shift and man the cash registers. Within a year of working there, I was offered a management position at another Tower Records on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks (oh no, not The Valley!). I knew it wouldn’t be as exciting as working at the Sunset store but I took it anyway. I continued to meet celebrities there but they were a notch below the ones in Hollywood like Shaun Cassidy, Steve Perry and members of Slaughter.

I was busy working one day when a girl from Tower Sunset named Lori called to tell me that Michael had just been there and had asked for me! She told him that I had switched to another store. Damn! I tried to tell the employees of the valley store about my run-ins with Michael but most just laughed because it didn’t seem believable.

During a hot afternoon in Sherman Oaks, a Tower employee named Charles came running into the store and said that Michael Jackson was shopping at the toy store right down the street on Ventura Boulevard and he was surrounded by bodyguards. (Note: there’s also a toy store on Hollywood Boulevard that Michael frequented and also I know of a hole-in-the-wall Chinese food restaurant on Highland called “Le Oriental Bistro” that I’ve been told he thought had the best Chinese food. He was also spotted numerous times at the rundown “Cosmopolitan” bookstore on Melrose.)

I took a quick break and went walking down Ventura towards the toy store to see for myself (stalker!) when all of a sudden Michael and the bodyguards were headed right towards me. That day he wasn’t wearing a disguise and it was the only time that I ever saw him actually look like Michael Jackson.

“Hey Michael,” I said and waved to him.
He stopped and walked towards me and the bodyguards loosened up.
“Oh hi, where’ve you been?”
“I’m working at the Tower across the street now. It’s a cool store, you should come in and check it out.”
“I will,” Michael said excitedly, “I’ll come and see you.”
“OK, see you later!”

Two days later I was upstairs in the manager’s office when someone burst in to tell me “Michael Jackson’s downstairs and he’s asking for you.” Amazing! He really did come to see me! I walked out onto the floor and there was that afro and those crazy teeth.

“There you are!” Michael exclaimed when he saw me and he immediately started asking me questions and advice about the different CDs he was already holding. We went through the whole store that day filling in the gaps for his five star CD collection. Oh yeah, that day he also brought along a few boys (I think there might have been three of them) who were getting the full shopping spree treatment.

Just like at the Sunset store Michael happily went in the back room, took out his teeth and signed autographs for the Tower Valley workers who were all blown away by his presence. After he left I was the hero for the rest of the day (week, year) and there was some other folklore to talk about in that store other than the day George got stabbed chasing a shoplifter.

In the next few years I left Tower and started my own band. I sometimes wondered if I would ever run into Michael Jackson again. I would hear stories of him recording new music at Record One on Ventura Boulevard, Ocean Way in Hollywood and even Marvin Gaye’s old studio on Sunset Boulevard and Schrader.

In my personal life, I became a vegetarian and dropped some weight when eating healthy and jogging became an obsession. In 1991 I was invited by a friend to go to the Record Plant West off of Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood for a listening party of the new Michael Jackson album “Dangerous.” The music blew my mind. I couldn’t wait for it to be released. I found out that ‘The Wherehouse,’ a now defunct music store on Sunset and La Brea was going to open at midnight to sell the first copies of “Dangerous” that was officially being released that day. The release of “Dangerous” in Hollywood was a total event. I was 5th or 6th in line and right behind me with a copy in his hands was “Weird” Al Yankovic. Classic!

I thought “Dangerous” was an incredible piece of work, half of it was heavy and intense and the other half was radio friendly pop standards. Once again Michael proved that he was a master of songwriting and Teddy Riley took the production to another level while still maintaining the R&B tradition. “Dangerous” was truly ahead of the times and filled with hit singles that were instant classics. Michael’s vocal work was simply amazing.

One Sunday evening, a friend and I were walking on Hollywood Boulevard after dinner. I noticed a family walking ahead of us who had just crossed the street. There was a mother with two children and walking just ahead of them was a young boy and a woman in a full-body burka with just her eyes exposed. Wait a minute, I know those eyes!!

“I think that’s Michael Jackson up there,” I said cutting my friend off in mid-sentence.
“What? What are you talking about?” he replied as anyone else would, with disbelief.
“He always wears a disguise and he’s walking with that family,” I said as my adrenaline made my heart beat faster. I didn’t want to bother him but I didn’t want to regret not saying hello.
“Look at those eyes,” I said to my friend, “that’s totally him!”

The family slowed down to look at a shop window and I walked up next to Michael.
“Michael?”
He immediately squinted his eyes as hard as he could and looked at me cautiously.
“It’s Jim from Tower, I just wanted to say hello.”
He recognized me and leaned in close to whisper in my ear. “Promise not to tell a soul,” he said and I assured him I wouldn’t let anyone in on the secret. He looked over at the courtyard of the Guinness World of Records Museum and said to me “Come on, let’s go over here” and I followed him. Away from the crowds on the boulevard, I watched his eyes look at me up and down.
“You look great!” he exclaimed to me as he let his guard down to take a few minutes to catch up with me.
“Thanks,” I told him, “I’m totally inspired by you, trying to be my best. And I love your new album!”
“Oh, thank you,” he said humbly.
We talked a little more about the album and also how I was now in a band and doing gigs around town and he wished me luck. I introduced him to my friend who was standing behind us with his mouth open. We shook hands and said goodbye and I purposely walked away in the opposite direction so we weren’t following him. As I turned the corner going south on Highland, I released my excitement of running into my hero for the ELEVENTH time by yelling at the top of my lungs, “YEAH!”

A few months later I went to the filming of Michael’s “Will You Be There” performance for MTV’s 10th Anniversary show at an airport hangar with just a few hundred other fans in Santa Monica. Michael and all the dancers did the song 3 or 4 times for the cameras and each time Michael gave it 110%. It was the only time I got to see him perform live. Also, when “HIStory” was released I was invited to another album listening party with an advance screening of the “Scream” video at a Sony Records movie theatre but there was no sign of Michael that day.

Through the years I always wondered if and when I would run into him somewhere again. He was the best and truly one of a kind. Hollywood isn’t the same without Michael Jackson around.

As posted on the Daily Pipe August 2010