Untouchable
Page 84
“Gloria Allred.” vindicatemjj.wordpress.com, March 6, 2012 (I).
Jensen, Elizabeth. “Michael Jackson Close-Up, Times 2.” Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2003.
Roth, Kristin. “Michael Jackson Strikes Back with ‘Take Two’ TV Special: Singer Counters Allegations in Recent TV Documentary with Show of His Own.” MTV, February 12, 2003 (RT).
Silverman, Stephen M. “Michael Jackson Readies Video Rebuttal.” People, February 12, 2003.
“Take Two: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See.” Fox, February 20, 2003.
CHAPTER 2
An essential source for this chapter was Taraborrelli’s The Magic and the Madness. Whether Taraborrelli was as familiar with the Jackson family during their rise to fame as he claims is something I can’t know, but I’ve done my best to check his secondary sources and court files, which seem to have provided a great deal of his material. I’m grateful to Alison Weinflash for providing me with hard copies of every article about MJ that was ever published in Rolling Stone, dating back almost forty years. I found that Taraborrelli had been consistently accurate in his use of the information and quotations from the articles and court files I was able to access. In particular, he drew heavily on Katherine Jackson’s first two divorce filings against Joe Jackson, in 1973 and 1982; the 1976 lawsuit against Berry Gordy and Motown in which MJ was the lead plaintiff; and the 1983 lawsuit filed against MJ by the Carlin Music Corporation. The Motown court file is especially rich with MJ’s descriptions of his early life and career. I did disagree with Taraborrelli on several factual points, noted below. Taraborrelli and I both owe a considerable debt of gratitude to the work of his former colleague at Soul magazine, Judy Spiegelman (she was the reporter to whom ten-year-old MJ insisted he was eight).
I relied extensively on the quotations attributed to Michael in Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s The Michael Jackson Tapes. I am well aware of the controversy Rabbi Boteach’s book has engendered but reject claims that Boteach invented quotes or tape-recorded MJ without his knowledge. Independent witnesses have assured me that Boteach collected many hours of tape recordings of Michael and that he did so with full consent. I believe in the accuracy of the recorded comments Boteach attributed to MJ and consider them to be, along with the tapes of MJ now in Howard Mann’s possession, the most reliable record of what MJ remembered and believed—far more convincing, in my opinion, than what he wrote in his autobiography Moonwalker.
Among television productions, I want to single out the VH-1 documentary (hosted by Dave Walsh) The Secret Childhood of Michael Jackson, which featured many interviews and affectingly described the emotional damage done to MJ by his father.
Evelyn LeHaie, interviewed in the Times of Northwest Indiana, corrected Taraborrelli on a few points. LeHaie said the Big Top was a department store, not a grocery, where she was putting on a fashion show, for example; she also said the group was calling itself the Jackson Brothers by the time of that first gig and that she was the one who put on that first citywide talent show the group won a short time later.
MJ dancing to the washing machine/“Climb Ev’ry Mountain” anecdote (which Jermaine, to Larry King, placed at PTA meeting): Katherine Jackson’s My Family. Tito’s recollections, Etta James anecdote: Taraborrelli. MJ’s description of Joe as father: his own words in Boteach, to Oprah Winfrey, and in tape-recorded interviews that now belong to Howard Mann. “He told me how to work the stage . . .”: to Gerri Hirshey/Rolling Stone; “if you didn’t do it the right way”: MJ to Martin Bashir. Quotes from Michael (“I’d be sleeping . . .”/“It makes me shy . . .”) re. the Jacksons’s early career: MJ to Paul Theroux. “If I did a great show . . .”: MJ’s Oxford Union speech. Joe never telling MJ he was loved: Oxford Union speech, Boteach. MJ quote about staring out at the playground across the street: MJ to Boteach (p. 73). “They were so big . . .”: KJ to Mark Bego. Gordon Keith’s description of the Jackson 5’s audition: interview on “Gordon Keith” Wikipedia entry, run by Katherine Jackson for verification. Motown/Gordy: As above, plus Raynoma Gordy Singleton.
COURT FILES
Civil
42680 (Los Angeles Superior Court) Katherine Jackson v. Joseph Jackson, March 9, 1973 (first divorce filing; hereafter cited as LASC 42680).
C139795 (Los Angeles Superior Court) Michael Jackson et al. v. Motown Record Corporation of California et al., March 30, 1976 (hereafter cited as LASC C139795).
D076606 (Los Angeles Superior Court) Katherine Jackson v. Joseph Jackson, November 12, 1982 (second divorce filing; hereafter cited as LASC D076606).
C347206 (Los Angeles Superior Court) Carlin Music Corporation v. Michael Jackson, February 28, 1983 (hereafter cited as LASC C347206).
DOCUMENTS
Raw interview footage directed and provided to the author by Howard Mann, intending for Stealing Michael Jackson, a documentary that was never completed.
Ribera to Sullivan, 11/9/11.
Ribera to Sullivan, 11/13/11.
WIKIPEDIA
“Gordon Keith.”
JOE JACKSON/UPBRINGING
Byrne, Bridget. “Michael Jackson.” Los Angeles Times Magazine, October 1, 1987.
“Oprah Talks to Michael Jackson’s Mother, Katherine, and Visits with His Children.” oprah.com, November 8, 2010 (hereafter cited as Winfrey, “Katherine and children”) (I).
Walsh, Dave, Walter Yetnikoff, Theresa Gonsalves, J. Randy Taraborrelli, et al. “Michael Jackson’s Secret Childhood.” VH-1, February 7, 2005 (hereafter cited as VH-1, “Secret Childhood”) (RT).
White, Timothy. “The Man in the Mirror.” Penthouse, March 1987.
Winfrey, Oprah. “Katherine Jackson–Oprah Interview.” youtube.com, November 24, 2010.
——— “Michael Jackson Interview with Oprah: Parts 1–8.” youtube.com, posted July 5, 2009. Interview took place February 10, 1993.
JACKSON 5/MICHAEL’S EARLY CAREER
Deavers, Melissa. “Valpo Resident Who Named Jackson Five Recalls Time with Michael.” Northwest Indiana Times, June 28, 2009.
Fong-Torres, Ben. “The Jackson 5: The Men Don’t Know but Little Girls Understand.” Rolling Stone, April 29, 1971.
Hirshey, Gerri. “Michael Jackson—Life in the Magical Kingdom.” Rolling Stone, February 1983 (hereafter cited as Hirshey 2/83).
“The Jackson Five.” Look, August 25, 1970.
King, Larry. “Interview with Jermaine Jackson.” Larry King Live, CNN, November 30, 2003 (RT).
Spiegelman, Judy. “A Close-Up of Jackie.” Soul, June 15, 1970.
———. “Jackson Five Finish Concert Tour.” Soul, October 1, 1971.
———. “Jackson Five vs. Osmond Brothers.” Soul, March 22, 1971.
———. “Jermaine Jackson.” Soul, July 13, 1970.
———. “The Many Sides of Tito Jackson.” Soul, June 29, 1970.
———. “Marlon Jackson: To Know Him . . .” Soul, July 27, 1970.
———. “Michael and Marlon Tell All . . .” Soul, August 6, 1973.
———. “Toriano Jackson: His Many Moods.” Soul, September, 1971.
———. “What Does the Future Hold for the Jackson Five?” Soul, February 14, 1972.
Theroux, Paul. “My Trip to Neverland, and the Call from Michael Jackson I’ll Never Forget.” Daily Telegraph, June 27, 2009 (hereafter cited as Theroux).
OBITUARIES AND RETROSPECTIVES
Boucher, Geoff, and Elaine Woo. “Michael Jackson: Michael Jackson’s Life Was Infused with Fantasy and Tragedy.” Los Angeles Times, June 26, 2009.
“Michael Jackson’s Life and Legacy: The Eccentric King of Pop (1986–1999).” VH1.com, July 2, 2009.
Pareles, Jon. “Tricky Steps from Boy to Superstar.” New York Times, June 26, 2009.
Shanahan, Mark, and Meredith Golstein. “Remembering Michael.” Boston Globe, June 27, 2009.
CHAPTER 3
Interviews: AS1 described nearly every one of the events I’ve written about in this chapter. Additional interviews: Howard King (countersu
it vs. Schaffel, audio tapes, Wiesner suit), Tohme (Sheikh Abdullah), Wiesner (his lawsuit). “The positive and the negative”/Billy Elliot quotes: Mark Lester to Elizabeth Sanderson. “Pretty tolerant of everybody”: King. Abdullah on “He Who Makes the Sky Gray”: Almezel/Gulf News. “Ladies toilet incident”/aftermath: AS1, Tohme, sources below. Tohme said he had a photo of MJ in his abaya but I never saw it. Death of Bill Bray/“cried alone in his room”: AS1. Segye Times suit: court file, Taraborrelli, interview with Perry Sanders, details verified by Sandra Ribera. MJ not wanting to do the moonwalk at fifty: Wiesner.
COURT FILES
Civil
CV 90 4906 KN (United States District Court for the Central District of California) Segye Times, Inc., v. Joseph Jackson, Katherine Jackson, Jackson Records Company, Inc., Jackson Family Concerts International, Jerome Howard, Kyu-Sun Choi, Mi Rae Choi, Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Bill Bray, and Ben Brown dba Jackson Marketing and Distributing Company, October 17, 1990 (hereafter cited as USDC-CA CV 90 4906).
LASC SC083501.
DOCUMENTS
Ribera to Sullivan, 11/9/11.
Ribera to Sullivan, 11/13/11.
King to Sullivan, 2/1/10.
LONDON STAYOVER/MARK LESTER
“Michael Jackson Lawyer Rejects Mark Lester Claim He Is Paris’ Father.” Daily Telegraph, August 10, 2009.
Sanderson, Elizabeth. “Michael Jackson Asked If I Wanted to Be Blanket’s Godfather: Friend Mark Lester Gives a Touching Insight into the Tortured Singer.” Daily Mail, June 27, 2009 (hereafter cited as Sanderson).
Thompson, Jody. “Michael Jackson’s Close Friend Mark Lester Says He’s Spoken to the Star’s Children Since His Death and ‘They Are Fine.’” mirror.co.uk, June 29, 2009 (I).
SCHAFFEL/WIESNER/KING/ANTI-SEMITISM CHARGES
“ADL Demands Michael Jackson Apology.” Associated Press, November 23, 2005 (I).
Hiscock, John. “The Baffling Case of Jacko, Gay Porn King and Bags of Cash.” Independent, July 2, 2006.
Masters, Kim. “Michael Jackson’s Strange Final Days Revealed in Dueling Lawsuits.” Hollywood Reporter, July 19, 2012.
“Michael Jackson Admitted: ‘I Took Painkiller Medication’ in Lawsuit Evidence.” Daily Telegraph, September 15, 2009.
“Michael Jackson Pleads for Money on Tapes.” Good Morning America, ABC, November 22, 2005 (RT).
Riemenschneider, Chris. “Jackson Will Re-Record ‘Care’ Lyrics. Pop Music: Michael Jackson Apologizes and Says He Plans to Change the Words in ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ That Some Considered to be Racial Slurs.” Los Angeles Times, June 23, 1995.
Smith, Dinitia. “Jackson Plans New Lyrics for Album.” New York Times, June 23, 1995.
———. “Michael Jackson Apologizes for Hurt Caused by Lyrics.” New York Times, June 17, 1995.
Weinraub, Bernard. “In New Lyrics, Jackson Uses Slurs.” New York Times, June 15, 1995.
———. “Jewish Response to Jackson.” New York Times, June 16, 1995.
BAHRAIN/CHARITY RECORD/SHEIKH ABDULLAH
Al Mezel, Mohammad. “Michael Jackson Attends Dubai Desert Rally Awards Tuesday,” Gulf News, November 14, 2005.
———. “Song Calling for World Peace to Be Launched.” Gulf News, November 15, 2006.
Tumposky, Ellen. “Lawyer: Michael Jackson to Testify in His Defense in Lawsuit Filed by Prince of Bahrain.” New York Daily News, November 20, 2008.
BILL BRAY
Friedman, Roger. “Jacko Loses Daddy No. 2.” Fox News, November 16, 2005 (I).
“Thread—Michael, Bill Bray, Bob Jones: What Happened?” positivelymichael.com (I).
“Statement of Michael Jackson Regarding the Death of Mr. Bill Bray.” MJPortal.com, November 19, 2005 (PR).
TOILET CROSS-DRESSING INCIDENT
Agarib, Amira. “Michael Jackson’s Toilet Faux Pas in Dubai.” khaleejtimesonline.com, November 13, 2005 (I).
“Caught in a Toilet: Arab Women Go Berserk Against Michael Jackson.” Evening Post, November 15, 2005.
“Michael Jackson Caught Applying Makeup in Ladies Toilet.” Evening Post, November 14, 2005.
“Michael Jackson to Build Mosque in His New Home of Dubai—Ladies Room Cross-Dressing Incident Leads to Demands He Be Jailed.” militantislammonitor.org, November 27, 2009 (I).
CHAPTER 4
The famous speech at Oxford was written by Rabbi Boteach, as the rabbi ultimately acknowledged, “based on” his conversations with MJ. MJ’s assertion that he never had a childhood was made many times, but I chose the one from the Oxford speech. Boteach and I exchanged a couple of e-mails, but never spoke.
KJ background, Jehovah’s Witnesses, KJ and early Jackson 5: Taraborrelli, Mrs. Jackson’s 1990 book, The Jacksons—My Family. “Kattie B. Screws”: a source who did not want to be quoted by name. Michael/Jehovah’s Witnesses: MJ’s statements/writings, Beliefnet essay, MJ to Boteach. KJ and Joe/infidelity: Taraborrelli, Boteach, off-record sources. KJ “an abused woman”: Sanders, Ribera. MJ young life on the road, strip clubs, etc., and parents (“the only person . . .”, “would never touch me or hold me . . .”, “I did not want to go”, “Joseph,” “. . . I will drop you like a hot potato”), Joe’s beatings: Boteach. Groupies: MJ to Oprah, KJ divorce filings, Taraborrelli, Tohme. MJ reading to the prostitutes from his Bible: The Secret Childhood of Michael Jackson (see Chapter 2 notes). Jacksons/Motown, move to CBS: Taraborrelli, Motown case file. MJ/lothario stories, O’Neal: Taraborrelli, Secret Childhood of Michael Jackson (see Chapter 2 notes). New York/Studio 54: as below, and my one visit to the club. I recommend the Web site lacienegasmiled.wordpress.com for reminiscences about MJ and photos of MJ. Destiny: Taraborrelli, court files in re. Motown and Carlin Music. MJ’s sexuality/gay rumors: interviews, including AS1, CS1, Schaffel, Wiesner, and Tohme; MJ to Boteach; Taraborrelli, Secret Childhood (see Chapter 2 notes), Oprah interview and accompanying articles. Quincy Jones quotes/Off the Wall: Jones LA Times essay, except “innocence”: Wall Street Journal; “driven” and “determined”: Haley/Playboy. According to Jones (in LA Times) he suggested that MJ should include “a black ‘My Sharona’ ” on Thriller and MJ himself brought back “Beat It.” Hiring of John Branca: Branca interviews in Taraborrelli. Hilburn remarks: his LA Times article. Condo: Schaffel, KJ advisor interviews. Gerri Hirshey’s first article about MJ for Rolling Stone (see Chapter 2 notes) probably moved me more than anything I had ever read or heard about MJ up to that time; he opened up to her as he perhaps did to no other interviewer. Yetnikoff remarks: Secret Childhood (see Chapter 2 notes). Hayvenhurst: Hirshey (see Chapter 2 notes). La Toya on MJ working on Thriller, interview quoted by Taraborrelli. Thriller: Taraborrelli, esp. Branca interviews, Playboy, Jones/LA Times, Landis interview/Daily Telegraph; quotes from Swedien: interviews, Yetnikoff: Taraborrelli, Hoefflin: his Web site, except “three minutes”: Sun interview. The Web site quotes may have been from an earlier interview but were not attributed. “Billie Jean”/groupies and Jones’s wanting it off the album: 1996 MJ interview in Thailand, cited as rerun on MTV. MJ borrowing KJ’s jacket: Jermaine, interviewed by Jimmy Fallon (see contactmusic.com cite). Leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses: MJ (esp. Beliefnet essay), Jehovah’s Witness publications, La Toya, Firpo Carr. MJ on “pioneering”: Oxford Union speech; Cain and Abel, etc.: Boteach. KJ/birthday gifts: AS1, Secret Childhood (see Chapter 2 notes). MJ on loneliness, wandering the streets, approaching strangers, party life, Disneyland: quotes from Boteach. AS1 told me how MJ loved to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland over and over, and about being led around the park through secret passageways by security staff. There’s a marvelously weird “Michael Jackson Disneyland Sightings” folder at rhythmofthetide.com that includes much of this material.
Joe Jackson/“white help,” MJ reply: Billboard. Joe’s financial difficulties/concealment of assets: CS1, 1982 divorce action, 1999 bankruptcy filing, Tarraborrelli. JJ fired as manager: CS1. Frank Dileo: obituaries below, Taraborrelli. I never spoke to Dileo; at almost the mo
ment I reached out to him he lapsed into a coma. I did speak to his wife Linda, but that had to do with events surrounding the “This Is It” concerts, his health problems, and his relationship with John Branca.
Victory tour/KJ intervention: Taraborrelli, Mrs. Jackson’s attorneys. Delsener and Cooley/crowd safety, Don King problems: Rolling Stone “Trouble in Paradise” article. Brooke Shields/tongue: AS1, La Toya/Growing Up. lacienegasmiled.wordpress.com’s Brooke Shields file contains nearly every word published on the relationship.
COURT FILES
Civil
LASC 42680.
LASC C139795.
LASC D076606.
LASC C347206.
05113 (Los Angeles Superior Court) Petition to Nullify Marriage, Janet Dameta DeBarge, January 30, 1985 (hereafter cited as LASC 05113).
D157554 (Los Angeles Superior Court) Enid Jackson v. Sigmund E. Jackson (aka Jackie Jackson), January 8, 1986 (hereafter cited as LASC D157554).
D202224 (Los Angeles Superior Court) Hazel Gordy Jackson v. Jermaine Jackson, October 9, 1987 (hereafter cited as LASC D202224).
USDC-CA CV 90 4906.
LASC SC083501.
DOCUMENTS
Ribera to Sullivan, 11/9/11.
Ribera to Sullivan, 11/13/11.
JACKSON FAMILY/EARLY YEARS AT MOTOWN
“Can Michael Jackson’s Demons Be Explained?” BBC, June 27, 2009 (RT).
Hilburn, Robert. “Michael Jackson: The Wounds, the Broken Heart.” LATimes.com, June 27, 2009 (I) (hereafter cited as Hilburn, “The Wounds”).
Jackson, Michael. “My Childhood, My Sabbath, My Freedom.” Beliefnet, December, 2000 (I).
MJ IN NEW YORK/THE WIZ/STUDIO 54
Canby, Vincent. “When Budgets Soar over the Rainbow.” New York Times, November 26, 1978.
MJ’S DEVELOPMENT AS A SOLO ARTIST/OFF THE WALL
Fusilli, Jim. “Quincy Jones on How Michael Jackson Did It.” Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2009.
Haley, Alex. “The Playboy Interview: Quincy Jones.” Playboy, July 1990.
Jones, Quincy. “Quincy Jones on Michael Jackson: ‘We Made History Together.’” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2009.
THRILLER TIME/FRANK DILEO