Sep 11
'09
Jermaine Jackson’s MJ tribute postponed for 8 months, moved to London


Jermaine Jackson’s concert in memory of his murdered brother Michae will now be postponed until next year, and the venue has been changed from Vienna to London. What’s more is that most of the artists he claimed in his press conference on Tuesday on were confirmed for the show have issued statements that they’re not actually confirmed.

The big-on-talk but short-on-delivery Michael Jackson tribute concert scheduled to take place in Vienna later this month has been postponed to June 2010 and relocated to London, with Jermaine Jackson blaming the move on scheduling conflicts with would-be headliners.

Organizers had been taken to task for its less than all-star lineup—25 acts were promised, only 13 had been named and arguably the three biggest, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige and Natalie Cole, weren’t exactly locked in.

“Numerous stars were just not able to change their schedules to make a live appearance at the Vienna event possible,” Jackson said this morning.

“Now we have eight months to put this monumental show together and not just eight weeks.”

[From E!]

Jermaine now has eight months to perfect that proposed ghastly virtual duet with his brother. Paula Abdul dancing with MC Skat Cat would be less inappropriate. At least get Janet to handle that portion!

The problem is that most of the musicians Jermaine claimed had signed up for the tribute concert have issued statements to the contrary. You know it’s bad if you can’t land Ike Turner protege Chris Brown. That bitch is lucky to be scheduling Home Depot openings at this point.

Blige’s publicist says she has another commitment. A person close to the situation told The Associated Press in Los Angeles that Brown won’t perform either and a spokeswoman for Natalie Cole suggested she, too, is iffy.

[From AP]

Why are the Jackson family’s activities always so shady? Couldn’t they at least pull this one off without looking sketchy? How about approaching the artists FIRST, or was Jermaine trying to guilt them into appearing? Any business person worth their weight knows that you secure the contracts first before shooting your mouth off. Yes, everyone loved Michael, or at least respected his contribution to popular entertainment, but the rest of his family isn’t going to inspire that sort of devotion. As we can see from Jermaine’s business dealings, they’re not entirely above-board. I just feel sorry for ticket holders at this point.

Jermaine Jackson is shown at a press conference in London on 9/9/09. Credit: WENN.com

Posted in Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson, Music

Written by J. Harvey         15 Comments »
Sep 9
'09
Chris Brown’s rep says he’s not confirmed for MJ tribute; Jermaine to do duet with MJ

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Yesterday Jermaine Jackson held a press conference in which he announced the supposedly confirmed musicians for the Michael Jackson tribute concert to be held in Vienna, Austria on September 26. Jermaine’s public statement was no doubt meant to quell some of the speculation over the fact that tickets, which run from a steep $91 – $745 USD, are not refundable based on whether certain artists show up or not.

Many tongues were clucking over the fact that Jermaine announced that known abuser Chris Brown was among the acts that would perform. The only thing that might hold convicted felon Brown back could be his criminal case, according to Jermaine. “He wants to be here. It’s just up to what he’s going through with his court case right now… He’s definitely going to be here.” Other artists confirmed to perform are Mary J. Blige, Akon, and Natalie Cole. Stevie Wonder, R. Kelly and Maroon 5 might appear, according to Jermaine, but it sounds less than certain. Now we can add Chris Brown to the artists that haven’t confirmed yet. Brown’s rep told E! Online that his client has in no way committed to the memorial concert, and it sounds like the money isn’t right, or he’s been advised not to go. Shocker – someone is telling Brown he can’t do something:

The “Forever” singer has put the kibosh on any plans to perform at the M.J. tribute concert in Vienna, hours after Jermaine Jackson announced Brown would be among the headliners at the Sept. 26 show.

“Chris is not confirmed to perform or participate in any capacity for this show,” the publicist for Brown’s label tells E! News…

There was no immediate comment from organizers of the Jackson tribute, but Jermaine’s definitely got some ‘splaining to do.

[From E! Online]

Michael Jackson will be making some kind of appearance, though, most likely in the form of a projected hologram, judging from the concert organizer’s kind of creepy comments. Organizer says that Jermaine will be doing a duet with his late brother, and we can all look forward to seeing Michael on stage again. Tasteless:

Brother JERMAINE will sing a duet with the late King Of Pop, who will be brought back to life through cutting-edge technology, at the event in Austria later this month.

And the 54-year-old broke down when discussing how he is yet to adequately grieve for his brother’s passing.

Georg Kindel, organiser of the show which will take place in Vienna, Austria on September, 26 said: “What we are going to do is to bring Michael, for one last time, on stage again.

“It will be the surprise of the evening. Michael will reappear on stage for one time and will sing a song together with his brother Jermaine Jackson.

“It will be a magic moment for millions of fans around the world who love his music.”

[From The Sun]

I guess if there was any doubt that Jermaine was doing this in honor of the almighty dollar, and not to honor his late little brother, it’s been erased now. We saw Celine Dion do a live duet with an Elvis hologram on American Idol in April, 2007. That was pretty incredible and it looked real. It didn’t seem exploitative because Elvis has been resting in peace for decades and Celine is an accomplished enough musician that it didn’t seem gimmicky. Jermaine, on the other hand, isn’t a small percentage as successful as his dead brother in whose honor he’s supposedly holding this concert.

Jermaine Jackson is shown at a press conference in London yesterday. Look at that garish diamond watch and diamond tennis bracelet he’s sporting. Credit: WENN.com

Posted in Chris Brown, Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson

Written by Celebitchy         18 Comments »
Aug 12
'09
LaToya Jackson in talks to be on Dancing With The Stars

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Now that the extended Jackson family is relevant again – well, some of them anyway – many of the siblings are naturally trying to work their temporary fame while they can. And what better way to do that than “Dancing with the Stars?” LaToya is hoping to capitalize on her family’s dancing cred by joining up with the show this next season.

After the sudden death of younger brother Michael Jackson in June, La Toya Jackson found herself back in the spotlight — and it looks like she might stay there.

A source close to La Toya tells Usmagazine.com exclusively that she has been approached to compete on the next season of Dancing With the Stars.

“[La Toya is] in serious discussions to join the show,” the source tells Us.

The source adds that the hit ABC show has put out a firm offer for her to be a contestant on the ninth installment and La Toya is just deciding what she wants to do.

“She’s a big fan of the show, and being from a musical family, it would be a good fit,” her rep said when contacted by Us.

[From Us Weekly]

Well of course LaToya is a big fan of the show. What else does she have to do on a Tuesday night? I’m sorry, I know I’m supposed to be gentle with her right now, but after years of vague LaToya jokes, it’s hard to just switch over. I’ve only watched the show here and there, but it seems like the celebrities take it really seriously. They always look so emotional and stressed. I mean it’s just for fun guys. But it sort of makes me wonder if it might be too much pressure for LaToya right now. She’s just lost her brother –joining up with an upbeat dancing show might be a bit much. On the other hand, it would give her something else to focus on, so I guess it could go either way.

Interestingly enough, LaToya is not the only possible DWTS contestant with a Jackson connection. Jermaine Jackson, who’s certainly one of the more media-courting Jacksons, wants to be a contestant, and thinks he has the chops to win. Also throwing his hat in the ring is Lou Ferrigno, who used to be Michael’s friend and trainer.

Lou Ferrigno, Jackson’s personal trainer and the onetime star of “The Incredible Hulk,” said he’d “definitely be interested” and has been in talks to join the show.

… And finally, brother Jermaine Jackson, never one to let an opportunity pass him by, is throwing his hat in the ring.

“He doesn’t just think he should be on the show, he thinks he could win it all. It’s not as if he doesn’t know how to work an audience,” said a source close to Jackson. “It’s also a steady job for a while. He hasn’t had any traction with the other projects and reunion shows he’d hoped for. This could be great for him.”

[From the Scoop]

While she’s not a Jackson – as far as I know – Paula Abdul is also being courted as a contestant. She’d be great, though she used to be a choreographer and obviously has a lot of dance experience. As a result, she might be too good to start with – a lot of the fun is watching the contestants improve. But she’d bring with her a lot of fans and performing competition experience. And it’d be fun for her to thumb her nose at Simon on another show.

Here’s LaToya Jackson and Christian Audigier outside Mr Chow in Beverly Hills on August 3rd. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .

Posted in Dancing with the Stars, Jermaine Jackson, LaToya Jackson, Paula Abdul

Written by JayBird         9 Comments »
Aug 11
'09
Michael Jackson autopsy results sealed; MJ movie coming


Clip of Michael Jackson’s final concert rehearsal.

Michael Jackson’s autopsy is officially completed and the results are in, however the LAPD has asked the L.A. Coroner’s office not to release them, and instead to place them under a security hold. Apparently they don’t want the results – or at least the release of the results – to interfere with their exhaustive and lengthy investigation. I say the “release” of the results because I assume the results are still known to the LAPD, however no articles actually specify one way or the other.

More than six weeks after Michael Jackson’s death, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office announced on Monday that it had completed an autopsy on the singer that details his cause of death. Those results, however, are being withheld indefinitely to allow police to complete their investigation, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“The investigation was thorough and comprehensive,” a coroner’s official explained in a news release. But in order to avoid interfering with the ongoing criminal probe by the Los Angeles Police Department into what might have killed the 50-year-old singer, the office will honor the LAPD’s request to put the results on a “security hold.”

Quoting an unnamed police source, TMZ reported that the LAPD doesn’t want the autopsy released, because it could hamper their ongoing investigation. In a statement released on Monday, the police department said its investigation “has included dozens of individual interviews and the service of search warrants locally and out of-state.”

[From MTV]

Obviously the coroner’s results play a big part in their investigation; the police just don’t want the information to be released to the media yet. Though with such a high profile case, it’s hard to imagine they’ll stay under wraps for long.

In related news, a Michael Jackson movie is coming out in the fall. It’ll feature video footage from his concert rehearsals and some interviews with his friends and associates. And parts of it will be in 3-D.

Hours after a judge in Los Angeles approved a deal for a movie using footage of Michael Jackson’s concert rehearsals, Sony announced that the film, “This Is It,” would be released on Oct. 30 in theaters around the world. Named after Mr. Jackson’s planned 50-date engagement in London, the film is to include scenes of him rehearsing at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, along with a career retrospective and interviews with friends and collaborators, and parts of it will be in 3-D, the announcement said. Sony paid $60 million to make the film, part of a deal involving the studio, the Jackson estate and AEG Live, the concert promoter that shot the rehearsals.

[From the New York Times]

Michael was obviously taking his rehearsals a lot more seriously than most of us realized. Due to his anxiety over the last several years he hasn’t performed – or even been seen much in public. A lot of people – myself included – speculated the concerts would never really happen. But he was working strenuously on her performances, and the little clips we’ve seen make it look like it would have been a great show. It’s nice we’ll still be able to get some idea of how the concert would have come together.

Jermaine Jackson is working on a concert tribute to Michael, which is supposed to take place in Vienna. It sounds like it’ll basically be the same thing as his funeral, just on another concert.

Better start booking your ticket to Vienna if you want to be a part of a high-profile tribute to Michael Jackson, planned for the end of September at the city’s Schoenbrunn Palace. Jermaine Jackson is inviting artists to perform in front of what organizers expect to be a huge crowd — around 85,000 fans. “The concept of The Tribute is that some of the world’s leading artists will perform Michael Jackson’s greatest hits live on stage in an imperial setting, befitting the King of Pop,” producers World Awards Media said on its website.

“I have invited many of the most acclaimed talents of our time,” Jermaine Jackson said on the website promoting the concert, “and many have already confirmed to perform in honor of my beloved brother, adding that he wants this to be the first of many charity concerts in his brother’s name.

“I want to make people aware of the humanitarian side of Michael,” he said. “I want to show them how his true emphasis wasn’t music, or performing; it was improving the world. Understand this, and you begin to understand the essence of who my brother was.”

[From OK!]

Honestly I think this sounds sort of unnecessary, and there is the potential for some serious oversaturation here. There’s a fine line between honoring Michael’s memory and cheesing it out. Yeah, he was larger than life and all that, but a film of his rehearsals coupled with possibly multiple concerts honoring him could make the average person pretty tired of him. And that taints his legacy more than honors it. Obviously hardcore fans will love it, but everyone else is going to think the Jackson family is just trying to stretch out Michael’s estate as long as possible.

In slightly more peaceful news, the King of Pop has a final resting place. According to Glamour UK (a slightly questionable source, so grain of salt and all that), Michael’s been placed in an unmarked grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood.
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Posted in Deaths, Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson

Written by JayBird         6 Comments »
Jun 30
'08
The Jackson family wants a reality show

Crazy ass Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson has decided it’d be a really good idea to the Jackson 5 back together – with the additional drama of sisters LaToya and Janet thrown in. While rumors of a reunion have been floating around for decades, supposedly the family is pretty close to working out a deal with a production company.

They would all move into the Jackson family home in Encino, California. That’s right, not only do we have Jackson family singing, we have Jackson family midnight pillow fights. Or whatever the hell they do. Supposedly Michael has even agreed to be involved, though he’ll be the only one not moving into the house.

The family is hoping that because Michael and Janet are on board it will clinch the deal. “They feel the timing is right – because Michael is becoming professionally active again, and they believe fans are ready to find out what the family is doing,” an insider told the Enquirer.

“The show will follow the lives of the brothers as they move back into the old Jackson family home in the L.A. suburb of Encino and live and perform together again.”

Michael will continue living in his Las Vegas home but will be a big part of the show… The series will center on the at-times dysfunctional family dynamics of the brothers, Michael’s eccentricity, and the flamboyant sisters, Janet and LaToya.

“Although Michael will stop in and oversee some of the recording with The Jacksons, he’ll be doing most of his singing from his private studio in Las Vegas and then have the tapes transferred to where his brothers are laying down tracks in L.A.,” explained the insider. Jermaine will run the show, but Michael has made it very clear that he wants the last say on the music.” According to the insider, Jermaine is convinced the show will be a smash hit.

[From the National Enquirer, July 7th, 2008, print ed.]

What can possibly go wrong? Frankly, I think they should do it. By most accounts the Jackson family is so messed up that it can’t really get any worse. And only Janet has a bit of a career left. Michael’s going to have to rebuild everything from the ground up. So what have they got to lose? Respect? Already gone. Fame? Gone. Money? Gone. Well, mostly. They might as well see how long they can beat this dead horse.

Posted in Jackson Family, Janet Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Joe Jackson, LaToya Jackson, Michael Jackson, Reality Shows

Written by JayBird         17 Comments »
Oct 15
'07
Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine claims he is broke

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Jermaine Jackson is sort of weird. I mean he named his kid Jermajesty. That joke writes itself. Poor kid. I know I shouldn’t make fun of a six-year-old whose parents are such jerks that they’d do that to him… but as long as I have to write his name, it’s going to be funny. So for the rest of this article, if I have to say something about Jermajesty that shouldn’t be funny (ie Jermajesty needs money for tutoring, which is true) I’m going to call him Paul so that we don’t feel the need to giggle at the poor kid who needs the tutoring.

Jermaine Jackson and his estranged wife Alejandra, who were married in 1996, are going through divorce proceedings. Jermaine hasn’t paid a penny of child support, and is essentially refusing to get a job, saying that one that isn’t good enough will diminish his “market value.” His wife is netting about $81 a month from her job as a personal assistant, and is currently living with Jackson’s mother Katherine. They also have an older son, Jaffar, who is 11-years-old.

“On a document included in the filing and obtained by extratv.com, Alejandra Jackson indicates that, since August, she has been making $15 per hour working as a personal assistant, she has no health insurance and she had to borrow $500 from her aunt to pay legal fees. She also lists her total assets from her partnership in a Colombian clothing design business as negative $198.

“Her income is listed at an average of $81 a month, with no overtime, commissions or bonuses, or investments to boost that figure in any way. ‘Occasionally and not consistently Mrs. Jackson will give me a couple hundred dollars for food or other expenses I need,’ Alejandra stated in court documents, referring to mother-in-law Katherine Jackson, 78. She doesn’t get any child support from Jermaine, she says. Alejandra, who is also seeking sole custody, states in the filing that Jackson is responsible for $22,741 in debts and unpaid loans.

A number of overdue bills and expenses are listed in the documents, as well as a wish list that includes health insurance for the kids and tutoring for Jermajesty.”

[From E! News]

Alejandra isn’t bringing in a lot of money – and one has to wonder why it’s so little – but it’s still 100% more than Jermaine is contributing. Alejandra is also taking care of the kids. So what’s Jermaine doing? Well pretty much refusing to work, and that’s about it.

“In his declaration opposing her requests, Jackson maintains that he continues to have ‘a healthy, happy relationship’ with the children, and that his wife’s motion for full custody, considering that they have successfully shared time with the kids so far, is ‘nothing more than a litigation tactic.’ He noted, ‘I do not object to an appropriate level of child support,’ Jackson continues. ‘However, the reality is that [Alejandra] has knowingly misled this court into believing that I have income which I do not. I currently do not have any employment… Thus I find myself in a Catch-22 situation where while I need money, I also need to be very cognizant of what employment I do undertake so as not to degrade my market value and ability to obtain legitimate work in the future. Unfortunately (and sadly), this troubling situation is very common in the entertainment industry.’”

[From E! News]

Hey Jermaine, I heard a rumor that you’re a big Celebitchy reader, so I’m going to have a little heart-to-heart with you, since I think your priorities are a little confused. The issue isn’t that you don’t have income and your ex is saying you do, the issue is that you SHOULD have income, and you do not. No one really gives a care about your poor “market value.” I think your ability to “obtain legitimate work in the future” isn’t nearly as important as making sure your kids have food, clothes, and health insurance (they don’t have the latter). You have contributed about one song every five years to a random soundtrack. You were an actor – once – in “Voyage of the Rock Aliens.” I think your market value is pretty low, I’m sure capitalizing on your family name would be a lot more dignified than most of the stuff you’ve done. And hey, you can afford tutoring for Jermajesty. Um, I mean Paul.

Picture note by Jaybird: Header image of Jermaine at the Wild Hogs UK Movie Premiere with an unidentified date on March 28th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

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Posted in Jermaine Jackson, Legal Issues

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