MJ (61 page)

Read MJ Online

Authors: Steve Knopper

BOOK: MJ
10.57Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

“I had a sense,” Swedien as heroic figure, Swedien and Riley, and “Bruce would sit there”
: Chamberlin interview.

“I was feeling increasingly isolated,” “On
Bad
, he could call me after dinner,”
“Hey, Billy,” Sundberg picking up the
Bad
mixes, “I had no way of knowing,” “screw you,” and Sundberg placing the microphones under DAT racks
: Bottrell interview.

Unexpected cable, Chamberlin called Bottrell, and “I thought it could’ve come from Bruce”
: Chamberlin interview.

“It was beyond not cool”
: Russo interview.

“Boy, that’s great”
: Swedien interview.

“When the deadline came,” MJ crying over “Keep the Faith,” “Pull yourself together,” and “That was scary”
: Goldberg, “Michael Jackson: The Making of the ‘King of Pop,’ ” p. 32.

70,000 copies per day
: Ibid.

seven hundred thousand in first two weeks
: Michael Goldberg, “Fast start for ‘Dangerous,’ ”
Rolling Stone,
January 23, 1992, p. 9.

“a messy grab-bag of ideas”
: Chris Willman, “Dangerous? Hardly,”
Los Angeles Times,
November 24, 1991, Calendar, p. 3.

“Dangerous
was all Michael”
: Author interview with Larry Stessel.

“It’s not as cohesive”
: Forger interview.

“Michael as quirky crossover
wunderkind”: Susan Fast,
33
1
/
3
:
Dangerous
(New York: Bloomsbury, 2014), p. 17.


Elvis is the King,” MTV memo, and “It was laughed at”
: Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks,
I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution
(Penguin, 2012), pp. 438–39.

“You just had to deal with unrealistic requests”
: Tommy Mottola,
Hitmaker
:
The Man and His Music
(New York: Grand Central/Hachette, 2013), p. 233.

MJ meeting with Sighvatsson and
The Simpsons: Tannenbaum and Marks,
I Want My MTV
, p. 435.

“You have a good relationship,” “They’d blown through what the budgets were,”
and
Landis’s request for money and paycheck
: Author interview with John Landis.

“Trying to make something”
: Ibid.

“ ‘Black or White’ is a mess,” “Making shit up,” and
“That’s so neat”:
Ibid.

“I said, ‘I want to do a dance number’“
: Jocelyn Vena, “Michael Jackson’s Video Legacy in His Own Words,”
mtv.com
, July 2, 2009.

“Sandy was a screaming queen”
: Tannenbaum and Marks,
I Want My MTV
, p. 437.

“violence like Jackson’s”
: Elizabeth Chin, “Michael Jackson’s Panther Dance: Double Consciousness and the Uncanny Business of Performing While Black,”
Journal of Popular Music Studies
23, no. 1 (March 2011): 58–74. Fast’s
33
1
/
3
: Dangerous
pointed me to the Chin and Vena sources.

“Very prescient”
: Landis interview.

Mayonnaise-commercial disguise, Jordan’s dubbed dialogue,
“Something about the presence,” and President Bush meeting
: Author interview with David Kellogg.

Golden Temple restaurant
: Ian Halperin,
Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson
(New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009), p. 10.

“fine-boned, delicate and dark like his mother”
: Maureen Orth, “Nightmare in Neverland,”
Vanity Fair,
January 1994, p. 70.

“The parents had separate families”
: Author interview with Larry Feldman.

June gave MJ her number and MJ’s call
: June Chandler testimony,
The People of the State of California vs. Michael Joseph Jackson,
California Superior Court, April 11, 2005.

MJ and Jordie shared love for video games
: Ibid.

MJ invited Jordan to his “hideout” but Jordan couldn’t go
: J. Randy Taraborrelli,
Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story 1958–2009
(New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2009), p. 452.

“The feel was different”
: Author interview with Eddie Garcia.

thirty-foot wall with 350 lights and “Now can I get that all the way around”
: Author interview with Peter Morse.


We can’t have that” and “I need rocket man”
: Author interview with Tom McPhillips.

$20,000 for rocket man, Chuck Norris stunt double, and “Michael would step away”
: Author interview with Ken Graham.

Soviet An-124 jet
: Karlayne Parker, “M.J.’s Livin’ Large in Russian Jet,”
Tampa Tribune,
June 17, 1992, p. 2.

Three jets
: Author interview with Benny Collins.

“changed stuff according to his liking
”: Garcia interview.

Ten-by-ten-foot dance platform on Victory tour and

He’d have cameras”
: Author interview with Sam Emerson.

“Balloons”
: David Gest interview,
Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon
(David Gest Productions, 2011).

Debbie Rowe background and discoid lupus diagnosis
: Debbie Rowe testimony,
Katherine Jackson, et al., vs. AEG Live, et al.,
California Superior Court, August 14, 2013.

Vitiligo description and “You have a little spot”
: Author interview with Endre Granat.

“He didn’t want to be spotted up”
: Katherine Jackson interview,
Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon
.


I’d never seen skin that color before”
: Author interview with Sonya Saul.

“Jackson emerges a casualty”
: Greg Tate, “I’m White! What’s Wrong with Michael Jackson,” David Brackett, ed.,
The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). pp. 342–44.

Nightly loss of eight or nine pounds of “water” weight
: Rowe,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG,
August 14, 2013.

“All I knew was that he wasn’t eating”
: McPhillips interview.

Doctor, protein, and Kentucky Fried Chicken
: Emerson interview.


He was eating cheese pizzas”
: Author interview with Johnny Ciao.

“Can you please come and see Mike?” and “happy and working”
: Author interview with David Forecast.

Barnes and von Thurn und Taxis
: Taraborrelli,
Michael Jackson
, pp. 452–53.

“There was always this family around”
: Confidential source.

“It’s just uncomfortable”
: Author interview with Sonya Saul.

MJ called Jordan while on tour
: June Chandler testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson
, April 11, 2005.

“What’s he
doing
?” and “Some artists, with twenty dancers”
: Morse interview.

Dangerous
tour description
:
Michael Jackson Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour
(Epic/Sony, 1992).

“The revelation of his sculpted, made-up face”
: Susan Fast, “Difference That Exceeded Understanding: Remembering Michael Jackson (1958–2009),”
Popular Music and Society
33, no. 2 (2010): 261.

HBO had paid $20 million
: David Wild, “Jackson: $20 Million from HBO,”
Rolling Stone,
October 1, 1992, p. 21.

Phillinganes trying to meet with MJ, “No problem, we’ll do it this time,” and “I wasted a day”
: Author interview with Greg Phillinganes.

“Hmm
, let me think,” “Why would I want to sleep in a chamber?,” and other interview details
: Michael Jackson,
The Oprah Winfrey Show
(ABC, February 10, 1993).

Chandlers at Neverland details
: June Chandler testimony,
People vs.
Michael Jackson,
April 11, 2005.

Fifty-six staff members
: Orth, “Nightmare in Neverland,” p. 70.

“sort of act like the place was hers”
: Wade Robson testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson,
May 5, 2005.

“First of all, it’s a huge bed”
: Ian Halperin,
Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson
(New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009), p. 15.

“Jordie is having fun”
: June Chandler testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson
, April 11, 2005.

$12,000 Cartier bracelet
: Taraborrelli,
Michael Jackson
, p. 460.

MJ crashing at the Schwartz house
: June Chandler testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson
, April 11, 2005.

“[Chandler] would go on and on” and “Hang on”
: Carrie Fisher,
Shockaholic
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), pp. 62–63.

Grand Floridian, May 1993, Lily-June and MJ-Jordan rooms, and “He was not wanting to be with Lily and I”
: June Chandler testimony,
People vs. Michael Jackson
, April 11, 2005.

Description of Jordan’s room
: Raymond Chandler,
All That Glitters: The Crime and the Cover-Up
(New York: Midpoint Trade Books, 2004), pp. 27–28, 34, 58.

“Ruby red lipstick,” “Are you fucking my son” exchange, and Memorial Day spooning
: Ibid.

“Began to get jealous of the involvement”
: Mary Fischer, “Was Michael Jackson Framed?,”
GQ,
November 1994, pp. 214–69.

“I am prepared to move against”
: The Chandler-Schwartz transcript has been printed in numerous sources, including Halperin,
Unmasked
, p. 20.

“nastiest son of a bitch”
: Ibid.

Barry Rothman background and “done him in”
: Fischer, “Was Michael Jackson Framed?,” pp. 214–69.

Fields’s $500 an hour, “If you’re on the side he’s against,”
Abrams’s two-page letter, and “reasonable suspicion”
: Orth, “Nightmare in Neverland,” p. 70.

“Sodium amytal is a barbiturate”
: Halperin,
Unmasked
, p. 36.

Pellicano questions, “Did Michael ever touch,” “I’m sorry, Jordie,” “I’ve missed you too,” “I’m going to ruin you” exchange, and “Oh, my God”
: Taraborrelli,
Michael Jackson
, pp. 481, 486, 489–91.

$20 million offer
: Orth, “Nightmare in Neverland,” p. 70.

$350,000 counteroffer, $15 million, three-script proposal
: Ibid.

Custody battles
: Soni Nazario and Amy Wallace, “International Furor Stirred by Allegations on Jackson Inquiry,”
Los Angeles Times,
August 26, 1993, p. 1.

Jordan revealing masturbation details to Abrams
: Orth, “Nightmare in Neverland,” p. 70.

“I can’t talk to you”
: Author interview with Conan Nolan.

KNBC breaking the story
: Ibid.

“Significant” pain
: Gordon Sasaki testimony,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG,
August 13, 2013.

Sasaki prescribed Percocet
: Rowe, Sasaki testimony,
Jackson vs. AEG
, August 13, 2013.

“Filling” of acne scars and 100 milligrams of Demerol, Klein and Hoefflin competition, Diprivan through eyelid, Debbie brought soup to Neverland
: Rowe testimony,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG,
August 13, 2013.

Stuart Finkelstein, Demerol, scarring, and IV morphine drip
: Stuart Finkelstein testimony,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG,
July 8, 2013.

“led him down the path”
: Author interview with Eve Wagner.


He was exhausted”
: Emerson interview.


So we were behind”
: Author interview with Federico Sicard.

LeMarque charges, Paul Barresi, $100,000 to $150,000 tabloid offers, Hayvenhurst Five details, Quindoys and “gay pedophile,” $283,000 in “unpaid overtime wages,”
Hard Copy
$20,000 payment, and Blanca Francia details
: Diane Dimond,
Be Careful Who You Love
(New York: Atria, 2005), pp. 76–77, 78–79, 108, 120–22.

“It was frustrating,” “They kept a diary,” “we were just trying,” and Jordan’s description of the Mirage suite
: Sicard interview.

National Enquirer
’s twenty reporters and knocking on five hundred
doors
: Fischer, “Was Michael Jackson Framed?,” pp. 214–69.

“I just think Michael needs help
”: Jim Newton, “Jackson’s Sister Says She Believes He Is a Molester,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 9, 1993, p. B1.

La Toya Jackson’s rescindment and Jack Gordon abuse
: La Toya Jackson,
Starting Over
(New York: Pocket Star Books, 2011), pp. 1–10.

“A lot of strange things happened”
: Feldman interview.

Other books

Heirs of the New Earth by David Lee Summers
Shades of Blood by Young, Samantha
Fiend by Rachael Orman
This Other Eden by Marilyn Harris
Master of Wolves by Angela Knight
Murder At The Masque by Myers, Amy
Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima
Illidan by William King