For those interested in Dr. Tohme and Alberto Alverez, here is an interesting bit of information on them as well as the funeral at the Staples center. This just gives insight into what their roles might have been at the time of his death.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...e-interview-manager-reveals-rift-funeral.html
Michael Jackson’s manager has revealed the rift within the Jackson family over the tragic superstar’s funeral this week.
And he has disclosed that although he believed the singer was generally fit and healthy before his shock death, he had warned him about a sudden weight loss as the star worked hard to prepare for his marathon 50 concerts in London.
Business manager Dr Tohme Tohme said Jackson’s brothers and father Joe wanted a shrine for Michael at the Neverland Ranch but his mother and sisters vetoed the idea.
His Jackson Five brothers also wanted an open coffin funeral, similar to that of soul singer James Brown, and for the star to be driven through the streets so that mourners could throw flowers, as at Princess Diana’s funeral.
They had even ordered the same rare £15,000 gold-plated blue-velvet lined ‘Prometheus’-style coffin used for Brown’s funeral.
But their mother Katherine, 79, has overruled them, saying she felt an open coffin would be ‘ghoulish’ and harmful to Michael’s three children, of whom she has temporary legal guardianship.
A friend said: ‘The family is fiercely divided. You’ve got the brothers on one hand, who all want to perform and turn the funeral into a showbiz extravaganza, and then you have Katherine on the other side who is a deeply religious woman and is determined that this won’t descend into a circus.’
Dr Tohme admitted he had backed the brothers Jackie, 58, Tito, 55, Jermaine, 54, and Marlon, 52, in the dispute. But he said Katherine and Michael’s sisters LaToya, 53, and Janet, 43, had shot down their plans.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Dr Tohme said: ‘His brothers wanted the final resting place to be Neverland but the rest of the family didn’t want him there for some reason that’s not known to me.
‘I tried with some members of the family to provide Neverland as his resting place and to turn it into something. I believe Michael Jackson deserved to be in Neverland – a grand place like Neverland.
He is the King of Pop and I think we will not see anyone like him in our lifetime.
‘But all his stuff is in storage and I am in control of it. It is Michael Jackson’s items and memorabilia and awards and hopefully we will put it on display in Neverland or whatever the family decide to do with it.’
Katherine is understood to have told Jackson’s long-term manager Frank DiLeo that she alone will make the final decision on all aspects of Tuesday’s funeral.
Mr DiLeo told a friend: ‘The brothers wanted Michael to be driven through the streets so fans could line up and throw flowers like they did with Princess Diana, but Katherine has ruled that out.
'She is the one who is pushing for a spiritual element to the funeral. If the brothers had their way, it would be the Jackson Five’s greatest performance. Or rather, the Jackson Four’s greatest performance.’
Michael’s body is now expected to be placed in a closed coffin on a raised plinth during the funeral service at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles on Tuesday. One of his trademark sequined gloves and a black fedora will be placed on top.
Katherine will decide whether Michael’s children Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II – known as ‘Blanket’ – will attend. If they are there, then sources say they will not be wearing masks.
Dr Tohme, a Lebanese-born businessman, was with the Jackson family at the UCLA hospital when the star died. He became a friend to the family two years ago, after being brought in to help Michael save Neverland, in Santa Barbara, from repossession.
Dr Tohme rejected the idea that Michael, 50, had died of natural causes amid evidence of the singer’s use of prescription drugs. He said: ‘He didn’t have a heart problem. A guy who dances for four hours a day has a heart attack? I will have a heart attack before him.’
Dr Tohme added that Jackson, rather than being left ill by rehearsals, had been reinvigorated by his forthcoming 50-concert tour and had revelled in his visit to London earlier this year to announce his gigs. He said: ‘He was flabbergasted.
'The trip to London changed him, gave him so much confidence. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Never seen anyone mobbed like that. He was full of hope.’
But Dr Tohme revealed that in the days before his death he had warned Michael over his recent weight loss, although he believed the star was generally fit and healthy.
He said: ‘I spoke to him on the Wednesday before his death. I told him he looked to me a little too thin. He had lost some weight.
'But he was working hard, he was dancing for four hours a day. He said he was fine.
Then on Thursday I got a call from a reporter asking if it was true that Michael had a heart attack.
'I didn’t know. I tried to call and nobody answered. I got calls from different media saying he was rushed to UCLA, so I went there. His kids, his mother, his sister were there, none of his brothers at that time.
‘Later Jermaine came in with his wife. And Michael was gone. The hospital staff had already told the family that he was dead.’
He added: ‘Nobody knows what happened. I saw the body and I will never forget it. Everybody was in shock, in tears. We didn’t really talk. All we did was hug and cry. That is what happened.'
He added that Jackson had finally come to rid himself of some of the quirks in his character that had plagued him in recent years.
‘When I first met him in Las Vegas, he was out of touch. Michael was secluded and retreating from everybody. It was just him and his kids. He used to use the wheelchair. I said, let’s get rid of this. You have to realise that you had to baby Michael Jackson. I wanted people to see him as a healthy human being.
‘But he was working. We put a stage in his house in Vegas because before he was practising in the local hotels. He was writing music, working with choreographers. And after we start talking to AEG for the London gigs, I decided Vegas was not the right place for Michael to stay at the time, especially for the children...it is very hot in the summer.
‘LA is where all the action is. I convinced him to move to LA and he took residence at the Bel Air Hotel for three months. Then I rented the house for him. Then we signed the deal with AEG and we went to London – him, his kids, and me – and stayed at the Lanesborough Hotel.’
An estimated one billion television viewers around the globe will see Michael’s funeral along with 17,500 family and friends packed into LA’s Staples Centre and an overflow crowd at the Nokia Theatre across the street.
Randy Phillips, chief executive of AEG Live, said he expected the funeral to be ‘reverential’.
‘Tuesday is not a show, it is a service. We want to hit the right note. It will be a celebration of his life but not a circus. Michael was more of a traditionalist than people realised and we are trying to keep this reverential and tasteful. It’s going to be beautiful,’ he said.
Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor have both confirmed they will attend and have been asked to give readings.
The service will include elements of the planned London O2 show. The dancers and musicians who were in the O2 show are likely to perform in front of a large screen showing a film montage of Michael’s life.
'Whether the children go is down to Katherine'
Famed celebrity choreographer Kenny Ortega – producer of hits such as Dirty Dancing, Madonna’s Material Girl video and the High School Musical movies – is helping to pull together the service, along with Ken Ehrlich, the award-winning producer of the Emmys and the Grammys.
At present, Michael’s body is in a sealed mortuary at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Burbank, California, 11 miles from the Staples Centre. But Mr Phillips cast doubt on whether the star’s coffin would actually be at the service.
Mr Phillips said: ‘We are still trying to figure out the logistics of getting Michael to the arena if, indeed, that is what happens. There will be no funeral procession. Whatever happens, it is about Michael’s spirit and his life. Even if the body is not there, he will be there in spirit.’
Another source said: ‘The plan is for the make-up artist to attend to him in the mortuary in the early hours of Tuesday morning. We are looking at ways for the family to say their final farewells in private, with the coffin open. Katherine has said that she wishes to place a memento from each of the children in the coffin, perhaps a toy or item of clothing, along with letters from the children and a photograph of them all together with their father.
‘She would like the coffin to be in the arena during the service, with one of Michael’s trademark sequined gloves and a black fedora on top. She thinks that would be a powerful and fitting image
‘We are trying to figure out how to transport the coffin from the mortuary to downtown LA. At the moment, it could be done via an unmarked police car or possibly flown in by helicopter.
'But nothing is set in stone. Katherine is changing her mind all the time about whether the coffin should even be there or not.
‘Whether the children attend or not will be down to Katherine. The older two have said they would like to be there. Blanket is the youngest and she is concerned that he might be frightened by all the attention.
‘One thing is for sure. Those kids will not be wearing masks if they do attend.’
Made up for his coffin
Michael Jackson’s long-term make-up artist Karen Faye will carefully prepare her boss for his funeral.
She will glue on individual fake eyelashes, followed by three coats of his favourite extra-dark Maybelline Great Lash mascara in blackest black.
A well-worn Chanel kohl pencil will be used to outline the rims of his eyes.
Next, she will apply a coat of pale foundation, translucent powder and Clarins rose-pink lipstick before she puts on his jet-black wig of real hair. Karen, 53, said: ‘It is important Michael looks good.’
Did he really design tickets?
AEG chief executive Randy Phillips last night angrily dismissed claims that the company was cynically trying to cash in by offering fans souvenir tickets for Michael Jackson’s London shows instead of a full refund.
Everyone who has paid for a ticket will get either a full refund or the special hologrammed tickets.
He insisted the dancing hologram on the tickets had been created by the dead star, saying: ‘Michael was involved in every aspect of designing those tickets. It was his idea to come up with the dancing hologram of himself on the front. We didn’t just come up with this idea after he died.
‘These are the real tickets, they were ready to be put in the post when he died. My art director and head of marketing were ready to jump out of the window of their offices at one stage because it took Michael four weeks to approve the eight designs featured on the tickets.
'Ok, he didn’t draw the designs himself but he came up with the idea and told our art director what he wanted. It was his creative vision.’
There are eight different ticket designs. People will receive the actual ticket they would have received – with the date and seat number printed on the back.
Mr Phillips added: ‘We have talked to all four major ticket agencies. None of the tickets has been released yet. That will start after the funeral.’
We are GUESTS here, and should abide by the rules without the constant pushing and pulling of mods. I think I have a total of *three* posts over there, but I've observed some drama I would've really rather not. It makes it so that whole threads just become about the RULES, rather than the investigation. ANNOYING! 