Re: Weekend News Bytes for March 7-9, 2008 (Updated for March 8 on post # 25)
Michael Jackson News for March 9, 2008:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/07/business/MUSIC10.php
Getting a thrill out of "Thriller," 25 years later
PARIS: From their seats on the rumbling London tube, a group of stony-faced passengers rose at random, bursting suddenly into the jerky slide kick of a zombie dance before melting away without a word.
The response of flustered British passengers - stiff gazes, nervous silence, and tepid applause - was, naturally, videotaped, posted online and then quickly spun off into zombie dance sequels at the central Copenhagen train station, in London's Chinatown and on the street outside the Sydney Opera House.
By this week, the videos together had been viewed more than a million times, a comforting result for the music company Sony BMG, which is using the campaign to promote the 25th anniversary of "Thriller," the Michael Jackson album that immortalized zombie grace in the pop star's famous graveyard video.
The album, which contains original music and remixes with Kayne West and Fergie, is faring better in Europe and Asia than in the United States. In France, it has been the top-selling album for the past three weeks.
Sony BMG resorted to the campaign in part because it faced some major hurdles to a traditional approach, beginning with the reclusive and tarnished pop star himself and his distaste for publicity and public performances. The solution was an unconventional strategy that has attracted news coverage - and also drawn controversy over when a soft corporate sell should be disclosed.
In Britain, Sony BMG executives videotaped professional dancers in every-day settings - like the Tube and a Tesco supermarket - as baffled spectators watched. The results had a gritty street reality that mirrored amateur tributes like the video made in a Filipino prison, where more than a 1,000 orange-suited inmates performed "Thriller" as their daily exercise. That prison classic has been viewed more 11 million times on YouTube, compared with about half that number for Jackson's original version on that site.
"It's really guerrilla marketing," said Roger Menz, vice president of international strategic marketing for Sony BMG. "You go in, do your thing and leave as fast as you can. There was never any intention to hand out leaflets and say 'Thriller' is coming out again. It's just bringing 'Thriller' back in the minds of people, but without the hard sell. That wouldn't be cool."
Critics remain wary of the hazy line between guerrilla and "schill" marketing, an industry term for when the company behind an event is not disclosed. A number of British news organizations described dancers hijacking the London Tube without mentioning they were professionals who toured with a company called "Thriller Live." Some bloggers, though, quickly published postings noting how the Tube dance video was gaining attention at the same time as the debut of the "Thriller" anniversary edition in February.
Emmanuel Vivier, the managing director of Buzz and Communication, a communications agency Luxembourg that specializes in viral marketing, said a new European trade association, VBMA Network has formed with a mission to develop clear ethical standards for full disclosure involving unconventional marketing.
In the case of the London tube video, he noted that Sony BMG had made it apparent with its YouTube posts that the video was part of a contest in connection with the release of "Thriller." "The local impact in the street is pretty low because you reach 200 a day and what's important is how they made it viral," he said.
Professional dancers were also recruited in Copenhagen to make a surprise appearance in the middle of a busy train terminal, milling among other passengers in bulky, winter coats and knit hats. When the first notes of "Thriller" echoed through the station, the dancers merged toward each other, jerking into zombie mode, right down to Jackson's signature hip grinding moves. When the dance finished, they sauntered away wordlessly, leaving behind a vast tiled floor and flustered passengers who seemed frozen in place.
Their dance was featured on national Danish television, and their "impromptu" performance was posted on YouTube. Fritz Wehner, a dance teacher who organized the group of about a dozen dancers, said they wanted to do it as a tribute and contacted Sony BMG, which then supported them.
Wehner compared this approach to "public freezes" that have taken place in Trafalgar Square in London and in New York's Grand Central Terminal. "And people are surprised of course and you get a crowd pretty fast."
The effort is part of the ongoing quest to reach consumers without a hard sell that might turn them off. Sony BMG executives said their more unconventional strategy had figured in the successful international sales of "Thriller" by engaging younger fans. On Friday, the company introduced a new feature allowing fans to upload pictures of themselves and turn themselves into a 3-D avatar that could replace Michael Jackson in the original Thriller dance video.
"It's all about engaging the consumers," said John Ingrassia, the Sony BMG commercial music group president.
http://heavymetalmusic.biz/2008/03/09/classic-metal-show-interview-with-steve-stevens-of-billy-idol/
Classic Metal Show interview with Steve Stevens of Billy Idol
Classic Metal Show interview with Steve Stevens of Billy Idol
The Classic Metal Show, heard Saturdays from 9p-3a EST at
www.theclassicmetalshow.com, recently conducted an interview with guitar legend Steve Stevens (Atomic Playboys, Billy Idol, Vince Neil). During the course of the interview, Stevens was asked about his short work he did with Michael Jackson when he recorded the solo for his “Smooth Criminal” from the BAD release. Surprisingly, Stevens admitted that he never was paid for that appearance on the diamond selling album and the video. Here’s an excerpt from the conversation:
THE CLASSIC METAL SHOW – I’m curious how a guy like you gets onto a record with someone like Michael Jackson, who was the biggest artist in the world when you played with him. Do you have to bid on that, or how does that work?
STEVE STEVENS – I got a call from Quincy Jones, actually, and I hung up thinking somebody was bullshitting me. It’s not like Quincy Jones calls every day, so I was like, “yeah, right! Funny! Ha ha!” So he called back and said, “don’t hang up, it’s the real deal”. I had just signed to Warner Brothers, and Quincy is friends with Ted Templeman. That’s how Eddie Van Halen ended up on “Beat It”. I guess the conversation that Quincy and Ted had was, “ who’s the new hot guitar player?” Ted said, “well, we just signed Steve Stevens from Billy Idol, and you should speak to him.” So that’s how that went down.
THE CLASSIC METAL SHOW – Do you still get royalty checks for that? I imagine you do.
STEVE STEVENS – Actually, I don’t. I never got paid for that. I didn’t write the track. I came in and played on it. Then Eddie Van Halen and I did the NAMM show together in the next couple of days. I asked him, “hey man, what did you ask for on “Beat It”?” He said, “ah, man, the kind of publicity you get from that kind of stuff you can’t put into financial terms.” So, I never made a penny off that.
To download and listen to the entire interview, visit THE CLASSIC METAL SHOW’s Itunes page at this location -
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=175951893
Michael Jackson Mentionings for March 9, 2008:
http://www.showbizspy.com/2008/03/09/tarita-virtue-takes-the-stand/
Pellicano, who is defending himself against wiretapping and racketeering charges, has worked for lawyers who represented Cruise, John Travolta,
Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor.
http://www.france24.com/en/20080309-british-choreographer-crossing-continents-with-new-show
Khan, 33, was born in Britain and grew up idolising
Michael Jackson but was introduced to Bengali folk dancing by his mother.
He incorporates influences from around the world throughout his work, and as well as those from China, "Bahok" also features dancers from his company from countries including India, South Africa, Slovakia and Spain.
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/990146.html
Triangle audiences turn out for tribute bands, for everything from a
Michael Jackson impersonator to guys who sound like the guys in Judas Priest. There are a lot fewer era tributes, though, and no one in the Triangle has taken '80s metal as far as Weaver envisions.
http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2008/03/09/ap/regional/us/d8v9ft082.txt
Geragos, a frequent TV legal commentator whose clients have included
Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and convicted wife killer Scott Peterson, is no stranger to the limelight.
Just last week, he won a multimillion-dollar judgment against a private air charter company that secretly videotaped his conversations with Jackson while he was working for the pop star.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/columnists/top3/story/4139783p-4730856c.html
Here is something I actually saw: A man with a huge water pack strapped on his back is doing a frantic
Michael Jackson Moonwalk BACKWARDS, waving one hand from side to side while spraying a fine mist on the ice.
http://ts6.gazettelive.co.uk/2008/03/whale_hill_dancing_starlets_pl.html
Pub punters in Middlesbrough were so impressed with Gerald Nortier-Robinson’s moves with charity dance group Copy Kittens they labelled him “
that Michael Jackson kid”.
Michael Jackson HIStory for March 9, 2008:
1993 - Michael Jackson won Best R&B/Soul Album for "Dangerous" and Best R&B/Soul Male Single for "Remember The Time" at the seventh annual Soul Train Music Awards. He also performed "Remember The Time" from a wheelchair because "I was dancing and I went into a spin and I twisted my ankle very badly."
