2 Apr08: MJ news and mentionings

Rasta Pasta

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MJ News in review for
2 Apr08


No real news but plenty of .........Mentionings...
Surface lead singer Bernard Jackson goes reggae
By Cecelia Campbell-Livingston livingstonc@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, April 02, 2008


Bernard Jackson, lead singer for the international R&B group Surface, which popularised songs such as Shower Me With Your Love, Loving, Closer Than Friends, For Your Love and Falling In Love, is now turning his attention to reggae music.
20080401T220000-0500_134102_OBS_SURFACE_LEAD_SINGER_BERNARD_JACKSON_GOES_REGGAE__1.jpg
Jackson... Reggae music is black music, it will never die, you are never too old or too young to do it
For him, it's like "coming full circle". Even before Jackson joined Surface, he had a fascination with reggae music and that saw him doing a reggae cover of Michael Jackson's hit single Billie Jean.

In an interview with the Observer Jackson shared that he never planned on doing a reggae project... "It just kinda happen naturally," he said.

According to Jackson, his partner, Mike Jones, who is from Jamaica, had a friend who had a brother in the music business.Jones realised that his friend's brother, Eric Smith, was really talented and decided to do a project with him. After listening to some of the beats, Bernard was fascinated and encouraged his partner to do a reggae cover of Surface's first hit Happy.

It was then that his partner told him that he should be the one to do it! That was eight months ago, and now Jackson is deep into the project.

In May or early June Jackson will be heading to Jamaica to shoot several music videos and possibly perform on a few shows.

It was an enthusiastic Jackson who talked about his love for the music. "Reggae music is black music, it will never die, you are never too old or too young to do it," he said. "I basically merge what I do with the reggae beat."
His upcoming trip is a very special one for him as it will be the first time he will be touching Jamaican shores. And, he said, he can't wait for the experience.

"I just love the culture and I have always loved reggae. In fact, I was a Ras for 10 years," Jackson quipped indicating how deep he was into the cultural vibes.

Presently Jackson said he is doing a remix of Shower Me With Your Love to reggae and he is "excited to see how people feel about it".

The lead singer of Surface along with members David Conley and David Townsend kept the essence of soul music alive throughout the late '80s. Their wonderful blend of dance, R&B and pop was the perfect remedy for audiences clamouring for music with true depth, passion and diversity. Soulful, melodic harmonies and well-crafted instrumentation would become their trademark and listening today you will see why Surface are one of the most accomplished R&B groups for a new generation.


[SIZE=-2]eFluxMedia[/SIZE]
News on Michael Jackson, 50 Cent, Beyonce & More
[SIZE=-1]Eurweb.com, CA - 7 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]*Chris Cornell's stripped-down rock version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" is suddenly a hit on iTunes after it was covered note-for-note last week by ...[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Cornell flattered by "Idol" shout-out [SIZE=-1]Reuters[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Chris Cornell Speaks Out on Idol Cover of "Billie Jean" [SIZE=-1]Deadbolt[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]News - Music, movie, Entertainment CORNELL'S BILLIE JEAN COVER ... [SIZE=-1]PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]eFluxMedia[/SIZE]


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>THERE ARE 34 articles on this.. Idol Billie Jean version (in my opinion it is all FREE publicity for Michael and lots of $$$. I am loving it)

PLEASE POST SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO THE WRITER OF FOLLOWING ARTICLES IF YOU FIND THEIR COMMENTS MEAN, DEMEAING OR OUT RIGHT RUDE… and ALSO IF THE ARTICLE WAS POSITIVE AND HONEST…… BEING PROACTIVE SURE WOULDN’T HURT

Please check to see if they have any blogs and lets post on and give them some facts…

This is already in another thread.. but there are already 6 articles on it


[SIZE=-2]Telegraph.co.uk[/SIZE]
Channel 4 close to signing Jackson family for Devon reality show
[SIZE=-1]Mirror.co.uk, UK - 5 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]By Mark Jefferies 2/04/2008 Channel 4 are close to signing Michael Jackson and his family for a reality TV show set in a Devon fishing village. ...[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]***** and family are moving in [SIZE=-1]Ipswich Evening Star[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Jacksons to hit reality TV - in Devon [SIZE=-1]Telegraph.co.uk[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]all 6 news articles »[/SIZE]


Day 116: What the media don't show about Michael Jackson the business man
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Sony/ATV’s “Musical Notes” #17 - Rockers & Crooners
Mar 28, 2008

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Sony/ATV’s “Musical Notes” #17
A fortnightly newsletter highlighting some of the many classic songs in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog.

From Alan Warner, Creative Consultant

*****************

STORIES BEHIND CLASSIC SONY/ATV SONGS

#1: BE-BOP-A-LULA (Gene Vincent/Sheriff Tex Davis)

“Be-Bop-A-Lula, she’s my baby,
Be-Bop-A-Lula, I don’t mean maybe”
“Be-Bop-A-Lula, she’s my baby doll, my baby doll, my baby doll”

By Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps (Capitol/EMI: 1956) US #7 Pop, #8 R&B, #5 Country, UK #16

Vincent Eugene Craddock had served in the US Navy but was gaining popularity in his local town of Norfolk,Virginia, singing a song he’d worked up called “Be-Bop-A-Lula”. He contacted ‘Sheriff Tex’ Davis, a DJ at WCMS, the largest radio station in the area, who took him under his wing. Davis gathered some musicians together and cut a demo of Gene, sending it off to A&R man Ken Nelson at Capitol Records in Hollywood. The timing was perfect because this was early 1956 and record labels were scrambling to find artists who sounded like Elvis Presley! Ken set up a recording date at Owen Bradley’s studio in Nashville and “Be-Bop-A-Lula” was one of four songs on Gene’s debut session on May 4th that year.

The song became Gene Vincent’s greatest success, an undeniable rock ‘n’ roll classic and it won a place in the Grammy Hall Of Fame. Gene & The Blue Caps were featured performing the song in the classic rock movie musical “The Girl Can’t Help It” (20th Century: 1956).

Gene was good friends with fellow rocker Eddie Cochran and was injured in the car crash in England which took Eddie’s life in 1960. Gene himself died in 1971 at the age of 36.

Other artists who recorded “Be-Bop-A-Lula” include:
The Everly Brothers (Cadence/Barnaby), John Lennon (Apple/EMI), The Stray Cats (Sanctuary), Bill Black’s Combo (Hi/EMI), Eddie Cochran (Liberty/EMI), Carl Perkins (Jet/Sanctuary), Jerry Lee Lewis (Sun/Sun Entertainment), Johnny Hallyday (Philips/Universal), Cliff Richard (UK EMI).

John Lennon sang “Be-Bop-A-Lula” with his pre-Beatles group The Quarry Men; The Beatles themselves performed the song at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, and John finally re-cut it on his milestone Apple album “Rock ‘N’ Roll” issued in 1975.

*****************

And from a song everyone knows to a rare R&B stormer which both the Animals and The Stones covered on early albums…

SHE SAID YEAH (Roddy Jackson/Sonny Bono)

Roddy Jackson was a young white singer signed to Art Rupe’s Specialty label; he wrote this song with Sonny Bono (who used the alias Sonny Christy) and it was first recorded in 1959 by the great R&B singer Larry Williams who was also on Specialty. The Animals covered it on their very first album for EMI UK in 1964 (released here on MGM) and then the Stones cut the song as the opening cut on their 1965 album “December’s Children” (released on London in the US and latterly remastered on Abkco). Both John Lennon & Paul McCartney were big Larry Williams fans and The Beatles cut three of his songs; in 1999, on his Capitol album “Run Devil Run”, Paul finally got to record SHE SAID YEAH and it remains a brilliant rocker!

“Baby you drive me crazy
Got my poor heart hazy
You got my senses reeling
Ooh baby what a feeling
Come on baby, let me make love to you”

*****************

Six Of The Best Sony/ATV Ballads recorded by Mel Tormé

BORN TO BE BLUE (Mel Torme/Robert Wells)
By Mel Tormé (Musicraft/Discovery: 1946)

I WISHED ON THE MOON (Ralph Rainger/Dorothy Parker)
By Mel Tormé (Verve/Universal: 1960)

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)
By Mel Tormé (Bethlehem: 1955)

IT DON’T MEAN A THING (IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING)(Duke Ellington/Irving Mills)
By Mel Tormé (Coral/Universal: 1956)

THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC (Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer)
By Mel Tormé (Coral/Universal: 1955)

WHEN SUNNY GETS BLUE (Jack Segal/Marvin Fisher)
By Mel Tormé & George Shearing (Concord: 1992)

*****************

Classic Crossover Song…

PERSONALLY (Paul Kelly)

“I can’t mail it in, I can’t phone it in,
I can’t send it in even by your closest kin.
I’m bringin’ it to you
Personally, Personally, Personally, yeah yeah”

By Jackie Moore (Columbia: 1978) US #92 R&B
By Karla Bonoff (Columbia: 1982) US #19 Pop
By Ronnie McDowell (Epic: 1983) US #10 Country

Written by Southern soul singer Paul Kelly who recorded it on his 1993 album “Gonna Stick And Stay” on Bullseye Blues.

“Personally” was also recorded by R&B singer Z.Z. Hill on Malaco
in 1984.

*****************

Leiber & Stoller songs recorded by Elvis

An alphabetical checklist of the Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller songs recorded by Elvis Presley on RCA/Sony BMG:

BOSSA NOVA BABY
DIRTY, DIRTY FEELING
DON’T
FOOLS FALL IN LOVE
GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!
HOT DOG
I WANT TO BE FREE
IF YOU DON’T COME BACK
JAILHOUSE ROCK
JUST TELL HER JIM SAID HELLO
KING CREOLE
LITTLE EGYPT
LOVE ME
LOVING YOU
SANTA CLAUS IS BACK IN TOWN
SAVED
SHE’S NOT YOU
STEADFAST, LOYAL AND TRUE
THREE CORN PATCHES
TREAT ME NICE
TROUBLE
(YOU’RE SO SQUARE) BABY I DON’T CARE
YOU’RE THE BOSS


Plus of course HOUND DOG which becomes a Sony/ATV song
next year.


Click here for Associated Playlist.

http://www.sonyatv.com/index.php/news/376
 
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Thanks Rasta!

Unfortunately still another slow news day
 
Thanks Rasta. look how quickly the media has picked up this ridiculous story about the Jackson's and reality show in Devon. This is why the Jacksons will always be a target because their name sells newspapers and the media is not about to give up on their money maker too soon. I blame Matt Fiddes for this nonsense.
 
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Lol at the Devon thing - sometimes I think we should drop the "news" and label anything that comes out of the media as just "mentionings"
 
Lol at the Devon thing - sometimes I think we should drop the "news" and label anything that comes out of the media as just "mentionings"


good idea, because none of this stuff is "news" per se
 
As usual, thanks for the news, Rasta.

A slow news day is always a good thing. ;)

As for the story of the Jacksons doing a reality show in Devon - I will see it when I believe it.
 
I have a question..

Is there a way to get someone that has a youtube account kicked off.. As in TERMINATED??

There is this TRUE MJ HATER, that has been harrasing fans, saying harsh things about Michael for over 2 years now.. The youtube page is simply made to scrue with MJ and his fans..

You wont get the full picture just by viewing the page but:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Goods81

It's a person that has nothing better to do than verbally abuse people and talk all the crap about Michael in not just an o.k. way..

But one of the worst online that I have seen.. This person littarly spends the day going to different MJ videos to post HATE..


maybe if we all report this person... just to to the page and click on report..

If u got other ideas let me know

I'm sick of it, and this person should not still be around 2 years later..
 
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http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-04-02-album-sales_N.htm

Album sales decline, but is the slump slowing?

By Ken Barnes, USA TODAY

Album sales for the first quarter of 2008 are down by double digits, but that's significantly less than 2007's decline. So there's more than one way to look at the results.

For the glass-half-empty crowd, this year's numbers continue a trend that has seen album sales tumble from 140.4 million in 2006's first quarter to 104.5 million this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan — a drop of more than 25% in two years.

For the Mr. Brightside contingent, the decline from 2007 is 11%, compared with a 17% first-quarter drop a year ago.

But Billboard charts director Geoff Mayfield cautions against assuming that album sales are bottoming out.

"They could be, but we've heard that a time or two before," he says. "With a decline in sales in six of the last seven years," the industry can't be sure the worst is over.

In the short run, though, it might be. Mayfield cites upcoming releases by Mariah Carey (April 15) and Usher (May 27) as albums that "should help to slow down the erosion. You have a better chance of a winning hand if you have the aces."

He notes that this year's first quarter "didn't have that strong of a release schedule" — no new album has sold 1 million copies so far this year, though Jack Johnson's Sleep Through the Static came closest with 975,000. But he points out that it's customary for record companies to hold back superstar releases until later in the year. Just four of 2008's top 10 albums (Johnson, the Juno soundtrack, Michael Jackson's Thriller reissue and Radiohead's In Rainbows) were released to retail this year; the other six are holdovers from 2007 or before.

Taking a longer view, Mayfield says, "the business has changed. In the '70s, albums drove the market," replacing singles. "With the advent of digital music, we went in the opposite direction. Not only are people buying individual songs again, but there's a much broader spectrum of songs available. In the '90s, record companies suppressed the sales of hit singles" by not making them available at retail. "They can't do that any more."

Consumers are making more music purchases now than they did 10 years ago. "The number of individual tracks sold in 2007 exceeds the total sales of albums and singles in 1997. And there are so many ways for people to consume music these days," he adds, citing satellite and online radio and numerous music-streaming websites.

"Albums are by no means the only indicator of music's vitality."

---

So Thriller 25 is one of the TOP 10 BEST SELLING ALBUMS this year in the U.S. and is only one of four that were actually released this year rather than last year or earlier. Nice.
 
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My take on this supposed reality show.......best believe one Michael Joseph Jackson will not be apart of it!
 
Thanks to all for the news. :flowers: It really looks like albums are on the endangered species list the way vinyl records became. Hmm...Earlier today I heard how Madonna and Mariah are setting digital download records for their new singles.
 
Well, since Michael's album is in the top 10, I wonder what would happen if it were to stand up against Mariah's and Usher's album and end up getting a Grammy for album of the year? Do yall think that is possible?

Or how about this? Michael releases his new album this year and ends up having both T25 and the new album nominated for Album of the Year and then wins it? Do yall think this is possible?

I mean T25 has been doing well from the very beginning. And it seems to me that there are more singles and more promotion to come in the remainder of the year. So it could very well end up being one of those albums that was everywhere in 2008.

Oh, and the XM radio channel dedicated to Michael is still up. I guess they didn't take it down on March 31st as stated by some here.
 
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allthelovelyflowers,

there are no singles that are going to be released from T25. The remix singles didn't catch on at all
 
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Based on what i have seen elsewhere Thriller 25 is the eighth biggest seller in 2008 in the USA at around 415k. I'm guessing that ultimately it'll probably wind up being among the top 20 by the end of the year with big releases upcoming from Mariah, Madonna and Usher that will all be ahead of it. The biggest stunner is that by comparison, Janet's album comes in at the 18th biggest seller of the year and is continually dropping.
 
deleted by myself.
I think this is my last try to contribute something to the forum. Ridiculous to be so hypersensitive to stupid remarks like this one. I found a user with the name MJ Freak or similar. Someone should ban him ... Attention irony!
 
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on condition you overlook one or two stupid remarks - imo - this is a quite humorous item:

Remaking Michael Jackson

Why waste money on (or steal) those bogus Thriller remixes when you can get better ones legally for free?

By Craig D. Lindsey
Published: April 3, 2008

Earlier this year, the silver-anniversary re-release of Michael Jackson's Thriller - a souped-up, repackaged remembrance of the nine tracks of pop/soul perfection that the tree-climbing, surgical mask-wearing, yeah-it's-okay-to-sleep-with-kids, nutty sumbitch unleashed on the world so many years ago - hit stores.

Sadly, there's one thing keeping the re-release from being just as perfect now as it was then: that goddamned will.i.am!

The Black Eyed Peas captain remixes three of the album's classic tunes (with Jackson wholly signing off), and by doing so, reminds everyone why Diddy is no longer the leader of the meddlesome, obsequious producer/performer pack.

His reworking of "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" comes off best, if only because will has Jackson sing new lyrics that the Moonwalker pulls off with melodious ease. Even after all these crazy years, the boy can still come with the sweet vocals.

But then he and Jackson completely excise Paul McCartney from "The Girl Is Mine," making one wonder if this is Jackson's spiteful payback for all those years Macca made ***** look like the bad guy for buying the rights to the Beatles' song catalog. At any rate, what shows up here is Jackson singing all the lyrics while will awkwardly wedges in some manly boasts.

But by far the most egregious offense is the redo of "Beat It," which sets Jackson in a duet with a snarling Fergie. If it weren't for that train wreck of a rendition Charlotte Church did with a sloshed Amy Winehouse on British TV a couple of years ago, we'd all hang our heads in shame over this version.

For what it's worth, will.i.am isn't the only one who doesn't do the Gloved One any favors with his tricked-out tunes. Jackson is little more than a back-up singer on Akon's remake of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." At least Kanye West had the decency to just add more strings and drums to his "Billie Jean" remix and let Jackson sing his own damn song. (You would've thought that the ever-egotistical West, who already successfully sampled "P.Y.T." for his "Good Life" single last year, would have had more tricks up his sleeve.)

Okay, so granted, these songs may not all be godawful, but they definitely seem insubstantial next to the originals. They also make the hip-pop remixers behind them seem less like behind-the-board wizards and more like awestruck underlings who didn't want to disrespect the maestro (Akon excepted).

But we're here to tell you, there's a better world of Michael remixes out there.

It seems that underground rappers have a better sense of what to do with Michael Jackson tracks. A year ago, Mobb Deep's Havoc poignantly riffed on loyalty with his song "Be There," which sampled Jackson's "Got to Be There" with impressive results.

Houston's very own The ARE also mined early Jacksons material with style. On the Dem Damb Jacksons collection, available for free download on Frank W. Miller Jr.'s Rappers I Know Web site (www.rappersiknow.com), the former K-Otix beatman crunches up a number of Jackson Five favorites, while MCs Kay (another Houston homie) and Stones Throw's Oh No (who is, coincidentally, also named Michael Jackson) take turns throwing down some crafty, hard-edged rhymes.

Still, Chicago MC Rhymefest reigns as the king of reimagining the King of Pop. His witty-gritty Man in the Mirror mixtape, also available for free download under "Mixtapes" at rhymefeststore.com, finds him teaming up with such producers as the omnipresent Mark Ronson (Winehouse, Lily Allen) and Best Kept Secret. This trio raids samples from every point in Jackson's career - Jackson Five, solo and a few rarities in between. (Remember "You Can't Win," his showstopper from The Wiz?)

2039623.0.jpg


Rhymefest gives props to Jackson's legacy (without tarnishing or disrespecting what's left of it, mind you) while also reminding us why we all should still have a place in our hearts for the fedora-wearing freak.

Unlike the bogus bonus remixes on Thriller, these compilations show the monumental impact and inspiration Jackson left on millions of listeners. Think about it: hard-ass rappers showing love for an international pop star. Now, that's the sort of perfection even will.i.am can't **** up.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-04-03/music/remaking-michael-jackson/
Sorry but I had to write this idoit. to me, this article is no different than giving someone a complement then turning around and kicking that person in the face.:mad:
 
thanks for the news! i loved david cooks version of billie jean! i thought it was amazing, i really hope he wins this season :p
 
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