Michael Jackson’s Last Days: The Comeback That Never Was : Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll DailyMichael Jackson’s Last Days: The Comeback That Never Was
7/22/09, 8:25 am EST
In the days just before his death, Michael Jackson was working harder than he ever had in hopes of staging “the greatest show on Earth” according to our latest cover story.
Claire Hoffman retraced the pop icon’s final moments for “The Last Days of Michael Jackson” in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, and found that Jackson was well aware of how the public came to perceive him in recent years and that he had fully dedicated himself to a comeback tour that he hoped would erase that perception.
“He wanted people to see his work and not just talk about his lifestyle,” AEG CEO Randy Phillips tells Hoffman in her cover story.
(Click for photos from Jackson’s remarkable life and career.)
He was also eager to finally clean up his finances and settle down in Las Vegas. “He was ready to stop living like a vagabond and settle down and earn money again,” Phillips tells Rolling Stone.
And those who were inside his final rehearsals say that the show he was prepared to mount may have actually succeeded on all fronts.
“He was so brilliant on stage,” tour director Kenny Ortega tells Hoffman. “I had goose bumps.”
“I turned to somebody and said, ‘This is amazing,’” adds Ken Ehrlich, the longtime Grammy Awards producer who sat in on rehearsals. “For so many years I have watched Chris Brown and Justin Timberlake and Usher and the Backstreet Boys and En Vogue all imitate Michael Jackson — and now here we were this many years later, and he was going to do it again. I got chills, literally. The hairs on the back of my neck were raised. Those are the moments you hope for.”
Claire Hoffman’s “The Last Days of Michael Jackson” can be found in Issue 1084, on newsstands now, and you can get the story behind her cover story in our exclusive video.
@mrjyn
July 22, 2009
Michael Jackson’s Last Days: The Comeback That Never Was : Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily
Jackson a Halloween treat - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety
Jackson a Halloween treat - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - VarietyJackson a Halloween treat
Sony eyes Oct. 30 release date for film
By MARC GRASER
Michael Jackson may be thrilling audiences in theaters around Halloween.
Sony Pictures, which is finalizing a deal to acquire concert rehearsal footage from the singer's "This Is It" tour from AEG Entertainment, is eyeing an Oct. 30 release date for the film.
The opening bid for the performance footage started at $50 million, and Sony is said to be ponying up close to $60 million for the 80 hours filmed.
Fox, Universal, Paramount and Relativity were also interested in putting in bids.
Sony made more sense, however, considering Sony Music Entertainment owns music publishing rights to Jackson's songs.
Terms of the deal are still being worked out, but the Jackson family estate is expected to collect 90% of what's left after AEG recoups its production costs for the tour.
AEG owns the footage, filmed by "High School Musical" helmer Kenny Ortega. He'll assemble the pic, which will feature at least three videos, including an alternative version of Jackson's "Thriller," shot to be interstitial programming during Jackson's 50-night concert stand in London that was to have started this month.
The footage was meant to play in 3-D, but it's unclear as yet whether the feature film will present it that way.
Sony declined to comment on the deal.
UPDATE DEA - LAPD Search Jackson Dr. 'Con' Office (Wed. 22 Jul - 12:32 PM)
SURPRISE! DEA TACTICAL DIVERSION SQUAD SEARCH SAYS DEA Violet Szeleczky - FOR MORE BREAKING MJ DRUG NEWS FOLLOW NICHOPOULOUZO HERE: http://twitter.com/mrjyn Wednesday, 22 Jul 2009
July 22: The DEA and Los Angeles police have searched the Houston office of Dr. Conrad Murray for evidence of possible manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. In a statement on his site late Tuesday, Chernoff said investigators from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office have asked for medical records in addition to those already provided by Murray. Although Chernoff has said the doctor didn’t give the pop star any drugs that contributed to his death, Murray has nonetheless received attention from those angry over the singer’s death. “Dr. Murray was the last doctor standing when Michael Jackson died and it seems all the fury is directed toward him,” Chernoff said. “Dr. Murray is frustrated by negative and often erroneous media reports, he has to walk around 24-7 with a bodyguard. He can’t go to work because he is harassed no matter where he goes.”
~ nichopoulouzo
Lawyer: Police seek Jackson manslaughter link
DEA officials searched Dr. Conrad Murray’s Houston clinic
DEA agents target Jackson doc's office
July 22: The Houston office of Dr. Conrad Murray, who was Michael Jackson's personal physician, has been searched by agents from the DEA. MSNBC's Alex Witt and msnbc.com's Courtney Hazlett report.
Officials to meet with Jackson doctor again
July 22: Investigators in California are seeking another meeting with the doctor who was with Michael Jackson when he died. They also want to see more of the late pop star’s medical records,
HOUSTON - Authorities searched the Houston clinic of Michael Jackson’s doctor Wednesday, and his attorney said they were seeking evidence of manslaughter.
Dr. Conrad Murray had been interviewed by police as a witness to the pop star’s death, but has not been considered a suspect. Police have said little about the probe, neither confirming or denying the possibility of criminal charges.
Los Angeles police and agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration went through the Armstrong Medical Clinic on Wednesday for about 2 1/2 hours. Authorities said they were searching for documents.
“The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believed constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter,” Ed Chernoff, Murray’s attorney, said in a statement posted on his law firm’s Web site. The Harris County warrant remains sealed and unavailable to the media.
Chernoff said agents left with “a forensic image” of a computer hard drive and 21 documents.
Houston police surrounded the building as the investigators went inside at about 10:30 CDT. DEA spokeswoman Violet Szeleczky said about 20 people were in the Armstrong Medical Clinic, including employees.
A neighborhood crowd gathered to watch the raid until agents left after 1 p.m. and Houston police told reporters and the onlookers to leave the clinic’s property.
Murray has emerged as a central figure in the investigation into Jackson’s death. The doctor, who had been recently hired by Jackson, was with him in his mansion and tried to revive him.
Szeleczky said the agents were looking for Murray’s records, not drugs, but wouldn’t specify further. She declined to say how the search related to Jackson’s death.
Doctor has 24-7 bodyguard
Meanwhile, investigators in California are also sought more information from Murray, according to Chernoff.
July 22: The DEA and Los Angeles police have searched the Houston office of Dr. Conrad Murray for evidence of possible manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports.
In a statement on his site late Tuesday, Chernoff said investigators from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office have asked for medical records in addition to those already provided by Murray.
“The coroner wants to clear up the cause of death; we share that goal,” Chernoff said in his statement. “Based on Dr. Murray’s minute-by-minute and item-by-item description of Michael Jackson’s last days, he should not be a target of criminal charges.”
Although Chernoff has said the doctor didn’t give the pop star any drugs that contributed to his death, Murray has nonetheless received attention from those angry over the singer’s death.
“Dr. Murray was the last doctor standing when Michael Jackson died and it seems all the fury is directed toward him,” Chernoff said. “Dr. Murray is frustrated by negative and often erroneous media reports, he has to walk around 24-7 with a bodyguard. He can’t operate his practice. He can’t go to work because he is harassed no matter where he goes.”
It’s still not known what caused Jackson’s death at age 50. The pop star went into cardiac arrest in his bedroom and Murray performed CPR while an ambulance was called, according to Murray’s lawyers.
Investigators have found the powerful anesthetic propofol in Jackson’s home, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation. The person is not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. The officials are working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and California attorney general’s office to determine how the medications got there.
Police detectives have already spoken to Murray twice — once immediately after the singer’s death and again two days later. Police investigators say Murray is cooperating in their investigation. The Las Vegas-based doctor is also licensed in California, Nevada and Texas.
Chernoff’s spokeswoman, said the interview with coroner’s investigators might happen Friday. Murray is currently in Las Vegas and Chernoff would be speaking to investigators without the doctor being present.
There was no sign of activity Wednesday at Murray’s medical offices in Las Vegas. Doors were locked and curtains drawn at his practice, Global Cardiovascular Associates.
There was no immediate record of a search warrant for Murray’s medical office or his Las Vegas home, said Esther McElhaney, a Las Vegas court spokeswoman.
But she said police would have 10 days to provide a report to a judge in Las Vegas Justice Court about any items or documents seized if they had searched either location recently.
The DEA has assisted in probes into other celebrity deaths, including the 2007 overdose death of Anna Nicole Smith as well as that of actor Heath Ledger.
Jean Rosenbluth, a University of Southern California law professor, says the agency’s involvement in the Jackson case suggests authorities are looking into whether drugs came from out of state.
Federal drug regulations include controls over whether and how frequently a doctor can write prescriptions over the phone, and DEA agents could be looking to see if these rules were broken, Rosenbluth said.
Police Seize 'La Dolce Vita' Cafe for Mob Ties - NYTimes.com
Police Seize 'La Dolce Vita' Cafe for Mob Ties - NYTimes.com
Police Seize 'La Dolce Vita' Cafe for Mob Ties Filed at 12:23 p.m. ET
ROME (AP) -- Italian authorities on Wednesday seized about euro200 million ($284 million) in assets and businesses owned by a crime syndicate, including the Cafe de Paris of ''La Dolce Vita'' movie fame.
Rome police and anti-mafia officials said that 12 other restaurants, apartments and luxury cars allegedly linked to the 'ndrangheta were also impounded in the operation.
The Cafe de Paris, which became a symbol of La Dolce Vita, or ''the sweet life,'' in the 1960s remains open, Rome police official Daniele Galimberti said.
Galimberti said the establishment was briefly shut early Wednesday, but only to allow police to search it.
''We wanted to check how much money there was in the cash register and seize the account books,'' Galimberti said, adding that authorities have appointed a manager to let the cafe stay open for the time being.
''It's important to guarantee its activity for all those chefs, waiters and other personnel who are working there,'' he said.
The restaurant, with a covered outdoor area, is located on Rome's upscale Via Veneto, the setting of glitzy nights that were immortalized by Federico Fellini's 1960 movie.
The cafe -- a famed haunt of movie stars, directors and hopeful ingenues in the 1950s -- is a few steps from the U.S. Embassy compound. Palestinian militants wounded 38 people in a grenade attack on the cafe in 1985.
Galimberti said a court hearing will be scheduled within 30 days to decide on how long the cafe will remain open.
He said the establishment belonged to a former hairdresser from the southern region of Calabria who is suspected of having ties to reputed 'ndrangheta (pronounced AN-dran-getta) local boss Vincenzo Alvaro.
Anti-mafia prosecutors say mobsters are snapping up real estate in high-rent Rome neighborhoods.
The 'ndrangheta, based in Calabria, has eclipsed other mob organizations in power and reach.
Prosecutors have said mob groups are increasingly investing profits from the drug trade and other illicit activities in legitimate businesses and property, including restaurants, stores and hotels, in northern Italy and abroad.