Michael Jackson Buried on Saturday. Is His Body Safe? True Stories of Celebrity Corpse Kidnappings | The Faster Times

Is Michael Jackson’s Body Safe? True Stories of Celebrity Corpse Kidnappings

 

On Saturday, Michael Jackson will be buried in the Holly Terrace of the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Forest Lawn is the Disneyland of famous cemeteries, designed to convince people that death is not a sorrowful ending but a return to joyful innocence. The grounds, littered with flowered shrubs and reproductions of famous works of art, have names like Eventide, Graceland, Babyland (for babies), and Dawn of Tomorrow. Among the many celebrities buried at Forest Lawn, those in the Great Mausoleum get the ultimate luxury in afterlife services: round-the-clock security. The building is heavily guarded, and off-limits to the public.

According to a strange article last week on CBS News, the Jackson family chose the site because they were terrified that fans might try to kidnap MJ’s corpse. While that may sound bizarre, famous corpses have been kidnapped before. Consider the case of Elvis Presley, who died in 1977. According to Christine Quigley, author of The Corpse: A History, eleven days after Elvis’ death four men were arrested for trying to kidnap his body, which they had planned for hold for a ransom.

Or consider Charlie Chaplin, whose body was kidnapped in 1978, a year after he was buried in Switzerland. Chaplin’s widow refused to pay the £400,000 ransom, claiming her husband would have thought the sum ridiculous. A few weeks later, the famous comedian’s body was discovered intact in a nearby cornfield.

Abraham Lincoln’s corpse was also kidnapped, or nearly. In 1876, a gang of Chicago counterfeiters plotted to kidnap his body and hold it in exchange for their imprisoned ringleader. Fortunately, they were stupid enough to allow a Secret Service agent in on the plan, and were foiled just after they had gotten into the tomb and were trying to figure out a way to lift up Lincoln’s coffin. Afterward, Robert Lincoln got his father’s coffin covered in steel bars, sunk ten feet below the floor, and piled with tons of cement. Still, the coffin has been moved 17 times since then in response to other kidnapping threats.

Gram Parsons’ corpse was actually kidnapped, though this time by friends. Parsons’ buddies were determined to fulfill his last wish, which was to be cremated and scattered in Joshua Tree National Park. His father, however, had other plans, and booked his body on a plane home to New Orleans for a proper funeral. Parson’s friends, probably drunk and stoned out of their minds, managed to convince workers at LAX to hand over the coffin, which they drove to Joshua Tree in a borrowed hearse and then doused in gasoline. The cops eventually caught up with them, but not before most of Parsons’ body was incinerated in a giant fireball.

Going further back, John Milton was allegedly exhumed by drunken church officials in 1790. While historians are divided on the veracity of the tale, it’s said the officials stole Milton’s ribs as souvenirs, and that cemetery workers put his body on display the next day, charging six pence for admission. For years afterwards, relics said to have once belonged to Milton’s body circulated among English collectors.

Those are just a few of the times people have managed the get inside coffins of the famous. Frankly, fans behave badly enough when they leave the coffin alone. James Dean’s headstone has been stolen twice, while Jim Morrison’s grave has seen so many crazed devotees that it now has a 24-hour security detail. The grave of Oscar Wilde, who is buried at the same cemetery as Morrison, is so covered in lipstick kisses that his stone is starting to decay. It makes sense that celebrities like Michael Jackson, hounded every waking moment by paparazzi, would prefer to spend their eternities resting in well-guarded peace.

Michael Jackson Buried on Saturday. Is His Body Safe? True Stories of Celebrity Corpse Kidnappings | The Faster Times

MP3 - WHO SAID CAJUNS CAN'T FUCKIN' ROCK, CHER? Johnnie Allan - Promised Land

!! Attendre que la chanson se charge !!

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Johnnie Allan - vocal

PROMISED LAND
(Chuck Berry)

I left my home in Norfolk Virginia
California on my mind
Straddled that Greyhound, rode him past Raleigh
On across Caroline

Stopped in Charlotte and bypassed Rock Hill
And we never was a minute late
We was ninety miles out of Atlanta by sundown
Rollin' 'cross the Georgia state

Straight off, I bought me a through train ticket
Ridin’ cross Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flyer out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans

Somebody help me get out of Louisiana
Just help me get to Houston town
There’s people there who care a little 'bout me
And they won't let the poor boy down

Workin' on a T-bone steak a la carte
Flying over to the Golden State
The pilot told me in thirteen minutes
We'd be headin' in the terminal gate

Swing low sweet chariot, come down easy
Taxi to the terminal zone
Cut your engines, cool your wings
And let me make it to the telephone

Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia
Tidewater four ten O nine
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
And the poor boy's on the line
**********

Johnnie Allan - Promised Land

Alabama

 

 

 

Groupe US de Country Rock, Alabama fut fondé en 1969 par Randy Owen, Jeff Cook et Teddy Gentry. Professionnels depuis 1973, les Wild Country (leur nom initial) se produisent d'abord en lever de rideau d'artistes Country. Après l'arrivée de Mark Herndon, le groupe devient Alabama et enregistre son premier disque en 1977 pour le label GTR. Depuis, Alabama a enregistré pour RCA et a figuré régulièrement dans les charts Country. Ils se sont séparés en 2003.

Before Alabama, bands were usually relegated to a supporting role in country music. In the first part of the century, bands were popular with audiences across the country, but as recordings became available, nearly every popular recording artist was a vocalist, not a group. Alabama was the group that made country bands popular again. Emerging in the late '70s, the band had roots in both country and rock; in fact, many of Alabama's musical concepts, particularly the idea of a performing band, owed more to rock and pop than hardcore country. However, there is no denying that Alabama is a country band — the bandmembers' pop instincts may come from rock, but their harmonies, songwriting, and approach are indebted to country, particularly the Bakersfield sound of Merle Haggard, bluegrass, and the sound of Nashville pop. A sleek, country-rock sound made the group the most popular country group in history, selling more records than any other artist of the '80s and earning stacks of awards.
First cousins Randy Owen (born December 14, 1949; lead vocal, rhythm guitar) and Teddy Gentry (born January 22, 1952; vocals, bass) form the core of Alabama. Owen and Gentry grew up on separate cotton farms on Lookout Mountain in Alabama, but the pair learned how to play guitar together; the duo also had sung in church together before they were six years old. On their own, Gentry and Owen played in a number of different bands during the '60s, playing country, bluegrass, and pop on different occasions. During high school, the duo teamed with another cousin, Jeff Cook (born August 27, 1949; lead guitar, vocals, keyboards, fiddle), to form Young Country in 1969. Before joining his cousins, Cook had played in a number of bands and was a rock & roll DJ. Young Country's first gig was at a high-school talent contest; performing a Merle Haggard song, the band won first prize — a trip to the Grand Ole Opry. However, the group was fairly inactive as Owen and Cook went to college.
After Owen and Cook graduated from college, they moved with Gentry to Anniston, AL, with the intention of keeping the band together. Sharing an apartment, the band practiced at night and performed manual labor during the day. They changed their name to Wildcountry in 1972, adding drummer Bennet Vartanian to the lineup. The following year, they made the decision to become professional musicians, quitting their jobs and playing a number of bars in the Southeast. During this time, they began writing their own songs, including "My Home's in Alabama." Vartanian left soon after the band turned professional; after losing four more drummers, Rick Scott was added to the lineup in 1974.
Wildcountry changed its name to Alabama in 1977, the same year the band signed a one-record contract with GRT. The resulting single, "I Wanna Be With You Tonight," was a minor success, peaking in the Top 80. Nevertheless, the single's performance was an indication that Alabama was one of the most popular bands in the Southeast; at the end of the decade, the band was playing over 300 shows a year. After "I Wanna Be With You Tonight," the group borrowed $4,000 from a Fort Payne bank, using the money to record and release its own records, which were sold at shows. When GRT declared bankruptcy a year after the release of "I Wanna Be With You Tonight," the bandmembers discovered that they were forbidden from recording with another label because of a hidden clause in their contract. For two years, Alabama raised money to buy out its contract. In 1979, the group was finally able to begin recording again. That same year, Scott left the band. Scott was replaced by Mark Herndon, a former rock drummer who helped give Alabama its signature sound.
Later in 1979, Alabama self-recorded and released an album, hiring an independent record promoter to help get radio play for the single "I Wanna Come Over." The band also sent hundreds of hand-written letters to program directors and DJs across the country. "I Wanna Come Over" gained the attention of MDJ Records, a small label based in Dallas. MDJ released the single, and it reached number 33 on the charts. In 1980, MDJ released "My Home's in Alabama," which made it into the Top 20. Based on the single's success, Alabama performed at the Country Music New Faces show, where the band was spotted by an RCA Records talent scout, who signed the group after the show.
Alabama released its first RCA single, "Tennessee River," late in 1980. Produced by Harold Shedd, the song began a remarkable streak of 21 number one hits (interrupted by the 1982 holiday single "Christmas in Dixie"), which ran until 1987; after one number seven hit, the streak resumed for another six singles, resulting in a total of 27 number one singles during the decade. Taken alone, the amount of chart-topping singles is proof of Alabama's popularity, but the band also won numerous awards, had seven multi-platinum albums, and crossed over to the pop charts nine times during the '80s.
In the '90s, their popularity declined somewhat, yet they were still having hit singles and gold and platinum albums with regularity. Even after their dissolution in 2003, it's unlikely that any other country group will be able to surpass the success of Alabama.

http://www.thealabamaband.com/

Talents:  Randy : lead vocals, rhythm guitar - Jeff : vocals, lead guitar, keyboards, fiddle, bass guitar- Teddy : vocals, bass guitar - Mark : drums, percussion

Style musical : Contemporary Country, Urban Cowboy, Country Pop, Country Rock

 

BORN COUNTRY

HIGH COTTON

LADY DOWN ON LOVE

MOUNTAIN MUSIC

SONG OF THE SOUTH

Alabama

Hasil Adkins

Chanteur Rock 'n' Roll et Country US né le 29 avril 1937 à Madison (Virginie de l'Ouest). Hasil Atkins est décédé le 26 avril 2005 à Madison (Virginie de l'Ouest).

US Rock 'n' Roll and Country singer born on April 29, 1937 in Madison (West Virginia). Hasil Atkins is deceased on April 26, 2005 in Madison (West Virginia).

http://www.hasiladkins.com/

Talents : Singer, Guitar

Style musical : Rockabilly, Rock 'n' Roll, Honky-Tonk

 

HA HA CAT WALK BABY (unissued)

SHE SAID

THE HUNCH

Hasil Adkins