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*Mo*

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Everlasting love
Ben East
Last Updated: June 06. 2010 7:12PM UAE / June 6. 2010 3:12PM GMT



Michael Jackson’s father Joe is definitely Startin’ Somethin’. Last week he announced plans for a Jackson family museum in Gary, Indiana – where the late singer first moonwalked into the world in 1958.

A huge area of land was given over to the Jackson Family Foundation by a town mayor, no doubt rubbing his hands at the prospect of a tired industrial suburb of Chicago becoming a place of pilgrimage for Michael Jackson’s millions of fans. There was talk of an exhibition space, a concert hall, and a performing arts centre.

Except there was a slight problem. Michael Jackson’s estate – run by lawyers for The Michael Jackson Family Trust – jealously guard everything from his music to his likeness. And they haven’t given the go-ahead for Joe Jackson’s plan – probably because they are planning their own “world-class museum,” likely to be thousands of miles away in California.

All of which leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth. Essentially, music museums are less about celebrating the classic songs and the people who wrote them, and more about the money that such endeavours generate.

In America, only The White House receives more visitors than Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis – $34 (Dh125) buying a look inside the colonial-style mansion the King Of Rock’N’Roll died in nearly 33 years ago.

It is an interesting experience, but for the wrong reasons. It is, in effect, a voyeuristic journey into how ridiculous Presley’s life had become – there’s even a tour of one of his huge private planes, of which the lasting memory is that it only sat four people.

The various visitor attractions across the dual carriageway from Graceland are even more tacky, not so much celebrating his music but his fame. The unintended by-product of all this – despite the rather charming house – is that Elvis comes across as slightly odd.

Given that Jackson was up there with Elvis in the famously unhinged pop star stakes, it’s a moot point whether any museum based around Jackson would truly get to the heart of why Billie Jean is such a great song.

And that’s the real problem with any museum with music at its heart. How musicians made such era-defining music and why that music is important is lost in the fame and celebrity.

It’s what makes The Beatles Story in Liverpool (£12.95, Dh69) such an uneven experience: we all know that The Beatles went to America in the mid-1960s and kicked off Beatlemania in grand style. But why and how it was that I Want To Hold Your Hand became their first US Number One seems beyond this admittedly entertaining story of The Beatles.

It means you don’t go away with the instinctive brilliance of the song burned on your brain, but the fact they sold out a concert at Shea Stadium in 17 minutes.

It’s true that America curates its pop heritage better than most – Memphis’ Sun Studio, where Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash laid down timeless tracks, is intimate and atmospheric. Detroit has a Motown museum and Seattle a Jimi Hendrix experience.

But these places quickly date; freezing their heroes in a particular time, when music is all about the thrill of the new. Of course, running museums is expensive, and constantly updating them is impossible. At least most of these American museums have a specific artist, genre or fanbase to cling on to.

In the UK, The National Centre For Popular Music in Sheffield lasted just 18 months before collapsing into insolvency – the obvious lesson being you don’t need to build a nebulous £15m (Dh80m) centre to explain how important pop music is: it’s already pretty clear.

Today, the much smaller British Music Experience at The O2 Arena (£15, Dh80) is about as comprehensive as these things can get – featuring everything from Iron Maiden to dubstep. You have to wonder, though, why anyone would actually travel to an unlovely corner of South East London to learn about stuff they could get on Wikipedia – unless they really must see a vintage Amy Winehouse dress.

Perhaps we’re over analysing: in the end, these museums are entertainment for people who like their music and want to know a bit more about the stars that made it. No harm in that.

But there is something counter-intuitive about the energy of musicians and bands being categorised, filed away and contained in glass boxes.

Most of our heroes began their long journeys to stardom by wildly kicking against the norms. That’s what made them interesting, not how they decorated their living rooms.

In the end, it’s the music that should be the lasting legacy, not the museum – and you can do that right now, by digging out Michael Jackson’s Bad and pressing play.

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I think this part is interesting, if true:
Quote
Except there was a slight problem. Michael Jackson’s estate – run by lawyers for The Michael Jackson Family Trust – jealously guard everything from his music to his likeness. And they haven’t given the go-ahead for Joe Jackson’s plan – probably because they are planning their own “world-class museum,” likely to be thousands of miles away in California.
Randy addressed this issue::
Quote
randyjackson8
My siblings & I knew nothing about this foundation or museum in Gary, nor r we a part of it. I do have concerns & I will be addressing it.
about 9 hours ago via web

This foundation/museum issue also reminds me of the "Belts Issue": You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
[/b]
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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Hi Mo

I know this is off topic. But I have to say this cos everytime I see this pic I am reminded of the famous proverb attributed to Confucius

When a wise man points at the moon, an idiot looks at his finger.
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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[youtube:o7wbsgfw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH2d--XjiDA&feature=related[/youtube:o7wbsgfw]
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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"For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way..."

*Mo*

  • Guest

When the lady mentioned Mike visiting Gary in 2003 and reinstating that goal I remembered stumbling upon a letter from the mayor of Gary to Mike dated June 11 2003 which is about building a Performing Arts Theater and Center, which they would like to be named the Michael J Jackson Performing Arts Center.  According to this letter, it's what they agreed on.  I'm not sure who's signature that is...I have seen too many different ones so far...

Here it is:


Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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Story Updated: Jun 2, 2010 at 5:52 PM EDT

GARY, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) - Michael Jackson’s Indiana roots may soon launch a museum celebrating his life.

The entertainer's father Joe Jackson and the Mayor of Gary Rudy Clay announced Wednesday afternoon, a project to create a performing arts center and museum named after the king of pop.

The Jackson family lived in a small two-bedroom home in Gary.

They moved to California in 1971 with the success of the family band the Jackson Five.

Joe Jackson says, “Remember the song says, 'I'm going back to Indiana, Indiana here I come', well we are coming back, we're bringing something back."

Jackson died nearly a year ago, last June 25th.


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Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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"For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way..."

*

paula-c

"Joe Jackson says, “Remember the song says, 'I'm going back to Indiana, Indiana here I come', well we are coming back, we're bringing something back."


 returns to its origins ... :?:  8-)
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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I feel they should have something in Gary.  Were it not for the experiences MJ had in that little house in Gary, he wouldn't be who he is today.  If he had been born wealthy, I don't think he would have had the drive or the compassion that he possesses.  His love is for the lesser of man, his heart for the deprived and the disadvantaged.  He was a giver because he knew what it was like not to have.  His experiences as a little boy is what made him determined to be the best, and dammit, he was, is and always will be.  Build that shrine in Gary, Joe. :lol:   You earned that one.  Why  does everything have to be about mega money with these Branca/McClain boys?  Still greedy, but Michael's gonna fix that when he gets back with the other will.
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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"Don't stop this child, He's the father of man
Don't cross his way, He's part of the plan
I am that child, but so are you
You've just forgotten, Just lost the clue.”

MJ "Magical Child"
Still Rocking my World…
   and leaving me Speechless!

“True goodbyes are the ones never said

Quote from: "hesouttamylife"
I feel they should have something in Gary.  Were it not for the experiences MJ had in that little house in Gary, he wouldn't be who he is today.  If he had been born wealthy, I don't think he would have had the drive or the compassion that he possesses.  His love is for the lesser of man, his heart for the deprived and the disadvantaged.  He was a giver because he knew what it was like not to have.  His experiences as a little boy is what made him determined to be the best, and dammit, he was, is and always will be.  Build that shrine in Gary, Joe. :lol:   You earned that one.  Why  does everything have to be about mega money with these Branca/McClain boys?  Still greedy, but Michael's gonna fix that when he gets back with the other will.

So initiatives are often the property and sometimes family and no agreement between them, which makes me confused about the involvement or not, or whether they know whether or not the death hoax? All those things that seems to be no interference from Mike? How not, when he is alive and let this mess happen ever? There seems to make sense!  :shock:  :?  :?:
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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