January 6, 2010

MailOnline

September 14, 2009

Kanye West gave a performance that will never be forgotten at the MTV Video Music Awards, but unfortunately for him, it had nothing to do with his music.

The rapper stormed on stage to unleash an astonishing rant during an acceptance speech by country starlet Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards last night.

The 19-year-old singer, who was collecting Best Female Video for You Belong To Me, was left humiliated as West snatched the microphone from her hands.

He turned to the audience and shouted that the gong should have gone to his big friend Beyonce, for Single Ladies.

The hip hop star, who had been swigging Hennessy cognac on the red carpet earlier in the night, was booed roundly by the celebrity-packed audience of thousands.

And it was only the first category of the night.

Swift had breathlessly began her speech with the words, ‘I always wondered what it would be like to maybe win one of these some day, but never actually thought it would happen’.

But before she could continue any further, West leaped from his seat in the audience, ran onto the stage and rushed to grab the microphone as a bemused Swfit struggled to take in what was happening.

West told the stunned star: ‘Yo Taylor. I’m really happy for you, I’m going to let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.’

Cameras cut to Beyonce in the crowd who looked shocked and mortified.

As West shrugged his shoulders and handed back the microphone, a shell-shocked Swift stood in the centre of the stage seemingly unable to continue.

However, she was given another chance to say her piece when Beyonce did win an award for Single Ladies, in the Best Video category.

First she told the audience about her first VMA win as a 17-year-old with Destiny’s Child and how much it meant to her and then she sportingly brought the teen singer back on stage to huge applause.

The pair, both dressed in bright red, embraced before Beyonce passed the microphone to Swift.

Wes was ejected from the awards show at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

He apologised for his outburst on his blog later.

He wrote: ‘I’m sooooo sorry to Taylor Swift and her fans and her mom.’

He added: ‘I’m in the wrong for going on stage and taking away from her moment. Beyonce’s video was the best of this decade . . . I’m sorry to my fans if I let you guys down . . . I’m sorry to my friends at MTV . . . I will apologise to Taylor.’

It is not the first time he has made his feelings known at award ceremonies.

At the 2007 MTV VMAs, he was caught on camera ranting backstage because he had not won for the second year in a row and in 2004, he stormed out of the American Music Awards for losing the best new artist category.

And at the MTV Europe awards in 2006, Kanye jumped onstage after losing out on the Best Video award for Touch The Sky to Simian.

Grabbing a microphone during their speech, he claimed his video should have won because it ‘cost a million dollars, and Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons.’

He later admitted to having a ‘sippy sippy’ before the performance.

For her part, Swift called the evening ‘interesting.’

‘I was standing on stage and I was really excited because I’d just won the award and then I was really excited because Kanye West was on stage,’ Swift recalled after the show. ‘And then I wasn’t excited anymore after that.’

She later told MTV that she felt indebted to Beyonce for giving up her moment to allow her to speak.

‘It was just so wonderful and so incredibly classy of her and just gracious and wonderful to let me say something.

‘She’s just been my hero and one of my idols ever since I was little. She’s a great person.’

According to a tweet on Twitter from Jay-Z’s DJ, Neil Armstrong, the singer and her mother were deeply upset by his outburst and were seen crying backstage.

Other celebrities have lashed out against West on Twitter, including Pink, who had to be escorted away from the rapper by security.

She tweeted: ‘Kanye West is the biggest piece of s*** on earth. Quote me.

‘My heart goes out to Taylor Swift. She is a sweet and talented girl and deserved her moment.

‘She should know we all love her. Beyonce is a classy lady. I feel for her, too. It’s not her fault at all, and her and Taylor did their thing. And douche bag got kicked out.’

Katy Perry wrote ‘F*** u Kanye. It’s like you stepped on a kitten’ on the social microblogging site while still at the awards.

The rapper has never disguised his admiration of Beyonce, and last year described her as more influential than Tina Turner.

‘Nobody really wants to recognize that Beyoncé is a f****** living legend and that she is just as great, if not greater, than the artists that we had in the past…that she’s probably greater than Tina Turner.’

Click here to read the full story and watch the video:

Monti Says: Of course Dylan was grateful. The two cops were probably the first people paying attention to him since the 70′s!

August 14, 2009

By WAYNE PARRY

Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood.
Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.
A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and asked him for identification, Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley said Friday.
“I don’t think she was familiar with his entire body of work,” Woolley said.
The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses.
The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name. According to Woolley, the following exchange ensued:
“What is your name, sir?” the officer asked.
“Bob Dylan,” Dylan said.
“OK, what are you doing here?” the officer asked.
“I’m on tour,” the singer replied.
A second officer, also in his 20s, responded to assist the first officer. He, too, apparently was unfamiliar with Dylan, Woolley said.
The officers asked Dylan for identification. The singer of such classics as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” said that he didn’t have any ID with him, that he was just walking around looking at houses to pass some time before that night’s show.
The officers asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. Once there, tour staff vouched for Dylan.
The officers thanked him for his cooperation.
“He couldn’t have been any nicer to them,” Woolley added.
How did it feel? A Dylan publicist did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Friday.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

As an inventor, Paul also helped bring about the rise of rock ‘n’ roll with multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the tracks in the finished recording.

The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock in the mid-’50s.

“Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music,” Paul once said. “To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn’t think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system.”

A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called “The Log,” a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.

“I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut.” He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.

In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.

Pete Townsend of the Who, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.

Over the years, the Les Paul series has become one of the most widely used guitars in the music industry. In 2005, Christie’s auction house sold a 1955 Gibson Les Paul for $45,600.

In the late 1960s, Paul retired from music to concentrate on his inventions. His interest in country music was rekindled in the mid-’70s and he teamed up with Chet Atkins for two albums. The duo were awarded a Grammy for best country instrumental performance of 1976 for their “Chester and Lester” album.

With Mary Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records for hits including “Vaya Con Dios” and “How High the Moon,” which both hit No. 1. Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul had helped develop.

“I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished,” he recalled. “This is quite an asset.” The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.

Released in 2005, “Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played” was his first album of new material since those 1970s recordings. Among those playing with him: Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Richie Sambora.

“They’re not only my friends, but they’re great players,” Paul told The Associated Press. “I never stop being amazed by all the different ways of playing the guitar and making it deliver a message.”

Two cuts from the album won Grammys, “Caravan” for best pop instrumental performance and “69 Freedom Special” for best rock instrumental performance. (He had also been awarded a technical Grammy in 2001.)

Paul was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005.

Paul was born Lester William Polfus, in Waukseha, Wis., on June 9, 1915. He began his career as a musician, billing himself as Red Hot Red or Rhubarb Red. He toured with the popular Chicago band Rube Tronson and His Texas Cowboys and led the house band on WJJD radio in Chicago.

In the mid-1930s he joined Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians and soon moved to New York to form the Les Paul Trio, with Jim Atkins and bassist Ernie Newton.

Meanwhile, he had made his first attempt at audio amplification at age 13. Unhappy with the amount of volume produced by his acoustic guitar, Paul tried placing a telephone receiver under the strings. Although this worked to some extent, only two strings were amplified and the volume level was still too low.

By placing a phonograph needle in the guitar, all six strings were amplified, which proved to be much louder. Paul was playing a working prototype of the electric guitar in 1929.

His work on taping techniques began in the years after World War II, when Bing Crosby gave him a tape recorder. Drawing on his earlier experimentation with his homemade record-cutting machines, Paul added an additional playback head to the recorder. The result was a delayed effect that became known as tape echo.

Tape echo gave the recording a more “live” feel and enabled the user to simulate different playing environments.

Paul’s next “crazy idea” was to stack together eight mono tape machines and send their outputs to one piece of tape, stacking the recording heads on top of each other. The resulting machine served as the forerunner to today’s multitrack recorders.

In 1954, Paul commissioned Ampex to build the first eight-track tape recorder, later known as “Sel-Sync,” in which a recording head could simultaneously record a new track and play back previous ones.

He had met Ford, then known as Colleen Summers, in the 1940s while working as a studio musician in Los Angeles. For seven years in the 1950s, Paul and Ford broadcast a TV show from their home in Mahwah, N.J. Ford died in 1977, 15 years after they divorced.

In recent years, even after his illness in early 2006, Paul played Monday nights at New York night spots. Such stars as Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Dire Straits‘ Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Van Halen came to pay tribute and sit in with him.

“It’s where we were the happiest, in a `joint,’” he said in a 2000 interview with the AP. “It was not being on top. The fun was getting there, not staying there — that’s hard work.”

Monti Says: Sorry. We need another cheap push in web traffic

The New York Post

Post staff writer

July 19, 2009

IS Paula Abdul serious?

Over the weekend, the sometimes unpredictable “American Idol” judge’s manager said that it was becoming increasingly unlikely that she would return to the show.

“Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back,” the manager, David Sonenberg, told the LA Times.

Negotiations have been underway since last season to re-sign Paula, who’s $5-million-a-year deal ends next month.

But speculation is high that the shocking statement is the latest negotiating ploy in the protracted talks.

Sonenberg has been representing Paula only since last month and may have wanted merely to stir up public sympathy for Paula.

It seems to have worked too. “KeepPaula” was the No. 1 topic on Twitter this weekend, according to trend reports.

“Idol” producers declined to respond this weekend.

Ryan Seacrest just signed a deal that tripled his $5-million annual salary to $15 million.

SF Health News Examiner

The investigation into the death of Michael Jackson is being treated as a homicide, and the focus has fallen on Dr. Conrad Murray, the cardiologist who was present at the time Jackson collapsed and died, according to sources cited by TMZ.

The evidence indicates that the 50-year old pop star’s death was the result of the surgical anesthesia drug Propofol, according to law enforcement sources cited by TMZ. Authorities removed several vials of Propofol, some empty, others full, from the singer’s rented Holmby Hills mansion after the incident.

Law enforcement claim that there is “plenty of powerful evidence” pointing to Dr. Murray as the individual who injected Jackson with Propofol. That evidence includes various items found in Jackson’s house, including the Propofol vials, an IV stand and oxygen tank.

Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times, unnamed law enforcement sources confirm that the police found Diprivan at the Jackson residence. Diprivan is the brand name of the powerful surgical sedative that is administered intravenously and is known by its generic name Propofol.

“At the time of the death with search warrants, we were able to seize a number of items from the residence where the death occurred and those will assist in the investigation,” said LAPD Chief Brattan.

Meanwhile, a nurse-nutritionist who worked with Michael Jackson says she interviewed with Los Angeles homicide detectives who informed her that needle marks were discovered on the pop star’s body.

Cherilyn Lee said Tuesday that she told the detectives that she had seen no such “track marks” on Jackson’s arms when she provided vitamins and other supplements earlier this year.

Through his lawyer, Dr. Murray would neither confirm nor deny that his client had administered Propofol to Michael Jackson. TMZ claims to have learned about “multiple conversations” between the LAPD and the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, although the case has yet to be formally presented to the D.A.

Monti Says: Sorry, I couldn’t resist. We need to drive up web traffic

ASSOCIATED PRESS

$8M LAWSUIT CLAIMS SHE DIDN’T PUSH FILM ENOUGH

July 10, 2009

MIAMI — Paris Hilton repeatedly fussed with her hair and makeup in a federal courtroom Friday, sported six-inch stiletto heels and a black dress and amused the judge with a little wave on the way to the witness stand.

Once on the stand, though, Hilton was businesslike when it came to defending herself against an $8 million lawsuit’s claim that she didn’t do her part to promote the 2006 box-office bomb “Pledge This!” She acknowledged in court the movie didn’t turn out very well but insisted she plugged it for everything she was worth.

“If I have my name attached to something, I want it to be as big as it can be,” the 28-year-old heiress, model and actress testified. “It could have been a lot better if it was done more professionally. I wanted it to do as well as possible.”

Hilton is accused by an investor’s lawsuit of turning her back on the film, a box office bomb that made just $2.9 million, at a crucial time when it was being released on DVD and in foreign markets. The lawsuit seeking $8.3 million in damages claims she violated her contract by rejecting or ignoring requests by producers to appear on talk shows and do radio and magazine interviews for the film.

Hilton insisted she was never told her contract required appearances after the October 2006 premiere of “Pledge This!” and said she spent more than two years promoting it beforehand, including two high-profile trips to the Cannes Film Festival in France.

The trial is being heard by Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, who reacted with surprise when Hilton gave him a little wave before testifying. “I’ve never had a witness wave at me before,” the judge cracked.

At one point, Hilton was testifying about how full her schedule was during rehearsals for her next film, 2008′s “The Hottie & The Nottie,” when Moreno interrupted.

“Was it better than this one?” the judge said, referring to “Pledge This!”.

“It was really good,” Hilton answered with a giggle. Along with the heels, Hilton wore an all-black sleeveless dress tied at the back and sported diamond rings and a bracelet.

Testimony was expected to conclude Friday but it was unclear when Moreno would issue a ruling. If he finds Hilton breached her contract, a separate proceeding could be held to determine any damages.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Michael Goldberg, a court-appointed receiver for a now-defunct entertainment company that was the major investor in “Pledge This!” The company, Worldwide Entertainment Group, was shut down as a $300 million Ponzi scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Goldberg is attempting to recoup losses for some 3,300 investors.

Goldberg said Friday he put up the final $600,000 from his receivership account to complete the movie in hopes that Hilton’s promotion prowess would enable it to turn a profit. He said her unwillingness to do events after the premiere was the reason it lost money.

“I said, ‘Just do one little thing and you’ll never hear from me again,’” Goldberg told Moreno. “We had no support whatsoever.”

Jul 1, 9:49 AM (ET)

By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS

NEW YORK (AP) – Gwyneth Paltrow speaks almost perfect Spanish – and she does it with an Iberian accent.
The Oscar-winning actress says she traveled to Spain as a teenager, fell in love with the country, and embraces the culture to the point that she visits at least once a year and makes sure her young children, Apple and Moses, also speak the language.
“When I was 15, I went to a small town outside Talavera de la Reina and I had the most wonderful experience. It really changed my life,” Paltrow said in fluent Spanish during a recent interview.
Paltrow said Spain “became a second home.”
“It is so different from the United States. It seemed to have a history, and the buildings are years and years and years old. Here in the United States an old building is about 17 (years old), and over there it’s from 500 B.C., it’s incredible,” she said.
“Also, the way people live over there. They seem to enjoy life a little bit more. They aren’t running around as much as in New York. They enjoy time with the family. They don’t always have their Blackberries on.”
Paltrow remains close to the family she lived with in Spain, calling them “my Spanish mother” and “my brothers” from Spain. Her success as an actress, she says, hasn’t impressed them.
The 36-year-old actress, who is married to Coldplay’s Chris Martin, says she talks to her children in Spanish.
“Moses speaks a little bit, but understands everything. Apple speaks a lot,” she says.
Paltrow shot “Spain … on the Road Again” with chef Mario Batali, cooking expert Mark Bittman and actress Claudia Bassols. They traveled throughout the country, sampling traditional foods and praising the virtues of Spain, its people and cuisine.
She’s also writing a book on U.S. cuisine with Spanish influence that is due out next year.
” … I love food, I love to eat,” she says. “I can’t go on diets. I have to do a lot of exercise.”
She also enjoys Mexican, Italian and Japanese food.
“I’m always playing with different flavors. If I remember a phenomenal meal I had in a country, I think of its ingredients, and how I can make it in my own kitchen.”
Paltrow recently launched a Spanish-language version of her Web site, GOOP.com, a weekly bulletin in which she writes on topics ranging from health advice and travel to fashion and cooking. Contributors include Madonna, Steven Spielberg and Deepak Chopra.
Has she considered acting in Spanish?
“I would love to. I haven’t found the script yet, but the first (movie) would have to be a small role, not very important, because I imagine I would have to get used to acting in Spanish,” she says.
Paltrow says she’d like to work with Spanish directors Pedro Almodovar and Alejandro Amenabar and Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. And she says she would like to work again with Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron, who directed her in 1998′s “Great Expectations.”
She is now shooting “Iron Man 2,” in which she reprises her role as Pepper Potts.
“We’re all back together: Robert Downey, Jon Favreau, the director. And Scarlett Johansson is with us, Mickey Rourke. … It’s a phenomenal group, we are having a great time.”

Perhaps the funeral will be more revealing than the news media…

Courtesy of PD blog

Since Michael Jackson’s death last week, there has been tribute after tribute, recognizing his talent and incredible professional accomplishments. The news media also has mentioned troubles in his personal life. What is noticeable missing is the mainstream nightly news media–as far as I know–is the mention of his reported conversion to Islam last November. If it has been mentioned, I suspect it has not received much coverage.

Generally, conversion to any religion is an enormous step in someone’s life–a transforming event to say the least. It usually is not entered into lightly, as there are many changes that accompany it. While a momentous occasion, it can be fraught with challenges such as the loss of family, friends and even employment.

Michael Jackson’s conversion is disputed. Clearly, he was exposed to Islam and Islamic readings as discussed in a YouTube video about his brother Jermaine who converted to Islam 20 years ago. Songs purportedly sung by Michael Jackson about Allaah (swt) also are circulating.

Some comments have been made that if he were Muslim, why is he having a Christian funeral. While state law varies, it appears that under California law his parents can decide what type of funeral to arrange.

Moreover, the fact that he may have been quiet about his conversion is not particularly surprising. I have known converts who waited quite some time before telling family, friends, and/or work associates that they had converted. And not every convert jumps in 100 percent. Many enter slowly into Islam, gradually increasing their practice before it is widely known that they are Muslim.

It appears that Michael Jackson has made no clear statement about his conversion one way or another. Only Allaah (swt) knows the truth about his status when he died.

Even with the controversy surrounding his religious affiliation, that–in and of itself–is newsworthy and deserves some mention by the US nightly news stations. I wonder if Michael Jackson purportedly had become a Scientologist in the year before he died whether that would have received more coverage.

Copyright 2009 Examiner.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

morons at the NEW YORK TIMES and Amnesty International!

AMERICAN THINKER  

June 30, 2009

Rick Moran

 
The New York Times called it “torture porn.” But audiences at the Los Angeles Film Festival had a different take; they named the controversial film “Best Feature” at the gathering.

Dennis Pragerwriting at Townhall has some thoughts about the film and conservative complaints about Hollywood:

Yet, now, released as if by Providence the week after the fraudulent elections in Iran and the suppression and murder of Iranian dissidents, is a film about the nature of the radical Muslims who govern Iran. Titled “The Stoning of Soraya M.,” the film depicts events based on the true story of a woman stoned to death in a rural village in Iran in 1986 for allegedly committing adultery.

If you want to understand the type of people who run Iran, see this film. If you want to understand why men and women risk their lives to demonstrate against the fascist theocracy that rules Iran, see this film. The film is about the type of people who become “supreme leader” (Ali Khamanei) or president of Iran (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad). It is about their mendacity, their use of religion to commit barbarity, and, of course, their despicable treatment of women.

Many of us lament Hollywood’s lack of courage, its lack of moral seriousness, and its political correctness. Here, then, is a courageous, morally deep, and politically incorrect film that mainstream reviewers — as cited above — have lavished praise on. It should be the ideal film for serious Americans who properly complain about Hollywood’s offerings. But if a riveting drama with a courageous theme, Oscar-level acting, which is as relevant as today’s headlines, fails at the box office, Hollywood will have been vindicated.

It therefore seems clear to me that those who do not see this film have forfeited the right to complain about Hollywood.

Prager informs us the film is opposed by Amnesty International because, according to them, they are already fighting these practices so the film is unnecessary. Unintentional humor is a strong suit of AI and their disregard of “Stoning” only makes their illogic more amusing.

The film will not get wide release but keep an eye out at your local artsy type movie house. There will also be showings at a lot of churches. Any way you can, I would urge you to see this powerful, maddening film.

ENORMOUS MONEY
SIMON OFFERED $144 MIL A YEAR TO STAY ON ‘IDOL’

New York Post 
By MAXINE SHEN
June 30, 2009
 

EARLY salary figures from Simon Cowell’s “American Idol” contract negotiations are leaking out and they’re eye-popping.

Cowell, who reportedly made $36 million last year for judging the hit competition show, has been offered three or four times that amount — between $100 million and $144 million per year — by co-producers Fox and 19 Entertainment to stick with “Idol” when his contract expires next May, according to The Guardian, a London newpaper.

Fox declined yesterday to comment about the salary negotiations.

While $36 million may seem like a lot of money for five months worth of snarky comments and eye-rolls, it’s only a fraction of the estimated $900 million that “Idol” rakes in a year. As the lynchpin of the show — without him there would be no one to hate and no dramatic tension with Paula Abdul — Cowell believes he’s due for a raise.

To get more of the pie, he’s been leaning on long-time friend and UK retail multibillionaire Sir Philip Green — who owns hot fashion franchise Top Shop — for help negotiating the terms of what would be a new “Idol” contract, reports say. Green is said to be lobbying hard for an increase in Cowell’s appearance fee on the show.

Sources close to the two friends say that this is just the first step to the creation of an international TV production, talent management and merchandising company, which would put Cowell in a position to actually make money off his ideas and the talent he discovers, not just reap a salary for having his mug on screen.

“This is about properly owning himself, Brand Cowell, everything he does, new formats and new programs, not just the ones starring him,” a source close to Green told The Guardian.

Entertainment wiz Cowell, who signed international “popera” act Il Divo, is likely to run the creative end while Green, Britain’s ninth wealthiest person, will focus on financial issues.

“Idol” is only one of Cowell’s TV contracts which are on the verge of expiring. His three-year deal, which spawned hits “Britain’s Got Talent” and “The X-Factor,” with UK’s ITV, ends this year.

Audio Available:

June 29, 2009 – 11:58 ET

RELATED STORY ‘Infomercial King’ Billy Mays dead

GLENN: I don’t need all of them. Just give me one.

STU: I think his most important ad ‑‑ I’m not going to attempt to play it here. God only knows if any of this stuff’s going to work. But his most important ad I believe was, of course, his attempt to do what Barack Obama’s doing and solve our health insurance problem.

GLENN: Go ahead. It’s not working.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MAYS: Hi, Billy Mays here to share with you the most important product I have ever endured, access to affordable health insurance for everyone. If you are one of the 47 million uninsured, call now. We can help. And if you are one of the millions dissatisfied with the current health insurance ‑‑

GLENN: Stop just a second.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GLENN: I think this guy ‑‑ turn that off, Stu. I think this guy is, he’s absolutely more credible or was more credible than any member of congress, I really do. I get my healthcare ‑‑ that’s what they should have done: Hi, Billy Mays for cap and trade. I think they should have gone down the cap and trade road. I think he should have been the pitchman for congress. Their approval ratings probably would have gone up. And you could have everybody watching TV in the middle of the night and they’re like, I don’t know, that cap and trade thing, I think we should try it; I saw a 30 minute commercial just last night. It was great, I couldn’t sleep and I think cap and trade, I think I have to have it. And he’s, already he’s cut from the same cloth as Barack Obama: And if you act now, I’ll also…

STU: But you must act now.

GLENN: But you must act now.

STU: Don’t worry about the consequences.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Act now.

GLENN: Six payments, eight payments, whatever it is. But act now. I think ‑‑

STU: I think this is a good analogy.

GLENN: I’m just saying.

STU: If you remember Al Gore spent, what, hundreds of millions of dollars on the widest, what was it, mass ‑‑ what was the wording, Glenn, of this? Mass ‑‑

GLENN: Campaign?

STU: Sort of mass ‑‑

GLENN: Indoctrination?

STU: Sure. And whenever he was doing that and he spent hundreds of millions of dollars and the polls actually went down after he did it. If Billy Mays were pitching it, not only would the approval ratings go up but they would sell a ton of Oxiclean. At the same time.

GLENN: I’m just ‑‑ hi, Billy Mays for the environment. Environment dirty? Air not clean? Use Oxiclean. I think we could do it. It would make as much sense as the cap and trade.

By the way, we have the numbers and the names of the people that voted for cap and trade. Let me just start with the eight GOPers that went ahead and said yes to cap and trade. Here are the people that you need to campaign against. Who would have thought Sonny Bono’s wife would have gone bad, huh? Mary Bono Mack from California, she’s done. Mike Castle, Delaware ‑‑ see if you notice a trend here. Mary Bono Mack voted yes for cap and trade as a Republican. She’s from California. Mike Castle voted yes. He’s a Republican from Delaware. Mark Kirk from Illinois, he’s a Republican. Leonard Lance, he’s a Republican from New Jersey. Frank LoBiondo, he’s from New Jersey. He’s a Republican. John McHugh from New York. Dave Reichert from Washington State and Chris Smith from New Jersey. Look at that.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Washington State, California, New Jersey, New York, Illinois. That’s where all the GOP support came from.

STU: And remember with these eight people who voted for this ‑‑

GLENN: They only needed one, right?

STU: Well, I mean, what was it, 219‑212? They needed more than one, right? The rumor is, of course, if they didn’t have some of these Republicans voting for them, the Democrats would have switched which just shows you what a bunch of dirtbags all these people are.

GLENN: They said they made deals with Nancy Pelosi that said if you need the vote, I’ll vote for it but if not, I’m going to vote against it which means to me throw them all out. Throw every single one of them out. But if you’ve been reading Common Sense, you know how difficult that is now. You know how almost impossible, because of the way both Republicans and Democrats have structured the system. They have played games. It’s ‑‑ you know, we’ve talked about gerrymandering before and it’s almost like this, “Yeah, the gerrymandering,” and nobody really understands what it is. We lay it all out in Common Sense, and it is the reason why we have ‑‑ have you ever noticed it’s like Bible‑thumping preachers with guns, you know, on both hips or it’s on fire ‑‑ it’s liberals that make ‑‑ that embarrass Jane Fonda they are so far left. How does that happen? I don’t know those people. Do you? It’s because of gerrymandering. Literally there are places in our country where you can ‑‑ there’s a street, and half of the street is for the ‑‑ is for one congressional district and the other half is for another congressional district. Our founding fathers did not do it that way. They built the system so people would have to have a mix of people in there, it would become ‑‑ everybody would be more moderate but instead we have these sharp left and right because they’ve gerrymandered their district. It’s almost impossible to get these guys out. And we’ve got to get them out. And if you look at the analysis of who voted for it, for cap and trade, it wasn’t ‑‑ I mean, we have all of the names. You want to know what you need to do? You need to campaign against these people. You need to make sure that these people send a message to their colleagues in the Senate, “Don’t vote for cap and trade.” Now’s the time to do it. Because they voted and they think you’re going to forget. “Make sure they understand you’re blanketing with flyers. I want you to know this is what your congressman just did.” This is so critical because ‑‑ we’ll get into it later ‑‑ not because of the insanity that is in this bill but the fact that it was all special interest and, more importantly, it is the structure. We’ve got to stop paying attention to these bills the way we’ve been doing it. We need to look at the structure. The power is being grabbed left and right. The system is being overwhelmed. They are not 1300 pages for no reason. They are 1300 pages with an additional 300 pages because they are burying things. What is it that they are burying? They are burying structure changes. They are taking our republic and they are changing the structure of it. They are adding new departments and new overseers, people that answer to the president, people that don’t answer to congress, people that don’t have to be confirmed anymore. That’s what’s happening. It’s not just about cap and trade. Again, this is an illusion. This guy is, Barack Obama ‑‑ you know, I had somebody tell me this. I had somebody tell me this and I don’t know if I’ve said this on the air and I don’t know if I’ve credited him. So I better not because I don’t remember how it was said to me if not at this point. But somebody who you would respect said to me, “We are looking at a president that is the closest to Thomas Jefferson we’ve ever had.” And I said, wow, that’s a slam on Thomas Jefferson. And he said, no, he understands architecture. He knows what he’s doing. This guy is very, very smart. And I agree with him.

Now, I don’t know if he’s the architect of this, but somebody is an architect of ‑‑ this is not happenstance. There are massive changes coming our way, and people don’t really understand it yet. But massive changes have happened already.

ED ROBINSON
June 28, 2009

An autopsy on Michael Jackson revealed that the King of Pop’s emaciated body was riddled with needle marks, scars and broken ribs , it was reported today.

Jackson had also lost virtually all of his hair, according to the report in the London Sun.

Jackson’s body had wasted away to 112 pounds and his stomach was empty except for partially dissolved pills, according to the paper.

His hips, thighs and shoulders were filled with needle wounds, believed to have come from shots of painkillers.

Three injections had penetrated and damaged his heart wall, while a fourth struck his ribs, the paper reported.

He also sustained several broken ribs while authorities administered CPR during his final moments on Thursday.

Jackson was wearing a wig when he died and his hair was reduced to “peach fuzz,” with one spot above his left ear scarred and completely bald–the aparent result of burns sustained, when his hair caught fire while filming a 1984 Pepsi ad.

Jackson has had two autopsies performed on him. One by the Los Angeles coroner and a private autopsy requested by the family.

The details leaked to The Sun ecame from the official autopsy.

Let’s not forget the girl next door.

Amid all the ululation for Michael Jackson, arguably the most squalid icon in the history of American civilization, let’s not forget to pay heed–and tribute–to Farrah Fawcett. She was an icon too, of a more primordial sort, in that we gazed upon her in a version of awe–OK, some of us did … specifically, all those who were male and aged between 13 and 21 in the mid-1970s, and in any part of the world blessed with walls and adhesive tape–worshiping her image as we sought life’s meaning.

In the 1970s, Farrah Fawcett embodied a certain vision of America, one embraced not merely by her American contemporaries, but by all those in other countries who watched America for signs and gestures–indeed, for rays of light. I say this with only a trace of exaggeration: Farrah Fawcett was, in her heyday, a most potent ambassador for America, without so much as setting foot in many of the countries where she had her seismic cultural impact.

I’m talking, of course, about The Poster from 1976, of which, as Texas Monthly once reported, 12 million copies have sold worldwide. (If the image hasn’t quite attained the status of Che Guevara’s, it’s because most guys don’t normally wear T-shirts with women on them.) Farrah Fawcett’s poster, ineradicably luminous, irrefutably subversive, gave young males in joyless places–India, Egypt, Poland, Turkey, the Argentina and Chile of the generals, the barely post-Franco Spain, the dingy, strike-ridden Britain of James Callaghan, repressive South Africa, Catholic Ireland, seething Indonesia, robotic Japan and Singapore–a priceless vision of America, and of American happiness. That one poster did more for America’s image abroad–and for a sturdy Amerophilia–than all the U.S. embassies and State Department initiatives of the time put together.

Like millions of other boys of the time, I had my own relationship with Farrah Fawcett. Our little dormitory of five 15-year-olds in a boarding school in Rajasthan, in India, acquired a copy of the poster in 1977. We were the only ones to possess a copy in our house, and so our dorm became a magnet for boys who wished to come and gaze at Farrah Fawcett-Majors, as she then was. We uttered her name in full–FarrahFawcettMajors–and never said just “Farrah” (which, to our Indian ears, sounded too much like the name of the wife of the Shah of Iran). Our housemaster had a no-bikini rule for posters in dorms (nude posters on the wall would have led to immediate caning and confiscation); and yet, on his rounds, when he chanced upon our poster of Farrah Fawcett–in which, as you know, she wears a red, one-piece bathing suit–he asked us curtly to take it down.

Since even brutal boarding schools have a semblance of the rule of law, we pointed out that this was inconsistent with the housemaster’s own rule, which proscribed only bikinis. The housemaster (Birdy, we called him) was not an unreasonable man; he conceded the technical point and let us keep the poster up–warning us, instead, and in face-saving generality, not to be “bad chaps.” (To be sure, he was likely disconcerted by the one feature of the poster that is as eye-catching as Farrah Fawcett’s hair, and which reveals itself upon closer inspection.) And so, Farrah Fawcett offered us a small escape from the limits and suffocations of our Indian boys’ boarding school–and of the wider pruderies of Indian society–until some thieving scalawag made off with the poster halfway through term, leaving us bereft.

Farrah Fawcett was the perfect practitioner of that most prized of American feminine arts: that of semi-wholesomeness. She was lithe and sexy without being flagrant or debased, or–the biggest no-no of all–sexually threatening. She had an utterly American sense of openness and fun, with a smile that suggested that life was fundamentally good and full of promise, that anything could happen (and that a few really fun things certainly would). Imagine the impact of her image, and subliminal message, in the towns and cities of sterile societies where the pursuit of happiness was not part of political scripture.

The contrast between Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson could not be clearer. He was a grotesque, and in every way. He’s an American icon in spite of his fondness for small boys, his skin-whitening and his general lunacy. So where does that leave us? Ululating for a Martian, and brushing aside the girl next door.

Or, put another way, celebrating our own decline.

TAMPA, Fla. – Billy Mays, the burly, bearded television pitchman whose boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean made him a pop-culture icon, has died. He was 50.

Tampa police said Mays was found unresponsive by his wife Sunday morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m.

There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play, said Lt. Brian Dugan of the Tampa Police Department, who wouldn’t answer any more questions about how Mays’ body was found because of the ongoing investigation. The coroner’s office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.

Mays’ wife, Deborah Mays, told investigators that her husband had complained he didn’t feel well before he went to bed some time after 10 p.m. Saturday night, Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

“Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days,” Deborah Mays said in a statement Sunday. “Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times.”

U.S. Airways confirmed Sunday that Mays was among the passengers on a flight that made a rough landing on Saturday afternoon at Tampa International Airport, leaving debris on the runway after apparently blowing its front tires.

Tampa Bay’s Fox television affiliate interviewed Mays after the incident.

“All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping,” MyFox Tampa Bay quoted him as saying. “It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head.”

McElroy said linking Mays’ death to the rough landing Saturday afternoon would “purely be speculation.” She said Mays’ family members didn’t report any health issues with the pitchman, but they said he was due to have hip replacement surgery in the coming weeks.

Born William Mays in McKees Rocks, Pa., on July 20, 1958, Mays developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other “as seen on TV” gadgets on Atlantic City’s boardwalk. For years he worked as a hired gun on the state fair and home show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.

After meeting Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, Mays was recruited to demonstrate the environmentally friendly line of cleaning products on the St. Petersburg-based Home Shopping Network.

Commercials and informercials followed, anchored by the high-energy Mays showing how it’s done while tossing out kitschy phrases like, “Long live your laundry!”

Recently he’s been seen on commercials for a wide variety of products and is featured on the reality TV show “Pitchmen” on the Discovery Channel, which follows Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs. He’s also been seen in ESPN ads.

His ubiquitousness and thumbs-up, in-your-face pitches won Mays plenty of fans. People line up at his personal appearances for autographed color glossies, and strangers stop him in airports to chat about the products.

“I enjoy what I do,” Mays told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. “I think it shows.”

Mays liked to tell the story of giving bottles of OxiClean to the 300 guests at his wedding, and doing his ad spiel (“powered by the air we breathe!”) on the dance floor at the reception. Visitors to his house typically got bottles of cleaner and housekeeping tips.

As part of “Pitchmen,” Mays and Sullivan showed viewers new gadgets such as the Impact Gel shoe insert; the Tool Band-it, a magnetized armband that holds tools; and the Soft Buns portable seat cushion.

“One of the things that we hope to do with ‘Pitchmen’ is to give people an appreciation of what we do,” Mays told The Tampa Tribune in an interview in April. “I don’t take on a product unless I believe in it. I use everything that I sell.”

Discovery Channel spokeswoman Elizabeth Hillman released a statement Sunday extending sympathy to the Mays family.

“Everyone that knows him was aware of his larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth,” Hillman’s statement said. “Billy was a pioneer in his field and helped many people fulfill their dreams. He will be greatly missed as a loyal and compassionate friend.”

BBC NEWS

Page last updated at 11:05 GMT, Sunday, 28 June 2009 12:05 UK

Jackson family left ‘speechless and devastated’ by star’s death

Los Angeles police investigating the death of Michael Jackson say they have carried out an “extensive interview” with his doctor, Conrad Murray.

Dr Murray – who was with the singer when he collapsed last Thursday – had provided information that “will aid the investigation”, the police said.

A spokeswoman for Dr Murray insisted he was not a suspect in the case.

Michael Jackson’s family are said to be seeking a second autopsy because they still have questions about his death.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office said there was no evidence of foul play after an autopsy on Friday, but gave no cause of death.

It said the results of toxicology tests could take weeks to come back.

A spokesman for the coroner’s office said Jackson had taken “some prescription medication”, without specifying which.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the 50-year-old singer had been taking a daily dose of Demerol, a painkiller also widely known as pethidine.

A woman who worked for Jackson for 17 years – 12 of those as nanny to his children – is quoted as saying he took combinations of drugs.

“I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it,” Grace Rwaramba, 42, said in remarks reported by the Sunday Times.

“There was one period that it was so bad that I didn’t let the children see him.”

Jackson’s body was released to the family on Friday night.

‘No way a suspect’

A spokeswoman for Dr Murray said he had been interviewed for three hours by police on Saturday.

Dr Murray is doing all he can to help the inquiry, his spokeswoman says

Miranda Sevcik said the doctor had “helped identify the circumstances around the death of the pop icon and clarified some inconsistencies”.

“Investigators said the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy,” she said.

She told the BBC Dr Murray “feels so deeply about his relationship with Michael Jackson that anything he can do to help this investigation come to a resolution, he is doing”.

She said Dr Murray had travelled in the ambulance with Jackson after he collapsed last Thursday, had stayed for hours at the hospital comforting the family and would stay in Los Angeles to help with the police inquiry.

Dr Murray had been hired by Jackson in May to accompany him as he prepared to embark on a gruelling series of 50 concerts in London in July.

The 51-year-old doctor is said to have tried to resuscitate Jackson until the paramedics arrived.

‘Darkest moment’

Earlier, veteran politician Rev Jesse Jackson, who has been counselling the family, said they had a flurry of questions of their own for Dr Murray.

“When did the doctor come? What did he do? Did they inject him, if so with what?” he said.

MICHAEL JACKSON 1958-2009 Full name: Michael Joseph Jackson Born: August 29, 1958, Gary, Indiana, US Also known as: The King of Pop, Wacko Jacko Biggest hits: I Want You Back, Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough, Billie Jean, Bad, Black or White, Earth Song Sold:750 million albums Earned:$700 million (estimated) Obituary: Remarkable talent Twelve facts about Michael Jackson LA fans commemorate ‘hero’

The civil rights leader claimed Dr Murray had gone missing in the hours following the singer’s death, which raised “questions of substance that will not go away until they are answered”.

“He owes it to the family and to the public to say: ‘These were the last hours of Michael’s life and here’s what happened’.”

He said the family were “clearly not satisfied” with the results of the autopsy so far, “that’s why there’s been the concern about an independent autopsy… which anybody would recommend in these circumstances”.

Michael Jackson’s father Joseph described his son’s death as “one of the darkest moments of our lives”.

“It leaves us, his family, speechless and devastated to a point where communication with the outside world seems almost impossible at times,” he said in a statement.

There has been a huge outpouring of grief from fans, and tributes have been paid around the world since news of his death broke.

Sunday’s Black Entertainment Awards show has been turned into a tribute show for Jackson with stars such as Beyonce re-working their performances in honour of the singer.

//

By Ian Halperin

Last updated at 9:13 AM on 28th June 2009

• Genetic condition had ruined his lungs and left him unable to sing
• He became so skeletal, doctors believed he was anorexic
• He had nightmares about being murdered – and wanted to die
• He used swine flu as an excuse to avoid coming to England
• He thought he was agreeing to 10 concerts – it was 50

Whatever  the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Had he not been driven – by a cabal of bankers, agents, doctors and advisers – to commit to the gruelling 50 concerts in London’s O2 Arena, I believe he would still be alive today.

During the last weeks and months of his life, Jackson made desperate attempts to prepare for the concert series scheduled for next month – a series that would have earned millions for the singer and his entourage, but which he could never have completed, not mentally, and not physically.

Ailing: Michael Jackson may have worn a mask in public to protect his diseased lungs

Michael knew it and his advisers knew it. Anyone who caught even a fleeting glimpse of the frail old man hiding beneath the costumes and cosmetics would have understood that the London tour was madness. For Michael Jackson, it was fatal.

I had more than a glimpse of the real Michael; as an award-winning freelance journalist and film-maker, I spent more than five years inside his ‘camp’.

Many in his entourage spoke frankly to me – and that made it possible for me to write authoritatively last December that Michael had six months to live, a claim that, at the time, his official spokesman, Dr Tohme Tohme, called a ‘complete fabrication’. The singer, he told the world, was in ‘fine health’. Six months and one day later, Jackson was dead.

Some liked to snigger at his public image, and it is true that flamboyant clothes and bizarre make-up made for a comic grotesque; yet without them, his appearance was distressing; with skin blemishes, thinning hair and discoloured fingernails.

I had established beyond doubt, for example, that Jackson relied on an extensive collection of wigs to hide his greying hair. Shorn of their luxuriance, the Peter Pan of Neverland cut a skeletal figure.

It was clear that he was in no condition to do a single concert, let alone 50. He could no longer sing, for a start. On some days he could barely talk. He could no longer dance. Disaster was looming in London and, in the opinion of his closest confidantes, he was feeling suicidal.

To understand why a singer of Jackson’s fragility would even think about travelling to London, we need to go back to June 13, 2005, when my involvement in his story began.

As a breaking news alert flashed on CNN announcing that the jury had reached a verdict in Jackson’s trial for allegedly molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch in California, I knew that history had been made but that Michael Jackson had been broken – irrevocably so, as it proved.

Nor was it the first time that Michael had been accused of impropriety with young boys. Little more than a decade earlier, another 13-year-old, Jordan Chandler, made similar accusations in a case that was eventually settled before trial – but not before the damage had been done to Jackson’s reputation.

Frail: In a wheelchair last year, Michael Jackson looked in no state to perform 50 tough gigs

Michael had not helped his case. Appearing in a documentary with British broadcaster Martin Bashir, he not only admitted that he liked to share a bed with teenagers, mainly boys, in pyjamas, but showed no sign of understanding why anyone might be legitimately concerned.

I had started my investigation convinced that Jackson was guilty. By the end, I no longer believed that.

I could not find a single shred of evidence suggesting that Jackson had molested a child. But I found significant evidence demonstrating that most, if not all, of his accusers lacked credibility and were motivated primarily by money.

Jackson also deserved much of the blame, of course. Continuing to share a bed with children even after the suspicions surfaced bordered on criminal stupidity.

He was also playing a truly dangerous game. It is clear to me that Michael was homosexual and that his taste was for young men, albeit not as young as Jordan Chandler or Gavin Arvizo.

In the course of my investigations, I spoke to two of his gay lovers, one a Hollywood waiter, the other an aspiring actor. The waiter had remained friends, perhaps more, with the singer until his death last week. He had served Jackson at a restaurant, Jackson made his interest plain and the two slept together the following night. According to the waiter, Jackson fell in love.

The actor, who has been given solid but uninspiring film parts, saw Jackson in the middle of 2007. He told me they had spent nearly every night together during their affair – an easy claim to make, you might think. But this lover produced corroboration in the form of photographs of the two of them together, and a witness.

Other witnesses speak of strings of young men visiting his house at all hours, even in the period of his decline. Some stayed overnight.

When Jackson lived in Las Vegas, one of his closest aides told how he would sneak off to a ‘grungy, rat-infested’ motel – often dressed as a woman to disguise his identity – to meet a male construction worker he had fallen in love with.

Jackson was acquitted in the Arvizo case, dramatically so, but the effect on his mental state was ruinous. Sources close to him suggest he was close to complete nervous breakdown.

Death scene: The rented home in Bel Air where Michael Jackson passed away

The ordeal had left him physically shattered, too. One of my sources suggested that he might already have had a genetic condition I had never previously come across, called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency – the lack of a protein that can help protect the lungs.

Although up to 100,000 Americans are severely affected by it, it is an under-recognised condition. Michael was receiving regular injections of Alpha-1 antitrypsin derived from human plasma. The treatment is said to be remarkably effective and can enable the sufferer to lead a normal life.

But the disease can cause respiratory problems and, in severe cases, emphysema. Could this be why Jackson had for years been wearing a surgical mask in public, to protect his lungs from the ravages of the disease? Or why, from time to time, he resorted to a wheelchair? When I returned to my source inside the Jackson camp for confirmation, he said: ‘Yeah, that’s what he’s got. He’s in bad shape. They’re worried that he might need a lung transplant but he may be too weak.

‘Some days he can hardly see and he’s having a lot of trouble walking.’

Even Michael Jackson’s legendary wealth was in sharp decline. Just a few days before he announced his 50-concert comeback at the O2 Arena, one of my sources told me Jackson had been offered £1.8million to perform at a party for a Russian billionaire on the Black Sea.

‘Is he up to it?’ I had asked.

‘He has no choice. He needs the money. His people are pushing him hard,’ said the source.

Could he even stand on a stage for an hour concert?

‘He can stand. The treatments have been successful. He can even dance once he gets in better shape. He just can’t sing,’ said the aide, adding that Jackson would have to lip-synch to get through the performance. ‘Nobody will care, as long as he shows up and moonwalks.’

He also revealed Jackson had been offered well over £60million to play Las Vegas for six months.  ‘He said no, but his people are trying to force it on him. He’s that close to losing everything,’ said the source.

Forced: Michael Jackson thought he was agreeing to 10 concerts at London’s O2 Arena not 50

Indeed, by all accounts Jackson’s finances were in a shambles. The Arvizo trial itself was a relative bargain, costing a little more than £18million in legal bills.

But the damage to his career, already in trouble before the charges, was incalculable. After the Arvizo trial, a Bahraini sheikh allowed Jackson to stay in his palace, underwriting his lavish lifestyle. But a few years later, the prince sued his former guest, demanding repayment for his hospitality. Jackson claimed he thought it had been a gift.

Roger Friedman, a TV journalist, said: ‘For one year, the prince underwrote Jackson’s life in Bahrain – everything including accommodation, guests, security and transportation. And what did Jackson do? He left for Japan and then Ireland. He took the money and moonwalked right out the door. This is the real Michael Jackson. He has never returned a phone call from the prince since he left Bahrain.’

Although Jackson settled with the sheikh on the eve of the trial that would have aired his financial dirty laundry, the settlement only put him that much deeper into the hole. A hole that kept getting bigger, but that was guaranteed by Jackson’s half ownership of the copyrights to The Beatles catalogue. He owned them in a joint venture with record company Sony, which have kept him from bankruptcy.

‘Jackson is in hock to Sony for hundreds of millions,’ a source told me a couple of months ago. ‘No bank will give him any money so Sony have been paying his bills.

‘The trouble is that he hasn’t been meeting his obligations. Sony have been in a position for more than a year where it can repossess Michael’s share of the [Beatles] catalogue. That’s always been Sony’s dream scenario, full ownership.

‘But they don’t want to do it as they’re afraid of a backlash from his fans. Their nightmare is an organised ‘boycott Sony’ movement worldwide, which could prove hugely costly. It is the only thing standing between Michael and bankruptcy.’

Legacy: Michael Jackson wanted to ensure the future of his children by leaving them 200 unpublished songs

The source aid at the time that the scheduled London concerts wouldn’t clear Jackson’s debts – estimated at almost £242million – but they would allow him to get them under control and get him out of default with Sony.

According to two sources in Jackson’s camp, the singer put in place a contingency plan to ensure his children would be well taken care of in the event of bankruptcy.

‘He has as many as 200 unpublished songs that he is planning to leave behind for his children when he dies. They can’t be touched by the creditors, but they could be worth as much as £60million that will ensure his kids a comfortable existence no matter what happens,’ one of his collaborators revealed.

But for the circle of handlers who surrounded Jackson during his final years, their golden goose could not be allowed to run dry. Bankruptcy was not an option.

These, after all, were not the handlers who had seen him through the aftermath of the Arvizo trial and who had been protecting his fragile emotional health to the best of their ability. They were gone, and a new set of advisers was in place.

The clearout had apparently been engineered by his children’s nanny, Grace Rwaramba, who was gaining considerable influence over Jackson and his affairs and has been described as the ‘queen bee’ by those around Jackson.

Rwaramba had ties to the black militant organisation, the Nation of Islam, and its controversial leader, Louis Farrakhan, whom she enlisted for help in running Jackson’s affairs.

Before long, the Nation was supplying Jackson’s security detail and Farrakhan’s son-in-law, Leonard Muhammad, was appointed as Jackson’s business manager, though his role has lessened significantly in recent years.

In late 2008, a shadowy figure who called himself Dr Tohme Tohme suddenly emerged as Jackson’s ‘official spokesman’.

Tohme has been alternately described as a Saudi Arabian billionaire and an orthopaedic surgeon, but he is actually a Lebanese businessman who does not have a medical licence. At one point, Tohme claimed he was an ambassador at large for Senegal, but the Senegalese embassy said they had never heard of him.

Misguided: Michael Jackson showed no sign of understanding why anyone might be legitimately concerned about him sharing a bed with young boys

Tohme’s own ties to the Nation of Islam came to light in March 2009, when New York auctioneer Darren Julien was conducting an auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia.

Julien filed an affidavit in Los Angeles Superior Court that month in which he described a meeting he had with Tohme’s business partner, James R. Weller. According to Julien’s account, ‘Weller said if we refused to postpone [the auction], we would be in danger from ‘Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam; those people are very protective of Michael’.

He told us that Dr Tohme and Michael Jackson wanted to give the message to us that ‘our lives are at stake and there will be bloodshed’.’

A month after these alleged threats, Tohme accompanied Jackson to a meeting at a Las Vegas hotel with Randy Phillips, chief executive of the AEG Group, to finalise plans for Jackson’s return to the concert stage.

Jackson’s handlers had twice before said no to Phillips. This time, with Tohme acting as his confidant, Jackson left the room agreeing to perform ten concerts at the O2.

Before long, however, ten concerts had turned into 50 and the potential revenues had skyrocketed. ‘The vultures who were pulling his strings somehow managed to put this concert extravaganza together behind his back, then presented it to him as a fait accompli,’ said one aide.

‘The money was just unbelievable and all his financial people were telling him he was facing bankruptcy. But Michael still resisted. He didn’t think he could pull it off.’

Eventually, they wore him down, the aide explained, but not with the money argument.

‘They told him that this would be the greatest comeback the world had ever known. That’s what convinced him. He thought if he could emerge triumphantly from the success of these concerts, he could be the King again.’

The financial details of the O2 concerts are still murky, though various sources have revealed that Jackson was paid as much as £10million in advance, most of which went to the middlemen. But Jackson could have received as much as £100million had the concerts gone ahead.

It is worth noting that the O2 Arena has the most sophisticated lip synching technology in the world – a particular attraction for a singer who can no longer sing. Had, by some miracle, the concerts gone ahead, Jackson’s personal contribution could have been limited to just 13 minutes for each performance. The rest was to have been choreography and lights.

‘We knew it was a disaster waiting to happen,’ said one aide. ‘I don’t think anybody predicted it would actually kill him but nobody believed he would end up performing.’

Their doubts were underscored when Jackson collapsed during only his second rehearsal.

Hidden life: It was ‘clear Michael Jackson was gay’ but he married twice, firstly to Lisa Marie Presley, above

‘Collapse might be overstating it,’ said the aide. ‘He needed medical attention and couldn’t go on. I’m not sure what caused it.’

Meanwhile, everybody around him noticed that Jackson had lost an astonishing amount of weight in recent months. His medical team even believed he was anorexic.

‘He goes days at a time hardly eating a thing and at one point his doctor was asking people if he had been throwing up after meals,’ one staff member told me in May.

‘He suspected bulimia but when we said he hardly eats any meals, the doc thought it was probably anorexia. He seemed alarmed and at one point said, ‘People die from that all the time. You’ve got to get him to eat.’’

Indeed, one known consequence of anorexia is cardiac arrest.

After spotting him leave one rehearsal, Fox News reported that ‘Michael Jackson’s skeletal physique is so bad that he might not be able to moonwalk any more’.

On May 20 this year, AEG suddenly announced that the first London shows had been delayed for five days while the remainder had been pushed back until March 2010. At the time, they denied that the postponements were health-related, explaining that they needed more time to mount the technically complex production, though scepticism immediately erupted. It was well placed.

Behind the scenes, Jackson was in rapid decline. According to a member of his staff, he was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of the London concerts.

‘He wasn’t eating, he wasn’t sleeping and, when he did sleep, he had nightmares that he was going to be murdered. He was deeply worried that he was going to disappoint his fans. He even said something that made me briefly think he was suicidal. He said he thought he’d die before doing the London concerts.

‘He said he was worried that he was going to end up like Elvis. He was always comparing himself to Elvis, but there was something in his tone that made me think that he wanted to die, he was tired of life. He gave up. His voice and dance moves weren’t there any more. I think maybe he wanted to die rather than embarrass himself on stage.’

The most obvious comparison between the King of Pop and the King of Rock ’n’ Roll was their prescription drug habits, which in Jackson’s case had significantly intensified in his final months.

‘He is surrounded by enablers,’ said one aide. ‘We should be stopping him before he kills himself, but we just sit by and watch him medicate himself into oblivion.’

Jackson could count on an array of doctors to write him prescriptions without asking too many questions if he complained of ‘pain’. He was particularly fond of OxyContin, nicknamed ‘Hillbilly heroin’, which gave an instant high, although he did not take it on a daily basis.

According to the aide, painkillers are not the only drugs Jackson took.

Performer: Michael Jackson was unable to dance and sing like he once could due to his illnesses

‘He pops Demerol and morphine, sure, apparently going back to the time in 1984 when he burned himself during the Pepsi commercial, but there’s also some kind of psychiatric medication. One of his brothers once told me he was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was younger, so it may be to treat that.’

His aides weren’t the only ones who recognised that a 50-concert run was foolhardy. In May, Jackson himself reportedly addressed fans as he left his Burbank rehearsal studio.

‘Thank you for your love and support,’ he told them. ‘I want you guys to know I love you very much.

‘I don’t know how I’m going to do 50 shows. I’m not a big eater. I need to put some weight on. I’m really angry with them booking me up to do 50 shows. I only wanted to do ten.’

One of his former employees was particularly struck by Jackson’s wording that day. ‘The way he was talking, it’s like he’s not in control over his own life any more,’ she told me earlier this month. ‘It sounds like somebody else is pulling his strings and telling him what to do. Someone wants him dead.

‘They keep feeding him pills like candy. They are trying to push him over the edge. He needs serious help. The people around him will kill him.’

As the London concerts approached, something was clearly wrong. Jackson had vowed to travel to England at least eight weeks before his first shows, but he kept putting it off.

‘To be honest, I never thought Michael would set foot on a concert stage ever again,’ said one aide, choking back tears on the evening of his death.

‘This was not only predictable, this was inevitable.’

On June 21, Jackson told my contact that he wanted to die. He said that he didn’t have what it would take to perform any more because he had lost his voice and dance moves.

‘It’s not working out,’ Jackson said. ‘I’m better off dead. I don’t have anywhere left to turn. I’m done.’

Michael’s closest confidante told me just two hours after he died that ‘Michael was tired of living. He was a complete wreck for years and now he can finally be in a better place. People around him fed him drugs to keep him on their side. They should be held accountable.’

Michael Jackson was undoubtedly a deeply troubled and lonely man. Throughout my investigation, I was torn between compassion and anger, sorrow and empathy.

Even his legacy is problematic. As I have already revealed, he has bequeathed up to 200 original songs to his three children, Prince Michael, aged 12, Paris Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II (also known as Blanket), seven. It is a wonderful gift.

Yet I can reveal that his will, not as yet made public, demands that the three of them remain with Jackson’s 79-year-old mother Katherine in California. It promises an ugly row.

Ex-wife Deborah Rowe, the mother of the eldest two, has already made it clear to her legal team that she wants her children in her custody, immediately.

The mother of the third child has never been identified. I fully expect that it will emerge that the children had a ‘test tube’ conception, a claim already made by Deborah Rowe.

Michael Jackson may very well have been the most talented performer of his generation, but for 15 years that fact has been lost to a generation who may remember him only as a grotesque caricature who liked to share his bed with little boys. Now that he’s gone, maybe it’s time to shelve the suspicions and appreciate the music.

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• The Final Years Of Michael Jackson, by Ian Halperin, is published by Transit Publishing at £14.99. To order your copy for £13.50 with free p&p, call  The Review Bookstore on  0845 155 0713.