According to Jackson’s personal assistant, Michael Williams, Dr. Murray asked if he could be taken back to Jackson’s house to remove a “cream” which he didn’t want the world to know about. This was after Jackson was pronounced dead. Williams found the request strange and said that he told a fib to Dr. Murray (claiming that the police had the keys) to avoid the issue.

We do not yet know what the cream was, or if it was indeed a cream at all. Perhaps it was a type of medicine that shouldn’t be served up at the same time as the “propofol” drug, which lead to his cardiac arrest and subsequent death.

Not a good start for Dr. Conrad Murray.

[source : sky live]

This, from the Telegraph:

Opening statements in Dr Conrad Murray’s trial began with prosecutors airing a recording of a groggy and seemingly drugged Michael Jackson just weeks before his death.

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told the jury that the message was retrieved from the mobile phone of Dr Conrad Murray.

Recorded in May of 2009, a barely audible Jackson can be heard talking about his planned ‘This Is It’ tour. According the prosecution, the 50 year-old was under the influence of the anesthetic propofol, the drug that eventually caused his death, at the time.

Mr Walgren used the recording to contend that Dr Murray should have ceased administering propofol to the pop singer long before his death.

[more here]

Follow the link below for the audio.

ABCNews had this to say:

Attorney David Walgren showed a photo of Jackson dancing at the Staples Center the night before he overdosed on propofol and put the picture side by side with a picture of Jackson lying lifeless in a hospital bed wearing a hospital gown.

[more here]

Click link below to see the photo used on the first day of the trial.

The King of Pop was selfishly snatched from us two years ago today. I’m sure anyone who saw me spilling blood on the dance floor at Taboo in my late teens, will attest to the fact that Mike was a major influence on the relationship I had with the dance floor. I would often woo girls into my spiderweb of Jackson moves, and before they managed to complete the sentence – “Oh my God, how did you do that?” – they would be whisked away to the bar, where an open bottle of bubbly was waiting for them. The passenger seat would recline about 20 minutes later.

That’s probably why a lot of people say I was “the 90′s answer to Locnville.”

I guess I was, but it was on a completely different level.

For starters, there was only one of me…

Michael Jackson: The Experience is coming to Xbox 360 later this year.  Using the Kinect’s capabilities, the game tracks your full range of body motion while projecting actual footage of your ridiculous dancing self onto the screen (in case you need a reminder of how bad your dancing is).  It’s also gonna have some singing elements, and more than 30 songs to choose from.

Warning – will be fun in groups, but just plain creepy when played alone.

[Source: Rollingstone]

2oceansvibe Radio, featuring the King of Pop on vinyl..

We also got a world news update and of course a weekend weather update live on the line from E-TV’s Derek Van Dam, as we continued the World Cup topic with him, chatting about America’s chances in the tournament.

All-in-all a damn fun morning with some damn fine music!

Not to worry if you missed it, you can do what a lot of people do, which is download the podcast (or stream it online) and listen to it when it suits you! In your car, at work or at home. Because that’s how you roll..

PLAYLIST

Harder To Breathe – Maroon 5
Cry When You Get Older – Robyn
America, Fuck Yeah! – Team America
Tighten Up – The Black Keys
I Love College – Asher Roth
My Cape Town – I Scream And the Chocolate Stix
Fever – Elvis Presley
PYT (Pretty Young Thing) – Michael Jackson (vinyl)
1, 2, 3 – Naughty By Nature
So Bright – Vokab Kompany
The Choice Is Yours – Black Sheep
Just Good Friends – Michael Jackson & Stevie Wonder (vinyl)
Homewrecker – The Dirty Skirts
Love the Way You Lie – Eminem feat. Rihanna (current US iTunes #1)
We Belong Together – Mariah Carey (sure, why not!)
Heavy Cross – Gossip
Jizz In My Pants – Lonely Island
Kids – Robbie Williams & Kylie
Angel of Harlem – U2 (vinyl)

CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST

So anyway, check it out, I was reading the latest Vanity Fair (with Liz Taylor on the cover) on my (cue music) iPad and they featured a wonderful article about Michael Jackson on set during the filming of the greatest music video of all time – Thriller.

Screenshot from Vanity Fair on the iPad

Apart from the fact that he got the director to throw his dad off-set (and then later denied doing so) it turns out that he also had a little touchy feely vibe going with the girl in the video, Ola Ray – the subject of today’s Tuesday Tabs analysis.

Michael was a bit worried about doing the video with Ola, after he found out she had featured in Playboy but, after a while, it didn’t really matter any more. Not that it ever would for a red-blooded male at his age. It turns out Ola was also quite besotted by Michael Jackson which, let’s face it, kind of makes sense as well.

But enough about all of that – let’s find out what made the “girl from the Thriller music video” so special. Mild warning: ever-so-slightly NSFW image after the jump.

Ola Ray – The girl from the Thriller music video
CLICK IMAGE to uncensor

Needless to say, Ola is currently suing Michael Jackson’s estate for royalties.

Obviously.

Shamon!

Anyway, they’ve done it again and, I tell you what, it’s better then Ezra (naughty) ever. But this time they used 1,200 inmates, coached over two days by none other than Travis Payne. Now for those of you who weren’t professional dancers as a child like I was (try juggling modern dancing and a budding rugby career at the same time. Let alone being an only child..), Travis Payne happens to be Michael Jackson’s chief choreographer. Yes, that’s right, bitches. And he was there to put them through their paces for the new Michael Jackson DVD.

Hee-hee!

Owww!

The original clip generated 38 million hits on YourFace, so it’ll be interesting to see if this one can top that.

It will also be interesting to see how it fares against Friday’s 2oceansvibe Weather Girls Show with Peroni Girl, Landi Swanepoel (here), which had 7,500 views by the end of Monday.

[thanks jenna]

Just for those of you who might not yet have witnessed the vibe of fans actually FAINTING when he sings (including fainted people in wheelchairs being passed along). It’s quite hard to replicate that kind of fame. And it’s necessary for you to see it.

That’s it all we’re doing here – showcasing a level of fame that we, as humans, very rarely see..

Turn it up, full-screen if you can.

Jeremy, Dave, G-Man – this one’s for you..

Ja, Conrad..

You should check out the comments under the YouTube video – they’re hectic, outrageous, terrifying and hilarious at the same time.

I enjoyed this one, which has a bit of all of that in one:

“C. M. = Conrad Murray = celebrities murderer”

Hahahaha!!! Didn’t see that one coming, did you? I must say, I may well have never thought of that in a million years.

I mean it’s not as obvious as mine. S.R. = Seth Rotherham = Sick Rad!

Nogal in his Thriller jacket

Huff reports:

Andy Warhol’s Michael Jackson Portrait Back On Auction Block

An Andy Warhol portrait of Michael Jackson is back on the auction block.

The Vered Gallery in East Hampton, N.Y., removed the painting from a sale that closed last Sunday.

Gallery co-owner Janet Lehr said Thursday it’s again available to the highest bidder.

The 30-by-26-inch painting shows a smiling Jackson in a red jacket from his 1980s “Thriller” days.

It’s owned by a private collector.

Because of renewed interest in all things Jackson since his death, Lehr says it’s anyone’s guess how much the painting might fetch.

Prospective buyers must register with the gallery to bid via e-mail, telephone or in person. The auction closes Aug. 18.

Hmm, very interesting. I wonder what it’ll get?

Nothing that a EuroMillions Lotto win wouldn’t handle, I’m sure!

By the way, if you haven’t seen Factory Girl yet, do so. It stars Seinna Miller and is about Andy Warhol’s muse , Edie Sedgwick. It’s good and will definitely be available at DVD Nouveau.

Check out the never-seen-before footage here:

Some people don’t dig it.

Personally I’m at my most happiest going 200 with my hair on fire. To know that I can control something that’s out of control.

That’s how I get my kicks..

Michael Jackson’s unreleased song
“A Place with No Name”

TMZ reports:

We’re told several years ago America’s manager gave his group’s permission for Jackson to record the song, “A Place with No Name” despite the similarity.

America’s current manager, Jim Morey, who was also Michael’s manager in the late 80′s and early 90′s, tells us, “The band was honored that Michael chose to do their song and they hope it becomes available for all Michael’s fans to hear.”

It’s unclear when Michael recorded the song.

Pretty interesting, hey?

You what?

You want to HEAR the song?

Ok, no problem.

Here you go.

Hope you enjoyed that.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to wear white socks with my shoes when I go out at night. At least until the end of July.

Welcome to Friday..

Anyway, he did INCREDIBLY well by sending this in. It’s a website which strings together random video clips that people send in of themselves moonwalking across the screen – all linking together to form an ETERNAL MOONWALK! It starts with Michael Jackson doing his moonwalk and when he reaches the end of the screen, the next one (sent in by the general public) starts.

IT.IS.PURE.GENIUS!

You need to see it to understand/believe it. It even measures the amount of METRES covered!

Naturally, we HAD to make our own eternal moonwalk and send it in to that website! So that’s exactly what we did next to the pool at the Cape Royale Sky Bar!

And then I made a seperate version JUST for you.

So here it is – enjoy The Dude, me and G-Man (in that order!) doing the “eternal moonwalk” next to the pool at the Sky Bar on the top of The Cape Royale , overlooking the Green Point Stadium, Table Mountain, the harbour and pretty much everything else!

Look, we had just klapped a bottle of De Grendel red..

Click here to see it as a part of the Eternal Moonwalk website.

Go check out the website and send in your own at www.eternalmoonwalk.com.

Your life has just improved by 20 points.

[thanks dave, thanks rich]

ps. don’t forget all original 2oceansvibe vids can be seen at 2oceansvibe TV – slightly different web address – www.2oceansvibe.tv

It’s a good concept. They take that scene from that movie about Hitler and they change the sub-titles. They always use the same scene. The last one I gave you on a plate was Hitlers eaction to the Bulls winning The Super 14 (here). Check that out if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s good.

So here’s the latest one, entitled “Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died”

It’s pretty good. You know, if you’re into that kind of vibe.

Hey?

Fine, hey?

I’m fine with it.

Ja, it’s FIIIIINE!

[thanks paul]

Check it out:

For those of you with broken video players [pffft!], this is what we got from politico.com:

ABC’s Jake Tapper writes that Obama “joked that he’d have to discuss Michael Jackson in order to get media coverage of the U.S.-Russian summit.”

“You know, this is part of American culture,” Obama told Tapper. “Michael Jackson, like Elvis, like Sinatra, when somebody whose captivated the imagination of the country for that long passes away, people pay attention. And I assume at some point people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons.”

Last night’s Michael Jackson Memorial Service in L.A.

For those of you who missed Jackson’s Memorial service last night (and those of you who wished to witness the spectacle) you can CLICK HERE and get all the main video clips, including the emotional speech by his daughter, Paris.

They’re weird, by the way. All of them.

Here you go – another dollop of amazingness that you can tell your friends about, as they slowly but surely get closer to “the vibe.” Scared that 2oceansvibe might eat them up whole. Well, they’re right. It will! But it won’t EAT them up, as much as it will DROWN them. In love. They are scared of the love that 2oceansvibe will DROWN them in.

Shame, bloody simpletons.

You know what G-Man always says, “If being drowned in love by 2oceansvibe is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.”

So here you go – In this clip, Michael Jackson is singing at his final rehearsal from his “This Is It” tour . He is performing They Don’t Really Care About Us - which is obviously quite weird for me, given that it is the song that I “gave” to him.

This Footage was shot on June 23rd, 2009 by AEG Live (the people that killed him).

So now, when your idiot mates tell you something new about Michael Jackson and you don’t really care; then you just say, “Oh REALLY, did you see the video of his final performance?”

Your idiot mate, initially speechless, stutters, “wh-wh-wh-what last rehearsal video?”

“You know, the one filmed a week before he died. At rehearsals. For his upcoming tour.”

“What are you talking about? There’s no video. Where did you see the video?” they’ll shriek.

That’s when you slide your sunglasses down your nose, perching them at the very tip. Then you lift your hand to within 15cm of your eyes, palm up but with finger folded over – and you analyse your nails – as though you’re drifting away. [A De Niro scowl works well when you do this]

“2OCEANSVIBE!!………twat!“

“Oh ja!!!” they’ll say. “But I went there. Umm. Is it co.za or .com?”

“Just shut-up. You fool. Just shout your mouth and get out of here.”

Check it out – www.ismichaeljacksonstillalive.com

[thanks mark]

Michael Jackson
Thriller

TimesOnline reports:

A secret library of over a hundred songs recorded by Michael Jackson could be released following his death.

One of the singer’s biographers, Ian Halperin, claimed that the unheard songs had been made for his children.

Mr Halperin, author of Unmasked, The Michael Jackson Story, said before his death: “He wants to leave them for his kids, a very personal legacy to them. I was told he will not let them come out now.”

Jackson leaves three children: Prince, 12, Paris Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II aged seven.

It is rumoured, given the parlous financial situation of his estate, that any such recordings will not be kept private for long. It is understood that Jackson may have gone to the grave under debts of about $400 million (£240 million) – though some believe the true figure may be much higher.

Sales of Michael Jackson’s music and memorabilia have already begun to soar. In America, the Thriller album is number one on iTunes, while his Number Ones album has now reached the top spot on the UK iTunes chart.

Online retailers Amazon say that Jackson’s albums had taken 14 of the top 20 places on the Amazon.co.uk sales chart. The Amazon chart was topped by his first solo album, Off The Wall, which features tracks such as “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” and “She’s Out Of My Life”.

Already, Jackson’s death is beginning to producing a new industry. Outside the Los Angeles hospital where he was pronounced dead, a group of men appeared selling $10 T-shirts with a silhouette of Jackson and reading: “In loving memory of Michael Jackson.” Memorial T-shirts were also being sold at the Glastonbury music festival.

On eBay, bidding grew on a number of Jackson memorabilia items. Limited edition records, musical instruments used by the star and even a movie contract with his signature were being sold for thousands of pounds.

The Neverland ranch and Jackson’s final resting place, if made accessible to the public, could also become lucrative tourist attractions.

Graceland, the mansion owned by Elvis Presley and where he was buried, has become a much-visited landmark. Opening its doors to the paying members of the public is thought to have made the trust that operates Graceland in the region of $100 million.

It’s all happening!!!

And go!

This was nicely covered by Gawker:

Now that Michael Jackson’s passed away and the mad scramble to cover the breaking story has settled down a bit, the media can now turn its focus toward more important matters—How to profit from Jackson’s demise.

The untimely death of someone like Jackson, a once in a generation worldwide superstar, is one of the few things that can possibly breathe new life into the balance sheets of a slowly dying tabloid media industry. Remember, not only was Michael Jackson a star of Elvis proportions, but he was an insanely weird star of Elvis proportions, perhaps the weirdest star the world has ever known (Even weirder than Elvis himself!) or will ever know, with a long personal history filled with scandal.

Here’s something key to remember on this—In the United States of America, the dead cannot be libeled. Only living individuals can sue for libel.

Now just imagine how many sensational Michael Jackson stories are out there waiting to be told that were never told before out of fear of being driven into financial ruin with libel lawsuits tied up for years in the American court system. Surely there will be people looking to sell their stories now, and surely there will be tabloid magazines that will scrape up whatever cash they can muster to buy these stories, even the most marginal, and slap them on their front pages under provocative headlines. They will sell by the millions, even in a down economy, because Western society has an insatiable appetite for celebrity scandal. It makes us feel better about our own wretched lives when the curtain is pulled back on those in the spotlight to reveal souls that are just as dark and tormented as our own, if not more.

But it won’t just stop there.

In the days, weeks and months to come we’ll be bombarded with more Michael Jackson television specials, print media special issues, commemorative products, re-releases of albums, etc. than most of us can stand. And then of course the more traditional media will recycle some of the stories dug up by the aforementioned tabloids and their reporting of those stories will bring in viewers and sell copies of newspapers/magazines. What you’ve seen just in the last 12 hours or so, what with the release of Jackson’s death photo and the second by second movements of his corpse being reported on live television, is only scratching the surface.

Wow. This is going to be big.

It’s going to be so tiring.

Saw a guy on TV now, wearing a professionally printed T-shirt ALREADY saying “In Loving Memory of Michael Jackson,” with a pic of the King of Pop on the front.

Radical.

AEG Live
Screwed..

Check it out (TimesOnline):

AEG Live, the company that persuaded Michael Jackson to sign up for 50 nights at the O2 arena, is facing a liability of up to £300 million and a dark house for the next nine months.

It was Randy Phillips, head of the US entertainment company that turned the derelict former Dome into the UK’s most popular new arena, who persuaded Jackson to return for a stunning series of “farewell” concerts, beginning next month.

 

 

The announcement, fuelled by a rare public appearance by Jackson at the venue, sparked an online frenzy, some 360,000 registering applications before sales had even opened. Within hours, one million fans had attempted to snap up tickets for an initial run of ten concerts, which rapidly turned into 50.

Tickets were immediately placed on the secondary ticket market for up to £1,000. But Jackson’s last reported public announcement on his residency at the O2 suggests that a combination of managers, advisers, concert promoters and those seeking to recover his debts, had let events spiral out of the singer’s control. “I don’t know how I’m going to do 50 shows,” he said. “I’m really angry.”

Amid scepticism over whether the frail singer could complete the residency, especially among insurance companies, AEG Live said that it was prepared to “self-insure” the shows.

Reinsurance magazine, which found that there was low demand in the London insurance market for the policy to cover all dates promoted by AEG Live, placed the liability at about £300 million.

The first ten concerts are believed to have been placed on the London insurance market at a value of £80 million. Phillips had assured insurance brokers that doctors had spent five hours with Jackson, taking blood tests. “He’s a vegetarian, he’s in great shape,” Phillips said. “The insurance cover, we are working on that now.”

But rather than lowering expectations for the shows, AEG pumped out reports that Jackson would present the most spectacular live show seen on an indoor stage.

Only this week, Jackson’s PR machine announced that “extra tickets” would be available for the shows, due to begin on July 13, and revealed that Jackson’s stage costumes would be studded with 300,000 Swarovski crystals. Rumours were stoked that Jackson was preparing a stage move to succeed his famous “moonwalk”. “I would trade my body for his tomorrow,” said Phillips, amid reports, furiously denied by Jackson’s advisers, that the singer was suffering from skin cancer.

Even at midnight, after Jackson’s death was confirmed, the O2 website was still advertising the This Is It tour, and directing fans towards a Jackson website, headlined “The time has come” and promising fans their final audience with the King of Pop.

The death has serious implications for Seatwave, the company that traded in about 10,000 Jackson tickets on the secondary market, in partnership with the O2 arena, often for a price far above face value.

The company [who killed him] placed a message on its website saying: “We at Seatwave are saddened by Michael Jackson’s death. Our condolences go to his family and we appreciate the great legacy he has left us.”

AEG Live’s website said that fans who could not make the dates rescheduled after the opening dates had been cancelled would get a full refund. That promise will now be honoured for one million customers.

Ticketmaster, which also sold Jackson tickets, has a policy to refund the face value of the ticket, plus the booking fee.

[more here]

You pushed it guys. And this is the result.

Deal with it.

Michael Jackson
1958 – 2009

This, from ABC:

Michael Jackson’s long-time family friend Brian Oxman has hinted the icon was killed by an abuse of prescription drugs, likening his death to tragic star Anna Nicole Smith.

The legendary superstar was pronounced dead this afternoon at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after falling into a deep coma, following a heart attack.

A coroner for the medical facility has confirmed the Thriller hitmaker died after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The star’s family, including his mother, brothers and sister LaToya, rushed to his bedside, but were too late to say their goodbyes.

And lawyer Oxman has revealed the atmosphere on the ward is one of devastation, insisting his family is too upset to even confirm the sad news.

He told CNN news, “Michael Jackson is my friend and I am just heartbroken.

“Everyone is rather speechless. The atmosphere is so very sad. I can’t tell you what has taken place, but everyone is very stunned.

“I saw Randy and Jermaine and I hugged them. I cried with them. No one will confirm anything to me. All I can tell you is that the family members are crying.

“LaToya, Jermaine and Randy are at the hospital. They are in a room by themselves and they are sobbing.”

But Oxman, a long-time pal of the Jackson clan, is adamant the Thriller singer’s death is down to the people who surrounded the star.

He claims that the superstar family have been desperately trying to “take care” of their fragile relative, and he was in perfect health until recently.

And Oxman believes an “abuse of medications” is the reason for his untimely demise.

He explains, “I believe (his manager) Frank DiLeo was with him at the time (of his heart attack), that is what I have been told.

“This family has been trying for months and months and months to take care of Michael Jackson. The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him.

“If you think the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, that is nothing compared to what has taken place in the life of Michael Jackson.

“I do not know what medications he was taking, but the reports that we have received within the family are that they were extensive.

“I don’t know the cause of all this. But this is something that I feared. This is a case of abuse of medications, unless the cause is something else.”

[more here]

At the same time, The Sun reports a similar story, except more detailed, suggesting Michael Jackson Collapsed After a Demerol Injection.

CLICK HERE FOR THAT.

UPDATE:

Michael Jackson’s death prompts showbiz industry tributes