Michael Jackson #40 - London, DrDentz is coming :D

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Op zondag 15 maart 2009 13:01 schreef matthijst het volgende:
Vliegen duur?
80 euro retour met Easyjet

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Op zondag 15 maart 2009 18:13 schreef KingOfPop het volgende:

[..]

Ik moet volgens mijn pa nog tot het einde van de maand wachten voor uitsluitsel. Wut? Idd ja..

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Did A Fake Michael Jackson Attend 02 Press Conference?

Something didn't seem quite right. There was that impossibly square chin, for a start - a bizarre cosmetic enhancement, even for Michael Jackson.

Then there was the voice, several octaves lower than the dog-whistle whisper the King of Pop normally adopts in front of his adoring fans.

Study the walk as well - a slightly hunched gait you might not expect from someone who ranks among the world's most spectacular dance performers.

Amid massively hyped scenes at London's O2 Arena nine days ago, this was Michael Jackson addressing a press conference. Or was it?

As tickets for his extended series of 50 summer shows sold out in record time yesterday - with prices of up to a staggering £25,000 being demanded on the resale market - an intriguing question was beginning to trouble even some of his most unwavering supporters. Was the quivering figure in the aviator shades and sparkly jacket that day an imposter?

Naturally, the official response is that it was jackson. But they would say that, wouldn't they? Others are speculating that - for whatever reason - it was merely a convincing impersonator.

The internet is buzzing with suggestions that the MJ the world saw during a four-minute appearance at O2 might not have been the MJ fans know and love.

Ludicrous conjecture? Well, maybe so. But like many internet-based rumours, this one is beginning to snowball.

Speculation began even before the nervous-looking figure stepped through the scarlet silk curtains. No explanation was given for why he was more than 90 minutes late. Questions over his health circulated in the throng.

The first glimpse of him was on a giant video screen above the stage. It certainly looked like Michael Jackson. The jacket was a cross between circus-ring MC and Eastern European military. Boots, sunglasses, and jet-black hair. All OK so far.

But then came the walk, an awkward, loping stride. He paused momentarily beside a golf cart, probably assuming it was going to take him into the arena - but was ushered in on foot.

Next, the voice. The few words he stumbled over at the microphone had far more bass than many expected. If you closed your eyes you would surely have had trouble identifying him as the more familiar, childlike 50-year-old with a penchant for spending time innocently with small boys.

Trouble is, surgery and image enhancement mean that few people really know what MJ will look like when they meet him.

Whatever differences there might have been, however, it was enough to get the internet theorists moving. One site draws attention to his hands (fingers not long enough to be Michael's, apparently). Another suggests he was too tall.

But why use a lookalike? The (speculative) theory is that Jackson - filmed falling on the steps of his minibus before it left for the Arena - was either injured or too ill to appear in person. With millions at stake in ticket sales, who would be bold enough to disappoint the waiting fans and international broadcasters now?

Jackson, a 13- Grammy award winner, is one of the most successful performers on the planet. He has sold over 750million records.

Spoof stories about him are rife, including one detailing how an impersonator has been fooling fans for years after MJ's corpse was found on his Neverland ranch.

Nor is it the first time he has been at the centre of 'lookalike' controversy. In 1999 'Michael' made an unlikely appearance at the Queen's Theatre in Barnstaple, north Devon, during an event run by martial arts school entrepreneur Matt Fiddes. Accompanied by ten bodyguards, he sang four numbers before vanishing in a stretch limo.

Many of the 450 present, including backstage theatre staff, were convinced they had been in the presence of a music legend. Even a statement from Jackson's record company, making it clear he was in Los Angeles at the time, failed to dampen enthusiasm.

Jackson's double 'Navi', regarded as his No 1 impersonator, also dismissed the rumours.

The Essex-based lookalike, who has previously acted as a decoy for the star, was mobbed outside the Arena that day by fans who were convinced he was the real thing. 'That was Michael Jackson, I'd stake my life on it,' he told me. 'He is so reclusive, most people don't know what he really looks like. When he's not on stage, he does walk with a slight hunch.

'If that wasn't Michael Jackson, I might as well give up - because it means there must be someone out there who's better than me.'

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rumours were greeted with derision in the Jackson camp.

'It's completely ridiculous,' an Arena source said. 'We can categorically guarantee it was Michael Jackson on stage. Maybe Elvis was at the press conference too.'

Source: Daily Mail

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Op zondag 15 maart 2009 22:02 schreef matthijst het volgende:
Lache, die neus van die Navi-dude
[ afbeelding ]

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Op zondag 15 maart 2009 22:37 schreef KingOfPop het volgende:

[..]

Ik zie het verschil niet hoor.

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Op maandag 16 maart 2009 02:44 schreef DrDentz het volgende:
Nee, hij heeft gewoon last van een vleesetende bacterie.

Kijk maar: http://www.spitsnieuws.nl(...)ackson_vleesete.html

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Op maandag 16 maart 2009 02:44 schreef DrDentz het volgende:
Nee, hij heeft gewoon last van een vleesetende bacterie.

Kijk maar: http://www.spitsnieuws.nl(...)ackson_vleesete.html

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Op maandag 16 maart 2009 11:55 schreef Gauner het volgende:
Bij mij is nog niks afgeschreven. Maar als je met CC betaald wordt het toch altijd pas aan het eind van de maand afgeschreven? Tenminste zo ging dat bij mij die paar keer dat ik met CC betaald heb.. Of moet ik me nu zorgen gaan maken?

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Op maandag 16 maart 2009 11:55 schreef Gauner het volgende:
Bij mij is nog niks afgeschreven. Maar als je met CC betaald wordt het toch altijd pas aan het eind van de maand afgeschreven? Tenminste zo ging dat bij mij die paar keer dat ik met CC betaald heb.. Of moet ik me nu zorgen gaan maken?

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Op maandag 16 maart 2009 14:01 schreef Cavalier1 het volgende:
Wat is trouwens zijn motief denken jullie? Hij heeft altijd gezegd dat hij niet houdt van live optreden. Is het de druk van de fans/media, geld, of vind hij het toch leuk om weer op te gaan treden?

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Op maandag 16 maart 2009 14:01 schreef Cavalier1 het volgende:
Wat is trouwens zijn motief denken jullie? Hij heeft altijd gezegd dat hij niet houdt van live optreden. Is het de druk van de fans/media, geld, of vind hij het toch leuk om weer op te gaan treden?

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Op maandag 16 maart 2009 14:21 schreef Rnnz het volgende:

[..]

Even een klein maar belangrijk iets: MJ vindt optreden wel leuk maar het vele reizen (toeren) niet.

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Showbiz coup of the decade: Michael Jackson
Evening Standard
Published: March 15, 2009, 23:05


Even by Las Vegas standards, the stakes at the meeting in the MGM Grand were extraordinarily high, the bet incredibly risky.

While tourists gambled dollars and cents in the slot machines next door, four of the most powerful men in show business were risking hundreds of millions, as well as their reputations, on a man whose own reputation was in tatters.

But as Michael Jackson sat before them, his youngest son, Blanket, at his side, the executives from AEG, the world's second largest entertainment company, knew they had got their man.

Jackson, in a sober black suit (he has been photographed in women's clothes on one shopping trip and pyjamas on another) appeared fit and well.

After years dogged by child abuse scandals, near bankruptcy and an obsession with plastic surgery, he told them what they were desperate to hear: the "King of Pop" was ready to make his comeback.

Just two months after that meeting, Jackson, who has not performed live for 12 years, is at the age of 50 breaking all records. His 50 concerts at the AEG-owned O2 Arena sold out within hours of the box office opening on Friday.

Jackson-mania is gripping London and the world, transforming the figure of fun, never to be let near children, to the biggest draw on the planet once again.

He has in effect been detoxified by an American corporation that stands to make a fortune. Jackson too will earn as much as £100 million (Dh512.6 million).

The Las Vegas meeting was crucial. Jackson had with him his mysterious aide Dr Tohme Tohme, a former Saudi Arabian orthopaedic surgeon who is his closest confidant.

His youngest son, officially Prince Michael II but referred to as Blanket in the family circle, played in the room. The last association Blanket, now six, had with a hotel was when his father dangled him from a balcony as a baby in Berlin in 2003.

The AEG delegation was headed by Philip Anschutz, its billionaire founder, and included his most senior executives: AEG's chief executive Tim Leiweke, Randy Phillips, who heads up AEG Live, the live entertainment arm of the company, and Paul Gongaware, who managed Jackson's live shows in the '90s and will do so again in London.

Gongaware, who also staged Prince's 21 nights at the O2 in 2007, is widely recognised as the middleman. While Jackson sipped bottled water, the AEG men, in polo shirts and jeans, sized up their target.

Jackson, with debts of up to $100 million (Dh367 million), desperately needed the cash while AEG was eager to land the showbiz coup of the decade.

Anschutz, a devout Christian, was weighing up whether hiring Jackson would damage his company's reputation. The presence of Blanket helped to convince Anschutz that Jackson was ready for a return into the spotlight.

"It was a feelgood meeting," Phillips said. "We went into why I felt London was the right place to visit. He agreed. Phil [Anschutz] is very good with people and he was like a father figure to Michael. He likes to invest in family entertainment and saw that Michael was such a great father.

"Michael talked about his ambition to write, produce, direct and star in films and Phil, who owns the largest cinema chain, said he would be able to help."

For Phillips, the Las Vegas meeting was the culmination of three years wooing Jackson out of retirement.

In 2006 the brash American, formerly Rod Stewart's manager, approached Jackson's aides. "I was turned down twice by his representatives. I was told he wasn't ready to go back on stage both physically and psychologically," said Phillips.

In 2005 Jackson had finally been acquitted of child molestation charges. Spurning AEG's offer, Jackson effectively fled to Bahrain where he was looked after by Shaikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, a son of the king.

But the two men fell out and the Shaikh sued Jackson in the High Court in London, claiming the pop star had reneged on a recording contract and owed him money.

Last November, hours before Jackson was due to give evidence in court, the case settled. The pop star, again out of pocket, his debts escalating, needed to act fast.

By December, said Phillips, talks with AEG "started to get serious". The key was a call made to Anschutz by an old friend Tom Barrack Jr, a billionaire who paid $23.5 million (Dh86.2 million) for Jackson's Neverland ranch.

Barrack told Anschutz that he and Tohme had agreed to take control of Jackson's finances. They were rescheduling his $100 million debt and the pop star was ready to meet AEG.

London would be the first venue because the executives were not convinced America was ready to welcome Jackson back. Phillips couldn't believe what he was hearing.

He said: "I got a call from Dr Tohme who gave it to me straight. He said Michael was in really bad financial straits."

He met Barrack and Tohme in Los Angeles. "They were restructuring loans and settling all the law suits. Michael had got into so much trouble because he didn't have the security blanket of managers. As sophisticated as he is, he is very trusting, almost to a fault.

"I gave them the plan I had been working on a four-year period of him playing live, releasing new music and a whole other bunch of commercial tie-ins including a new version of Thriller in 3D that would open on Halloween."

"Phase one" Phillips told Barrack and Tohme, would be the announcement of 10 shows at the O2 in London. The deal agreed, there was only one hurdle: to get the concerts insured.

Phillips approached the London-based insurance company Robertson Taylor. The complex policy was only hammered out in the past two weeks after Jackson had a rigorous medical check-up at his LA home.

Phillips said: "Michael was put through a whole battery of tests; stress, treadmill, electrocardiogram, bloodwork and he passed them all. It's a very complicated policy. Its very important he doesn't perform consecutive nights.

"He's in very good health. I'm 54, he's 50 and I would like to have his cholesterol levels. He is a magnet for some of the strangest stories. The flesh-eating disease and things like that are simply not true. I have to say when I saw him last year he looked a little frail, but this time at the MGM Grand, he looked great."

Phillips now speaks to Jackson directly each day. "He calls me all the time. We spoke on Wednesday afternoon. He said: [putting on high voice] 'Randy, Randy no more shows, no more shows.'"

There are now 50 shows, stretching into January and February next year. While industry insiders remain sceptical, many are convinced Jackson will mime at least part of those gigs. But Phillips is confident.

"My guts tell me he's gonna do it," he said. But none of us will know for sure until July 8 when Jackson takes to the stage for his first night at the O2.

Assuming, of course, that he actually turns up.

Don't miss it

Tickets for the 50 Michael Jackson concerts have all been sold out. But if you can scrape together Dh128,000, you might find a ticket online. Ouch!