New Michael Jackson Book by Bruce Swedien

Michael Jackson's former music engineer will release a new book titled "In The Studio with Michael Jackson" on 272 pages this September.

The description says:

"The inside secrets of Michael Jackson's greatest records by the Grammy-winning engineer who captured and enhanced their sound. Multiple color photos of Jackson, producer Quincy Jones, and all the talents who collaborated to make pop history with Jackson's albums. Plucked from a job at legendary Universal Audio in Chicago, Bruce Swedien entered into a fruitful and historic 30-year relationship with producer Quincy Jones. That partnership culminated in the groundbreaking recordings of Michael Jackson, beginning with The Wiz, continuing with Jackson's breakout solo debut Off the Wall, and triumphing with Thriller, which revolutionized music and video and fixed Jackson in culture as the King of Pop. Now Swedien reveals the technical details of creating those albums (along with Bad, Dangerous, and HIStory) and offers personal remembrances and anecdotes about working with the pop icon. Swedien's book provides an insider's look that will thrill anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of hit making and the history of some of America's most influential recordings. HIGHLIGHTS * Large collection of photographs from Michael Jackson recording sessions * Forewords by producer Quincy Jones and writer/producer Rod Temperton!"

Update on the Licensing Issues

Michael Jackson's team just started a "house cleaning" related to his licensing issues.

As I have reported several weeks ago, there was a mess around Jackson's licensing/merchandising business. This week several of the disputed websites and companies claimed to be "official" has been shut down.

Among others:
michaeljacksonlicensing.com
mjlicensing.com
mj-licensing.com
michaeljacksonshop.com

MJ Licensing LLC's future is still undecided.

Michael Jackson Promo Materials

Recent promo materials from a London HMV store related to Motown's 50th Anniversary celebration:

http://www.michaeljackson.hu/forum/uploads/post-20-1237852476.jpg

New Thriller Live Pictures

Recent pictures about Lyric Theather on London's West End playing Michael Jackson's Thriller Live:

http://www.michaeljackson.hu/forum/uploads/post-20-1237852156.jpg

http://www.michaeljackson.hu/forum/uploads/post-20-1237852095.jpg

Win Thriller Tickets with MTV

"This month The Lick competition goody bag is keeping it real with culture and music, with a massive bumper prize, including:

5 pairs of tickets for the best seats in the house to see the theatre show ''Thriller'' which celebrates the King of Pop, at the Lyric theatre in London.

This competition is open from 02/03/09 to 03/04/09"

More information: http://www.mtv.co.uk/shows/the-lick/competition/win-tickets-for-thriller

Updates in the Julien's Auctions Case

Darren Julien's lawyers filed a couple of motions this Friday.

Among others they would cite Kathleen Guzman (recognized appraiser and auctioneer with over 25 years of experience) and Joseph Marcus (the former Neverland Valley Ranch's manager).

Updates on Official Michael Jackson Websites

Michael Jackson's official websites owned and operated by Sony are under constant updates.

MichaelJackson.es has been forwarded to MichaelJackson.com, and MichaelJackson.de has a new opening page recently.

More changes to come.

New Michael Jackson Calendar

ML Publishing will release a new Michael Jackson calendar this October on 14 pages.

It is still unclear if the product has been approved by Jackson himself

Michael Jackson Will Be Debt Free

According to a recent interview with a Michael Jackson associate, the star has $100 million in loans. This is a good news indeed: the very same loan was more then $300 million back in 2005.

If Jackson will pay his loans like this, then he will be DEBT FREE before 2011 (and we did not take into consideration his incomes from the AEG Live deal).

Michael Jackson Figures Updates

The Michael Jackson Hot Toys figures' release date has been updated recently:

mIcon - Billie Jean - April 20, 2009
Cosbaby - Michael Jackson - April 30, 2009
Cosbaby - Thriller Student - May 10, 2009

The release dates of the Canyon Crest Bad figures has not been released yet.

New Bad Concert DVD Release

Acccording to several websites a new Michael Jackson DVD will be released in late March and early April, called "One Night in Japan". Fans can already place a pre-order on the release in the following countries: France, Holland, Belgium, Germany.

The release will be available in a DVD and 2CD format as well.

This is most likely an unofficial release, furthermore some sources says that this is already deleted.

Updates on Michael Jackson's Domain Names

As I have first reported, Michael Jackson's "MJJ Productions" registered a new domain name for Jackson's live performances and will manage the website along with "AEG Live".

At the same time Jackson's other registered domain names has been forwarded to this new address under MichaelJacksonLive.com

This means another "house-cleaning" in Jackson's world, since his domains were forwared to an unrelevant website for years. Most of his domains expired since then, but he kept the most important ones:

michael-jackson.biz
michael-jackson.net
michael-jackson.org

michael-jackson-live.com (new)
michaeljackson-live.com (new)

thejackson5.com
thejackson5.net
thejackson5.org
thejacksonfive.com
thejacksonfive.net
thejacksonfive.org

thejacksons.com
thejacksons.biz

mjj.net
mjjmusic.net (mjjmusic.com redirects to MichaelJackson.com)
mjjproductions.com

michaeljacksonfanclub.com
themichaeljacksonfanclub.com
michaeljjackson.us
mjexclusive.com
mjj.ca

In addition MichaelJackson.com (owned by Sony) also heavily promotes the new website.

New Official Website

Michael Jackson's management and AEG Live will most likely to launch a new website for the star's live performances under www.michaeljacksonlive.com very soon.

The information has not been confirmed yet.

Updates in the John Landis Case

Updates in the John Landis Case

According to my information there are two different cases launched by John Landis.

Landis sued Michael Jackson first through his production company on January 21, 2009. This case has been well publicised by the media around the time.

However Landis filed another case as an individual on January 28, 2009. In this second case Landis sued the Nederland Organization as well, saying that the company has no rights to licence the Thriller video for the Broadway.

Jackson's official spokesperson, Tohme R. Tohme and Jackson's new business partner, James L. Nederlander has been deposed in the case already.

Next hearings:
03/02/2009 - Non-Appearance (Case Review)
05/18/2009 - Initial Status Conference
05/11/2009 - Initial Status Conference

Court documents for the second case: http://reporter.blogs.com/files/thriller.pdf

Updates in the Ayscough vs. Jackson Case

Updates in the Ayscough vs. Jackson case:

The case has been argued and submitted on February 19, 2009. The next hearing will be on May 1, 2009.

Another Jackson Release Delay

The "Michael Jackson - Hello World" CD release has been pushed back to March according to Motown.

Update on the Jacksons

According to Tito Jackson's official website, he has been in the studio this past year working on his very first solo project. The album, not yet titled, will be released in 2009 and is being produced by 3T.


The "Destination Fame" movie starring Joe Jackson will be released on DVD on March 24, 2009.

Peter Lopez Is Out?

According to some sources, Peter M. Lopez is no longer Michael Jackson's music producer.

The information has not been confirmed yet.

Michael Jackson Figures - Updates

Hot Toys announced on Wednesday, that all the planned Michael Jackson figures has been pushed back to April.

In other releated news, Canyon Crest will release a new Jackson figure from the Bad era.

New Michael Jackson Cover Song

"Rethroned", the second album from NORTHERN KINGS — the Finnish band consisting of four well-known metal musicians (Jarkko Ahola [TERÄSBETONI], Marco Hietala [TAROT, NIGHTWISH], Tony Kakko [SONATA ARCTICA], Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto [CHARON]) — will be released in Japan on February 25 via Warner Music Japan. The Japanese version of the CD will include a bonus track — a cover of MICHAEL JACKSONs "They Dont Care About Us".

Official website: http://www.myspace.com/northernkings