BIG IDEAS

After a week of minor criticism that he did not publicly give an official statemwnt on Michael Jackson but chose to be relayed through spokesperson Robert Gibbs, JET White House correspondent Kevin Chappell reports that in an interview with AP, Obama said this today:

“Michael Jackson is — will go down in history as one of the greatest entertainers. I grew up on his music, still have all his stuff on my iPod. You know, I think his brilliance as a performer also was paired with a tragic and in many ways sad personal life. But, you know, I am glad to see that he is being remembered primarily for the great joy that he brought to a lot of people through his extraordinary gifts as an entertainer.”

Oprah

Any fan of Oprah Winfrey who knows how well she got along with Michael, Jackson and the other Jacksons she’s had on the show might be asking themselves in this media frenzy a simple question - Where’s Oprah?

The answer is that she, her entire staff and their families are on a charter cruise ship floating around Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. They’ll be back next week, which means the rest of the media world has exactly four more days to get every angle they can get, because when homegirl gets back, it’s pretty much done for everybody else.

As reported by Richard Prince:

Vibe magazine, the best-known and most respected magazine of the hip-hop generation, is folding immediately after 16 years, Steve Aaron, Vibe Media Group’s chief executive officer, announced on Tuesday.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share some tough news, VMG is closing down effective today, June 30 due to lack of additional financial investments,” Aaron told staffers in a memo.

“Unfortunately, over the last several months, a confluence of events has obviously posed VMG to exceedingly serious challenges.

“The collapse of the capital markets has impacted us greatly. Over the past several months, we have actively pursued investment resources while working intensively with our bank to find a solution. But the deal market right now remains very poor and at the end of the day, the lack of investment resources to restructure the huge debt on our small company has made this outcome become a reality.

“The print advertising collapse hit VIBE hard, especially as key ad categories like automotive and fashion, which represented the bulk of our top 10 advertisers, have stopped advertising or gone out of business. It’s also unfortunate that in a recession many companies reduce the multicultural campaigns. These facts, coupled with the continuing decline of the music industry not to mention the newsstand wholesaler consolidation in early 2009 all negatively impacted our business in a significant way.

“The relentless economic situation has depressed our growth initiatives on the digital front. To be clear, VMG has made significant improvement in this part of our business, but not at the accelerated pace required to offset the devastating effects of the most severe recession in our lifetime and the accompanying print losses.”

The art blog, If It’s Hip It’s Here, has an interesting collection of the odder images of Michael Jackson as interpreted by modern artists.

Blogging the BET Awards. ALL TIMES IN CENTRAL TIME when noted, so don’t fuss at me about inaccuracy.

5pm CST: Opening of the Red Carpet - Hey are my kids going to able to watch this. Booty shots from the jump. TIVO button. Kids, go work on your workbooks.

6:15 (or so): Arsenio Hall - Good to see. Good words. Important to hear of Michael Jackson’s sense of humor. Interesting that MTV has been very quiet about the fact that no Black artists got airplay before Michael. Even more interesting that it’s being said frequently by folks on BET, another child of the same Viacom corporate parent as MTV.  That actually speaks well, oddly enough, of Viacom in terms of creative freedom.

6:30 CST:  Debra Lee. Looking pretty hot. “Michael watched out for BET and made sure we got videos at the same time as MTV.”  Good for Mike.

6:46:  Who? More booty. Kids out of the room so I ain’t that mad at ‘em. Edited lyrics? Why put him on?

7pm: New Edition. Good to see. Performance? -Meh.

7:26: Ne-Yo. Good for you, brother. Well done version of Lady in My Life.

7:32: From reports - Michael Jackson’s father appeared on the red carpet before the BET Awards ceremony Sunday night, saying he has “a lot of concerns” about the last moments of his son’s life and personal physician.

“I have a lot of concerns,” Joe Jackson told CNN’s Don Lemon. “I can’t get into that, but I don’t like what happened.”

7:35: Jamie “Blame it on the Alcohol”. Really one of my favorite songs right now, and I’m not a huge fan of most of what I hear on regular radio, but it rocks undeniably. HOWEVER, Auto Tune does NOT translate well live. Also, noticing that Jamie Foxx, while a good performer, stalks the stage Chris Rock-like back and forth - the way a standup comic does.  Not as effective in a musical performance. Eyes need to focus when you’re listening.

8pm: Beyonce singing Ave Maria in a… hey, what is that anyway? Kinda Victoria’s Secret, kinda angelic, kinda slutty wedding dress, kinda Marilyn Monroe with the dress blowing up - cute

9pm: Tweet. Facebook. Blog. Tweet. Tweet. Vodka. Facebook. Wait. Blog. Why am I doing this again?

9:01pm: Jay Z. Death of Auto Tune. Guitar player plays like Bobby Womack on “Nobody Wants You When You’re Down & Out”. Thanks you, Jay for a real band and real music

9:15: Did somebody say Tevin Campbell?

9:20: Tyrese Gibson makes OJays tribute all worth it.

9:28: Passing around on Twitter: “I wish BET died and Michael Jackson was doing a tribute to it.” - Classic

9:29: Don Cornelius, love you brother. Sharper than a tack, but man, you gotta get off stage.

9:50: Idris Elba and Sherrie Shephard. How many women are hating on Sherrie right now?

9:52: Debra Lee thanking Joe Jackson on behalf of BET. Finally, it’s looking like an actual tribute to Michael. Oops, wait.  Maybe not. This is the Humanitarian Award for Wyclef and Alicia Keys.

10:30: Really? Seriously? Drake & Lil Wayne and a bunch of 12 year olds. Have you noticed the increasingly long breaks between posts? Switching back and forth to True Blood. Is is really worth it to put a group on live that you have to use the 7-second delay for?

10:37: Did I miss the Michael Jackson tribute? Or was that the opening act only?

10:38: You know what, I’m done. Life’s too short. Goodnight.

10:39: OK. I’m back. Janet Jackson in the house: ” My entre family wanted to be here tonight but it was too painful. To you Michael was an icon. To us he’s family. But he will forever live in all of our hearts…”

There were rumors earlier of a Janet performance, but not to happen.

10:40: The tribute starts: “I’ll Be There” sung by Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo to solo piano with a photo montage in the backdrop. Nice. Stop there. They did. Good. Now goodnight.

We found out about the planning for a vigil outside of the Johnson Publishing Building the same way everyone else did - on Facebook.

The good news? It went viral quickly, jumping soon to Twitter.

The bad news? Whoever scheduled it planned it for the same time as the free Cameo and Gap Band concert four blocks away at the Taste of Chicago.

The result?  Let’s just say so much for Facebook as an organizing principle. The vigil was a trickle at best. A few flowers, some impromptu performances, a tear or two. But not the long night by candleight some people expected. More so, it looked like those who came were wanting to jump into an ongoing party. Seeing that they would have to start the party themselves, they chose to move on. Proof that every movement needs a catalyst.

From former wife Lisa Marie Presley’s MySpace page:

He Knew.

Years ago Michael and I were having a deep conversation about life in general.

I can’t recall the exact subject matter but he may have been questioning me about the circumstances of my Fathers Death.

At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, “I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.”

I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that.

14 years later I am sitting here watching on the news an ambulance leaves the driveway of his home, the big gates, the crowds outside the gates, the coverage, the crowds outside the hospital, the Cause of death and what may have led up to it and the memory of this conversation hit me, as did the unstoppable tears.

A predicted ending by him, by loved ones and by me, but what I didn’t predict was how much it was going to hurt when it finally happened.

The person I failed to help is being transferred right now to the LA County Coroners office for his Autopsy.

All of my indifference and detachment that I worked so hard to achieve over the years has just gone into the bowels of hell and right now I am gutted.

I am going to say now what I have never said before because I want the truth out there for once.

Our relationship was not “a sham” as is being reported in the press. It was an unusual relationship yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a “Normal life” found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part. Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much.

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