A Candle for Michael Newsletter October 2018 Sharing MJ news and comment from the World Wide Web • British Poll says Thriller is the most inspiring album Michael Jackson’s album Thriller is the most inspiring album of all time, according to a survey in the UK. Thriller was identified as the album to have had the biggest impact on people's lives. The second spot went to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, while third place went to Abba and their Gold: Greatest Hits compilation. The poll results were reported by the Independent last month. • Spike Lee talks about filming Michael in Rio favela Last month a story appeared in the media about Spike Lee being prepared to pay off a drug lord in order to safely film Michael singing “They Don’t Care About Us” in the Santa Marta favela in 1996. In reality Spike says, he didn’t pay a dime, just asked permission. “To guarantee Michael’s security, we had to speak with the drug kingpin Marcinho VP because the Brazilian police refused to climb the hills of the slum,” Lee said when interviewed in London. “The guy was a big Michael Jackson fan,” he added. Marcinho assured him, Editorial “With Michael Jackson here, this will be the safest place in the world.” Read the article here. When I was at Disneyland in California in the first week of September, the decorations for Halloween were already going up • Remembering Michael’s visits to Singapore 1993 and 1996 around the park, and the Haunted Mansion was closed while When visiting Singapore on his Dangerous and HIStory world undergoing its annual Halloween make-over. tours, Michael Jackson did what most other visitors to the island nation do - he went shopping. An article published last October is an exciting time of year for MJ fans. This year we’ve month noted that Michael shopped at Sim Lim Square and already had Thriller 3D in some IMAX theatres (though not near caused a mob at Raffles Hotel. In 1993 Michael had the me, sadly, and not in as many cinemas as we expected). privalege of having Singapore Zoo’s famous organgutan Ah Hopefully, if IMAX gets the response they are hoping for this year, Meng brought to meet him. The zoo drove Ah Meng to Raffles next year we might get a much broader release. Hotel where Michael had some time with the primate by the pool. Click here to see photos and footage of Michael in Meantime, I’d like to see Ghosts in its entirety, presented in a Singapore. Read about Ah Meng “our own homegrown high-quality format whether on the big screen or Blu-ray/DVD. celebrity” on the Zoo’s website, here. (While some people have a Christmas Wish List, I have a Halloween Releases Wish List, which I think is much more fun!) • Vogue celebrates 60 years of MJ the Fashion Icon In celebration of Michael’s 60th birthday, Vogue UK recalled However, and wherever you enjoy the pumpkin season, I hope his influence on fashion, noting that, rather than drape himself you have a safe and happy one. in the latest runway fashions, Michael’s custom made wardrobe was inspired by history and art. The article suggests And keep on Michaeling! that few people know how well Michael knew his fashion. “Not long before he passed, Michael personally called John Kerry Hennigan Galliano to request a bespoke Napoleon jacket,” Rushka Kerry Hennigan Bergman said. Fashion critic Anders Christian Madsen reveals he grew up a Jackson “disciple”. He writes: “From his Global MJ Pilgrim (“I’m with the doll”) Editor 'A Candle for Michael Newsletter' fantastical face to his fairy-dusted wardrobe, Michael had to Admin: Michael Jackson's short film 'Ghosts' fan group look as superhuman as he did to match his incomprehensible Blog: https://kerryhennigan.wordpress.com talents and the enigmatic phenomenon he was. Watching his interviews, I had similar childhood experiences, only I’d be shouting, ‘Ask him about his wardrobe!’” Read his complete Calendar of MJ Events article in Vogue. Until 21 Oct – Michael Jackson On the Wall exhibition at the Designer references MJ in sping/summer show National Portrait Gallery, London. Visit the website here. • Meantime, for his spring/summer fashion show, designer Oct 10 - In the Studio with MJ 2018 - Cologne Philipp Plein paid tribute to one of his long-time heroes, Michael Jackson. Iconic MJ items such as gloves, hats and Oct 13 - In the Studio with MJ 2018 – Frankfurt even Billie Jean-style white socks were featured. View some of the MJ inspired fashions and read the story here. 20 Oct - Festival of Butterflies 2018 - 20 Oct-26 Oct 2018, Charlot Café, Barcelona, Spain, in favour of the Pamela and Moonwalker • “He was such an amazing human being in my life” Project. Visit the event page here. Actor and musician Evan Ross appeared on MTV recenty where he showed a photo of his younger self with Michael 25 Oct – Major Love Prayer Day www.majorloveprayer.org Jackson, prompting a discusson with his hosts on the impact 27 Oct – Thrill the World Day http://www.thrilltheworld.com/ Michael had on his life and his relationship to members of the Jackson family. Watch the video here. 31 Oct – Halloween • James Ingram on MJ and PTY 31 Oct - MJ Halloween Party, Yokosuka, Japan. Details: MJVibe. “It’s a gift,” James Ingram revealed as the source of Michael’s 31 Oct – Terror in Town, MJ Thriller-style Monster March, Neath, superpowers. “When he came out the womb, that was part of Wales. Details here. his package. That was part of his D.N.A.” This comment was in an article on Michael’s track “PYT (Pretty Young Thing)” the sixth single from the Thriller album and one described in the Nov 23 - 14 Feb - Michael Jackson: On the Wall exhibition, article as “a jolt of ecstacy”. Read it on Boom Box. Grand Palais, Paris https://www.grandpalais.fr/fr/evenement/michael- jackson • Paris calls out the paparazzi in New York Attending New York Fashion Week events, Paris Jackson March 22 – July 14 - Michael Jackson: On the Wall shared the following on Twitter. "i just got yelled at in a really @Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany mean way outside the tom ford show because paparazzi didn't https://www.bonnticket.de/MICHAEL+JACKSON+On+the+Wall-Ticket-7480 get a chance to shoot my face. (for those of you that don't know, paps don't get paid unless my face is in the shot.)." The photographers then told Paris that Michael "would have never News of Note done that," but she counters, "he did… a lot lol." • Thriller 3D at IMAX – feedback from fans and critics • Never-seen MJ photos by Exley shared on-line Despite the disappointment of Thriller 3D at IMAX cinemas Two stunning, previously unseen photos of Michael taken by having a limited release compared to what we were expecting, the late Jonathan Exley have been shared on Instagram by his the fan feedback as reported from the UK by MJ Vibe is wife Susan Exley - one from the Scream set for Michael's 60th positive. In the US it was noted that the new Amblin movie it birthday, the other, from the You Are Not Alone shoot shortly screened with, "The House with a Clock in Its Walls” easily afterwards. View them there. took the number one spot in its opening weekend, taking in $26.8 million. “Eli Roth's adaptation of the popular children's • Earth Song opens Global Climate Action Summit book ended up beating expectations and is the director's At the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco on 12 - highest opening of his career. IMAX, which showed Michael 14 September 2018 a choir singing Michael Jackson’s “Earth Jackson's Thriller in 3D before the film, brought in $2.5 million Song” opened the proceedings. Read MJ Vibe’s blog and see of The House With a Clock in Its Walls total earnings." a video of the opening day highlights here. Source: Movieweb One critic commented "’The House With a Clock in Its Walls’ is worthy of seeing in Imax during its first • Former MJ Impersonator shares his story week of release, because you get Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” Former MJ impersonator, Lindsay Pereira, who now lives in as an added bonus! Trust me when I tell you that you haven’t Toronto, has shared his story,“What I learned as a Michael seen this John Landis-directed gem until you’ve seen it in Jackson impersonator in Mumbai”, in the Globe and Mail. He glorious Imax 3D! Word to the wise, though: “Thriller” probably writes, ”I miss a world without Michael Jackson because he will give your kids nightmares!" Source: The Independent inspired me to do more than I thought I could. If that is not what an icon is supposed to do, then what is?” • Update on the Michael Jackson Broadway musical The Michael Jackson Broadway musical, a collaboration • Jennifer’s happy memories of Michael and Neverland between The Michael Jackson Estate and Columbia Live Appearing on the Jimmy Kimmel show recently actress Stage, is not expected to open until 2020, so, as reported by Jennifer Love Hewitt spoke fondly of her happy memories of Playbill last month, it’s too early yet to determine exactly what meeting Michael on an LA Gear photo shoot when she was it will look like. “We’ve done one 29-hour reading, so we’re just 10 years old, and later being invited to parties at still working on the book,” says director-choreographer Neverland.