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A Symposium in Honor of the Genius of Michael Jackson


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#1
MJSunshine

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This sounds like an interesting event taking place at Columbia College Chicago in September. Also, this note regarding Jacob Austen catches my interest: "He is currently working on a book about Michael Jackson in Chicago 1965–1968."  :o

Genius without Borders: A Symposium in Honor of the Genius of Michael Jackson
September 24–25
Chicago, IL

Registration

The symposium is free and open to the public, but since a capacity audience is expected, pre-registration will be required for admission. Pre-registration will become available on September 7, 2010, and must be made online from this page. Pre-registration will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis until all available seats are reserved. It is highly unlikely that any seats will be available at the door without pre-registration.

Nonlocal symposium attendees should make their own lodging arrangements.

Symposium Venues


Registration, check-in, and all sessions on September 24 and 25 will be held on the Columbia College Chicago campus at 1104 South Wabash Avenue, Film Row Cinema, 8th floor.

The September 24 evening event, for which separate tickets must be purchased ($20) through www.ticketweb.com, will be held in the Pritzker Auditorium, Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State Street. Tickets will go on sale beginning September 7, 2010.

For more information about the event, please call the Center for Black Music Research at 312.369.7559 or email cbmr.contact@colum.edu.

Symposium Presenters


Jacob Austen is a music journalist and author of TV-a-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol. He is currently working on a book about Michael Jackson in Chicago 1965–1968.

Bonnie Brooks is a dance writer, dance educator, and arts advocate with an extensive background in dance administration and production. She is the department chair at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.

Daphne Brooks is a specialist in African-American literature and culture, performance studies, cultural studies, and popular music culture. She serves as director of Undergraduate Studies in the Center of African American Studies at Princeton University.

The son of legendary vocalist, bandleader, and matinee idol Billy Eckstine, Ed Eckstein has had a varied and extensive career in the music business. He joined Quincy Jones's budding media operation in 1974 and spent nearly eleven years as a key executive member of Jones's production empire, serving in a variety of positions on projects by the Brothers Johnson, Michael Jackson, George Benson, Rufus & Chaka Khan, Patti Austin, James Ingram, the soundtracks to Roots and the film adaptation of The Wiz, and Quincy's classic recordings. In 1985, Eckstein joined Clive Davis's Arista Records as vice president of A&R, where he contributed creatively to projects by Whitney Houston, Kenny G., Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Expose, and Jermaine Stewart. In 1986, he began a decade-plus-long tenure with Polygram Records. His initial signings there included Vanessa Williams; Tony, Toni, Toné; Robin Harris; and Brian McKnight. In 1990, Eckstein became the first African American to be appointed president of a major non-black-owned recording company. He is currently co-producing with Moon Dog Films an eight-hour documentary television series, tentatively titled The Rhythm & Blues Project, on the history of R&B and soul music from post World War II.

Althea Legaspi is a Chicago-based writer/journalist. She's a regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, and her work has been featured in USA Today, Independent UK, Paste Magazine, Time Out, and Relix Magazine, among others. She is NPR-affiliate WBEZ's on-air music critic, and her features also air on “All Things Considered.” She teaches Music Journalism, Writing for Radio, and Radio Interviewing at Columbia College Chicago and has also served as an on-camera correspondent for Rollingstone.com, HOB.com, and the radio show “Sound Opinions.”

Raquel Monroe
is a scholar, artist, and activist with a long history in academia and in diverse communities engaging the ways in which dance influences and is influenced by the social discourses on race, gender, sexuality, class, and culture. She is assistant professor at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.

Mark Anthony Neal is professor of black popular culture in the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University. He is a frequent commentator on National Public Radio and contributes to several on-line media outlets, including The Root.com.

Ronnie Reese writes for Wax Poetics magazine, Stones Throw Records, and AOL. He is pursuing a graduate degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Stephanie Shonekan is a professor of Humanities and Cultural Studies at Columbia College Chicago, where she teaches classes that focus on the art and literature created by people of African descent. She is currently completing work on a collaborative autobiography depicting the life of the notable African-American opera singer, Camilla Williams.

Greg Tate was a staff writer at The Village Voice during 1987–2005. His writings on culture and politics have also been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Artforum, and Rolling Stone, among many other publications. He is currently working on a book about James Brown.


Preliminary Program


Friday, September 24
8:00–9:30 a.m.
Registration check-in
1104 South Wabash Avenue
Film Row Cinema, 8th floor
9:30–10:30 a.m.
“A Genius Is a Negro Who Dreams of Snow: Michael Jackson and the Pursuit of White Power”

Gregory Tate, presenter

10:45–11:45 a.m.
“Michael and the Motherland”

- Stephanie Shonekan, presenter

11:45 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
Lunch (on your own)
1:30–2:30 p.m.
“Smooth Criminality”: Racial Phantasmagoria & Black Fugitivity in Michael Jackson's (Dancing) Body Politic

- Daphne Brooks, presenter

2:45–3:45 p.m.
“The Postmodern Genius of Michael Jackson”

- Bonnie Brooks and Raquel Monroe, presenters

4:00–5:00 p.m.
“Sampling Michael: The Performance of Rhythm, Masculinity, and Nostalgia”

- Mark Anthony Neal, presenter

7:30–9:30 p.m.
Special Panel Presentation: “It's All About the Music: An Insider's Look at Michael Jackson's Art”

- Moderated by Ed Eckstein, former president, Mercury Records, and co-producer of The Rhythm and Blues Project

Posted Image

Invited guests to include

- Greg Phillinganes, musical director for Michael Jackson's Bad and Dangerous concert tours

- Other musicians and artists who have worked with Michael Jackson

Pritzker Auditorium
Harold Washington Library Center
400 South State Street, Chicago
Tickets required, available only at www.ticketweb.com. Tickets go on sale on September 7, 2010.

Saturday, September 25

8:30–9:30 a.m.
Registration check-in
1104 South Wabash Avenue
Film Row Cinema, 8th floor
9:30–11:00 a.m.
“Big Boy: Michael Jackson in Chicago, 1965–1968”

A panel discussion among music industry figures who worked with the Jackson Five during their developmental years as a Chicago nightclub act before their “discovery” by Motown.

- Jake Austen (host and moderator)

Invited panelists include:

- Gordon Keith – As owner of Steeltown Records, Keith helped manage the Jackson Five and released the group's first single, “Big Boy,” in 1967.

- Clinton Ghent – Best known for hosting the local version of Soul Train (1970–1976), Ghent was also a choreographer who developed some of the Jackson Five's earliest dance routines.

- Larry Blasingaine – As a teenage guitarist, Blasingaine and his band the Young Folks shared stages and rehearsal space with the Jackson Five. Blasingaine also played with (and coached) the Jackson brothers on their first known studio recording session. He would later play guitar with the Emotions and Jackie Wilson.

- Wilton Crump – With his vocal group, Crump competed with the Jackson Five at Roosevelt High talent shows. He later did arrangements on the group's second Steeltown single, “We Don't Have to Be Over 21 (To Fall in Love).” He later managed doo wop legends the Spaniels and is currently that group's lead singer.

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Open discussion with the symposium participants
12:00 p.m.
Symposium concludes
3:00–3:45 p.m.
Class: Learn Choreography from Michael Jackson's “Thriller”

Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago dancer Amansu Eason will teach choreography from Michael Jackson's “Thriller”
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago
1306 S. Michigan Avenue
Studio 200
Free
Offered in association with

- The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306-Ten Years Later
- Columbia College Chicago alumni weekend

Follow the Symposium Online

Althea Legaspi and Ronnie Reese will live blog the events. Watch this page for more information.

Follow the CBMR on Twitter at cbmrccc. Track and join the conversation using the hashtag #gwb2010.

---

Also presented by Columbia College:

Own a Unique Michael Jackson Photograph
Michael Jackson Photo by Vandell Cobb.

Posted Image

Make a bid for this single-issue original photograph of Michael Jackson. Other professional photographers working the same event may have taken similar photographs, but this particular image by Columbia College alumnus Vandell Cobb, in whose private collection the negative will remain, is unique and has never been published.

Current bid: $55

Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Columbia College Photography Department scholarship funds.

After graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 1975, Vandell Cobb worked for thirty-one years for Johnson Publishing Company as a staff photographer for Ebony and Jet magazines. His photographs have been used on numerous magazine covers and in feature stories; his subjects have included U.S. presidents from Reagan to Obama, world leaders such as South Africa President Nelson Mandela and Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, haute couture collections in Paris and Rome, and sports and entertainment figures such as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Earth, Wind and Fire, Oprah Winfrey, Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson.

Bids will be accepted by telephone only, beginning 9 a.m. on Monday, August 16, 2010, and closing 5 p.m. on Friday, September 24, 2010. Symposium attendees will be able to offer live bids immediately prior to the announcement of the winning bidder at 12 noon on Saturday, September 25, 2010. You do not need to be present to win. If you have the winning bid but are not present, you will be notified by telephone.

More information: http://www.colum.edu...son.php#program

#2
MJSunshine

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A short review about it:

Was Michael Jackson a genius?

No doubt about it, according to experts who convened over the weekend at the Harold Washington Library Center to explore the topic.

For more than three uninterrupted hours, the Jackson aficionados played audio tracks, showed video, traded anecdotes and otherwise analyzed one of the most prolific careers in American music – albeit one cut short by the singer-songwriter's tragic death last year, at age 50.

With a throng of Jackson admirers queuing up an hour in advance on Friday night, the connoisseurs were preaching to the choir – and they did not shy away from the "g" word.

"He IS a genius," proclaimed reissues producer Harry Weinger, refusing to revert to past tense.

By way of proof, Weinger played tracks from early Jackson recordings – many still unreleased – drawing from Weinger's work on forthcoming Motown and Jackson 5 catalog reissues. In one excerpt after another, listeners heard Jackson as a child, singing with remarkable prodigiousness.

The most shattering cut was an a cappella version of "Never Can Say Goodbye," a pre-teen Jackson phrasing like a master. Without the benefits of instrumental or rhythmic support, Jackson easily keeps time, but he also finds ways to stretch it. He unerringly holds his pitch, until he decides to bend it, for expressive purposes.

The yearning intensity of Jackson's tone, the disarming "oohs" and "aahs" he improvises at key moments in the song, the silvery clarity of his high-pitched voice simply defy rational explanation. No one under 12 can sing with such craft, ardor and musical wisdom without the benefit of extraordinary gifts.

Jackson's talents, of course, eventually made him an object of adoration around the globe, the crushing attention perhaps explaining some idiosyncracies of his personality.

"The guy was painfully shy," said keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, who recorded and toured prolifically with Jackson.

"You may wonder, 'How could he be so shy?'" asked Phillinganes, pointing to a performer who appeared fearless on stage.

"If you were chased (by fans), and you had to run for your life, if that's what you experience from 11, you would be a little different, too."

The real Michael Jackson, explained Phillinganes, was the man who stood before the microphone – particularly in the recording studio – and let all that glorious music flow out of him, without qualm or inhibition.

When Jackson was recording "She's Out of My Life," with Phillinganes on keyboard, they kept reworking and refining the performance, the pianist remembered.

"And at the end of every take, he'd cry," said Phillinganes. "And it was real."


All the panelists in the symposium, which was organized by the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago, concurred that Jackson was thoroughly "hands-on" in recording sessions.

Though he didn't play instruments – with the exception of a rare turn on drums – he routinely "would sing percussion parts and bass lines" and other musical details, recalled singer Siedah Garrett, who wrote "Man in the Mirror" with Jackson and duetted with him on the single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You."

Yet for all Jackson's involvement with musical and production aspects of his recordings, he often would playfully wreak havoc in the midst of sessions.

"Michael would make it his business to make other artists mess up," recalled Garrett, with a laugh. "He would sing his part. Then when I would sing my part, he would throw peanuts or something at me.

"And Q (producer Quincy Jones) would say (to Garrett), 'You're wasting studio time!' "


The cumulative effect of all these insider recollections and newly unearthed recordings proved quite moving, especially to those in the audience who already revered Jackson.

"You gave me the soundtrack to my life," one observer told those on the stage, a lineup that included Jackson drummer Ricky Lawson and former record executive Ed Eckstein.

Toward the end of the evening, 79-year-old Oscar Walden Jr., a Chicago TV and radio producer, got up from his seat in the crowd and, leaning on his cane, prepared to read a poem he had written for Jackson.

"I love Michael," he told the crowd, which fell to a hush.

"He was a genius."
Source: Chicagotribune.com

#3
MJPC

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I read this article on the Tribune site.  *wonderful*

#4
MJSunshine

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There are more impressions from people who attended that event. It's a lot to read, but really worth doing  :wub: Thanks to Seven from mj-777.com for this collection of reports.

1. Jeremy Horn: My review of 'Genius Without Borders: The Genius Of Michael Jackson' in Chicago. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Hey you guys! I wanted to write my review of this amazing event that I attended at the Pritzker Auditorium at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. I definitely enjoyed this fantastic event! I want to send a big congratulations to Dr. Monica Hairston O'Connell for making this event spectacular.

The event started where Ed Eckstein, who became the 1st African-American to be president of a major non-black owned record company to address his audience about when he was a 11 year old boy, he heard the 1st time the Jackson 5 song 'I Want You Back' was played on the radio. Eckstein also stated that he attended The Forum in 1970 and saw the Jackson 5 performed to a sold out crowd, and girls were rushing the stage. He called the 'boys from Gary, Indiana' the 'Black Beatles!'

Harry Weinger, who is Vice President Of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises, was telling the audience of the catalogs of Motown Records and unreleased material of the Jackson 5. Weinger played an unreleased song from Michael titled 'Love Trip', which was recorded by Diana Ross And The Supremes, and towards the end of the song, Michael's vocals was pure perfection at the age of 11. Weinger also told when J5 were at The Forum in Ingelwood, CA, they were paid $20,000 for that one night, which was top dollars at that time. He also stated when the J5 ended the song 'I Want You Back,' Michael said to the sound engineers to fix the amps. At the age of 11, he handled it like a professional and made the audience realized he was a stage veteran. Finally, Weinger played the acapella version of 'Never Can Say Goodbye' and Michael's vocals was just amazing.

Then, Eckstein introduced the three panels guests. Ricky Lawson, who was the drummer for Michael's 'Bad' and 'Dangerous' World Tour; Greg Phillinganes, who helped produced The Jacksons' 'Destiny,' 'Triumph,' and 'Victory' albums. He was the musical director for The Jacksons' 'Victory Tour' in 1984, Michael's 'Bad' and 'Dangerous' World Tour. And, @SiedahGarrett who wrote Michael's 'Man In The Mirror' and did a duet with Michael for 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You' in 1987, had a standing ovation. They even played the classic music video with Dennis Edwards, 'Don't Look Any Further.'

Eckstein asked Lawson, Phillinganes, and Garrett about working with Michael, and their answers were straight and represented integrity of Michael's legacy in music. Lawson said that during the 'Bad' and 'Dangerous' World Tour, his band were trying to be 2/3 steps ahead of Michael; and to always work with instincts and always trying. Phillinganes was discussing the demos that Rod Temperton of Heatwave was making for Michael's 'Off The Wall' and 'Thriller' and were legends. He also said that when talking to Michael, he was painfully shy, because Michael was chased by girls since the age of 11. He stated that during the recording of 'She's Out Of My Life,' Michael cried. Phillinganes also stated that Michael never played an instrument, but he did see Michael play drums during The Jacksons' 'Destiny' album. He also said to the audience that when they hear an acapella version of 'Rock With You,' during the 'and when the groove is dead and gone,' Michael was snapping his fingers. And, when Michael was recording 'Leave Me Alone' for the 'Bad' album, Michael liked static during the beginning of the songs. Garrett started discussing how she met Michael in 1987 for the duet 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You' and how she came up with the classic song, 'Man In The Mirror.' She was too hilarious and a diva, but she was amazing!

I asked SiedahGarrett a question on advice for up and coming songwriters. She stated, 'Be persistent and always keep auditioning.' She even asked me how old I was, I told her 'I'm 25 years old,' and she said 'I feel old!' LOL Then, a 79 year old Black man who's birthday was on June 25th, read a short poem titled 'Oh Michael Boy' and received a standing ovation, because it was emotional. Then, Garrett along with Phillinganes and Lawson performed 'Man In The Mirror' and it was fantastic!

I enjoyed this event! When I came home, I saw a full moon and a shining star, and said to that star, 'Thank you Michael for being an inspiration and an influence in my life.'
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/67cf22

2. Dianater from MJFC

I attended a presentation called "It's all About the Music: An Insider's Look at Michael Jackson's Art."

It was excellent. There was a panel discussion with Ed Eckstein, Siedah Garrett, Ricky Lawson, Greg Phillinganes, and Harry Weinger. A nice sized audience (200 ppl maybe?)
This of course, was the paid event, not free like the rest of the weekend's events that I unfortunately could not attend. So it was a nice sized-crowd.

So, the night of course was spent discussing Michael's music, but also, there were a whole lot of funny MJ stories.

The night started with Ed Eckstein. I must admit things started out a bit slow (he had his whole speech written and was reading it to us). But he told us about how his “bromance” with MJ started when he was away at college and heard the Jackson 5 for the first time on the radio. He later began to work with Quincy Jones in 1974, and of course, ended up meeting and working with Michael.
He showed a picture of himself and a young teenaged MJ and went on to talk about some general stuff...How Michael was a genius, etc. He talked about how the Jackson 5 were pretty much the Black Beetles with all the hysteria they were causing everywhere they went. This set the tone for the night.
Then he introduced Harry Weinger. This is when things started to pick up because Harry had music for us, lol.

Harry Weinger had some amazing recordings of Baby MJ to share with us. He focused on Michael's musical evolution, and how Michael was truly a child prodegy. He discussed the evolution of Jackson 5 songs back when the boys were at Motown.
He played the classic “The Love You Save” for us, and then discussed how the song came to be. Apparently, the song started off as “Guess Who’s Making Whoopy with Your Girlfriend” (which I could have sworn was the original of “Mama’s Pearl" ...but, not according to Harry. I guess the musical track for GWMWWYG eventually was reused and a new song was written for it, Mama's Pearl). But anyway, he says the song’s title was too long and had to be reworked. It evolved into another version of “The Love You Save”, which he played for us. It was so fascinating to hear this stuff! You could hear “The Love You Save” in development…It was there, but not quite there yet. Some of the lyrics were the same, but the phrasing and the way Michael was singing it was different. Interesting stuff, getting to hear the steps that were taken to reach the final version. He told us how their were plenty of Jackson 5 songs that never saw the light of day, as well as recordings of some of their biggest hits in the developmental phases. What was interesting though, is how he showed us how their sound began to change (as MJ started getting older and using more input). He started playing other things, songs he described as the "bridge" between J5 Motown-esque songs, and Jacksons era songs. Songs that you could hear early Motown influence, but was moving in the direction of later Jackson songs as they worked to change their sound.
One incredible thing he shared with us is how they have recordings over at Motown of Michael singing different takes of songs and how on each one, he is in perfect harmony with himself. He said listening through these old recordings, they played them all together, and Michael consistently remained in the same key, same inflictions of his voice...And he was 10-11 years old. So it was evident at that early age, he already had an incredible ear for music, and incredible control over his vocals.

Weinger gave us some really special treats with these old recordings he played for us. One was an absolutely beautiful acapella of Michael singing "Never Can Say Goodbye." Talk about the voice of an angel...That was an understatement. The audience was in awe just listening to him. His voice so clear, beautiful, so controled. And that fantastic ad-libbing at the end, when he was so young.

Another treat...Weinger discussed how of course, Young Michael is always described as being so incredibly mature. But every now and then, the 11 year old that he was would creep out. So he plays us this clip of Michael singing a cover of Diana Ross' song, "He's My Sunny Boy." The lyrics were changed to "I'm Your Sunny Boy" though. Michael is singing, so professional and all. And then at the end, singing, "I'll be your sunny boy baby" or something along those lines, he just starts cracking up laughing all of a sudden. It was SO f-reakin' adorable. The sound of BB MJ's voice laughing throughout the auditorium. Priceless.
Then Harry played some audio of live Jackson 5 performances for us (being recorded to make a J5 Live album). Only thing is, this particular recording had some issues, lol. The Jackson 5 were singing...The Love You Save (I think? don't quote me...I'm forgetting now, lol). Anyway, something is wrong with the amplifier. You hear the J5 singing, you hear the crowd screaming. They get to the end of the song, and BB MJ is not too thrilled about the jacked-up amplifier. All of a sudden, you hear BB MJ going, "I don't know what's wrong with this amplifier. Do you know what's wrong with it? Do you know." LOL!
He was so serious. Something onstage was sounding off to him, and he wanted it fixed! Harry said it reminded him of MJ in TII, trying to make sure everything was sounding right. Apparently the man was a perfectionist and had a very keen ear since he was a child.

Next, we got some fun stories about J5 performances. Of course, they drove girls crazy. BB MJ was already a ladies' man, and already knew how to work an audience. There was a huge, but fake, diamond ring that Michael was given to wear onstage during performances. A little trick he learned onstage was how to make the ring catch light in just the right way to reflect on someone in the audience. So what he used to do was scan the crowd, and single out a girl. He'd make eye contact with her, hold out his hand, and "flash" the ring at her. Drove girls crazy, lol. So even at that young age, he was already trying to connect personally to the audience...Putting extra things into the performance. The little flirt, lol.

Then there were times of course, when the girls in the audience would rush the stage. At one concert, Berry Gordy and Diana Ross were in the audience and saw the stampeded coming. So they took off. Who else took off? Jermaine. Dropped his guitar and ran for his life. BB MJ was upset about that. In an interview (I forgot what magazine Harry said it was for), BB MJ said something like, "It's a shame we can't perform the songs the way we want to. Jermaine had to drop his guitar."

After Harry, Ed Eckstein came back out to introduce Ricky Lawson, Greg Phillinganess, and Siedah Garrett. Ok, Greg and Ricky had some great stuff to share.
From this point on, we were really just being told stories about MJ and how it was working with him.

Greg talked about how he got into the business, all the countless people he worked with. How he came to work and go on tour with Michael. Funny story…He said he was in the studio with Michael and how Michael just kept asking him, “You like touring? You really like touring, don’t you? You like going on tour?” And Greg said it took him a while to realize Michael was trying to ask him if he wanted to go on tour with him. He eventually was, “Michael, do you want me to go on tour with you?” and Michael smiled and said, “Mmm-hmm.”

Greg absolutely BROKE our hearts at one point though. Would you believe this man had planned on bringing rehearsal footage of him with MICHAEL F-REAKIN’ JACKSON on the Bad tour????!?! He said he meant to bring it and apologized for not being able to find it, and then later realizing it was on a computer that he didn’t have with him! Yes, the crowd all gave a collective cry of anguish. (In which Siedah told us to shut up and watch TII tour’s rehearsals, lol). And then Harry, I think, told us to all follow Greg home to see those videos, lol. But yes, it was a sad, sad moment, to think we were so close to seeing exclusive Bad tour rehearsal footage. *sigh*

Ricky Lawson was so cool. He told us how he came to work with Michael, and such. Discussed how as the drummer, he had to be in tune with Michael’s dancing and how they would come up with ways to mirror each other. The drums would be used to accent Michael’s moves. Again, some fascinating stuff. He treated us to a live performance of Thriller. And it sounded incredible. They had the track playing, Ricky playing along with it live on the drums, Siedah goofing around imitating Michael singing the song. It was awesome. (Then Ed jumped in to tell us a little story about his daughter and friends. He said they were 18 years old, and one night they were out at dinner in a restaurant. I think he said his daughter’s friend was asking her dad to use his car so they could go out later or something. He told her she could use the car if she got up and did the Thriller dance. Of course, she got up and started doing the Thriller dance in the restaurant. And funny thing was, he said people from other tables just started randomly getting up to do with her until suddenly, it was a group of people all doing the Thriller dance in the middle of the restaurant, lol).
But yeah…Hearing Ricky play Thriller on the drums was so cool.

(Also, it's official...MJ could play the drums. Greg saw him. Said one day he heard someone playing a cool beat on the drums, looked around and saw it was MJ. Other instruments though, he said MJ has incredible at mimicking with his voice. The man could SING instruments, lol).

Siedah told us exactly how “Man in the Mirror” came to be. Siedah said getting into the industry was not at all easy for her. She auditioned for every single thing she could. So after audition and audition, she lucked up ended up working with Quincy Jones. She initially had pretty much no experience as a song-writer, having only written poetry. Again, I apologize for not remembering names, but she was working on her song-writing skills with somebody. She said during a session, he got a phone call, answered it, and pretty much forgot she was there. She said she was fuming mad because it wasn’t even an important phone call. He was just chatting. So she said she sat there, annoyed, flipping through her notebook of song ideas. And then at some point in the conversation the guy was having on the phone, he said, “What man? Oh, the man in the mirror.” She said for some reason, she just wrote down the phrase, “man in the mirror” as she listened to him chatting on the phone.

So later, another day, she’s still working on writing songs (because she knew Quincy Jones was working with Michael Jackson and they wanted another song for the Bad album), and someone (Greg?...I know, my memory is horrible, I should have been taking notes!) was playing around on the piano as she was flipping through her notebook. He was playing this melody that ended up being the opening notes to “Man in the Mirror.” Right as he began playing, she said she just happened to flip to the page where she had written the line “man in the mirror.” And then something just happened, she said the lyrics of the song just started coming to her and she could hardly write fast enough to get them on paper. (She said just recalling this still gave her goosebumps). Shortly afterward, she had the song that would become the hit, “Man in the Mirror” written and she was so excited. She called Quincy to tell him that she had a song for Michael. Quincy wasn’t too enthused, lol. She said she was begging him over the phone to listen to the song. She continued to beg and plead until Quincy got ****ed off and said, “Ok, sh*t. Bring it over.”
Then, she tells us about her incredible timing, lol. She went to bring Quincy the song right when he was in an important meeting. So everyone was ****ed at her for interrupting. She gave the song to Quincy, begged him to listen, he said, “Ok, sh*t,” and slammed the door.

Later, she gets a phone call from Mr. Jones, telling her he listened to the song, thought it was great. So of course, Siedah is on cloud nine. Then she hears a “but”…and her spirits drop. It was Quincy saying, “I love the song, but Mike doesn’t really use other people’s songs. He likes being involved in creating the songs, likes to write his own stuff, blah, blah, blah.” She said at this point, she was pretty much blocking out what Quincy was saying because she didn’t want to hear it. Quincy ends up telling her not to worry, because if MJ didn’t want the song, he’d give it to James Ingram.
Siedah said in response to this, she was thinking: MICHAEL JACKSON, James Ingram.
Needless to say she who she was hoping the song would go to, lol.

Then of course, later, she gets another call.

Quincy: Well, we're recording your song.
Quincy: But...
Quincy: Michael says the bridge isn't strong enough. (Pause...someone talking in the back-ground). And the first verse needs to be longer. (Pause). And...(Pause) And.... You know what. Hold on.

Michael: Hello...

Siedah: (inside her mind = OMG, UNF, My Husband!)

LOL! Siedah, being like so many millions of women in the world, said she loved MJ and thought that was her husband, lol. But she had to be cool while talking to him. So while she said she was hysterical on the inside, she put her on "AT&T" voice and said:
"Hello. How can I help you?"
(The audience was laughing so hard at this point).
So she said Michael told her he loved the song, but thought it needed some work. So he told her how he wanted her to fix it up. And of course, if she wanted him to use her song, she had to go with it. She said she ended up writing six different bridges to the song for him. The one he choose:
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and make a change
You gotta get it right while you've got the time
'Cause when you close your heart, you close your mind

So then it came time to do background vocals, so Siedah had to go into the studio to sing with MJ. She was going to meet him, and of course, was nearly hysterical. She said that she forced herself to be calm; she didn’t want to behave like the screaming fanatic that she was on the inside, lol. So she said she was calm and cool when she met him. Apparently, she was checking him out because she remembered every detail about what he was wearing, lol. Black fedora, white shirt, red jacket, black pants, loafers…She said the only thing missing was his white socks. She looked down at his feet and saw that he had on one brown sock, and one blue sock. So after hanging out with him and getting to know him a bit better throughout the day, she finally said, “Michael, what’s up with the socks?” She said Michael looked at her and said, “It was dark when I got dressed.”

The next day, Michael walks up to her grinning. He goes, “Guess what?”
“What?”
“My socks match.”
Siedah said she looked down at his socks, and they were sky blue. She told him, “Yeah, they match each other, but not what you have on.” LMAO. Another story that had the place dying with laughter. She said Michael just cracked up laughing himself and was like “Seid, you so crazy.”

She also told us the story behind, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” So, I think fans know the song was supposed to be MJ and Barbara Streisand (an idea Quincy rejected because he felt Barbara was too old). So then it was supposed to be MJ and Whitney Houston. Whitney was busy. Who was there? Siedah. They handed her the lyrics. She saw Michael’s name, his line, then her name, her line. She was thrilled to be doing a duet with “her husband.”
What she did not know at the time was that MJ was such a huge prankster. There was always so much laughter and joking around going on in the studio that it would annoy Quincy. So whenever Quincy got annoyed with the joking, Michael would make it his business to make other people mess up in the studio. So when they were about to record IJCSTY, Quincy was in “serious mode” and was telling Siedah to go one and sing her part. So she goes behind the mic, starts singing, and all of sudden had popcorn and peanuts being thrown at her (she gives us a hilarious re-enactment of her trying to sing while dodging flying peanuts aimed at her head). Quincy was not amused, kept yelling at her to quit playing around and sing the song. And she said she was just thinking to herself, “Oh, it’s my fault that Michael keeps throwing stuff at me?” And Michael of course, was in the corner, laughing his butt off.

She said she spent the most time with him in the studio, despite being on tour with him (I guess while on tour, she was only with him onstage; they only got to hang out when they were working on songs). But she said recording with him was the best recording experience in her life. She mentioned how Michael had a way of making whoever he was around feel important, because he would be so attentive and made everyone feel like they were important to him and that he could learn something from them.

There was this touching moment where she talked about how Michael liked to observe things and would sometimes stand on the balcony and look over everyone. And then she looked up at the ceiling and said, “Like he is now.”
*sigh*

As to why she was replaced with Sheryl Crow...Siedah missed 5 rehearsals, in attempts to start working on her own album. Sherly Crow was hired. And that was that.

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MJSunshine

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dogolvr at MJFC posted some interesting things from the J5 discussions:

I went to all the sessions on both days. But, one thing Dianater forgot in her very good description of the evening panel of musicians was that Greg Phillinganes said he was hired two weeks ago to work on the new album, which is now slated for Christmas, according to the record execs. He said that it has blown him away - it is that good. He told us that we will not be disappointed. Well... he told us a couple of other things but said he'd come to our homes and kill us if we told.  (Actually, it is all stuff that we already know because parts of it had already been leaked onto YouTube regarding the "Horse With No Name" rewrite.) BUT, he said that MJ was in incredible voice - as good or better than he'd ever heard him and that the album would be amazing. It was quite an endorsement - not solicited, and said in a very genuine and heartfelt manner.

As for the Saturday morning panel with all the original guys from Chicago - I thought it would be stories of the "old" days but it was not! OMG! I learned SO much about MJ before Motown and it is so important in terms of understanding his later music, which has been so overlooked and wrongfully critiqued. I'm going to search for a video they showed us. They thought it might be on YouTube. It is of the last performance the J5 did before Motown. You will not believe what you see. MJ had the audience both astounded and screaming with laughter.

What a great weekend! I am soooo glad I made the effort to go. My estimation of MJ's genius increased again - if that is even possible. He was, as Gordon Keith of Steeltown records said, "a gift from God for the world."

Oh, as for the presenters' papers - the organizer was asked many times about that. She said The Center for Black Music Research has the right of "first refusal" on the papers and realized there was a demand for them. She was thinking they may publish them in their next Journal, but wasn't sure yet. The Center did stream some of the sessions on justin.tv/gwb2010 but did such a bad job of it that one of my friends told me she finally turned it off rather than try to listen through such a huge amount of static.

It was a really important weekend, much better than I expected from reading the abstracts of the lectures on their website. And in the final moments of the Q&A on Sat morning, the scholars and audience discussed what they thought future scholarship on MJ would look like and whether it would be considered important and necessary. The overwhelming comments from all sides, were, of course, a resounding YES!



It's very old tape, so it is best if you download it in the highest quality and watch it from your hard drive.

It was explained and emphasized quite strongly that the J5 did not perform for teeny-boppers. Their act, which was extremely honed and professional, was for ADULT audiences of educated concert-goers (not just strip-club alcoholics). You can see the audience in this clip.

It was also explained how much J5 worked during the years before Motown, which was when MJ was between 7-11 years old. They did whole weeks of three to four performances a night (the last of which would be around 4 am) with all the greatest black groups at the time. We got to see some of the original posters advertising the shows. The J5 had a regular club circuit and were well-known in Chicago.

Jake Austen, who lead the panel, is researching and writing a book on the history of soul music in Chicago (one of the most important cities for the development of black music in the US), which of course, includes the beginning of the J5 prior to Motown.

So, we were treated to some of that history and the panel consisted of people who were there and helped to shape that history. So, Jake made it his business to make sure that we understood the J5 was fully developed as a performing group prior to Motown. And they were a SOUL group, which you will see in this video. He said they were great - Michael was electrifying on stage, and the band was tight (in other words, Jermaine and Tito really were playing and were darn good). (Just as one example of the type of music and style they were doing, he cited the moment MJ asks the audience to "soul clap" with them. Austen said Motown audiences wouldn't have even known what that meant, much less how to do it.)

And because they were playing for adults, he said their professionalism was such that these kids had to come on stage and know how to work an audience and cater it to adult sensibilities. So, he showed this video to show a young MJ (ten years old? maybe just turned 11? I have to look that up) dancing, using his voice, and catering his whole performance in general to an adult audience. It made me realize how much Motown changed them as a group.

Of course, it was seeing some of the things you'll see in this video that made us all scream with laughter (when I said that above, I meant it was us laughing, not the audience in the video). So, besides the dancing, listen to MJ's vocal inflections and compare those to his Motown years. I found myself wishing that they'd never gone to Motown! And another strong thought I had when I watched it was how much it reminded me of MJ's movements in You Rock My World. I guess I realized that in some ways, the progression of his musical development over the decades was to come "home" to his original roots.

Clinton Ghent was on the panel - he choreographed this routine. And guess what he wears?! White socks and loafers. LOL! I guess that was MJ's first contact with his signature look. Clinton was telling us that he taught the J5 how to slow down their steps so they wouldn't come back to their mikes breathless from dancing so fast. He said they barely needed to be taught anything: "They had the rhythm. I just had to show them some little techniques."

So, this is one of two (that Austen knew of) videos of the J5 prior to Motown. It was for the Miss Black America pageant in Madison Square Garden. I think he said it was from 1969, but that's what I have to look up.

He said he knows of another video that exists but he hasn't seen it yet. He said there is a person making a documentary and he thinks both of these will be included in it.

He also told us that the very first recording that the J5 ever made was discovered a couple of weeks ago. He heard about it and tracked it down. We saw a picture of it in the box they found it in.

So, he's doing a lot of really important research. He said if anyone was in Chicago in those days who could tell him anything about those first days of the J5 or even just about the club circuit and other performers there, he would love to hear from them and would be interviewing everyone.

---

This from Siedah:
The reason she and Greg were not part of the TII group of musicians?
They were "not for sale." Siedah related a funny story of meeting Nancy Grace at some recording studio in LA before TII. Siedah told Nanny Grace, who was trying to get MJ on the phone, that when Grace talked with him to pass on a message from Siedah that she "missed his black ass." Later Grace walked up to her with the phone with Mike on the other end. They had some small talk and MJ started telling her about TII. Siedah did kind of the reverse of the previous story about Greg, asking lots of questions about TII, and then finally having to come out and directly ask MJ: "Can I be in it?!"

So, she HAD TO AUDITION! In her audition, she looked at MJ and said something about how she thought she should have this in the bag (since she auditioned for Man in the Mirror). But... she didn't get the gig. Why? "She wasn't for sale." She and Greg affirmed that they had been told that this tour was designed to make the most money possible for MJ and save the most money possible in all the areas they could - in this case, on the musicians. Siedah said she liked Judith Hill, but "she is young.... and for sale." In other words, she needed the break and would work for far less than someone like Siedah or Greg would.

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MJSunshine

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Plus, some videos made from the audience can be seen here: http://de.justin.tv/a/gwb2010

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View PostMJSunshine, on 30 September 2010 - 04:23 AM, said:

Harry Weinger, who is Vice President Of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises, was telling the audience of the catalogs of Motown Records and unreleased material of the Jackson 5. Weinger played an unreleased song from Michael titled 'Love Trip', which was recorded by Diana Ross And The Supremes, and towards the end of the song, Michael's vocals was pure perfection at the age of 11. Weinger also told when J5 were at The Forum in Ingelwood, CA, they were paid $20,000 for that one night, which was top dollars at that time. He also stated when the J5 ended the song 'I Want You Back,' Michael said to the sound engineers to fix the amps. At the age of 11, he handled it like a professional and made the audience realized he was a stage veteran. Finally, Weinger played the acapella version of 'Never Can Say Goodbye' and Michael's vocals was just amazing.
Someone from the audience of that event recorded this unreleased song:






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