THURS 28th FEB 2008 MJ fights for Neverland!

MICHAEL JACKSON is determined to stop the auction of his old Neverland Ranch home by taking out a loan to cover the money he owes to the estate's trustees.

Bosses at Financial Title Company have announced they will sell the fabled California property at auction on 19 March (08) unless the pop star comes up with the $24.5 million (GBP12.25 million) they claim he owes them.

The Thriller singer vowed never to return to the Santa Barbara-area estate, where he once housed a zoo and theme park, after detectives ransacked the property for evidence to use against Jackson in his 2004 child molestation trial.

But he doesn't want his former home and fixtures and fittings to go under the hammer.

A Jackson family insider insists the singer will avoid foreclosure on Neverland with a new loan, adding the auction "won't happen". The source tells CNN, "The financing is all being worked out. There are plenty of lenders willing to work with him."

SOURCE :CNN

WED FEB 27th 2008 NEVER NEVERLAND

It Is with great sadness to report the state of finacial crisis at Michaels home Neverland.

For those fans who have been lucky enough to visit MJ's spiritual home they will tell you have beautiful and how peaceful it is.

We know that every Neverland has a villain, we know that our's was The Captain DOM (see HIStory!) We know his men ripped the soul out of Neverland, and we know in our hearts that Michael may never return.

But some where in Neverland there is a light that will forever shine. The Giving Tree will forever sing. And the past sound's of children laughing and dancing and running will forvever be Neverland's heartbeat.

NEVERLAND, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FUTURE WILL ALWAYS IN FANS HEARTS BE MICHAEL'S HOME.

It was beautiful, It was peaceful and if I had the money I would buy that Ranch and give it to Michael as a thankyou for all the happiness he has given to the world.

MJONE 2008

MONDAY 25th FEB 2008 NE-YO

NE-YO sings beautifully at this years BET AWARDS with A classic MJ track.

Listen via the BET website or click on the link below.

B.E.T

FRI FEB 22nd 2008 Sony furious over Jackson's chart snub

Bosses at record label Sony are fuming after the U.S. Billboard chart refused to recognise Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 as a new album.

The singer's 25th anniversary edition of the hit LP was relegated to the secondary catalogue chart after Billboard classed it as a re-issue.

And Sony is furious, insisting the album contains enough new material for it to be considered a separate recording from the original 1982 version.

The updated classic features new collaborations with current artists including Kanye West, Fergie, Akon and Will.i.Am - as well as a new song from Jackson himself.

But Billboard has refused to back down, insisting Jackson should be happy with the success of Thriller 25 - as it is number one in the catalogue chart.

Billboard's Geoff Mayfield tells New York Daily News, "We were approached by Sony and Sony BMG to consider Thriller 25 as a current album. But we had to be consistent with hundreds, if not thousands, of reissues that have come to the market. There have actually been new issues of classic albums that include even more new material. We didn't just make the decision on our own. We contacted major retailers and that was the consensus.

"I always understand when people are disappointed when they don't show as high up on the chart, or on the chart they wanted. It's the largest sum for an album on the catalogue chart to be sold in 10 years."

SOURCE :http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wenn

THURS 21st FEB 2008 Thriller Fails To Qualify For Billboard Chart

Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' album will be absent from Billboard's Album Chart tomorrow because it is considered a "catalogue' album.

The 25th anniversary edition of 'Thriller' sold 166,000 units this week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which would have placed it at number two behind Jack Johnson.

However, 'Thriller' has been designated to the Top Pop Catalog chart instead of the Billboard 200 because it is not considered a new release.

Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's Sr. Director of Charts, says there was much debate between Sony-BMG and Billboard over the listing but in the end Billboard would not change its policy for 'Thriller'.

"Sony-BMG stated a strong case and we did consider it," Geoff tells Undercover News. "I took to heart their comments and then I took it to retail. The response I got overwhelmingly is that it is a catalogue album and belongs on the catalogue chart".

"It is being worked in Sony through Legacy which is their catalogue division', he said. "The core of the album is a 25 year old recording. The addition of new material doesn't make it different".

Over the years, hundreds, if not thousands of albums have been reissued with additional material just like 'Thriller'. "U2's recent 'The Joshua Tree' reissue and Beck's 'Odelay' fall into the same category," he states. "In fact, Beck's album has new tracks just like 'Thriller' and it did not qualify."

Other albums such as The Who's 'Live At Leeds' and Wings 'Band On The Run' were reissued like 'Thriller' with extra tracks.

"I wasn't interested in what Sony-BMG thought," Geoff said. "We always rethink our rules. We did so in November. Sometimes there is a change, sometimes there is not. To change the rules for 'Thriller' would have signalled a change for all other albums moving forward."

So why is the reissue of 'Thriller' different to the reissue of 'Traveling Wilburys' which did qualify for the chart? "Wilburys was the entire Wilburys output in one package," he says. It was never done before. If 'Thriller' and 'Off The Wall' were combined into one package then that would qualify and would have been charted".

'Thriller' is the second biggest album of all-time in the United States. Jackson needs to sell another 3 million copies to beat the current title holder Eagles 'Their Greatest Hits'.

SOURCE http://www.undercover.com.

THURS FEB 14th 2008 Ne-yo talking about working on MJ New ALbum

It's been 25 years since Michael Jackson released the world's biggest-selling album of all time, Thriller. In honor of the anniversary, Epic/Legacy Recordings is dropping a newly expanded, deluxe edition of the album. In this SOHH exclusive, some of today's biggest R&B names - Ne-Yo, Sean Garrett and Marsha Ambrosius - share their thoughts on the Thriller re-release.

The Thriller 25th Anniversary edition, which hits stores today (Feb. 12), features all of the songs from the original album as well as new remixes created by super-producers Kanye West, Akon and will.i.am and one unreleased track recorded during the original Thriller sessions.

"[I'm] mad that I wasn't on it," says Marsha Ambrosius, the Floetry songstress who wrote the song "Butterflies" on MJ's Invincible album. "However, good job. Thriller is like the best album of all time. Why not re-release it? I'd re-release it if it was my record and it sold 108 mil worldwide. Do it again!"

Ne-Yo, who is working on Michael Jackson's forthcoming studio album, agrees. "I think it's a good idea before he goes with the new album. He's coming up with a new one that I'm working with him on."

Atlanta based songwriter, Sean "The Pen" Garrett also revealed that he has plans to work with the King of Pop. "I just met with him a month ago and we're actually going to be doing some work together."

In the meantime, the man who penned hits like Usher's "Yeah" and Beyonce's "Upgrade U" looks forward to revisiting old favorites from the Thriller album. "'Billie Jean' is one of my favorites, 'Thriller' was a great one," says Garrett. "I love Mike."

SOURCE : http://www.hiphop-elements.com

WEDNESDAY 13 FEB 2008 THRILLER 25

Early sales figures of Michaels new Thriller 25th Anniversary? album have currently placed him as the highest new entry in the UK album charts at #4.

Its currently on course to being a potential #1, so if you haven?t yet bought your copy (or copies!) then click on the links below and get Michael to where he belongs at the top of the charts!

Source: MJWN with special thanks to SonyBMG

MJONE : WE HAVE TO GET THIS TO NUMBER 1, LETS SHOW THE WORLD MJ IS STILL THE KING OF POP. JACKSONONE BROUGHT 6 COPIES ON MONDAY, DON'T DELAY BUY IT TODAY....HMV IS SELLING THE ALBUM AT £9.99

FEB 11th 2008 FAN'S NOT THRILLED BY THRILLER NO SHOW!

lET'S PLAY A GAME, LET'S CALL IT THE THRILLER HUNT...

The game starts with adverts about a musical genius and a 25 year old album coming back in the public eye.

You move through the game by having top performers such as AKON, FERGIE, WILL.I.AM promoting this album by saying MICHAEL'S going to be all over the SuperBowl, Michael's gonna be all over the GRAMMY'S.

Get a special VIP card that allows a free throw of the dice for getting your fans excited with all this new talk of adverts and Thriller tributes.

You then get max points by doing these T.V spots.

You win the game by gaining new fans and showing your loyal fans - those that have been following your career since the real life game began - that you still around.

But if you decide to go home and give the reason to something fans have heard before and just count on an album promoting itself, and most importantly selling itself, then the games over and you lose.

Let the excuses begin....

SAT 09th FEB 2008 My life as the mother of Michael Jackson's children, by Debbie Rowe

Pictures of her beloved 'babies' cover the yellowing walls of Debbie Rowe's remote home. There are favourite snapshots, framed portraits and even paintings which perfectly capture their expressions of innocence.

Rowe studies the faces looking down at her and says fiercely: "I am possessive and protective of my babies. Their happiness means more to me than anything else on this world. I love them more than I would ever have thought was possible."

It is, one might think, perfectly normal for a mother to feel this way about her children. But the portraits adorning Rowe's walls show her menagerie of animals - not the two children she produced with, and then handed over to, Michael Jackson.

Indeed, there is not even a single, grainy snapshot of either Prince Michael, now ten, or Paris, nine, the children taken from her arms in the maternity ward in exchange for a multi-million-pound pay-off.

More than a decade after this plain dental nurse first joined the bizarre Michael Jackson roadshow, she lives alone breeding horses and dogs. There is little evidence in this impoverished and dusty backwater of the small fortune she is reputed to have received for effectively becoming America's most famous surrogate mother.

Her 'babies' now include 11 dogs, including one half-wolf, a parrot who shares her bedroom and drinks from her coffee cup, a pair of parakeets and 30 horses - many of them pregnant mares. She says, with no trace of irony, that she finds it hard to give away her foals. "I have to send them to a trainer so I can detach myself from them. It stops me becoming too involved."

Rowe worries more, it seems, about a young animal being led away from its mother than she does about the infants who were taken from her by the reclusive superstar. (Jackson later claimed that he was in such a rush to leave the hospital with daughter Paris in 1998 that he cut the cord and left with the baby covered in blood, taking the placenta with him in his haste.)

Since her second child by Jackson was removed, Rowe appears to have had scant dealings with her offspring - although she claims to see them sometimes. Certainly, though, the photograph of the children which made headline news this week - for once their faces not covered by the customary veils - offered Rowe a tantalising glimpse of the children she gave away.

This week, she invited the Mail into her home for an extraordinary, unsettling interview in which she broke the silence she has maintained for years about her infamous children. When asked about their appearance this week, she reacts with the grunt of a satisfied breeder, rather than a sigh of loss. "I turned out two pretty good-looking kids. For that I am proud."

She is unhappy, however, that the children's faces have been revealed.

"The veils were my idea, not Michael's. I had kidnap threats when they were babies. I did not want them to be recognised. I'm not happy they've been photographed without the veils."

Rowe, 49, is equally quick to dispel rumours that she has fallen out with her ex-husband, from whom she was divorced eight years ago, or is once more desperate for money. She says: "I don't need money. Michael and I are fine. I see him and the kids all the time. They live in Las Vegas now, just a three-hour drive away."

Given the fact that she admitted during Jackson's child molestation court case in 2005 that she hadn't seen him or the children for years, this claim seems unlikely - like so much else in her extraordinary story.

The adopted daughter of a millionaire couple from Malibu, Debbie Rowe became part of Jackson's bizarre menagerie some 11 years ago. His marriage to Elvis's daughter Lisa Marie Presley was crumbling, while Jackson's desire to become a father was growing.

Rowe was a late developer both sexually and emotionally - she was 30 before she had her first serious relationship. She says of that romance: "I loved him so much. He was my first serious boyfriend - and it still hurts."

By the Nineties, Rowe was recovering from the break-up and working as a nurse for Michael Jackson's dermatologist, Dr Arnold Klein. She befriended Jackson and - like a schoolgirl with a crush - offered to bear him children when he spoke about his longing to be a father.

Incredibly, some kind of agreement was struck, and in early 1996 she was artificially inseminated, possibly through IVF, though she refuses to talk about the details. Whether it was with Jackson's sperm or an anonymous donor's - more likely given the light-coloured skin of the children she produced - Rowe is not saying.

The couple married at the Sheraton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, in November 1996, when Rowe was six months pregnant with their son. The bride was 37, Jackson 38, and the best man was an eight-year-old boy (a friend, of course, of the groom).

Their marriage was consummated with a peck on the cheek from Jackson, who retired - without her - to another room. There's no evidence to suggest the couple ever had normal sexual relations.

The newly-weds returned to LA, but never lived as husband and wife. In February 1997, Rowe gave birth to their son, Prince Michael Jackson. The baby spent several hours in special care before Jackson rushed him to his Neverland Ranch, where a team of nannies stood waiting.

Rowe was quoted as saying later: "I'd never seen Michael so happy and that's what made it so wonderful for me."

So wonderful, in fact, that months later, Rowe was artificially impregnated again. She recalls: "Of course it was artificial insemination. Paris was conceived in Paris, that's how she got her name. Michael wanted to call her Princess, but I thought that was stupid."

Paris Katherine Jackson was born on April 3, 1998, and this time, Jackson later claimed, he simply wrapped the baby in a towel and fled.

Incredibly, it is not the memory of the bloodied newborn being torn from her arms which moves Rowe to tears now - but the sudden admission that she couldn't bear Jackson any more children.

She bursts into tears and, sobbing loudly, says: "I had so many problems when I was pregnant with Paris. After that I couldn't have any more children. Michael was upset about that, he couldn't understand it. He wanted more babies."

Rowe, it appeared, had served her physical use and was simply put out to pasture. She filed for divorce six months later - accepting a pay-off worth £4.2million over nine years, in return for giving up her custodial rights to the children.

The original divorce settlement allowed her one visit every 45 days, though she later applied to the court herself to terminate her parental rights altogether, claiming it was in the children's best interests. Was she coerced? In the Alice in Wonderland world of Michael Jackson, we will probably never know.

He went on to 'sire' a third child - Prince Michael II, known as Blanket - by an unnamed surrogate.

Meanwhile, Rowe claims their relationship remained 'fine'.

She adds defiantly: "It always has been. Michael and I have always got on. I only divorced him because I wanted my life back. I couldn't cope with the constant pressure of fame. He's the genius, the famous one. Not me. I turned out two good-looking kids, but I can't sing, I can't dance."

Despite their divorce after a truly dysfunctional marriage, she still shows a surprising loyalty to the singer: when Jackson was accused of molesting a young boy three years ago, Rowe told the court he was a loving and caring father.

Under cross-examination, she admitted that she had not seen her ex-husband - or her own children - for some years, which rather undermines her claim to me that she still sees them regularly.

Jackson was cleared of sexual abuse, but moved with the children to the Middle East and then Ireland.

In 2006, Rowe took him to court, petitioning for her parental rights to be restored - despite her previous insistence that they should be withheld - and complaining that Jackson had stopped paying her. He claimed she had breached their confidentiality agreement - but a new settlement was reached in secret.

Meanwhile, Rowe was apparently finding her 'celebrity' - or 'notoriety' - hard to come to terms with.

"I used to be an extrovert, but my marriage made me introverted. I was followed everywhere. I hated the fame. After I married Michael, it was hard to keep working. Staff at the clinic sold stories about me to the media. People were offered a million dollars for a picture of me pregnant. I even told my family to sell one; I thought they could do with the money. But they refused."

After her divorce, Rowe continued to live in the Beverly Hills mansion which Jackson gave her as part of their settlement, and studied at an online university to gain degrees in criminal law and psychology.

"I wanted to work in a prison," she explains. "I thought I could help because you can't mess up someone who is already in jail. In the end I loved horses more and I wanted to get away from LA. I was trailed everywhere by the paparazzi."

Three years ago, Rowe sold up and moved to a three-bedroom ranch-style house in Palmdale, an ugly, rundown desert town 60 miles from LA.

Here, in the heat and solitude, Rowe appears to have found some peace. She takes a deep breath and says: "Out here in the fresh air I feel much better. No one knows me here. I don't talk to anyone. I just get on with my life breeding horses. As soon as I saw this place I fell in love with it - for the land. I'm up at 6am with the animals and we have the most extraordinary sunrises.

"I have a boyfriend. He's a murder cop, we've dated on and off for 30 years. Until now, our timing was always out."

Today, she bears little resemblance to the fresh-faced blonde who once posed smiling for glossy magazine 'family' photographs with Jackson and their babies. Her hair is still blonde but her body has bloated almost beyond all recognition. At 5ft 10in tall, she weighs around 15st and is clad in denim with a T-shirt which says 'Shut up and ride'.

Eyeliner has been tattooed under her eyes, a process she has topped up every five years. She is also planning on getting laser treatment for her failing eyesight.

She says: "I'm 50 in December. That's a big milestone. I want to lose weight. After someone snatched a photo of me, the newspapers wrote about how fat I'd become. That's so unfair because I've lost 20lb. There'll be saying I'm pregnant next."

Rowe pauses and adds: "As a child I didn't dream of marrying Michael Jackson or anyone else famous. I am not fazed by celebrity. I was born and bought up in LA, where I dreamed of having a ranch with horses. It's taken me a long time, but I am finally doing what I always wanted to do."

Despite Jackson's dire financial straits and rumours that a mortgage company will repossess his Neverland mansion, Rowe denies she is short of money. Every penny goes on her horses, which she sells for up to £15,000 each, and her beloved dogs.

"I can't be bought. I don't need money. I just like to be left alone," she insists.

Bizarrely, as she poses for photographs with her horses, her mind changes. Flushed with the excitement of attention, she announces: "I want a reality TV show. I reckon I'd be great. Can you pitch it for me? It would be me, the dogs and my horses. Do you think they'd go for that in Britain? I think it would be a scream."

But the sight of this middle-aged woman sweating in the heat, craving affection from her animals, is far from funny. One wonders if the children she gave away might have supplied the love she obviously needs, but there seems little chance of that while they remain with their itinerant father.

So does Rowe ever see herself marrying again after her union with a megastar? She says she is happiest living just with her animals. Then she sighs. "There are three stages in marriage. First it's puppy love, then it's for breeding purposes and then, if you can make it through all the bull***t, it's for companionship."

Rowe pauses, then waves a dismissive hand. "I've done the breeding stage. I don't need the rest."

SOURCE : http://www.dailymail.co.uk

FRIDAY 08th FEB 2008 MICHAEL JACKSON SETTLES TAX DEBT

Pop superstar MICHAEL JACKSON has settled an outstanding tax bill of $600,000 (GBP300,000) relating to his now-abandoned Neverland Ranch.

The Thriller hitmaker made the payment for the tax lien on his Los Olivos, California mansion last week (ends01Feb08), according to state records in Santa Barbara County.

But the singer is still struggling to pay off a debt of $23 million (GBP11.5 million) after defaulting on a loan taken out against the sprawling Neverland estate. The property has been vacant since 2005, when Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges.

SOURCE: CONTACT MUSIC

TUESDAY FEB 06th 2008 MJ AT THE GRAMMY'S

MON FEB 04th 2008 Furry critters abound in Super Bowl ads