Sunday 8 November 2009

Michael Jackson father seeks monthly allowance




Father of Michael Jackson is seeking money from his late son's estate to help him meet monthly living expenses estimated at more than 15,000 dollars, court papers filed in Los Angeles have revealed.
A motion filed on behalf of Joe Jackson on Friday argued that the administrators of the pop star's estate should have set up an allowance similar to the one established for the singer's mother Katherine.
The papers argued that the administrators, John Branca and John McClain, knew that Michael Jackson had financially supported his father for decades.
Joe Jackson, 81, receives 1,700 dollars a month in Social Security payments, according to the documents. He has diabetes and had a stroke in 1998.
A proposed monthly budget in the court papers lists more than 15,000 dollars in expenses, including 1,500 dollars for rent, 2,500 dollars for restaurants and 5,000 dollars for hotels and air travel.
"This court should exercise its sound discretion to award Mr. Jackson a family allowance because Michael Jackson really supported him during his lifetime and he does not have other sources for support," the papers state.
A lawyer for Branca and McClain told the Los Angeles Times they were aware of Joe Jackson's bid for money.
"It was quite surprising to learn of the request. Mr. Jackson's petition will be considered as are all requests for money from Michael's estate," lawyer Howard Weitzman told the paper.
Judge Mitchell Beckloff previously approved nearly 30,000 dollars in payments to Katherine Jackson each month and another 60,000-dollar monthly payment for the care of the singer's three children.
Katherine Jackson lives in Los Angeles and Joe Jackson resides in Las Vegas. Michael Jackson had a difficult relationship with his father, who he accused of physically abusing him and his brothers during the early years of their career.
Joe Jackson was left out of Jackson's 2002 will which divided his multi-million-dollar estate.
Michael Jackson, 50, died from a prescription drug overdose on June 25. A criminal investigation into his death is continuing.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

soundtrack tops U.S. album chartto Michael Jackson


Michael Jackson's the companion soundtrack to worldwide No. 1 movie claimed the top spot on the U.S. pop albums chart Wednesday with the fifth best sales week this year.
"This Is It" sold 373,000 copies during the week ended November 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan, exceeding expectations of an opening in the 300,000 and 350,000 range.
It marks Jackson's sixth No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and it arrives with his best sales week for an album since 1995's "HIStory" opened at No. 1 with 391,000 copies.
Jackson collected his first No. 1 with "Thriller" in 1983 and later notched toppers with "Bad," "Dangerous," "HIStory" and "Invincible." His 2003 greatest hits set "Number Ones" is the biggest seller in the United States this year.
The "This Is It" film, which consists of rehearsal footage for a planned residency in London, earned $104 million during its first weekend of worldwide release.
Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, reunited rockers Creed debuted at No. 2 with "Full Circle," which sold 110,000 copies. It's the band's first studio release since 2001, when "Weathered" started at No. 1 with 887,000 copies.
Taylor Swift's "Fearless" soared four places to No. 3 with 109,000 copies. The set was reissued in a "platinum" deluxe edition last week, with additional bonus tracks and a DVD.
Rod Stewart's latest covers set, "Soulbook," debuted at No. 4 with 84,000 copies. His previous release, "Still the Same ... Great American Rock Classics of Our Time," debuted at No. 1 in 2006 with 184,304 copies.
New holiday themed releases claimed the next two spots: Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Night Castle" at No. 5 with 83,000 copies, and Sting's "If On A Winter's Night" at No. 6 with 80,000 copies.
Last week's No. 1, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" soundtrack, fell to No. 8 with 69,000 copies. Michael Buble's former chart topper "Crazy Love" dropped four to No. 7 with 71,000. Tim McGraw's "Southern Voice," slid seven to No. 9 with 59,000 in its second week, and Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" was down six to No. 10 with 41,000.
Overall album sales rose 10% from last week to 6.31 million units, but were down 9% from the year-ago period. Year-to-date album sales stand at 287.6 million, down 13% compared to the same total at this point last year.

Sunday 1 November 2009

'Thriller' movie, Michael Jackson was planning


Michael Jackson late pop legend was planning to make a feature length big screen version of his hit 'Thriller' video when he died, it has been revealed. Close friend and Jackson's return tour director Kenny Ortega reveals he had discussed several movie projects with the star including a 'Thriller' movie, and a film version of Peter Allen musical 'Legs Diamond', reports starpulse.com.'He told me he wanted to create a partnership with me to do films. We were talking about doing 'Legs Diamond'. And we were talking about doing a full length, 3-D feature of 'Thriller',' said Ortega. Sony Pictures boss Amy Pascal has also revealed Jackson approached her to discuss movie ideas, including a musical fantasy called 'Midknight' and a remake of British musical 'The Red Shoes', based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a 'ballet dancer whose compulsion to dance ultimately destroys any hope she once had of a normal life, leading to her tragic death'.