Prince, Paris and Blanket honor their father, Michael Jackson, today in Los Angeles at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater by imprinting his name, glove and shoe prints into concrete.
The elementary school where Michael Jackson once roamed the halls could be the alma mater of the next king or queen of pop.
Gardner Street Elementary School in Hollywood, where Michael Jackson attended sixth grade, will kick off its Michael Jackson Music Education Lab with an open house Monday for students and parents.
The lab will feature a new curriculum and interactive music education program created to teach students how to read music, play piano and compose and arrange music.
The MusIQ program and its lab will incorporate personal computers and M-Audio MIDI keyboards into its curriculum. The lab was built with donations from parents and local community organizations and businesses.
Prosecutors will no longer seek more than $100 million in restitution from Dr. Conrad Murray at the request of Michael Jackson’s family, because as the proverb goes, “You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip”.
A representative from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office says prosecutors were informed that the Jackson family is giving up on restitution, so the D.A. withdrew the request. As a result, the restitution hearing scheduled for Monday has been cancelled.
Murray, who’s serving a 4 year jail sentence for his role in the death of Michael Jackson, is basically broke and now that his medical license has been revoked, it’s unclear how he plans to earn money once he’s released.
The insurers of Michael Jackson’s attempted comeback concerts won a round in court Thursday when a judge said the company can begin collecting information from the promoters of the singer’s attempted 2009 comeback tour.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey denied a motion by AEG Live asking that a lawsuit by Lloyd’s of London be put on hold until two other legal actions by the mother and father of the late singer concerning his death are concluded.
Mackey also said he will delay setting a trial date and appoint an evidence referee to make recommendations to him in case any disputes arise between the two sides in exchanging information.
“I know this is a multi-faceted case and I think that somewhere it’s going to settle way down the line,” Mackey said. “For what, I don’t know.”
Attorney Paul Schrieffer, on behalf of Lloyd’s, criticized AEG Live’s motion. He said his clients have waited for more than two years to get the documents they need and that any such motion should have been brought months earlier.
“Now they have the epiphany to come into this court and ask for a stay in this case,” he said.
After the hearing, Schrieffer said he was pleased that the motion was denied. He also said he would be agreeable to the cases by Katherine and Joe Jackson being tried ahead of the Lloyd’s case so long as his clients continue to get their information from AEG Live.
Lloyd’s filed suit against AEG Live and the Michael Jackson Co. LLC last June. Lloyd’s wants a judge to declare it does not have to pay AEG’s $17.5 million policy on grounds the insurers were not told the singer was taking drugs before he died of a drug overdose on June 25, 2009, at age 50.
The Lloyd’s lawsuit against AEG claims the company did not tell the insurer about the singer’s medical history, “including, but not limited to, his apparent prescription drug use and/or drug addiction.” The company also alleges AEG did not disclose the star’s use of propofol, a powerful anesthetic normally used in a hospital setting.
The late pop star’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last year in the death of Jackson, who died of acute propofol intoxication. The physician was sentenced to four years in prison, but is expected to spend about half that time behind bars.
Murray administered the final dose to Jackson at his rented mansion to help him sleep, then failed to monitor the singer, according to trial testimony.
Lloyd’s was never told that the singer was missing rehearsals and appearing at meetings with slurred speech after visiting the office of Dr. Arnold Klein, the singer’s dermatologist, according to the Lloyd’s attorneys’ court documents.
Up until the last day of Jackson’s life, Lloyd’s executives were asking for Jackson’s medical information from AEG Live’s lawyer, who in turn was passing those requests to Murray, according to the Lloyd’s attorneys’ court papers.
In their suits, Katherine Jackson is suing AEG Live for the alleged negligent hiring of Murray. The case is scheduled for trial in September.
Joe Jackson’s complaint names both Murray and AEG Live. No trial date is set.
Attorney Marvin Putnam, on behalf of AEG Live, said the company is not interested in settling either case.
“These are just shakedowns of my clients,” he said.
The doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson had his license suspended in California.
The Medical Board of California says Murray’s license was automatically suspended as of the date of his incarceration.
In November, an L.A. Superior Court judge sentenced Murray to four years in jail – the maximum sentence for his conviction. Murray was immediately taken into custody.
The Medical Board sent Murray a letter late last week officially notifying him of the suspension and saying he has 15 days to hand over paper copies of his license.
Murray is fighting the manslaughter conviction. He’s expected to serve about two years behind bars.
He was once the dermatologist to the stars, and lived like one of them. Today Dr. Arnie Klein is bankrupt, under investigation by the state medical board, and is trying to pay off creditors by auctioning memorabilia from the very celebs who once made him famous.
Later this month, Bonhams & Butterfields will offer up hundreds of items from Klein’s collection, including a Princess Leia wig that Carrie Fisher wore to a party (estimated value: $200); the hat that covered Michael Jackson’s head when he left a hospital burn unit ($10,000) and an invitation to Elizabeth Taylor’s eighth wedding ($350).
Fisher, one of his few remaining friends, recently loaned Klein $150,000 to hire a new bankruptcy lawyer The Los Angeles Times is reporting.
Klein’s medical practice was already in decline when Michael Jackson died, and amid rampant allegations that he’d pumped the singer full of drugs, his business went into free fall.
Defense lawyers for Dr. Conrad Murray insisted it was Klein who made Jackson dependent on drugs, specifically Demerol, and wanted to call him to the stand during the cardiologist’s trial for manslaughter. The judge wouldn’t allow it, and Murray was convicted.
All three of Klein’s multimillion dollar homes are now being sold off. He has a total of $12 million in debts, according to his bankruptcy filing.
“You hate to see somebody who was so good fall to such low levels,” said Dr. David Rish, who shared a Beverly Hills office with Klein for two decades and is now among his many creditors.
The Bonham & Butterfields auction of the “Collection of Dr. Arnold Klein” is set for January 23 in Los Angeles.
A judge approved a pay bump Monday for the executors of Michael Jackson’s estate who turned the debt-ridden singer’s portfolio into a business that has earned hundreds of millions of dollars since his death.
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff allowed attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain to bill the estate separately for their professional services, which include entertainment-related legal counsel and use of a recording studio founded by Marvin Gaye.
Attorneys for Branca and McClain sought the change, saying the executors spend an increasing amount of time on Jackson’s estate and have been paying legal expenses to Branca’s firm out of their share of the earnings.
The men agreed in February 2010 to accept 10 percent of the gross entertainment-related earnings of the estate, minus money generated by Jackson’s 50 percent interest in the Sony-ATV music catalog and earnings from “This Is It,” a film compiled from the singer’s final rehearsals.
The exclusions are huge revenue generators for the estate — the Sony-ATV catalog includes publishing rights to music by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and other stars. The executors also have been excluded an interest in Jackson’s music, which has sold briskly since his death June 25 at age 50.
Since then, the estate has earned more than $310 million.
Branca and McClain have been earning closer to 7 percent of the estate’s entertainment-related earnings, as the estate has become a “massive entertainment business enterprise,” court filings state.
Branca and McClain said they are spending more time developing Jackson projects than anticipated, including music, video games and a touring Cirque-Du-Soleil show that will eventually become a Las Vegas fixture.
Under the deal approved Monday, Branca’s firm Ziffren Brittenham LLP will now receive 3 percent of entertainment-related income generated by Jackson’s estate.
Estate attorney Howard Weitzman said the firm was performing work that would cost more than $2 million a year if it was being handled by another firm, and court filings state that a traditional entertainment estate would include additional managers and attorneys who would receive up to 30 percent of the estate’s overall revenue.
There was no estimate for how much McClain’s billings may be. He bought and restored Gaye’s former Los Angeles studio in 1997, christening it Marvin’s Room, and Jackson and other top singers have recorded music there.
The estate benefits Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and the singer’s three children, Prince, Paris and Blanket. They received an initial $30 million payment on the estate’s proceeds earlier this year.
Attorneys for Katherine Jackson and the children had no objection to augmenting the compensation for Branca and McClain. Meg Lodise, who represents the children’s interest, said, “It is quite clear that what they’re proposing is going to be fair to the estate.”
Weitzman told Beckloff that the estate has recently resolved creditors’ claims worth at least $11 million and is working to resolve any other valid outstanding debts. Jackson died with an estimated $400 million in debts, but renewed interest in his music and career have fattened the estate’s accounts, which listed $90 million in cash on hand in a September court filing.
Items from Michael Jackson’s rented estate brought in nearly $1 million on Saturday. The 100 North Carolwood Auction was held on Dec. 17 and surpassed the pre-sale estimate by triple the amount, according to the President of Julien’s Auctions Darren Julien.
Among the 500 items auctioned, the highlights included Michael Jackson’s bedroom suite, which sold for $25,000, a Rooster Chalkboard with a note from the Jackson children for $5,000 and the rug that was beneath Jackson’s bed for $15,000, said Julien.
Jackson’s personal shower bench originally priced at $5 was sold for $3,000.
Every item on the auction block was sold.
Fans of the “King of Pop” attended both the “Michael Jackson VIP Reception” and the actual exhibition itself. The reception welcomed Jackson fans prior to the opening of the exhibition and provided an opportunity for them to bring memorabilia items to the Jackson family.
“Michael Jackson has amazing fans, they’re very passionate. They brought tributes because these were items that surrounded Michael and his family for his last year or so; it was a way to honor them,” said Julien.
Julien’s Auctions specialize in entertainment memorabilia and previous auctions include the collections of Cher, U2, Barbara Streisand and the estate of Marilyn Monroe.
Paris Jackson is finally following her father into show business.
The 13-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson will star in the upcoming Lundon’s Bridge and the Three Keys, a mixed live-action and animation movie, as a girl who survives being brainwashed by a jellyfish queen in the ocean.
Filming begins in January. Three Keys is first in a series of five Lundon O’Malley movies to which she’s committed, producer Stephen Sobisky says.
“She wants to be an actress,” says Sobisky. “She wants to take on her dad’s legacy and do something good for the world and our product does that.”
He says that half the profits from the movie and book versions of the story, featuring Paris on the cover, will be donated to schools.
Paris will appear as a live-action “human character” along with animated characters voiced by Larry King and wife Shawn, Joey Fatone and The Love Boat’s Ted Lange.
The release date is not set yet and the filming locations are being kept under wraps.
“She is a sweet, smart girl,” says Sobisky. “Our goal is to make sure she has a fun time doing something that keeps her busy. We’re a family-driven group. For me, Paris is going to be like one of my children and I’m going to protect just like I do my other three kids. We want her to enjoy this experience.”