178: Jeff Margolis Special

Jeff Margolis joins Jamon Bull for a powerful, deep-dive interview about Margolis’ incredible career in television, and his work with The King of Pop.

Margolis is one of the most successful live TV event directors of all time, having worked on the Oscars, the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the American Music Awards. He has created TV specials with the likes of Cher, Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, Kenny Rogers and Richard Pryor; made movies with Ringo Starr and Quincy Jones; directed a music video for Whitney Houston. The roster of talent across his many TV projects has also included Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight, Burt Bacharach, Gene Kelly, Smokey Robinson, Elton John, Barry Manilow, Lionel Richie, Prince, and many, many more.

Margolis’ career led him to cross paths with Michael Jackson numerous times. In 1989, he directed Sammy Davis Jr’s “60th Anniversary Special”, where Michael performed a specially written tribute song called “You Were There”. In 1993, Jeff directed the 20th annual American Music Awards, where Michael performed “Dangerous” for the first time, and won the inaugural International Artist Award, which was thereafter given annually in Michael’s name. In 1995, Margolis signed on as the director of Michael’s ill-fated “One Night Only” HBO special, which fell apart after Michael collapsed in rehearsals. Two years later, he directed “Happy Birthday Elizabeth” at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, where Michael once again performed a specially written song, “Elizabeth, I Love You”.

Michael and Margolis would collaborate again in 2001 for the hastily assembled United We Stand concert, organized within weeks to raise funds for the victims of the 9/11 terror attack in New York. Michael headlined the show, performing “Man in the Mirror” and assembling a glittering line-up for the only time “What More Can I Give” was performed in front of an audience. It would be the last time Michael Jackson ever performed for a stadium audience.

Margolis’ autobiography “We’re Live in 5: My Extraordinary Life in Television” has recently been released, and features many brilliantly told stories, with an entire chapter dedicated to Jeff’s work with Michael Jackson.

This episode was edited by Jamon Bull.

Additional Links
• Jeff Margolis’ website.
• Jeff’s autobiography, We’re Live in 5.
• Damien Shields’ article on “Michael Jackson: One Night Only”.

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If you have feedback on this Michael Jackson podcast episode, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at themjcast@icloud.com or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!

066: Long Hair Don’t Care

This episode of The MJCast is dedicated to the victims of the September 19th Central Mexico Earthquake, which has killed more than 300 people to date and those who are suffering in hurricane ravaged Puerta Rico. You can pitch in here and here respectively. A massive recovery effort is underway in Mexico City and Puerta Rico. The MJCast wishes host of The MJCast en Español Ale Huerta and her friends and family all the best…

It’s nearly Halloween and, aptly, John Branca has coughed and spluttered back into action to gift us with a trio of new projects. The first is a compilation CD of songs that are Halloween-themed and also of songs which aren’t Halloween-themed. The tracklist includes Ghosts, Thriller, Torture… and Dirty Diana and Scream.

The second new project, given a preview at Comic Con in New York, is a cartoon about a jeri curl-sporting dog set to ‘reimagined’ Michael Jackson songs. The third is a 3D conversion of Thriller which featured the wrong music at its London premiere.

Two of these peak Michael Jackson Estate offerings – the CD and the new version of Thriller – were launched in recent weeks with a series of invite-only fan parties. After screening the music videos for several of the songs on the CD, John Branca and John Landis teamed up for some Q&As. So fans were treated to the sight of an unconvincing plastic dummy serving as a proxy Michael Jackson. They also saw the Torture video.

Co-host Charles Thomson and friend of the show Paul Black appear on this episode to discuss these latest Estate releases after Jamon and Q’s round-up of all the hottest news.

News
• 
Michael’s Aviator sunglasses have been reimagined after 35 years.
• 
3T have performed at the We Love 90s Festival in the Netherlands.
• 
A series of projects have taken place to mark 30 years of the Bad album, including The MJCast en Espanol’s first roundtable episode, a new article by Albumism and a new MJ101 eBook by Andy Healy.
• 
Some new footage has leaked from the Dangerous Tour in Copenhagen.
• 
A new HIStory Tour concert, from Johannesburg, has leaked.
• 
A new audio documentary has been released about Janet Jackson’s work with Jam & Lewis.
• 
Janet Jackson has kicked off her State of the World Tour in Houston and visited homeless shelters for the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
• 
Paris Jackson has been announced as an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation.
• 
ABC 20/20 has aired a documentary about the murder of Tito Jackson’s ex-wife Dee Dee, about which her sons – 3T – are unhappy.
• 
London’s National Portrait Gallery has announced an exhibition of artwork inspired by Michael Jackson, to be held in summer 2018.
• 
Behind the scenes footage of Nahko Bear’s new music video, featuring Paris Jackson, has been released.
• 
Taryll Jackson has released Start It All Over Again.
• 
Chart Masters has published an article detailing how many units the Thriller album has actually sold.
• 
A collector claims he has a rare copy of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker Sega game, featuring Thriller.
• 
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, CEO of the Alibaba Group, has performed some Michael Jackson dance moves.

Main Discussion Topic
• 
Sony and the Michael Jackson Estate have marked the release of a new Michael Jackson compilation CD with a series of fan parties, featuring screenings of Thriller 3D.

Finds of the Week
• 
Jamon – Annemaree Latour’s article; ‘Scream’ Shows that the Michael Jackson Estate Needs to Raise the Bar
• Q – Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker – Sega Genesis (Angry Video Game Nerd Episode 63)

Additional Links
• TDR Explorer Podcast
• Anthony King’s website, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages
• 
Michael Jackson’s What More Can I Give video
• Michael Jackson’s Todo Para Ti video
• Michael Jackson thanking people for making Todo Para Ti
• 
Janet Fresno’s Janet Jackson concert review
• Janet tour footage one, two and three
• Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable album
• Janet Jackson’s upcoming tour dates
• Karen O’Halloran’s Facebook page and MJ Book Club Twitter page
• Michael Jackson’s Scream album
• Michael Jackson’s Ghosts short film
• Michael Jackson’s Thriller short film
• Michael Jackson’s Thriller album
• Michael Jackson’s Thriller 25 album
• Martin Nessi’s interview on creating the sound mix for Thriller 3D
• 
Michael Jackson’s ThrillerCast podcast
• JD’s Twitter and YouTube accounts

Music Breaks & Ads
• 
Michael Jackson – Todo Para Ti
• 
Janet Jackson – Night/Dammn Baby (JRay Remix)
• Michael Jackson – Thriller (SWG Extended Mix)
• Grover Washington Jr – I Can’t Help It
• Original TV ad for Michael Jackson’s Thriller album
• 
Michael Jackson announces Thriller 25
• 
Thriller 25 TV ad

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• 
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If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at themjcast@icloud.com or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.comKeep Michaeling!

052: Michael Prince Special

Michael Prince worked with Michael Jackson from the mid 90’s onwards, eventually becoming Jackson’s closest studio engineer, a man whom was trusted to capture the King of Pop’s most personal creative visions. From the HIStory World Tour, to the Invincible album, to the beautiful charity single What More Can I Give and right up until This Is It and the final studio songs Michael Jackson was working on, Michael Prince was involved.

Links
• 
Michael Prince’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• Legs Diamond’s Facebook and iTunes
• Charles Thomson’s Facebook, Twitter and website
• James Alay’s Facebook and Instagram
• Los Lobos – La Bamba
• Damien Shields’ One Night Only article
• Michael Jackson’s HIStory World Tour live in Munich, Germany
• Michael Jackson’s Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix album
• Michael Jackson’s 30th Anniversary Celebration concert
• Michael Jackson’s I Am A Loser (Demo) and Damien Shields’ article
• Michael Jackson’s A Place With No Name and Damien Shields’ article
• Michael Jackson – What More Can I Give
• Michael Jackson – One More Chance
• Michael Jackson – Hollywood Tonight
• Michael Jackson – Best of Joy (Acapella)
• Michael Jackson’s Hold My Hand (feat. Akon) and Damien Shields’s article
• Michael Jackson – Xscape
• Can’t Get Your Weight Off Of Me leaked snippet
• Michael Prince and LaVelle Smith Jr. on Piers Morgan Tonight

Music Breaks & Ads
• 
Michael Jackson – Blue Gangsta (Demo)
• Michael Jackson – One More Chance (Night & Day Uptempo R&B Remix)
• Michael Jackson – I Am A Loser (Demo)
• Michael Jackson – Hollywood Tonight (Demo)
• Michael Jackson – Best Of Joy (Acoustic) by Nick* and CMCC

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If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at themjcast@icloud.com or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.comMichael On!

Thanks to listener Cody Covington, we now have a full transcript available for this episode. Our deepest thanks and gratitude, Cody.