We Are The World 25 – YouTube Edition

Amidst the outpouring of support for the Haitian Earthquake relief effort which swept the world, some of the biggest artists in music came together to record charity singles: “Everybody Hurts” in the UK, and Michael Jackson/Lionel Richie’s epic “We Are The World” in the US.

Well, the YouTube Community have also come together, and have recorded their own version of “We Are The World”.

In my opinion, this is awesome.
Firstly, because it’s wonderful to see these “normal” people coming together to show their support for Haiti. Secondly, because it’s incredibly well edited together, with 57 different artists being featured, and seamlessly flowing together. And thirdly, because it shows just how many incredible undiscovered talents there are out there.

Have a look at this.
In my opinion, this is as good as, if not better than the one recorded by Jennifer Hudson, Kanye, Justin Beiber etc…

(And it’s also a beautiful “tip-of-the-hat” to man who wrote such a stunning song, Michael Jackson. Rest In Peace MJ)

Michael Jackson – This Is It (Video, Directed by Spike Lee)

Before we welcome in a brand new year and a brand new decade, it’s not only fitting, but absolutely necessary that we tip our hat to the King once again.
2009 will forever be remembered as the year Michael Jackson died. The best ever, left us.

So in what I deem as perfect timing, iconic film director Spike Lee has made his own video for Michael’s track “This Is It”, which came to light as the title track for the movie of the same name, released this year after MJ’s death.

Watch this. It is absolutely beautiful.
From the charming imagery of Michael’s boyhood home and birthplace, Gary in Indiana, to the incredible live performer he became as a grown man, Spike Lee captures another little bit of the magic here.
And the ending image is absolutely epic.

This video is the perfect way to acknowledge the monumental loss that 2009 gave us.
We lost, quite simply, the greatest entertainer that ever has, and ever will live.
RIP Mike. Music misses you.

Unreleased MJ Song: This Is It

[brightcove vid=44134648001&exp3=10172910001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=59121&w=486&h=412]

I’m sure most of you have heard this already, but in case you haven’t, this “new” Michael Jackson song was premiered on MichaelJackson.com at 4am UK time on Monday morning.

I’ll talk more about this on my show on Friday, but here’s a few thoughts for now…

I like this song. It’s real smooth, it’a got a real nice vibe and bounce to it.
But it’s not new. It’s a previously unreleased track, that never quite made an album. Which is why I’m calling it an “Unreleased MJ Song” rather than a “new” MJ song that a lot of people are calling it.

It really is very obvious that this is an old song.
The word is, it was written in 1980, and was recorded for one of Michael’s earlier albums – some say it was recorded for Dangerous, others say it was recorded for Off The Wall – but whichever the case, it never made it on to an album.
So we have to be clear that this is not a new Michael Jackson single. The record company have said they are not going to release it as a stand-alone single, but rather as one of the songs on the soundtrack album for the movie This Is It.

So this is merely an unreleased Michael song which we’ve never heard before, which happens to tie-in nicely with the release of the movie (which I’m super-hyped to see by the way!)
And much as I like this song and I’m glad to hear stuff from MJ I’ve never heard before, I’m faaaaaarrr more interested to hear the real new stuff! The material he was working on with Akon, Will.i.am, Ne-Yo etc for his new album, the unreleased tracks from the last few years, even the studio stuff from the Invincible album.

That’s what I wanna hear!
But I guess for now, This Is It will do just fine…

Bring on the movie!

Tracklisting – Fri Aug 28th 2009

 

*Happy Birthday Michael Jackson
DJ Hix Special MJ Birthday Live Mix

HIStory
The Love You Save
Blame It On The Boogie
Black Or White
Bad
Jam
Burn This Disco Out
Shake You’re Body Down To the Ground
Streetwalker
Just Good Friends
Smooth Criminal
This Place Hotel

Billie Jean
Thriller
Cheater
Who Is It Accapella with Oprah Whinfrey
Who Is It
Another Part Of Me
Blood On The Dancefloor
Remember The Time
2Bad

ABC
You Rock My World
The Way You Make Me Feel
Leave Me Alone
Human Nature
Hold My Hand
I Want You Back
Man In The Mirror
Smile

MJ This Weekend

So it’s gonna be a big few days “MJ-wise” this coming weekend.

FRIDAY NIGHT will be a very special edition of my radio show The Urban Takeover, as I will be playing my long-awaited and much-asked-for Michael Jackson Tribute mix.

As a huge MJ fan all my life, I was completely numb when he died in June.  As you may know if you heard my tribute show at the time, I couldn’t quite bring myself to do an MJ Tribute Mix, for two reasons…

Firstly, everyone and their dog was doing a tribute mix. DJs who aren’t even MJ fans were doing them, and I didn’t like that so many people were jumping on the bandwagon just to get their name out there as a DJ.
Secondly, I honestly didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t bring myself to just do any old MJ mix. I’ve done so many of them over my DJ career, but I wanted this to be special, and at the time I simply didn’t know where or how to start.

Well, now the time is right. Perfectly in time for what would have been his 51st birthday this coming Saturday 29th Aug, I will be playing my own, personal Michael Jackson Tribute Mix.
It will be my mix – in other words, it will be the work that I deem to be my own personal perfect tribute to the greatest entertainer of all time, and the very reason why I am DJing.

Make sure you tune in, Friday 28th Aug from 11pm on 97 4 Cool FM and online at www.coolfm.co.uk.

Then, on SATURDAY NIGHT…
I’m DJing in Skye, so needless to say, we will be having a well deserved toast or two to MJ on his birthday. Would love to see you there…

And finally, on SUNDAY NIGHT, there’s this:



A full club night in celebration of the king.
Loads of rooms, MJ theme and decor, awesome DJs, live acoustic performers, plenty of surprises… and me!

What a way to spend the bank holiday.
Hope you can join me celebrating the greatest entertainer to ever walk the face of this earth…

And just in case you need a reminder. Watch this.
Show ‘em how it’s done Mike…

Video of Michael's Final Rehearsal

AEG Live have released a little unedited snippet of Michael Jackson’s final stage rehearsals.

What I said in my previous post is possibly even more appropriate here.
This brings a tear to my eye but also a massive smile to my face. Because it’s clear from this, and the photos released earlier, that Michael was ready.

He was healthy, energetic, happy, and electric.
See the video here:
[youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgw5-CQeZJM]

Which leads me to underline my belief – a belief which I stated the moment I heard of Michael’s death.

Before I state it, let me make something explicitly clear:
This is my personal blog, where I am entitled to express my own personal opinion, without any ties or endorsement of these opinions from my affiliates or employees.
And I know that this post will be the most controversial opinion I have ever posted on here. But here it is…

Something has happened here.
In my opinion, Michael didn’t just die.

I said this the moment I had digested the news that he had passed – it just doesn’t make sense.
I’m not just saying this now as the news is developing. People close to me know – I said this immediately.
This is all a little bit too strange to me. In my opinion, Michael didn’t just die without cause – something happened.

Now, let me make this explicitly clear – I am not for one minute suggesting that someone intentionally killed Michael. Nor am I suggesting that Michael did something on purpose to himself.
But I do believe something out of the ordinary happened to cause this. A mistake… an oversight in medication… I don’t know… but something has caused this.

The pcitures, and now this video, both prove that Michael was fit and healthy.
And AEG Live president Randy Phillips has said that at 12.30am, Michael was in great form after an electric and energetic rehearsal, and told Mr Phillips “…now I know I can do this”.

14 hours later, he was dead.
It just doesn’t make sense.

I have to stress, I’m not trying to be morbid. Nor am I suggesting some kind of cover-up or conspiracy.
I just firmly believe that Michael didn’t simply die of a sudden cardiac arrest on it’s own.
To repeat – I beliveve something happened… A mistake… an oversight in medication… I don’t know… but something has caused this.

I’m looking forward to hearing the toxicology reports and final autopsy results to see if we can explain this.

[NOTE: These are my own personal opinions only, and are not the opinions of any of my affiliates or employees]

It Was Going To Be Electric…

To see the photographs released a few days ago, taken just 48 hours before Michael suddenly died, makes the whole thing all the more tragic.

These are some of the photos taken by renowned photographer Kevin Mazur at one of the final full stage dress rehearsals for Michael’s “This Is It” comeback concerts. He was rehearsing at The Staples Centre in Los Angeles, and was putting the final touches on what really does look like an incredible show.

To put it simply, Michael looks electric.



The man who took these photographs was hired to document the rehearsals of the show, and he said that he was completely blown away by Michael’s energy and vibrancy on stage, saying that he looked like his old self again – singing, dancing, smiling, laughing, and keeping up with dancers half his age.

Like I said, this makes the whole thing even more tragic to me. A day after these photograph were taken, Michael was dead.



To see Michael like this brings a massive smile to my face, but also a tear to my eye.

I’ll be honest… despite my indescribable excitement for the concert, I  was thinking it would be scattered show, with Michael off stage every now and then, with lots of effects and visuals, and hopefully other performers to give him a bit of a break on stage.
I figured the likes of Ne-Yo, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Beyonce… perhaps Estelle, Britney, hell, even Madonna… who all would’ve been passing through London during his residency, would’ve come on stage to break up the show for Michael. I’m not saying that I thought Michael would not have been able to do the shows, but I think it’s fair to say we all thought he might not have the energy he once had, so a ‘broken-up’ show would have been perfectly fine.

However, seeing these pictures – and going on what the photographer said – it looks like Michael was indeed back at his best, performing in the dress rehearsals as if he had rolled back 15 years.



So to repeat, this brings an incredibly huge smile to my face, but also a tear to my eye.

Michael was ready. Ready to blow us away once again.
It’s so sad that he never got to do it.

According to several reports, this was his reported set-list for the concerts:

1. Billie Jean




2. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’




3. Rock with You




4. The Way You Make Me Feel




5. Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough




6. I Just Can’t Stop Loving You




7. Human Nature




8. Smooth Criminal




9. Girlfriend




10. Man in the Mirror




11. Beat It




12. One Day in Your Life




13. Heal The World




14. You Are Not Alone




15. Remember the Time




16. Thriller

The one consolation (and  a small one at that), is that as well as having a professional photographer at the dress rehearsals, they also had a full professional film crew there.
The rehearsal was recorded in multi-camera, High-Definition video with multi-track surround-sound audio, and AEG Live sources have said that this footage will be released as a DVD and Live Album.

So at least, eventually, we will see the magic that Michael had in store for us.

Once again, Rest In Peace The Greatest of All Time.