MJ (59 page)

Lawyers at meeting, “You know why you’re not as big,” eating chicken with Janet, and “Don’s going to be the promoter”
: Author interview with Peter Paterno.

$
3 million and $500,000
: Michael Goldberg and Christopher Connelly, “Trouble In Paradise?,”
Rolling Stone,
March 15, 1984, p. 27.

“Would you get on a plane
”: Paterno interview.

“A salesman is a salesman”
: Joseph Jackson,
Die Jacksons
, p. 149.

MJ agreed after meeting with Katherine
: Katherine Jackson with Richard Wiseman,
The Jacksons: My Family
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990), p. 138.

“Michael didn’t want to do the tour”
: Gold,
Michael Jackson
, p. 145.

“It was constant fights with Don”
: Paterno interview.

Paterno and King hollering
: Ibid.

“Had the Jacksons tour sponsorship” and King mentioning to Pepsi he’d spoken with Coca Cola
: Confidential source.

“Nonetheless, we ended up doing a deal”
: Author interview with Roger Enrico.

King’s attorney chasing Jackie
: Confidential source.

Coke and $4 million
: Glenn Collins, “Coke’s Hometown Olympics; The Company Tries the Big Blitz on Its Own Turf,”
New York Times,
March 28, 1996, p. 1.

Pepsi and $5 million
: Bruce Horovitz, “Matchmaker Was First to Rock Ad World,”
Los Angeles Times,
September 10, 1991, p. D1. Confirmed by Enrico.

Pottasch and “You can shoot my feet”
: Enrico interview.

MJ’s borrowed military-style uniform
: Ant interview, Weisner interview, Marcelli interview.

“Before the Victory tour”
: Gold,
Michael Jackson
, pp. 145–46.

“Just very quiet but very determined” and other Enrico quotes
: Enrico interview.

Glove, toilet, and “Oh, forget it”
: Taraborrelli,
Michael Jackson
, p. 280.

“I want more!,” “Why?,” and “Because of the stuff he had in his hair”
: Author interview with Reed Glick.

Details of Pepsi accident
: “Video: How Michael Jackson’s Pill Addiction Began,”
usmagazine.com
, August 31, 2009.

“Get my glove” and “When they started skin grafts”
: Hayes interview.

Hoefflin and “quite shaken up,”
: Discharge report, Brotman Burn Center, January 28, 1984;
thesmokinggun.com
, April 4, 2013.

“palmed-size area” and “surrounding burned and singed hair”
: Ibid.

MJ took sleeping pill but refused painkiller
: Taraborrelli,
Michael Jackson
, pp. 282–83.

“You feel that?”
: Kohan interview.

Taking painkillers after the hospital
: Brian Panish, attorney for Katherine Jackson, said during
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG
that MJ took Demerol after the Pepsi commercial accident. In 1993, MJ said in a statement: “I have been undergoing treatment for dependency on pain medication. This medication was initially prescribed to sooth the excruciating pain that I was suffering after recent reconstructive surgery on my scalp.”

“You don’t understand”
: Enrico interview.

“I’m done” and “I came back”
: Confidential source.

“If you want to take this tour away from me”
: Jermaine Jackson,
You Are Not Alone: Michael Through a Brother’s Eyes
(New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2011), p. 248.

Three percent of tour profits
: Ibid.

Chuck Sullivan background
: John Steinbreder, “The $126 Million Fumble,”
Sports Illustrated,
March 14, 1988, pp. 64–70.

$41 million deal
: Sullivan interview.

$12 million down, the rest within two weeks
: McDougal, “The Agony of ‘Victory,’ ” p. AD60.

61,000 seats
: Will McDonough, “Patriots’ Records Show Debts Over $75 Million,”
Chicago Tribune,
July 27, 1987, Sports p. 2.

Sullivan Stadium as collateral
: Steinbreder, “The $126 Million Fumble,” pp. 64–70.

Roughly 83/17 percent split
: Dean Budnick and Josh Baron,
Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped
(Toronto: ECW Press, 2011), p. 205; confirmed by Sullivan.

250 personnel
: McDougal, “The Agony of ‘Victory,’ ” p. AD60.

Riggers hanging kitchen sink
: Author interview with Ken Graham.

“Ice sculptures, fuchsias, potted palms,”
$40,000 for traveling parlor, $196,500 for Sullivan’s contract, and $500,000 for insurance
: Ibid.

Bob Gurra meeting, Rolls-Royce, spider, “Michael came up with the idea”
: Confidential source.

Hydraulics
: Author interview with John McGraw (stage designer); Roth interview.

“We did fifty-five shows”
: Luysterborghs interview.

“There was a whole system”
: Roth interview.

Fifty-six thousand pounds of lights
: Ibid.

“He struck me as sort of a kid”
: Jander interview.

Jacksonville Picayune
details
: Luysterborghs interview.

“
The power of a fifty-piece orchestra”
: James McBride, “The Glove Comes Off as Michael Goes to Work,”
People,
June 11, 1984, p. 151.

Rehearsal details and “It was like NFL training camp”
: Author interview with Gregg Wright.

Kids moonwalking as the van went by
: Kaplan interview.

“Oh, sir!”
: Luysterborghs interview.

“Michael—Pepsi”
: Jander interview.

Hoefflin eighty-minute procedure
: Gold,
Michael Jackson
, p. 145.

$1 million a week
: McDougal, “The Agony of ‘Victory,’ ” p. AD60.

$500,000 Irving Azoff fee
: Michael Goldberg, “Behind-the-scenes confusion causing various delays: Wheeling and dealing continues as Jacksons tour approaches,”
Rolling Stone,
June 21, 1984, p. 51. Confirmed by confidential source.

Ken Graham and “front porch”
: Graham interview.

375 security guards, 170 local police officers, and 70 metal detectors
: William Plummer and James McBride, “The Jackson Fireworks,”
People,
July 23, 1984, p. 46.

Pocket Redee and $160,000
: McDougal, “The Agony of ‘Victory,’ ” p. AD60.

Arrowhead road and Giant Stadium beam
: Graham interview.

“It was like, turn it all on”
: Roth interview.

$5,000 glove, “Really?,” and Sharpie system
: Author interview with Tony Villanueva.

“Pretty much each brother had their own session”
: Wargo interview.

“Aptly named,” $300,000 budget, Jackie was in charge, MJ had little interest, and $1 million costs
: Author interview with John Diaz.

“I’m sorry, Perri”
: Author interview with Perri Lister.

“It was the
Heaven’s Gate”: Diaz interview.

Meshulam Riklis’s seven private jets
: Jermaine Jackson,
You Are Not Alone
, p. 266.

“If there was jealousy”
: Author interview with Howard Bloom.

“A Whitman’s sampler” and $70 million in Jacksonville
: Plummer and McBride, “The Jackson Fireworks,” pp. 44–47.

HOLD YOUR BREATH
and firefighters’ convention
: Sally Kalson, “The Concert That Wasn’t,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
October 13, 1984, p. 7.

$250,000 not going to Pittsburgh tax revenues
: Ibid.

“Michael said it was going to be a drug-free tour”
: Graham interview.

MJ rehearsed steps on a portable wooden platform
: Wright interview.

“It didn’t take anything”
: Luysterborghs interview.

$20 million
: Gordon Forbes, “Sullivan family ties are broken,”
USA Today,
April 1, 1988, p. 2C.

$8 million
: Sullivan interview.

“Jimmy, I’m gonna fly back”
: Murray interview.

Sullivan spending the night in a luxury box
: Mark Farinella, “Jackson’s part in Pats’ history was real ‘thriller,’ ”
thesunchronicle.com
, June 27, 2009.

“I was not homeless”
: Sullivan interview.

Mr. Tibbs the ram, et al.
: “Jackson has new pet project,”
Miami Herald,
September 28, 1986, p. 7K.

OshKosh B’gosh, designer shirts, pajamas, dresser drawer, Häagen-Dazs, and prayers
: La Toya Jackson interview,
Michael Jackson and Bubbles: The Untold Story
(Animal Planet, 2010).

Osaka mayor and green tea
: “Jackson & chimp visit Osaka mayor,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
September 20, 1987, p. 17.

Bubblesmobile
: Author interview with Steve Stevens (“Dirty Diana” video guitarist).

“Bubbles became
a human”:
La Toya Jackson interview,
Michael Jackson and Bubbles.

“If there was a box,” tape machine story, “BUBBLES, NO!,” and “like he would jump over his skin”
: Author interview with Matt Forger.

“I saw Mike hit Bubbles with his shoe”
: Author interview with Chris Currell.

“He hit that monkey so hard”
: Author interview with Brian Malouf.

“We Are the World” origin details
: David Breskin,
“We Are the World”
(New York: Perigee Books, 1985).

“He always gave to kids”
: Author interview with Hugo Huizar.

Details of MJ-Lionel Richie “We Are the World” session, including “We didn’t mention
‘truth’ yet”
: Cassette recording provided by confidential source.

“Everybody came in there”
: Author interview with Louis Johnson.

MJ’s compact and touching his nose
: Author interview with Johnny Colla (of Huey Lewis and the News).

“as his typical quiet self”
: Author interview with John Oates.

“Ethiopians do not speak Swahili”
: Breskin,
“We Are the World.”

“would go off by himself”
: Author interview with Kim Carnes.

“How do you buy them?”
: Robert Hilburn, “The long and winding road,”
Los Angeles Times,
September 22, 1985, p. 60.

“You are now earning a lot of money,” Northern Songs history, “too much money,” and “I’m going to buy your songs”
: Ray Coleman,
McCartney: Yesterday & Today
(Garden City, MI: Dove Books, 1995), pp. 110–15, 132–40.

The Long and Winding Road
: Hilburn, “The long and winding road,” p. 60.

“I think we hit the mother lode” and MJ–John Branca exchange about copyrights
: Author interview with John Branca.

Gelfand, $46 million, and MJ’s favorite Beatles songs
: Hilburn, “The long and winding road,” p. 60.

Kawashima background and “It became harder”
: Author interview with Dale Kawashima.

Eisner background, “They hadn’t made classics,”
“It was Michael Jackson doing something,” and old-lady makeup
: Author interview with Michael Eisner.

MJ arrived after Disneyland closed and “He knew his way around”
: Author interview with Rick Rothschild.

“Where’s Michael?”
: Author interview with Eric Henderson.

Eleven-year-old friend
: Ibid.

Jonathan Spence and Brotman Hospital
:
Jet,
August 19, 1985, p. 45.

Boy holding cape and delivering drinks
: Author interview with Kevin Bender.

Hyperbaric chamber as a plant
: Author interview with Michael Levine.

“He was tabloid gold
”: Author interview with Tony Brenna.

Currell Synclavier lessons
: Currell interview.

“First, you take this floppy disk,” MJ’s low technical skills, and ten
A.M.
to seven
P.M.
at Hayvenhurst
: Ibid.

Nineteen eighty-five demos and
“He walked down twelve or thirteen stairs”
: Author interview with Bill Bottrell.

“Wow, this is really cool”
: Currell interview.

“He was very prolific”
: Forger interview.

“He’d do it all himself” and “Michael would go to the ends of the earth”
: Currell interview.

“Bad” bassline
: Ibid.