A Sad Farewell to Michael Jackson
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.JOE JACKSON: “Give me custody of Michael’s so-called childen and I will beat those brats into Superstardom. They own 200 of Michael’s unpublished songs and they need a loving grandpa to whip them to fame. So, Let’s Beat It! In 2 months these little freaks will have an album on my Ranch Records label and a tour…and I will have more hot chicks and bling.”
Michael Jackson’s evil father Joe not named in will
Neverland? Of course I’ve been there! I am the Guru of Pop Culture.
Poor Little Rich Boys in their own backyard:
Neverland The fabulous fictional estate of Richie Rich pales in comparison to Neverland in its prime. Each year Michael Jackson threw a wonderful party for his employees and their families and friends. I knew the Ranch audio/ visual expert and in 1996 my wife, daughters (9 and 15 at the time) and I jumped down the rabbit hole to Neverland…a magic world created by a real billionaire boy.
.Above: The main house (closed to us) overlooked a beautiful lake…
Statues of children laughing and playing everywhere. The one exception was a statue of Peter Pan (Disney, not English tradional) peering in a window of the main house (Michael’s office or bedroom?). Music blared from rock speakers everywhere on the 500 developed acres of the 1600 acre estate.
Behind the house was a big two-story building (open to us) filled with pinball and virtual reality machines and a jukebox that included the usual plus Muddy Waters, BB King, etc (??!!!).
We then hopped on the train to the amusement park area.
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Above: Does this look familiar? It should…an exact copy of Disneyland’s Main St Station.
Michael’s park was so much better than Disneyland. No lines, unmanned vending carts where you could reach in and grab a free ice cream or bag of candy…a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, zipper, spider, sea dragon, wave swinger, super slide, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster. My kids rode the Viking Ship over and over again (usually the only ones on board). And then we hopped on the smaller train to the zoo.
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Who could have ever guessed that the theme of Michael Jackson’s zoo was Albino Animals? The line was too long to ride the elephant so my kids fed raw chickens on a pole to the alligator. Great family fun!
Then, back on the train to the twin threater where two kid flicks were playing. Caught a five minute welcome special Michael had shot just for this occasion…and, at the urging of my youngest…off to the bumper cars…The best ever! When it was time to leave I had to drag Alissa kicking and screaming from her car back onto the bus.
The follow summer we did it all over again. Thanks, Michael.
Click on the image below for bigger map.
Published by Greg at 11:58 PM on June 26, 2009