Michael Jackson glove fetches $49,000 in Australia

A white glove worn by the late singer Michael Jackson sold at auction for A$57,600 ($49,000) in Australia on Sunday, nearly twice the price auctioneers expected, the auction house said.
The white bejewelled glove was a trademark of the US singer, and according to auction house Bonhams and Goodman this was the first Jackson glove to go on sale since he died in June at the age of 50.
The glove sold in Melbourne on Sunday was worn by Jackson in Sydney in 1996, on the day he married Debbie Rowe, the mother of his two elder children, the auction house said.
After a bidding war between collectors in Australia and the United States, it was bought by Warwick Stone on behalf of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
"There was a huge amount of interest in the week leading up to the sale. We were still pretty surprised by the price," Charlotte Stanes of the auction house told Reuters.
In November 1996 Jackson was in Sydney during the HIStory tour, and attended a premiere in Sydney of the film Ghosts, in which he starred. Earlier the same day the singer had married Rowe.
At the end of the performance Jackson threw the glove to Bill Hibble, a collector of music and film memorabilia, who has since died. Hibble's mother put the glove up for auction.
Giles Moon, national head of collectables for the auction house, said he was "astounded" by the price it fetched.
Jackson was buried last week in California, two months after his death from a drug overdose. His death has been ruled a homicide and police are investigating several doctors. They have said they will seek criminal charges but so far none has been filed.

Michael Jackson to be buried today i.e 3 sep

King of Pop Michael Jackson will be buried today evening.

The pop legend will be laid to rest at Holly Terrace Grand Mausoleum in Glendale Forest Lawn

Memorial Park, five miles from Hollywood.

The private funeral ceremony is scheduled to start at 7pm, reports the Mirror.

However, his fans will not get to view it, as cameras will be banned from the 45-minute service

limited to close friends and family.

The late singer's friend Diana Ross and Motown label founder Berry Gordy will be present apart

from the family.

Aretha Franklin will attend too as she'll sing at the graveside.

Jackson's coffin will be encased in thick concrete to protect it from grave robbers.

His estate, controlled by two former advisers, will bear the expenses of the funeral ceremony.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have amended Jackson'e death certificate to call it a homicide.

The wording is he died from "intravenous injection by another".

Jackson burial postponed, judge approves exhibition

Michael Jackson's family on Friday delayed his burial by five days as a judge ruled that a touring show of his memorabilia could go on and police raided another pharmacy in their ongoing probe of his sudden death.
The "Thriller" singer's burial will now take place on Sept. 3 and not Aug. 29, which would have been Jackson's 51st birthday, because some family members did not want the pop star to be buried on that day, said Londell McMillan, attorney for the singer's mother, Katherine Jackson.
McMillan said there was a miscommunication within the family about the burial date. "I think there were two dates floated originally," McMillan told Reuters, saying some family members wanted him buried on the birthday and others objected.
The service for friends and family will still be held at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in a suburb of Los Angeles at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT/0200 GMT).
Jackson suffered cardiac arrest and died on June 25. A police investigation into his death appears focused on his use of prescription drugs and on the doctors who treated him.
On Friday, federal drug enforcement agents raided a pharmacy in Beverly Hills that Jackson had used.
Police have previously raided the home and offices of Jackson's personal doctor, Conrad Murray, who was hired to care for Jackson ahead of a series of London concerts planned for July and has become a key subject of their investigation.
They have searched the offices of Jackson's dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, in recent months, too.
Also on Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved a deal between executors of Jackson's 2002 will and concert promoter AEG Live for a travelling exhibition of Jackson memorabilia over the family's objections.
Tensions over the estate's administration have risen in recent days, in part because Katherine Jackson's attorneys have said they could file a wrongful death lawsuit against Murray and name AEG, which paid the doctor, as a co-defendant.
McMillan said Katherine Jackson and others in the singer's family objected to the touring exhibition because they believe it is irresponsible to rush into too many business deals, and doing so could undermine a potential wrongful death suit.
"Mrs. Jackson will not approve something that could possibly be used against her if she chooses to file a future lawsuit," McMillan said.
AEG attorney Kathy Jorrie called the idea of filing a wrongful death suit against the company "outrageous" and said it "has only been supportive of Michael Jackson."
"It's so disturbing that he (McMillan) would once again suggest that Katherine Jackson has a wrongful death claim against AEG," Jorrie told Reuters.

Remembering Michael Jackson: a friend who sponsored her holidays

How would it feel if your holidays were paid for by Michael Jackson? Susan Essien Etok would know. The 32-year-old Briton fondly remembers all the holidays sponsored by the late 'king of pop', thanks to their friendship for 12 years.

The legendary singer paid for her holidays to Africa, the Middle East and South America during the last three years. And Susan, who holds a PhD in Biomedical Materials Engineering from Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, had several times stayed at Jackson's Neverland ranch in California.

Whenever Michael came to London, they met and renewed their friendship.

'I never knew how much I have spent for my holidays as it was always Michael who paid for my trips. He was so generous towards his friends and I was lucky to have him as a friend,' Susan told IANS.

While doing her bachelor's degree in Materials Engineering at Loughborough University in 1995-98, Susan did a bit of modelling and appeared in a series of Pepsi advertisements. She also acted as an extra in 1998 in a Hollywood movie 'Free Enterprise', which was shot in downtown Los Angeles.

While she is hesitant to reveal the person who introduced her to Jackson, she clearly remembers the day they met after she finished filming in Los Angeles.

'We all hung out together and got on well immediately. Michael and I had a similar sense of humour and we used to laugh and make fun of each other a lot,' Susan said.

'Michael was a very kind and generous human being. He was innocent and had the heart of a child,' she added.

According to Susan, Michael led a very normal life behind closed doors. He loved his kids Blanket, Prince and Paris... they were his life. However, she says, Paris was clearly a daddy's girl and was fiercely protective of him -- as was visible from her moving tribute at his memorial service.

The last time Susan spoke to Michael was two weeks before his untimely death.

'He was very much looking forward to his last London music tour, but at the same

time he was a bit scared because he did not know how the Londoners would receive his tour,' she said.

Susan and her family were looking forward to be a part of Jackson's comeback tour. Her brother Richard Etok, a celebrity cosmetic dentist of the Chelsea Dental Practice in London, had done tooth whitening treatment for Jackson over the years. But due to patient confidentiality laws in Britain, he is not supposed to talk about the singer as a patient.

Michael had financial worries during his last days. Susan feels sad that he died worried about money even though he had assets worth billions of dollars. She believes that Jackson must have given $300 million to charities all over the world, which the media and his nemesis forget.

Susan had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the singer not to reveal anything about his life, when he was alive. Though she knows personal details about the pop star, she is reluctant to reveal them as he is still too dear to her.

'I am a private person; therefore I try and stay away from the limelight. I just want a normal life, which Michael couldn't have,' said Susan.

It's more than a month since Michael Jackson died and stories about the cause of his death are still doing the rounds. But for Susan, her friend Michael will always be alive.

MICHAEL JACKSON NEW UNRELEASED SONG- ...

Michael Jackson's 1984 Pepsi burn accident video surfaces

New York: US Weekly magazine has obtained video it says shows never-before-seen footage of Michael Jackson's head catching on fire during filming of his 1984 Pepsi commercial.
Michael suffered severe burns after a pyrotechnics mishap caused his hair and scalp to catch fire. Still photos of the accident have been seen before, but the new video on US Weekly's Web site shows the moment Michael's hair caught on fire and the top of his head became engulfed in flames.
Jackson didn't realize his hair was on fire. In the video, he's still dancing as the flames are on his head. When he spins, the flames go out. People on the set tackle him to extinguish the fire, and his brother Jermaine Jackson, playing the guitar in front of him and oblivious to the commotion, turns around.
When Michael Jackson emerges from the pile of people trying to help him, the top of his head is bald.
The accident, witnessed by thousands of stunned fans at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, came at the height of Michael's fame, about a year after the release of his best-selling "Thriller" album.
It marked what would be the beginning of serious, lifelong pain for Jackson, who had been treated for painkiller addiction and has been described by relatives and friends as being hooked on pain medication at the time of his death last month at age 50.
Michael, who was photographed in an ambulance with a bandage on his head and his trademark sequined white glove on his right hand, required several surgeries and needed skin grafts to treat the injury.
In his autobiography, "Moonwalk," he described the cause of the accident as "stupidity, pure and simple."
As he described the accident, he wrote: "... bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set my hair on fire. I was dancing down this ramp and turning around, spinning, not knowing I was on fire. Suddenly I felt my hands reflexively go to my head in an attempt to smother the flames."
As a result of the accident, Pepsi gave Michael $1.5 million, which he donated to a burn center named after him.
A representative for US Weekly had no immediate comment on where the video came from.

MJ’s ex-wife wants $4 mn to give up parental rights

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe is reportedly ready to give up her parental rights for a payout of $ 4 million from her former mother-in-law.
"It's one final payday," the New York Post quoted a disgusted Jackson confidant as saying.
Rowe, the biological mother of Jackson’s two elder kids Prince, 12, and Paris, 11, had earlier forfeited her parental rights once in exchange for a lump sum of $8 million, plus $900,000 annually for five years, during her divorce with the Thriller hitmaker in 1999.
Rowe resurfaced to reclaim her rights when Jackson was accused of child molestation in 2001, but gave up full custody of the kids in exchange for another $4 million dollars plus a $900,000 home.
According to a family source, Rowe is again exchanging her restored parental rights with Jackson's mom, Katherine, for another $4 million.
"This would be it. This takes away any rights she has to challenge custody at any given time," the source said.
"If something happens to Katherine, Rowe can't challenge the next guardian, whether that be Diana Ross or someone in the family," the source added.
Although the family isn't happy about the mega-payout, they consider it a necessary evil, the source said.
However, lawyers for both Rowe and Katherine Jackson were not available for comment.