Shine in Grace

2011-01-26T23:08:00.003+11:00

From Twitlonger;

I CAN'T WAIT TO INTRODUCE THE WORLD TO "MY FRIEND MICHAEL"

LIFELONG FRIEND OF MICHAEL JACKSON, FRANK CASCIO,
TO PUBLISH “MY FRIEND MICHAEL” WITH WILLIAM MORROW

Most Candid, Detailed Portrait of Pop Icon to Include
Many Never-Before-Seen Photos

New York, NY (January 25, 2011) – William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publisher today announced an agreement to publish the memoir MY FRIEND MICHAEL: Growing Up with the King of Pop by producer and lifelong Jackson friend, Frank Cascio.

The memoir, scheduled for Fall 2011, will chronicle Cascio’s relationship with Michael Jackson over 25 years and reveal the inside, behind-the-scenes story of the Michael that Cascio knew as the performer’s friend and closest confidante, offering the most candid, moving, and detailed portrait of the pop icon. The book will also include photos never before seen by the public.

Cascio intends to dedicate a portion of his proceeds from the book to charities benefiting children around the world. He plans to start with an organization that has been building housing, schools and orphanages in Haiti since the devastating earthquake that left many children without families. Details of his plans will be announced in the coming months.

Acquiring editor Matt Harper says “For more than 25 years, Frank was fortunate enough to be one of the few people that Michael Jackson chose to have around him. In that time he witnessed many of the singer’s most private and public moments firsthand, and with this book, Frank will share a side of Michael that only a handful of people have seen--a side that will set the record straight and change how people think about this often misunderstood icon.”

In MY FRIEND MICHAEL, Cascio tells the full story of his life with Michael, offering an uplifting and definitive account of the superstar’s life from someone who lived it alongside him during the most controversial times of Michael’s life. What emerges is an emotional new side of the “King of Pop,”––a human one that was at times unremarkably average but also terribly scarred by his life in the spotlight both on and off the stage. Packed with never-before-seen photos, amazingly insightful revelations, personal anecdotes, and private moments that are essential for every Michael Jackson fan, this book is a treasury of Michael Jackson lore, one that both celebrates his life and presents him as the special person that he really was.

World Rights to the book were acquired by William Morrow Senior Editor, Matt Harper from Matthew Guma of the Guma Agency.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Frank Cascio, an entrepreneur and producer who splits his time between New York, Los Angeles, and Germany, knew Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, including serving as his personal manager for nearly a decade from the 90's into the '00's . During that time, Cascio developed and co-produced “The Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Celebration, Madison Square Garden,” was co-producer and creative director of “The Michael Jackson Interview: Footage You Were Never Meant to See,” executive producer and creative director in collaboration with Brett Ratner on “Michael Jackson Private Home Movies,” which aired on Fox in 2003.
Cascio is a co-founder and partner in the private equity platform, IMPERIAL™. Through this platform, he and his partners, entertainment attorney, Eric Lerner, and venture capitalist, Sean Koh, deploy strategic capital to their portfolio companies in the areas of film and television development and production, media, technology and music publishing.
He is also part of the music production trio DTC based in Berlin, Germany.
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source: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/8de5g4
**
For a related article (MJ's relationship with the Cascio family);
http://shineingrace.blogspot.com/2010/12/michael-jackson-and-cascios-after.html

2011-01-21T17:07:00.001+11:00

2011-01-20T06:17:00.000+11:00

Adorable MJ Moments

"Michael showed me his newly finished private theater, complete with plush red velvet seats. I thought his blue sweater would complement the deep red, and I asked him to take a seat and pretend as if he were watching a movie. “Which movie?” he asked. I said, “It doesn’t matter. Any movie will do.” But Michael insisted: “Todd, you’ve got to tell me which movie I’m supposed to be watching if you want a reaction from me.” O.K., what about a Charlie Chaplin comedy, I suggested. “Which one?” Michael asked. “He’s made so many, you know.” My mind went blank; luckily, my assistant shouted out, “Modern Times.” Michael responded, “O.K., which part?” Exasperated, I said, “Michael, it’s a comedy, just laugh!” It was getting late and we were all tired and a little punchy, but Michael was having fun with all of this. “Well,” he began, “if you want me to laugh, then you have to tell me a joke. But you said you wanted me to act like I’m watching a movie. Which is it you want?” Finally I gave up and made a ridiculous clown face, which made him laugh."

---Todd Gray, excerpt from his book "Michael Jackson: Before He Was King"

source: http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/features/2009/10/michael-jackson-excerpt-slideshow-200910#slide=4

2011-01-17T18:08:00.000+11:00

My Beautiful Love

2011-01-16T15:46:00.001+11:00

just felt the need to see that smile :)

2011-01-16T10:49:00.000+11:00

2011-01-16T10:19:00.000+11:00

When we feel we have nothing left to give,

And we are sure that the song has ended,

When our day seems over and the shadows fall

And the darkness of night has descended,

Where can we go to find the strength

To valiantly keep on trying?

Where can we find the hand that will dry

The tears that the heart is crying?

There's but one place to go and that is to God,

And dropping all pretense and pride,

We can pour out our problems without restraint

And gain strength with Him at our side.

And together we stand at life's crossroads

And view what we think is the end,

But God has a much bigger vision,

And He tells us it's only a bend.

For the road goes on and is smoother,

And the pause in the song is a rest,

And the part that's unsung and unfinished

Is the sweetest and richest and best.

So rest and relax and grow stronger ...

Let go and let God share your load.

Your work is not finished or ended ...

You've just come to a bend in the road.

--- author unknown

2011-01-15T15:19:00.002+11:00

This post was created as a way of thanking my dear friend Flor for sharing to me a beautiful MJ-inspired story she had written, where the impressive quote used for the above picture was taken from. More love to you Flor! :)

2011-01-14T10:06:00.000+11:00

MY SMOOOOOTH ANGEL

FOREVER IN MY HEART!

2011-01-14T09:46:00.000+11:00

“He is very much alive in my mind and always in my heart.”

Here's another MJ account article:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Dickinson College grad to talk about his years working with Michael Jackson

If Michael Jackson was the king of pop, Vincent Paterson was the man behind his crown. In his expansive resume of entertainment projects, the 1972 graduate of Dickinson College spent chunks of the last 25 years choreographing performances for celebrities including Madonna and Jackson, who died last summer.

Paterson, a theater major, will return to Dickinson to discuss his career at 7 p.m. March 31 in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium on West Louther Street between College and Cherry Streets in Carlisle.

He already knows the first question everyone’s going to ask about the “amazing, amazing man” who employed him for 16 years: “Most people what to know what I thought of Michael Jackson,” said Paterson. “Was he a nice guy or was he weird?”

Paterson portrays the white gang leader in the “Beat It” video. He also helped choreograph and played a zombie in “Thriller” before Jackson put him in charge of his moves in “Smooth Criminal.”

“(Jackson) never said a mean thing to anybody,” said Paterson. “He is very much alive in my mind and always in my heart.”

To Paterson, Jackson was the catalyst of his success, not the Wacko Jacko, off-the-deep-end image concocted by the tabloids. “I lived with Michael through all of those years with the press,” Paterson said. “I would sit in the trailer and he would cry. He would say ‘I don’t understand why they want to tear me apart.’”

The 59-year-old, who lives in California’s Hollywood Hills, occasionally hears Jackson’s soft voice in his head -- a voice he can imitate almost perfectly. “He always told me to let the music talk to you,” Paterson said. “Don’t ever impose your thoughts on the music. The music will tell you what it wants to do.”

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source:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/03/dickinson_college_grad_to_talk.html

2011-01-14T09:45:00.001+11:00

SIMPLY THE SMOOTHEST!

2011-01-12T13:58:00.000+11:00

OUR ANGEL OF LOVE **

** The poem's previuosly published on September 1, 2010 posting with different pictures at http://shineingrace.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-angel-of-love-we-love-you-michael.html. With my thanks again to my dear friend Flor for sharing this beautiful , very-MJ poem.

2011-01-11T10:40:00.001+11:00

2011-01-11T10:14:00.000+11:00

A Silent Tear

Just close your eyes and you will see
All the memories that you have of me
Just sit and relax and you will find
I'm really still there inside your mind
Don’t cry for me now I'm gone
For I am in the land of song
There is no pain, there is no fear
So dry away that silent tear
Don’t think of me in the dark and cold
For here I am, no longer old
I'm in that place that’s filled with LOVE
Known to you all, as "UP ABOVE"
--- author unknown

2011-01-10T13:31:00.003+11:00

I said, "God I hurt."

And God said, "I know."

I said, "God, I cry a lot."
And God said,"That is why
I gave you tears."

I said, "God, I am so depressed."

And God said, "that is why I

gave you sunshine."

I said, "God, life is so hard."

And God said, "that is why I

gave you loved ones."

I said, "God, my loved ones died."

And "God said, "Mine did to."

I said,"God, it is such a loss."

And God said,"I saw mine nailed

to a cross."

I said,"But God, your loved

ones live." And God said,

"So does yours."

I said,"God, where are they now?"

And God said,"Mine is on my

right and yours is in the light."

I said, "God it hurts."

And God said,"I know."

--- author unknown

2011-01-10T13:30:00.000+11:00

2011-01-10T09:11:00.000+11:00

"When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe... a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

--- Martin Luther King

2011-01-09T10:55:00.002+11:00

Just to lighten up from this week's heartbreaking tensions and painful flashbacks...

WE LOVE YOU MICHAEL!

2011-01-09T10:12:00.000+11:00

2011-01-08T13:56:00.001+11:00

“The love of truth has its reward in heaven and even on earth.”

---Friedrich Nietzsche quotes

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”

---Galileo Galilei quotes

“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.”

---Winston Churchill quotes

“You can bend it and twist it... You can misuse and abuse it... But even God cannot change the Truth.”

---Michael Levy quotes

“Sir, I say that justice is truth in action.”

---Benjamin Disraeli quotes

“Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues.”

--- Marcus Tullius Cicero quotes

“Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.”

---Martin Luther quotes

“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”

---Dwight David Eisenhower quotes

“Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.”

---Dwight David Eisenhower quotes

“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.”

---Robert Fulghum quotes

“I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.”

---Helen Keller quotes

“Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth; Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust; Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace; Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe”

---Satish Kumar quotes

“Peace is its own reward.”

--- Mahatma Gandhi quotes

NO TRUTH, NO JUSTICE

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE

--- Ruby S

2011-01-05T22:12:00.001+11:00

J.U.S.T.I.C.E.

FOR

MICHAEL!

2011-01-04T12:49:00.000+11:00

Here's another personal encounter account, related to the pictures posted yesterday (please see http://shineingrace.blogspot.com/2011/01/mj-history-in-pictures-at-phantasia.html );

Report published in the German magazine "Hoerzu" in 1992
By Sabine Wagner
.
"He’s always on the run. Hoerzu met him nevertheless. Skin to skin. A child of 33 years. Immeasurably rich. And immeasurably sad. A ghostly encounter in the dark.
.

Bruehl, near Cologne, location Phantasialand (= amusement park). At 6.30 p.m. the last visitors leave the park, the heavy gates closing behind them. In silence a small group of employees gather in front of the faked up Brandenburger Tor. Somewhere blares a walkie-talkie. Outside, a huge amount of journalists are gathered, clinging to the gates. Their cameras aim at us like muzzles. If God decided to come down to earth right now, it could hardly be more exciting. But for today, he sends us one his representative aliens: In but a few minutes, Michael Jackson, US megastar of the shyest kind, will arrive.

6.45 p.m.: A convoy of cars is arriving slowly, consisting of three black-shining Mercedes 500 SEL, a dark red van and a bus. All of them have windows with blackened glass and British registration numbers. Those who desire to meet the phantom of the pop scene normally find themselves in a dead-end street. No audiences, no interviews. Wishes for autographs are frowned upon. Managers and bodyguards – twelve massive colored people – guard Jackson and the scars of his eight facial surgeries from audacious curiosity. Perfect and merciless. Even brutal, when called for.

The man who always manages to bewitch his millions of fans suddenly stands right in front of me. In person. Each and every double looks more real than the genuine King of Pop. The black corduroys are clinging to his small hips. The nose is pointed, the small lips are painted in a colour matching his red uniform shirt, under which his slightly lifted shoulders seem very vulnerable. Thin curls are wrestling their way from under the black hat into his face. His cheeks are pale. Mirrored sunglasses prevent the gaze into his eyes.

He is accompanied by 90 men and women from his crew, among them always a number of children. For around four hours Michael Jackson visits the amusement park. I sit two rows behind him during a show which lasts around 45 minutes. Close enough in order to observe him: He massages his neck, passes around peppermint bonbons, giggles loudly, applauds spontaneously, explains the magical tricks to his companions and calms the youngsters when they are frightened because of the loud screams coming from the stage.

The question suggests itself: Does the 33 year-old, of whom they say that his career-addicted father whipped the childhood out of him, need the company of children in order to make up for the childhood he himself lacked? Answer or simply a coincidence: While leaving the theatre, he puts on a red and white coloured jacket. The back of this jacket flaunts the picture of Peter Pan, the boy who never wanted to grow up.

In the meantime, it has begun to rain cats and dogs. An electronic car takes the star through the park. Suddenly I stand directly in front of him. Clearly frightened by this unexpected closeness he stares at me. A helpless expression is on his masked-like puppet face. And I find myself unable to address him. Wordless seconds pass by, agonizingly slow. Then his lips form a tense smile. A bodyguards takes my arm and jerks me aside: “Keep distance! Michael doesn’t like things like that!” His suspicion follows me from now on. Two hours later: Jackson has escaped his crew and visibly perks up. In the pouring rain the photographer and I follow him all through the park. At the old merry-go-round we catch up with him. Brightly, it goes round and round in the dawn. All just for Michael Jacskon, who sits on a swing above. And for me, who sits in a gondola underneath him. His feet, which are moving mechanically in time with the waltz being played, are dangling closely above me.

Shortly after our ride, a miracle happens: The man, who seemingly uses a disinfectant instead of an aftershave, comes to me. His fine, rangy fingers shake my hand carefully. My skin is visibly darker than his. Dutifully he takes my pen and writes his name on the CD which I present to him…

Screeching elation some hundred inches away: Screaming fans cling to a fence. Horror-stricken he covers his ears with his fingers, and runs inside the `casa magnetica´ (= a magnetic house, one of the attractions). I follow him and stand beside him. And see the truth. His skin is smoother than I expected. His cheeks now are feverishly red. No, besides me isn’t a silicone-monster with psychopathic flaws, but an overtaxed child. An overtaxed child in the centre of fame, miles and miles away from happiness.

All of a sudden, he talks with an accentuated voice: “The people are screaming so loud, they are frightening me…” For seconds, I don’t feel addressed, for his gaze is fixed to a point on the wall ahead of him. Only his head is slightly inclined into my direction. “The kids love you”, I simply say, just to say something to him. “But why do they scream, then? I don’t like that, it frightens me”, he repeats. And then, I ask the question: “Why are you so unhappy?” The answer comes out of pressed lips: “I am never alone…”. Having said that, he remains silent and steps a bit away from me. As we leave the house, bodyguards step between him and me, disapproval on their faces: We have come to close to their master. And while the mega – star disappears into a gift shop, we hurriedly buzz of. In the night, we see Michael Jackson once again. At approximately one a.m., a dark silhouette with hat appears at the lightened window of his hotel suite. Absolutely unnoticed. His fans have gone to sleep long ago, laying in the grass, hugged by their sleeping bags, in front of the hotels. Gods do not sleep, Gods wake lonely."

story source:
http://www.mjfriendship.de/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156&Itemid=55

2011-01-03T16:16:00.002+11:00

MJ HIStory In Pictures:
At Phantasia Park in Germany during the History World Tour

2011-01-02T09:00:00.004+11:00

"GONNA SHINE HIS LIGHT ON US TODAY!"

"...Everybody say that time is borrowed,
And hanging down your head just ain't no good.
And if you dare to rise above tomorrow,
Just give yourself a chance, fight the circumstance.
Rise into the game.

Keeping your head up to the sky.
Keeping your mind up, stay alive.
Give me your wings, so we can fly.
Keeping your head up to the sky.
We can just rise up, tell me now.
Give me your wings so we can fly..."

--- Michael Jackson, from "Keep Your Head Up"

2011-01-01T10:28:00.003+11:00

.
LIFE I AM THE NEW YEAR

Life, I am the new year.
I am an unspoiled page in your book of time.
I am your next chance at the art of living.
I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned about life during the last twelve months.
All that you sought and didn't find is hidden in me,
waiting for you to search it out with more determination.
All the good that you tried for and didn't achieve
is mine to grant when you have fewer conflicting desires.
All that you dreamed but didn't dare to do,
all that you hoped but did not will,
all the faith that you claimed but did not have --
these slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened
by the touch of a strong purpose.
I am your opportunity
to renew your allegiance to Him who said, "behold, I make all things new."
I am the new year

--- author unknown

beautiful baby picture source: http://www.mobiletoones.com/browse/free-mobile-wallpapers/s19-babies-wallpapers/f29873-cute-baby.html

Shine in Grace

---Todd Gray, excerpt from his book "Michael Jackson: Before He Was King"

WE MISS YOU MICHAEL!