Reeves & Mortimer in blackface - not offensive to me

We were watching a DVD of the British comedy series The Smell of Reeves & Mortimer (1993) last night... husband's favourite comedians, and the Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye sketches came on. I had not remembered that the duo were doing their hilarious sketch in blackface. The two, who have Geordie accents, are in the dock of the bay watching "the ships coming in... and going out again". Now retired, they live in a TV which is inside a wardrobe.

I just read that 'cos Reeves and Mortimer painted their faces black they received complaints of racism. This meant that in the second series they kept their faces white. But looking at the original sketches I did not find the blackface offensive at all. I thought about this and decidedd it was because they ensured that the funny/odd characteristics of these two was not that they had brown faces but that they were puppets, with tiny, spindly legs, and North East accents. Also the brown makeup was applied very carefully so that it did not look comical or haphazard but rather, realistic. It was no travesty to my eye. See this link for the whiteface version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi60CCM9jZU

Oh, and of course they did Barry White in blackface too...

Michael Jackson on The Archers!

Leon, the Australian bartender [real name: Nicholas Osmond] who is set to break Helen's heart in The Archers. 'Leon' loves Off the Wall.

Am wary of turning Scary blog into yet another fan site but... so much post-MJ's death info around, dammit, it is hard not to succumb. Take tonight - 5 minutes of MJ-related activity on The Archers of all things! (Very long running radio drama listened to by Radio 4 listeners.)
The script went something like:

Helen: I didn't have you down as a Michael Jackson fan!
Leon, creepy womanizer: "No, well, since he died... I've been listening to Off the Wall all the time at the bar. I'm not as keen on this album though. [cue muffled Michael sounds]
Five minutes or so pass. Judith strains to hear which album he means.
Helen hounds Leon into meeting her parents. Leon evades this. The track playing in the background is... 'Leave Me Alone'. (Just stop doggin' me around!) The album is clearly BAD.Cue outro music.

Hai karate!

Check out this pic from our celebrity biographer chum, J Randy Taraborrelli! Never seen this one before. MJ was a huge fan of Bruce Lee. Not surprising, really, when you consider MJ's karate -like leg kicks.

Al's Shopping frenzy

Al, Scary contributor, writes in to say:

What an amazing (and utterly unintentionally MJ related) shopping trip today. I spotted an MJ style military jacket in Zara and thought they wouldn't appreciate me taking a photo so I sneaked in the dressing room and snapped it on my phone. Photo to follow when I've uploaded it to my PC. Then I was walking through Selfridges and saw some new karaoke gadget being demonstrated and ended up singing 'Billie Jean' in the middle of the store. I saw 2 people with MJ T-shirts and plenty of shoulder pads and pointy jackets like those in This Is It. What an crazy day I had, and I usually hate these crowded soulless shopping malls!!!

Al x

Moonwalk update

Al kindly copied me the new preface and afterword from the new edition of Moonwalk. Undfortunately I am on a net book and it's fiddly to copy and paste a large chunk of text so it will have to wait. Am still getting used to this netbook.

Jackson Helps This Expert Patient and LaToya prog repeated on TV

What a Jackson-filled day I had yesterday, quite unplanned: music, video and then LaToya on TV for 1 hour.

I'm on this Expert Patients' Programme for people with chronic illnesses and my tasks for this week are to dance 4x a week for 5 mins and to do deep relaxation for 10 mins. Well, obviously, I have managed to incorporate Our Man into these activities.

I listened to many CDs yesterday - partly to pick out some lyrics for our competition - then while hubby was on the phone to his mate for two hours (they are very good mates!) I watched favourite bits from the HIStory DVDs. Then I noticed that More 4 tv channel was repeating a programme from 1993, one I had never seen, as part of the Darcus Howe series. (Howe was a member of the British Black Panther Movement. In 1970, following a protest, he was arrested and tried for riot, affray and assault but acquitted after a trial. He became editor of Race Today. He's a big deal here in the UK as a broadcaster).

The programme was part of his Devil's Advocate series and this one was LaToya Jackson Meets Darcus Howe. It was at the time of the Chandler accusations.

The programme was like a slightly upmarket version of The Jeremy Kyle Show (Kyle is like a maggot version of Jerry Springer).

What does one make of LaToya? She looked so like Michael of 1993 - eerie. She seemed sincere in places, then in others coquettish, then overly dramatic, then dishonest as she kept contradicting herself. She refused to say whether Michael was innocent of the Chandler claims (made by Jordie's father, not Jordie himself) yet her facial expressions seemed to betray the fact that she did think he was innocent but that she had to keep the mystery going for the sake of her fees, her book sales and her promotional tour. One of the audience members pointed this out very eloquently.

LaToya's, in my opinion, awful husband, Jack Gordon, whom she later fled from, was in the audience too. What a guy. He admitted to assaulting LaToya some weeks previously and they clearly did not see eye-to-eye on various issues yet there they were, husband and wife/manager and client touting their goods.

In the end Howe decided that LaToya's claims (that Joe abused her and Rebbie; that she was truthful and not a publicity seeker) were not convincing. He also suggested that she was hell bent on seizing control and separating herself from The Family. (This is something that she, MJ and Janet have all had goes at, with varying degrees of success. MJ went to Neverland and a world of childrena nd pets; Janet ran off with that DeBarge guy...) It was all very disturbing.

I then could not sleep so ended up reading the section on LaToya in Taraborrelli's book. Consequently, I'm pretty shattered now. And I didn't even get round to dancing! I did do the relaxation exercises though...)

News of an Am I Scary Competition

It's my birthday soon, then Xmas... what fresh torture I can heap on my poor husband who will be dispatched to buy some Jackson-related item for me? Should I go for the MJ calendar (left), or the This is It album (is it worth it - I have virtually all the tracks already?) or perhaps The Ultimate Collection? Enough...

COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT
I'm thinking of running a small MJ competition here for the Scary people. I can't promise big prizes but I could do something... I can make pretty, simple earrings with silver posts, or a simple necklace for the women readers, or I could send bookmarks or a book, or even some MJ-related item as long as it's not the white rhinestone glove that has just sold for $35,000. I could ask the winmer what he or she wants and post it out to them or a PO Box wherever in the world he or she is!

I thought the comp could be an 'identify the lyric' one - using lyrics from the main MJ albums, nothing really rare or 'out there'! It would be a case of saying which song the lyric comes from.
Here is an example:

Question:
"Right back where I wanna be
I'm standin' though you're kickin' me..."
Answer: (2 Bad)

I just thought it would make a good reader involvement thing AND it could be a way to say thanks to those of you who read or contribute or who are just aware of this blog - or just Jackson bonkers!

Taraborrelli speaks out about Evan Chandler

Thanks to Al for finding these eye-opening comments from JRT (J Randy Taraborrelli) about his experiences with Evan Chandler, who recently committed suicide. I have edited it down very slightly as this comment first appeared on Facebook where JRT has a large following. Any emphasis in the text is mine - I'be put in bold some revealing comments JRT makes. Here's JRT:

Personally, I try to stay removed from all-out hatred of anyone, no matter how awful they appear to be, or what I feel they've done. The Universe works these things out in it's own way and doesn't need my emotional investment in the outcome. I just stand back, take a look at the always surprising unfolding of events, think -- wow, that's really something, isn't it? -- and then just hope everyone who is truly involved finds some measure of peace in it.

I'm not so sure that terrible people get what they deserve, either. Because I know a lot of awesome people to whom terrible things have happened, I don't think God doles out punishment to the deserving and rewards to the rest of us. I just think everyone is on a personal path and that if we are going to be the undoing of ourselves, only we know how we've gone about it -- or even if we had nothing to do with it at all and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I actually knew Evan Chandler. I met him several times in the 1990s. I had lots of secret meetings with Evan Chandler, trying to get to the bottom of what was going on. I was pretty young, sort of green and wish I had my present level of expertise to be able to have applied back then. I have stories about that guy that I have never even published. He was about as inconsistent as they come. He was so determined to get me on his side, I thought he was just a tad scary. If you read my book you sort of get how I felt -- feel -- about him. When it came out, he called me screaming at me for not just buying his story 100%. He actually threatened me, and I thought... okay, pal, now I know who you really are. I wish it had all been handed differently.

To be honest, I wish MJ had never settled, and I told Michael that several times. But... he felt he had to save his life, and I understood that, too. He really was in bad shape. However, I wish it had gone to trial so we could have had real evidence presented in a court of law - like the Arvizo nonsense -- and then really been able to sort through it and come to some real decisions. It all seems so useless now, though, doesn't it? And such a shame.

Now... I want The Interview with Jordie. I want that interview, damn it. Something tells me I'm going to get it, too. Don't know why... just a sense I have always had about it. Peace, my friends. Live your very good lives. Things have a way of working themselves out...

---

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Above: Dorothy and the Great Veaney with Toto.

Went to the guest night of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz at The Dukes, Lancaster, on Friday.

(Naturally, the eyes of the Jackson fan should light up at this news, knowing that MJ's first film role was as the Scarecrow in The Wiz,which he relished. Critics say his performance was the best of all. It was also on set that he met his future producer Quincy Jones.)

So how did The Dukes' new production, with its own script and its specially commissioned music fare? Pretty well, actually.

Right from the start we were flung into Barnum territory with the appearance of the showman magician The Great Veaney who launched the audience participation element of the show at the Kansas City carnival. Then we enter vaudeville country with the Munchkins and their physical comedy centred around, in this production a misanthropic, teenage brat, Dorothy, and her wonderful dog, (here, a puppet) Toto.

As ever I leave a full review of the production to the local and regional newspaper people who were there as this blog is really for myself and my small band of Scary followers, but some snapshot thoughts...

There was some great comedy and some talented acting and singing. Dorothy's three companions were rendered as caricatures, which is suitable for a production of this type. The Scarecrow was a Bertie Wooster-ish character, the Tin Man an emotional northerner and the Lion was a blinged-up Cockney. They commanded the stafge well and made each part their own.

The scenery worked very well - a simple backdrop upon which there was some excellent trickery: a tornado-tossed house, a mysterious disappearing act; and green glasses for all audience members so they could view the Emerald City.

The most stunning, affecting part of the whole show for me was the solo performance of the Wicked Witch of the West, played by Celia Adams. Her fabulous singing voice was as haunting as her huge, Gothic black crinoline dress - which seemed to have the tiny dresses of her previous victims sewn onto it. The tiny Dorothy doll she carried was equally spooky.

In the end, though, the production did lack something: for me it was emotion. I felt that this story - a journey that is both physical and spiritual - should have moved me more. My friend and I felt it was a little shrill in places; subtle shifts in atmosphere are as welcome in a Christmas show as in any. But perhaps I'm being pedantic. Maybe it would have been more effective if Dorothy had been less of a brat and more vulnerable from the start but I can see that this was a new take on Dorothy.

I would recommend this show to anyone who loves theatricality - and a happy ending. The kids loved it!

• Thanks to my friend Penny for coming with me and making some acute observations.

Man Whose Son Accused Michael Jackson of Molestation Found Dead

Man Whose Son Accused Michael Jackson of Molestation Found Dead

OMG! I can hardly believe that events and circumstances connected to Michael Jackson could get any more complex but now comes the news that Evan Chandler, father of Jordie Chandler, has shot himself. The verdict seems to be suicide.

This is staggering news. I believe that the man was despicable, whatever happened or did not between MJ and Jordie C, and this seems to have been borne out by the fact that Jordie took out a restraining order against his father later in life after EC alledgedly hit his son with a dumb bell.

I'm sure fans will see Evan's subsequent years of misery as divine retribution. Bad karma! So strange though... The lives of MJ and the Chandlers were so entwined - they never should have been.