On this special episode of The MJCast, Jamon and Q interview academics Elizabeth Amisu and Karin Merx on Elizabeth’s new book The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona and His Artistic Afterlife. Topics include their own histories, their roles in The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies and Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On podcast, Elizabeth’s writing and publication process, Karin’s artistic process in creating the book’s cover (The Michael Jackson Respect Portrait) and of course many topics on Michael Jackson himself.

As explained on Elizabeth’s website, The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson is “the essential companion to Michael Jackson’s music, films and books, this work offers 21 original, academic essays on all things Jackson – from film, music and dance to fashion, culture and literature. It is the ultimate collector’s item for every Michael Jackson fan, student, researcher and academic.”

Overall, Dangerous Philosophies is a phenomenal work on the depth of Michael’s art and person, and a brilliant achievement by Amisu. Whether you’re an academic yourself wishing to enrich your knowledge of Michael Jackson, or perhaps a casual MJ fan wanting to open your mind to the depth of Michael’s work, you can’t go past Dangerous Philosophies. Pick up a copy today!

Links
• The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies website and Facebook & Twitter pages
• The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona and His Artistic Afterlife on Online Arts Education (signed copies), Amazon and Apple iBooks
• Elizabeth Amisu’s website and Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages
• Karin Merx’ website and Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages
• Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On podcast web page and iTunes page
• Yuko Watanabe – Smooth Criminal
• Youngest String Quartet Ever – Smooth Criminal
• Patrick Matthias – Smooth Criminal
• 2 Cellos – They Don’t Care About Us
• Peter Bence – Bad
• Elizabeth Amisu’s ‘Throwing Stones to Hide Your Hands’: The Mortal Persona of Michael Jackson article
• Michael Jackson & Prince: Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation
• Introduction to Michael Jackson Studies Online Course: 6-Lesson Online Course with Elizabeth Amisu
• The MJCast’s online repository of Cascio Case court docs
• Joseph Vogel’s Man in the Music, Featuring Michael Jackson and Earth Song books
• Susan Fast’s Michael Jackson’s Dangerous book
• Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk book
• Michael Jackson’s 2001 Oxford Speech
• Margo Jefferson’s On Michael Jackson book
• Armond White’s Keep Moving: The Michael Jackson Chronicles book
• Michael Bush’s The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson book
• Damien Shields’ website and his Xscape Origins: The Songs and Stories Michael Jackson Left Behind book
• Karin Merx’ article on her Michael Jackson Respect portrait
• Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio) Wikipedia article
• Complete work of William Shakespeare book
• The Journal Of Michael Jackson Academic Studies’ interview with Isabelle Petijean
• Michael Jackson’s This Is It film

Music Breaks & Ads
• Maati Baani – Heal The World (Child Prodigy Cover)
• Boyce Avenue – Will You Be There
• Accent – Keep The Faith

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• TheMJCast.com
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If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!

Welcome to the second and final instalment of our Dangerous 25 Roundtable shows. Sonically groundbreaking, spiritually profound, sexually provocative and socially conscious, Dangerous exploded onto the music market on November 26th, 1991, taking Michael to new global audiences and cementing his position not only as the King of Pop, but an artist willing to illuminate and challenge some of the world’s most important issues. In many ways, the album is relevant now more than ever. To celebrate twenty-five years of this masterpiece, The MJCast has brought together a roundtable panel of authors, academics and researchers – all mega fans.

Q, Elizabeth, Mike, James, Andy & Samar begin the show by discussing Michael’s appearances and performances during the Dangerous era followed by an analysis of Sony’s Dangerous 25 campaign. The panel members also discusses Michael’s style during the period and their favourite Dangerous era memories before closing the show out with a discussion around how the Dangerous album holds up in Michael’s discography today.

Participants
• Q, Co-Host of The MJCast.
• Elizabeth Amisu, author of The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic Afterlife.
• Mike Smallcombe, author of Making Michael: Inside the Career of Michael Jackson.
• James Alay
• Andy Healy, author of the MJ 101 series.
• Samar Habib, creator of The Michael Jackson Academia Project.

Topics
• Dangerous appearances and performances
• Dangerous style
• Memories from the era
• How does Dangerous hold up today?

Music Breaks & Ads
• Michael Jackson – Jam (Nick* Redux)
• Michael Jackson – Give In To Me (Demo)
• Michael Jackson – Who Is It (IHS Mix)
• Michael Jackson – Remember The Time (Nick* 24K Magic Mashup)

Connect with Us
• TheMJCast.com
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Michael on!

Twenty-five years ago today Michael Jackson released perhaps his most important album… Dangerous. Sonically groundbreaking, spiritually profound, sexually provocative and socially conscious, Dangerous exploded onto the music market on November 26th, 1991, taking Michael to new global audiences and cementing his position not only as the King of Pop, but an artist willing to illuminate and challenge some of the world’s most important issues. In many ways, the album is relevant now more than ever. To celebrate twenty-five years of this masterpiece, The MJCast has brought together a roundtable panel of authors, academics and researchers – all mega fans.

Q, Elizabeth, Mike, James, Andy & Samar begin the show by giving brief introductions as to who they are and their early experiences with the Dangerous album, followed by an exploration into the album’s groundbreaking sound. Next, the panel delves into the album’s masterpiece cover art by Mark Ryden, an analysis of the song and video Black Or White and the lyrical messages within Dangerous. The show finishes up with a discussion around the short films for the album. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this Roundtable as we continue our celebrations of Dangerous 25!

Participants
• Q, Co-Host of The MJCast.
• Elizabeth Amisu, author of The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic Afterlife.
• Mike Smallcombe, author of Making Michael: Inside the Career of Michael Jackson.
• James Alay
• Andy Healy, author of the MJ 101 series.
• Samar Habib, creator of The Michael Jackson Academia Project.

Topics
• The sound of Dangerous
• The Dangerous album cover
• Black Or White
• The lyrical messages of Dangerous
• Dangerous’ short films

Music Breaks & Ads
• Michael Jackson – Remember The Time (New Jack Main Mix)
• Michael Jackson – In The Closet (The Newark Mix)
• Michael Jackson – Black Or White (Immortal Version)
• Michael Jackson – Dangerous (Live From A Night at the Apollo, 2002)
• Jackson Source

Connect with Us
• TheMJCast.com
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Michael on!

When I realised that the 10th anniversary of Michael’s appearance at the 2006 World Music Awards was fast approaching, I contacted Jamon and Q to suggest they include a segment about it in an upcoming episode. They replied suggesting I should make my own stand-alone episode, over which I would have complete creative control. It was a scary prospect – I am far from being the techno-whizz Jamon is, and it’s fair to say my attempts to record and edit his episode have been haphazard. Two interviews had to be completely re-recorded due to technical failures, the causes of which I have yet to discern and doubt I ever shall.

But despite the technological trauma, this has been an exciting project. The awards ceremony – and its aftermath – have troubled me ever since they occurred. A few years ago I told my own story in a blog entry, so with this show I knew immediately what I wanted to do; interview others who attended the ceremony and let them tell their own stories.

For too long, the dominant story about the World Music Awards has been one which was simply not true. The lie that Michael was booed off stage has been immortalised in at least one substantial biography. My hope is that this show might become a reference point for those wishing to write about or investigate the event in the future.

This show retraces my blog entry to some extent, but includes brand new research, as well as excerpts from four exclusive interviews I have conducted in the last month. My interviewees for this show were Michael’s former manager Raymone Bain, his long-time photographer Harrison Funk, and two long-time UK fans, Angela Kande and Greg Spinks.

Each was incredibly candid and generous with their time, for which I am extremely grateful. Some of their revelations and observations are really very poignant – particularly Raymone’s story about trying to find somebody who would present Michael with his award, which paints a truly sad picture of Michael’s post-acquittal existence. A lot of these stories are ones I have never heard told anywhere else. The interviewees do not all share the same recollections on certain matters, but where they contradict one another I have ensured both points of view are reflected.

All four contributors were incredibly engaging and any one of their interviews could have been released in full on its own merit (but for the extensive damage inflicted on the audio by my ham-fisted recording efforts). Some brilliant stories and observations were sadly left on the proverbial cutting room floor, purely because they diverted from the trajectory of the episode (or because I didn’t record them properly).

Perhaps on the 20th anniversary of the ceremony I will release a director’s cut. Or perhaps, as a homage to Sony, I’ll wait and release the 20th anniversary re-release on the 23rd anniversary, with no new content at all, and in inferior audio quality, with all the best bits of Raymone’s interview remixed by Pitbull so they don’t make sense anymore.

I hope you all enjoy the episode. Let’s spread some truth.

Huge thanks to Jamon and Q for this amazing and exhausting opportunity.

Charles Thomson.

Links

Harrison Funk is releasing a 10th anniversary World Music Awards photo box set, containing several exclusive images he took at the ceremony. Anybody wishing to contact him about purchasing one can do so via the email form at www.harrisonfunk.com.

Angela Kande is the author of ‘Legacy’, a spoken word poem about the Michael Jackson fan community, which can be found here.

Charles Thomson’s original blog about the World Music Awards can be read here.

Connect with Us

If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!

Happy Thriller Night! To celebrate Halloween 2016, Q and Jamon are joined by host of fellow Michael Jackson podcast Moonwalk Talks, Jankins along with bassist, studio engineer and MJ collaborator CJ DeVillar. CJ collaborated with Michael on a range of songs including the unreleased and authentic version of Monster (which we discuss in detail on this episode), Blue Gangsta, A Place With No Name, Break of Dawn and multiple tracks on the HIStory album.

To kick things off, Jamon and Q spring an impromptu interview on Jankins, followed by a discussion around all the latest news in the MJ world. Topics include the recent and unfortunate passing of Thriller songwriter Rod Temperton, a new Michael Jackson project as revealed by John Landis and Nick Amideo’s Monster Movie Mash video. The team then discuss Travis DeRose’ marathon moonwalk across Europe, a competition around Smooth Criminals – The Songs of Michael Jackson and a new dance video set to Black or White. The news is capped off through an update on the Sony/ATV acquisition and a brand new book coming from The Jacksons called The Jacksons: Legacy. The main discussion topic for this episode is a chronological exploration into Michael’s horror themed work.

News

Main Discussion Topic

Finds of the Week

Additional Links

Music Breaks & Ads

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If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Michael on!

Welcome to part two of our Michael Jackson & Prince roundtable discussion, a new format for The MJCast which a panel of expert participants discuss a particular topic in depth. For this second and concluding episode, returning guest Paul Black continues moderating our discussion around the two legendary entertainers, Prince and Michael Jackson. Participants again include Samar of The Michael Jackson Academia Project, Casey Rain and Kim Camilia of The Violet Reality, Charles Thomson, Jamon Bull of The MJCast and of course, Paul Black. Beginning with an exploration into the participants personal experiences with Michael Jackson and Prince, Paul then leads us in a comparative discussion around the unfortunate deaths of both artists, their commitment to challenging expectations in a corrupt entertainment industry and finally their impacts on culture, style and fashion.

Participants

Topics

Links

The Violet Reality on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Music Breaks & Ads

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If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!

Welcome to the first roundtable episode of The MJCast, a format in which a panel of expert participants discuss a particular topic in depth. For this debut roundtable, returning guest Paul Black moderates a discussion around two legendary entertainers, Prince and Michael Jackson. Participants include Samar of The Michael Jackson Academia Project, Casey Rain and Kim Camilia of The Violet Reality, Charles Thomson, Jamon Bull of The MJCast and as mentioned, Paul Black. Beginning with an exploration into the participants own experiences and views on both artists, Paul then takes the conversation in the direction of Prince and Michael’s individual strengths as recording artists and live performers, all while exploring their similarities, differences and awareness of each other.

Participants

Topics

Links

The Violet Reality on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Music Breaks & Ads

Connect with Us

If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Michael On!

On this episode, Jason Garcia of The MJCast en Español joins Jamon as a guest host in Q’s absence. Jamon and Jason kick Episode 040 off with some follow up discussion around Episode 039‘s show length and how Jason feels being one month into hosting The MJCast en Español. News items include Kingvention 2016 (including an audio roundup from Karin and Elizabeth of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies), the 3T weekend in Amsterdam (with an audio roundup from Christophe Charlot, author Travelling with a King) and an update on Christophe’s MJBackstage magazine. Following this, the guys discuss Rogue Magazine publishing never-before-seen photos and videos of Michael Jackson, Ghana’s President discussing Michael Jackson in his address to the United Nations, a new book on the HIStory era by Brice Najar and finally Brad Sundberg‘s late 2016 plans for In the Studio with Michael Jackson. The main discussion topic for this episode is all around the Michael Jackson songs that Jason and Jamon feel are his most underrated. Special thanks to L. Josefin (@_linajosefin on Twitter) for this great idea.

Follow Up

News

Main Discussion Topic 

Finds of the Week

Additional Links

Music Breaks & Ads

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If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!

On Episode 039 of The MJCast, Charles Thomson joins Jamon as a guest host in Q’s absence along with Samar of The Michael Jackson Academia Project. The guys begin the show with a follow-up discussion around meaningful music, especially in regards to the new Black Eyed Peas song #WHEREStheLOVE before delving into news items including the imminent Michael Jackson documentary The Last Photoshoots, Orianthi‘s possible involvement in a new posthumous project, an MJ costume exhibition at the African American History Museum and Paris Jackson’s new Facebook page. Following this, the global release of 3T’s new album Chapter III and their two upcoming Amsterdam shows are discussed before detailing the latest developments in the Cascio Case. The main discussion topic for this episode is Charles’ and Samar’s fan stories, and the current and future work of The Michael Jackson Academia Project.

Follow Up

News

Main Discussion Topic 

Finds of the Week

Additional Links

Music Breaks & Ads

Connect with Us

If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Michael On!

Happy Birthday, Michael Jackson! On this special birthday episode of The MJCast, we are joined by dear friend James Alay. Aside from also being a Michael Jackson megafan, James has worked with us over the past couple of years in making The MJCast a reality by contributing his technical expertise. Thank-you, James! In Episode 038 we kick things off by discussing Quincy Jones recently being honoured by the BBC during Proms, Spike Lee’s 6th annual Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson event, a never-before-heard MJ song called Family Thing and Taryll Jackson’s new website, music and upcoming podcast. We then discuss the new 2017 official Michael Jackson calendar, 3T’s first Power of Love radio show, Paris Jackson’s thoughts on Kanye West breaking one of Michael’s records and Rihanna receiving the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award recipient at this year’s MTV awards. Our main discussion topic this week is all around James’ fan story and his favourite MJ products. We hope you enjoy this episode of the internet’s premiere podcast on all things Michael Jackson and the Jackson family.

News

Main Discussion Topic 

Finds of the Week

Additional Links

Music Breaks & Ads

Connect with Us

If you have any thoughts, opinions, or feedback on the show, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!