Üzeyir Özkan

 

OnThisDay March 9, 2001. #MichaelJackson was in Sulden, Italy,

from Friday March 9-11, 2001. Michael Jackson arrived in Sulden,

late in the afternoon. A Mercedes with tinted windows brings him from Innsbruck, where his private jet has landed from London.

He is accompanied by Frank Cascio. His advisors Lee Myong-Ho and Kelly Kathleen arrived shortly before.

Frank says, "As important as Heal The Kids is, we had other business to attend to in Europe. The day before the speech, while we were still in London, I got a phone call from Myong-Ho, Michael's business advisor, who wanted us to meet with a European media mogul, Jürgen Todenhöfer, in the Italian Alps. As Prince and Paris were not on the trip, Michael only wanted to meet them in New York. But this meeting was probably very important, because instead of going home, we found ourselves on a mountain road that never stopped climbing, in a region where spring had a hint of winter and where the villages, more and more isolated, seemed frozen in time.

Michael was staying in a private residence booked by the German Todenhöfer, but his staff had to be accommodated in the hotel. Paul Hanny, the city's representative, who knows everything that goes on there, and Todenhöfer's trusted man, was caught off guard by the artist's arrival. "I was asked at the last moment to reserve a dozen individual rooms in the best places in town," Hanny told the "Dolomiten" (local newspaper). All of Sulden's rooms were mostly already booked, but "it's my job to do the craziest stuff," says Hanny .

As soon as he arrives in the Italian mountains, Michael is faced with a problem: his foot, in a cast, is in great pain and the only doctor in the village has to be called.

Dr. Raffaella Ortler Stocker explains, "I didn't expect this type of patient." On Friday, the doctor, who has her practice in the village, receives a call for a medical examination. "I knew there was a famous guest, but I didn't think it was Michael Jackson, a singer I like a lot. It was a very quick exam. The artist had a broken ankle and was in a cast; he was in a lot of pain, probably caused by the stress, the fatigue of the flight and the car journey from Innsbruck. I prescribed him some pills to ease the pain. I exchanged a few words with him, with the little English I had learned at school. He was a normal patient for me, but honestly, I must say that I was very happy, because in front of me I had a great artist who addressed me nicely. He was shy, he seemed fragile and he was concerned about everything. He wanted to know if there were any skiing accidents, and if any children had also been injured while skiing. He was afraid of catching a cold from the cold. He seemed very lonely to me.

Michael rested for a while and then went down to dinner that night with his hosts.

"When it was time for dinner, we changed. I changed into a black suit and Michael chose an apple green shirt, black pants and a black sports jacket. And sunglasses, which he eventually removed.

The dinner was long and convivial, and Michael was in rare form. Usually very shy, he discussed all sorts of subjects with the guests sitting at the big table. We talked about meditation, soccer and music. In the middle of the meal, a family of local artists came to treat us to traditional folk music from their village. They seemed to come straight out of a fairy tale, like characters from the Brothers Grimm's gingerbread house," says Frank Cascio.

This group of local artists is in fact the group La Zag, surprised themselves by the presence of Michael. The band members remember: "On March 9, 2001, we were invited to Solda (a well-known ski and climbing resort in South Tyrol) to play at the table of a mysterious host. His identity was not revealed to us. So imagine our surprise when we learned that it was the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson himself, and that we were to play for him! He was in Solda for a business meeting. He liked our music so much that he interrupted his dinner and started swinging on his chair! At the end, he shook our hands and said, "Nice music!"

Michael enjoys the local specialties and tastes the "Stilfser Almkäse" (a local cheese) and the "Schüttelbrot" (a special crusty bread).

He returns to his room early while his staff goes dancing at Sulden's only discotheque "Apres-Club".

Michael should have left Sulden on Saturday afternoon. But he appreciates the quietness of the village and decides to extend his stay by one day. "It's nice here, I want to see the village" he says. So the flight was cancelled.

After dealing with some business in the morning, Michael decides at the end of the day to walk around Sulden and see the typical places. He is fascinated by the mountains, the cable car that goes up to Milan and the artificial ice wall built in the village. Nobody noticed him. Michael seemed to be happy because he had managed to isolate himself.

In the evening, Paul Hanny tried to convince him to have dinner in a local restaurant and assure him of his peace of mind. Michael accepted and at 7:30 pm Michael and his friends met for dinner at the Parkhotel "Hartmanns Weinstube". The other guests present did not move when the artist got up to go to the bathroom. They recognize him, but nobody is allowed to disturb him.

Michael spends his Sunday morning in business meetings. After lunch, he heads back to Innsbruck. "He wanted me to drive the car," recalls Paul Hanny, "and I was happy to do it. His bodyguards followed behind. At the Innsbruck airport, I got on the steps of Michael's personal plane, with his staff around me. Michael came out and hugged me to thank me. He also gave me a special autograph. I was very moved.