* Interview w Vincent Paterson – Lighthouse Mag (Japanese)

Posted on May 15, 2020by MJJJusticeProject

2019-06-25 01:49:42

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I can’t forget that impact that I first got when I watched Michael Jackson’s short film “Thriller”. There was enough impact to change the world. I felt “Something is going to happen. Something that I have never seen before.” In the same era, Madonna, the absolute queen who conquered the world with a pair of high heels, debuted into stardom. One after another never before seen music revolutions were constantly occurring in the world which led to people having a lot of iconic moves engraved into their minds. It was Vincent Paterson, that I was able to interview, who was responsible for many of the iconic Michael Jackson and Madonna’s enthusiastic movements as he created behind the scenes as a director and choreographer. As if they met Vincent like fate, the world started to go to an unpredictable future. Vincent, when you worked with Michael Jackson and Madonna, there must have been some kind of magic going on in their performances to move my heart the way it did. I haven’t been able to have my heart be moved as much since then. What kind of spell did you cast on us?

—You joined “Thriller” as an assistant choreographer. What do you think are the reasons why it is loved all over the world, even now?

“First of all, it’s a crazy, fantasy zombie dance. It was a unique dance that anyone can feel like dancing to and it was easy enough for people to remember the moves. So, it is still loved all around the world. Also, the fact that it wasn’t just a music video but also a short film where we can enjoy the story was another reason. Michael loved films and ‘Thriller’ was inspired by the film ‘An American Werewolf in London’. Because a music video channel called MTV was born at that time, people around the world were surprised to see ‘Thriller’. They thought ‘What is this? What is happening?’ when they saw the unpredictable story and the overwhelming performance.”

–Your style of choreography is very iconic and never stops attracting viewers. For example, I liked the Zero Gravity movement from “Smooth Criminal”. How on Earth do you create them?

“Sometimes, it just comes out of my crazy brain (laughs). Let me tell you the story of when Michael gave me a cassette that had ‘Smooth Criminal’ in it. He said ‘Listen to the music and let the music tell you what it wants to be.’ I put a headset on and listened to it many, many, many times. I began to see movement in shapes, such as a rectangle, a circle, or a spiral, and then I started to move to the music. That’s how the choreography was born. On the other hand, for Zero Gravity, I got inspired from a dance performance piece I had seen years before. The dancers came out with skis on and started leaning. This visual came into my head when I was creating the choreography for Smooth Criminal and I knew Michael would love it. Sometimes, I get inspirations from a play, a novel, or art, like the example I just cited. And other times, choreography comes out of my brain just by listening to the music. There are various ways to create choreography but the important thing is how I can be honest to the music.”

–The dance where Madonna grabbed her crotch in “Express Yourself” was especially surprising (laughs).

“This is how that happened. When we were filming ’Express Yourself’, Madonna asked me ‘What should I do with my hand on this last part?’ I answered ‘Why don’t you grab your balls because you have bigger balls than most men?’ (laughs). I taught her many ways to appear stronger, be more beautiful, and act more sophisticated. I even taught her how to smoke a cigarette and how to crawl on the floor. Interestingly, superstars don’t always know how to make themselves move a certain way for the public. Even Michael needed guidance. That’s why smart performers hire a choreographer. When we filmed ‘Black or White’, the director had an idea of having Michael stand in front of gray walls. Michael didn’t really like the idea. So, he asked me ‘Vincent, what do you think?’ and I said ‘Let’s express the inclusion of race, which is the theme of this song, by using dances from around the world.’ And I created the choreography which included Balinese, Cossack, and African dances. Michael’s dance vocabulary was mostly what he knew from his Motown days, including tap. When he began making his short films, he opened himself up to learning a variety of styles. From this education, as well as his working out with street dancers in LA, he evolved his own style.”

–You directed Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour, one of your many renowned pieces of work. That was the first time Madonna or any other woman in the media dared to be overtly sexual on stage. At that time, Madonna’s sexual performances were the newest popular topic to talk about. Was it a message trying to convey “Women, be strong!”?

“Perhaps that was part of it. Madonna likes to shock people. She likes to keep people on their toes, never knowing what her next incarnation will be. During the Blond Ambition Tour, she wanted to say that men and women should be equal. In this tour, I tried to stage “Like A Virgin” on a big bed. I said to her, ‘I want you to lie on the bed. And wouldn’t it be interesting if two men were there as part of the headboard of the bed?’ Then, she said ‘I also have come up with a great idea!’ and brought out cone bras. Jean-Paul Gaultier had made for her, but she never used them for anything yet. I thought that I would have the male dancers wear them, too. In this show, I had women wear men’s clothing and sometimes dressed men with a feminine tip. That’s because sometimes women have men’s feelings or attributes and vice versa. The Blond Ambition Tour was making a statement that sometimes there is a thin line that separates male and female attributes, making the classification of sex ambiguous. Also, it was important for us not to force people to watch the scene by shouting ‘Look at this!’ but to make people smile in spite of themselves by using humor especially when expressing sexuality. Madonna bloomed as a woman who incorporated sexuality into her artistry. At that point in time, women weren’t as open as men in expressing their sexuality in public and still taken seriously as artists. But Madonna could and did.”

–It is said that you put theater, fashion, and art to the direction for this tour and after the world realized this is how a pop concert should be, it changed the pop concert formula. How did you come up with those ideas?

“I was trained as an actor and a director. I was involved in theatrical productions from when I was in college. When Madonna asked me to direct the Blond Ambition Tour, she said she wanted to create something totally different from concerts that had been done before. We decided to create a show that was more than just singing and dancing. Our stage had large, elaborate sets, many costume changes and expressed various characters. Madonna appeared as a girl with curlers in her hair, a repentant sinner, and a mysterious mermaid. For me, ‘change’ and ‘contrast’ is important when creating work. In short, it means creating a completely different emotion right next to a proceeding one. For example, laughter after sadness or happiness after anger. By creating this roller coaster of emotions, we can keep moving people’s hearts or giving surprises. I wanted to make the Blond Ambition Tour not just a pop concert to watch but a theatrical event that impresses people. It’s no exaggeration to say that this tour was the beginning of theatrical type rock/pop concerts, which are now the norm. Humbly, it was a historical moment that changed the definition of concerts.”

–What do you think Michael Jackson and Madonna brought to their era?

“I think they were playing important roles as influencers who made changes in society’s movements, not only in America but on a world scale. For example, Madonna and I took the dance moves of Voguing, that was known only in gay clubs in New York, and used it for her song ‘Vogue’. At first, she didn’t think that “Vogue” would become that big of a success. She had placed the song in the middle of the concert, but I said ‘No! No! No! Vogue comes at the end of the show. This is going to be huge! This is going to blow their minds!’ When it comes to Michael, he often invited street dancers to the studios and danced with them. Michael learned a dance called the Back Slide from them, evolved it, and completed his own dance move called the Moonwalk. When he executed the Moonwalk in the TV special Motown 25, people were blown away thinking ‘What in the world is that?’ The credit of bringing movement from various cultures, which few people knew about, and making them world-class movements goes to Michael Jackson and Madonna. Also, they always said to me ‘Let’s make something that is totally new that the world has never seen before.’ We brought a lot of ideas out and played around with them. Especially, because Madonna was well versed in the visual arts and Michael in films and musicals, they created innovative modern rock and modern pop music by combining their strengths of classical elements to their works. For example, the monochrome music video of ‘Vogue’ was inspired by the black and white pictures by an American photographer named Horst from the 40s, and ‘Thriller’ was inspired by ‘An American Werewolf in London’. Through Michael Jackson and Madonna’s works, people not only renewed their understanding of how wonderful classical works were, but also were able to get new values and broaden their field of perspective by touching the most essential feature of art beyond the frame of pop music. That was exactly what we wanted to do.”

–I think that Michael Jackson and Madonna are one of a kind in the history of humankind.

“I agree. They had unique talents. In addition, they gave their best effort to make the best use of their potential. For example, when Michael didn’t know how to do a certain dance step, he would stand in front of the mirror and repeat the same movement thousands of times until he knew how to perform it perfectly. If you were close enough to see the amount of energy, concentration, and their incredible attitude that they put into their work, you would understand why Michael was able to become ‘Michael Jackson’ and why Madonna was able to become ‘Madonna’. They believed in and accepted their unique talents, and they wanted to bring out the best that they would be able to become. Also, they were blessed with wonderful creators such as directors and choreographers who brought out their talents to the best of their ability. All of their success had the perfect bond of creators where not one element could be excluded. But timing was the most important thing for their success. Thanks to the birth of MTV, their work was given an opportunity to be seen by billions of people at the same time. Remember, there was no Internet or social media back then. People all around the world were starving and were thirsty to see their icons, thinking ‘I want to see more! Give me more!’ That’s why fans listened to the records on repeat and watched the videos over and over. It warmed our hearts and made spectacular memories that we can never forget. Today, we are　flooded with never ending information and people’s tastes are so diverse. The feeling of having your heart moved doesn’t last for a long time. It is interesting to think if Michael Jackson and Madonna could still become as famous as they were back then, if they debuted today. So, one important element that led them to become as successful as they were was the perfect timing of everything– talent, human resources, and the era they were born in. There could have been people who had almost the same talent and made almost the same effort but couldn’t become superstars. Probably, a little spell was cast on Michael Jackson and Madonna. And so, they were meant to be the unsurpassable ‘Only Ones in the World’.”

–I heard that you might plan to hold some workshops for Michael’s dances in the future.

“I was given a chance that nobody else can experience and was blessed with working with many talented artists and wonderful masterpieces. I hope that the happy circle of giving these irreplaceable gifts, such as the love and grace that I felt, to others keeps on going like an endless merry go round. Particularly, memories with Michael were special. He was a person who was like a child who never said mean words. What he taught me was to love people, to be considerate to people and to do good for the world. I’m hoping to hold workshops for Michael’s dances all over the world. I still want to share the magic that he shared with the world and me. Don’t you feel the same way?”

Vincent Paterson ◎　He started his career as an actor and a director for a theatrical company and started learning dance when he was 24. He played the gang leader in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, and was an assistant choreographer for “Thriller”. He got an exceptional promotion as a choreographer for “Smooth Criminal”, causing his life thereon to change drastically. Later, he was involved in a number of M.J.’s legends. For example, he choreographed for “Black and White”, directed the Bad World Tour in 1987, and directed a Super Bowl Halftime Show in 1993. He is also known as a choreographer for Madonna. He directed and choreographed the Blond Ambition Tour, which made her an instant superstar. It is said that Madonna couldn’t be the person she is today if it wasn’t for him. What’s more, he also directed a Cirque du Soleil show and many other projects. He is active in various areas beyond the boundaries of industries.

——————————————————————————————————————

“Love people, be considerate to people.

Do good for the world.

That is what Michael taught me.”

“In Smooth Criminal,

inspiration for that lean

came from skiing.”

“Michael and Madonna

have always said to me

that they want to create something that’s completely new

that the world has never seen.”

Thank you for reading!

Please share!

Japanese version:

http://bit.ly/June2019article

Contact:  Kusaka

625mjforever@gmail.com

Source: https://ameblo.jp/625mjforever/entry-12486078150.html?fbclid=IwAR2ndHP1_rwEiI7nRRhd4rvqX8siTTfNCIbDVHL24CglIuR-6NeBWbFV7AQ

* Хауърд Блум: „Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз“

от

 Айлийн Шапиро

 -

9 май 2020 г.

Подобно на бурно цунами или свободен дух с диво сърце, автор, учен, бивш музикален публицист на суперзвездата Хауърд Блум е аномалия в много различни области. Съвсем наскоро Блум издаде най-новата си книга „Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз: Търсене на душа в силните ями на рок и рол.“

Блум е наречен „следващ в редица семенни мислители, който включва Нютон, Дарвин, Айнщайн и Фройд“ от британската телевизия Channel 4. Често го наричат ​​„най-големия агент на печата, който рокендролът някога е познавал“. Той основава най-голямата PR компания в музикалната индустрия, представяща артисти, включително принц, Боб Марли, Питър Габриел, Били Джоел, Aerosmith, Queen, Run DMC, ZZ Top, Били Джоел, Били Айдол, Джоан Джет, Майкъл Джексън и над сто повече , докато той преследваше нещо странно. Той казва, че е бил „на лов за боговете вътре в теб и мен“.

Имахме забележителен и проницателен разговор относно неговата книга, разкрита на 15 април 2020 г. Можете да научите повече от Хауърд Блум за един кратък час, отколкото през цялата ви кариера. Говорейки като луда печалба или ослепително описание на книгата на учения Блум, кариерата и философиите му предизвикаха дълбока емоция. Подобно на масив фойерверки, експлодиращи в нощното небе и разбиващи тъмнината, Блум е модерен днешен визионер ... ..

Току-що излезе най-новата ви книга „Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз: търсене на душа в силните ями на рок и рол“. Какви бяха отговорите?

Ето някои от цитатите за книгата: „Невероятно е. Написанието е разкривателно. Не е ли преживяването на тялото извън търсенето на просветление? Обади ми се Хауърд, бих искал да разговарям със седем часа. “ Фреди Деман. Това беше от мениджъра на Майкъл Джексън, Мадона и продуцент на 22 наградени пиеси от Бродуей, включително пиеса, която получи „Пулицър“.

„Авторът е Хауърд Блум, за когото великият писател е подценяване. Хауърд е изключителен, безумно умел писател, уникално способен да накара живите думи да създадат живи картини, които остават отпечатани в ума и сърцето. Иска ми се само да мога да напиша и половината, или една десета. Книгата е завиване на страници дори за хора, които не са любители на музиката като мен. “ -Гиулио Приско. Това е автор на „Приказки за Църквата на обръщането“.

„Това е фантастична приказка. Погледът на публициста поглед към рокендрола. Това може би е най-странното в развлекателната индустрия, писана някога. " -Carl F. Gauze от списание Ink 19

Този е много важен: „Преди да вдигна„ Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз “, мислех за Майкъл Джексън за наркозависим от пластичната хирургия, суперзвезда, педофил, който направи няколко ужасно приказни песни. Докато стигна до края, скърбях със сълзи на очи. Трагичното разпятие на една чудесна светеща душа. " -Хелен Зуман, автор на "чифтосване в плен."

Ето какво има да каже самият Блум за пътуването на героя, което го доведе до поле, за което той нищо не знае, рок енд рол. Търсенето зад това, което той нарича своето „Пътешествие на бийга в Галапагоските острови на популярната култура“.

Радикалното повторно възприемане на Хелън Зуман за Майкъл Джексън t е цел, която трябваше да постигна, тъй като работих с Майкъл през 1983 и 1984 г. Исках да го откупя. Исках хората точно да видят кой е той, защото той беше най-близо до светец или ангел, когото някога съм срещал на тази земя. Аз съм атеист, но той беше човек отвъд границите на всичко, което обикновено възприемаме като човечество.

Ето още една причина Майкъл беше изключително важна за мен. Някога имаше проблем. През 1954 г. всички физиолози казват, че никога не можеш да изминеш километър по-бързо от четири минути. Човек на име Роджър Банистър беше студент по медицина в Оксфорд и той и друг студент по медицина се събраха и анализираха всеки един ход, който Bannister направи и те измислиха как да се отърват от енергиите, които губят енергия и да се възползват от всяка част от енергията, която има. Банистър тренира себе си и след това избяга километър за по-малко от четири минути. Ако погледнете нагоре четириминутната миля днес, тя ще ви каже, че по думите на Уикипедия, четириминутната миля вече е „стандартът на всички мъжки професионални бегачи на средно разстояние“. И така, това, което беше невъзможно през 1954 г., днес стана обичайно. Майкъл Джексън имаше качество на страхопочитание, чудо, изненада и ангажираност към децата и феновете му, които надхвърлят всичко, което някога ще видите през живота си. Ако хората дойдат да го разберат, той ще постави нов стандарт, точно както Роджър Банистър постави нов стандарт и той ще разшири възприемащата обвивка на човечеството. Почувствах задължението да разбера какво е Майкъл и е в тази книга.

Майкъл беше невероятно човешко същество. Той беше подарък за всички нас. Той прекара 50 години на тази земя. Първите 25 години той става Майкъл Джексън. През вторите 25 години от живота си той висеше на кръст от болка И това никога не би трябвало да му се е случило. Той заслужаваше далеч, далеч по-добре от това.

Айлийн Шапиро: Имам приятел на име Рики Ребел, който го посещаваше често и каза същото, което казваш. Винаги съм изпитвал някаква тъга за него.

Едно от изреченията в Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и мен, казва, че ако обичате Майкъл Джексън, тогава сте го разбрали по-добре от който и да е от критиците, който е писал за него, и дори може би сте го разбрали по-добре от хората, които е поставил да работи него. Винаги имах това чувство, че съм единственият, който разбира Майкъл Джексън. Моят рационален мозък каза „не, това не може да е истина“. Майкъл се заобиколи с някои много талантливи хора, Дейвид Гефен, Куинси Джоунс и много други. Миналата седмица говорих с книжния клуб Майкъл Джексън и беше на Zoom и той отиде по целия свят. Феновете на Майкъл Джексън следят натрапчиво Майкъл. Те познават всеки един персонаж в живота му. Казаха ми: „Ти си първият, който наистина разбере Майкъл Джексън, и ние ти благодарим, че го изкупих“. Това е моята шибана работа на тази планета. Да внимавам за човешкия вид и всички видове, доколкото мога, като индивид. И така, Майкъл беше мисия, която трябваше да изпълня.

Как прекарвате времето си за заключване?

В момента мога да напредна работата си. Събирам Дейвид Патерсън, бившият губернатор на щата Ню Йорк, с Нют Гингрич. Можете ли да повярвате в това? Аз ръководя малък екип, който се организира за напредък на лунна програма за 2 милиарда долара, иначе известна като „Награда за луната за 2 милиарда долара“. На 31 август, докато провеждах меден месец с любовта на моя живот, нашата лунна програма за два милиарда долара попадна в Time Magazine, Newsweek, CBS, NBC, FOX, Politico и други. В екипа участват генерал с 3 звезди и Нют Гингрич и бивш конгресмен на име Робърт Уокър. Всички тези хора са републиканци. Чудех се как можем да получим посланието си до демократите. Аз съм демократ и либерал. Опитах се да събудя интерес към космоса в Рон Ким, който е в щата Ню Йорк, и не успях да стигна толкова, колкото бих искал. Тогава Дейвид Патерсън ми се обади един ден, когато бях навън на една от двете ми ежедневни разходки в проспект парк, разходки, които използвам като работно време, слушам книги за запалване и провеждам телефонни срещи. Дейвид и аз бяхме в радио токшоу заедно. Беше ме преклонил със знанията и прозренията си. Когато ме зареди на мобилния си телефон, той обясни, че от години ме е чувал на Coast to Coast, най-високо оцененото синдикирано ток радио предаване в Северна Америка. Значи Дейвид Патерсън е мой фен. Вярвате ли в това, бившият управител ви се обажда, докато се разхождате из зеленината на проспект парк? И той е фен? Разказах на Дейвид за една от космическите програми, над които съм работил повече от петнадесет години с партньори като Бъз Олдрин и единадесетия президент на Индия, и как би могло да бъде Зелената нова сделка. Той събира слънчева енергия в космоса и я предава на земята, използвайки вида на безобидните микровълни, които използва мобилният ви телефон. Със слънчевата енергия, добита в космоса, бихме могли напълно да прекратим създадените от човека въглеродни емисии. Бихме могли напълно да прекратим използването на изкопаеми горива за производство на енергия. И според покойния ми партньор в това, д-р APJ Kalam, единадесетият президент на Индия, бихме могли да извадим 2 милиарда души от бедността. Дейвид се развълнува от космическата слънчева енергия. Казах му, че единственият начин, по който бих могъл да се сетя да го последвам с него, беше да го вкарам в нашия екип за Лунна награда, който включва Нют Гингрич. Дейвид се развълнува от това, защото като мен той иска да направи ефективни неща. За да го направи, той вижда необходимостта да работи през пътеката. Така че това е нещото, което правя в свободното си време, заедно с промотирането на Айнщайн,

Това е моят живот. „Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз“ е историята на моите рокендрол приключения и включва разказите за това как научих по най-могъщия начин, който може да се представи само кой всъщност е Майкъл Джексън.

За да покажа как се захванах с бизнеса за лов на богове вътре в суперзвезди, нека се върнем към началото. Когато бях на 10 години никой в ​​родния си град - Бъфало, Ню Йорк - не искаше да има нещо общо с мен. Другите деца ме преследваха около блока, свалиха шапката ми от главата ми и я хвърляха напред-назад, за да ме унижат, а след това в един случай всъщност ме пребиха. Родителите ми не бяха въодушевени от мен. Когато се родих, баща ми току-що бе призван и беше в военноморската база на острова на съкровищата в Сан Франциско. Майка ми трябваше да се грижи за семейния магазин. Така че през първите три години от живота си нямах родители и приятели. Когато баща ми се върна от флота и майка ми вече не трябваше да се грижи за магазина, родителите ми продължиха да са обсебени от нещата, които ги интересуваха и като че ли не изваждаха и най-малко радост от мен. Тогава, когато бях на десет, в скута ми се появи книга, която никога досега не бях виждал. В него се казва, че първите две правила на науката са следните: „Истината на всяка цена, включително цената на живота ти“, и даде примера на Галилео. В него се казваше, че Галилео би бил готов да отиде в държавата, за да защити истината си. Отне ми 30 години, за да разбера, че това не е вярно. Галилей компрометира със стария си приятел папата и каза, че всичко, което някога е писал, е грешно в замяна на домашен арест. Но аз не знаех това и грешната история за Галилео, героичната история, ще ми бъде изключително важна. Правило номер две на науката, според книгата, е „погледнете нещата точно под носа си, сякаш никога не сте ги виждали преди, и след това продължете оттам.“ Погледнете нещата, които всички около вас приемат за даденост и които са невидими за вас и ги внесете в видимост. Книгата даде примера на Антон ван Левенгук, който беше смятан за баща на микробиологията. Той изобретил микроскопа и открил параметрии и всички видове мънички микроскопични животни. Ван Левенгук стана вторият ми герой. Тези двама души не можеха да направят това, което направиха майка ми и баща ми, както и всички деца в училище… ..не можеха да ме отхвърлят. Не можеха да ми обърнат гръб, защото бяха мъртви. Книгата даде примера на Антон ван Левенгук, който беше смятан за баща на микробиологията. Той изобретил микроскопа и открил параметрии и всички видове мънички микроскопични животни. Ван Левенгук стана вторият ми герой. Тези двама души не можеха да направят това, което направиха майка ми и баща ми, както и всички деца в училище… ..не можеха да ме отхвърлят. Не можеха да ми обърнат гръб, защото бяха мъртви. Книгата даде примера на Антон ван Левенгук, който беше смятан за баща на микробиологията. Той изобретил микроскопа и открил параметрии и всички видове мънички микроскопични животни. Ван Левенгук стана вторият ми герой. Тези двама души не можеха да направят това, което направиха майка ми и баща ми, както и всички деца в училище… ..не можеха да ме отхвърлят. Не можеха да ми обърнат гръб, защото бяха мъртви.

Значи избрахте мъртви герои?

Те станаха мои приятели. Тези две правила на науката станаха моите абсолютни закони на живота. Моята религия. Когато се срещнах с Майкъл Джексън, не очаквах нищо особено. Но Майкъл Джексън беше онези два закона. Беше абсолютно удивително. Така че в Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и мен, тези два закона на науката играят решаваща роля. Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз: търсене на душа в силните ями на рок и рол. роля е историята на търсене, сафари, научна експедиция. Какво ловя? Най-привидно ненаучното нещо от всички: екстатичното преживяване. Когато бях на 12 години, разбрах, че съм атеист. Не признах, че съм атеист чак след моята бар мицва, защото не исках да губя от подаръците. Тогава прекарах два месеца в писане на благодарствени картички на всички хора, които ми бяха подарили подаръци. Моят бар mitzvah беше през юни и по времето, когато приключих с писането на всички тези благодарствени карти, беше август. И познайте какво идва след август? Еврейските големи празници. Родителите ми не бяха наблюдателни, ходеха в храма само когато имаше сватба или бар мицва. Но големите празници бяха от дълбоко значение за тях. И така, вкараха ме в костюм, не знам как, защото мразя костюми. Вкараха ме в техния син автомобил Fraser с четири врати. Откараха ме чак до Авеню Ричмънд в Бъфало Ню Йорк, където беше синагогата. Тогава отказах да напусна колата. И така, там висях на рамката на вратата на колата с двете си ръце и родителите ми буквално се дърпаха по глезените, опитвайки се да ме измъкнат от колата. И имах откровение. Аз съм атеист, така че няма богове под земята и няма богове на небето, Но в тази сцена има богове. Къде са боговете? Те са в интензивната страст на моите родители, докато се опитват да ме измъкнат от колата си. И ако те са в родителите ми, значи те са в мен.

Вижте, триумфът на Галилео дойде от вземането на ново устройство с лещи, които бяха измислени, за да видите вражеската армия да се издига над хоризонта. Големият му ход беше да вземе това устройство, предназначено за хоризонтално гледане, и да го насочи в коренно различна посока - към небето. Така превръща военното шпионско стъкло в телескоп. А пробивът на Антон ван Левенхук дойде от вземането на леща, която той използваше за проверка на тъкането на плата, който продава като драпер, и завъртане на тази леща в нова посока надолу. Надолу, за да погледнете езерната вода и човешката сперма. Моето задължение, което осъзнах в тази борба с родителите ми, беше да обърна обектива навътре и да се опитам да намеря боговете вътре. Екстатичните преживявания, които са възможни за човечеството. Това ми стана работа. Много години по-късно щях да открия земите, където са били боговете.

Където?

В „Рок енд рол“. В популярната музика. При хора като Джон Меленкамп. Като принц. Като Боб Марли. Като Джоан Джет. Като Били Айдол. Беше невероятно пътешествие за човек с аналитичен ум, който възнамеряваше да използва науката за намиране на боговете вътре в нас, екстатичното преживяване, душата, която ни движи по начини, които не можем да определим. Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз са все истории. Начинът, по който пиша, ако искам да ви дам концепция, трябва да намеря история, която въплъщава това понятие. Докато приключите да четете историята, ще разберете идеята, за която говоря.

Споменахте Крис Блакуел, основателят на Island Records и как той отиде в Англия и продава реге от гърба на своя Купър. От него се запознахте с Боб Марли?

Крис дойде при мен с проблем относно най-големия си клиент Боб Марли. Той каза: „Боб има проблем. Той може да разпродаде футболни стадиони за 120 000 места навсякъде по света, по всяко време, но в Ню Йорк, в Съединените щати като цяло може да продаде най-много 30 000 билета. Можете ли да ни помогнете да разширим аудиторията му? “ Казах му, че проблемът на Боб е двустранен. На първо място, първоначалните му публицисти бяха свършили невероятна работа по продажбата на Боб на белите деца от колежа. Това беше неговата публика в Северна Америка. Но естествената му публика беше афро-американската общност. И тук имаше проблем. Боб беше островен чернокожи и островни чернокожи и афро-американците не се разбираха.

Точно така.

Чувствах, че мога да го прехвърля на афро-американците, като по този начин разширявам аудиторията му.

Работил сте с Пърси Сътън и водещите черни списания?

Предложих вместо Мадисън Скуеър Гардън Боб Марли да играе театър Бийкън, който побира 3000 души. Имахме достатъчно голяма аудитория, за да я разпродадем за десет нощи. Това е историческо събитие. Имахме лукса да продадем театъра на Beacon навън за 10 нощи и да оставим хората гладни. Винаги трябва да оставяте хората гладни, ако ще създадете публика. Винаги се нуждаете от думата на устата, имате нужда хората да разпространяват думата сред приятелите си за това как не са успели да получат билет за Боб Марли.

Подобно на Pearl Jam днес.

Така че направихме това. Всички мислеха, че това е блестящо. Е, бяхме шест месеца в нашата кампания с Боб Марли с черната общност в Съединените щати. Бях станал водещ черен публицист в Северна Америка, което е малко странно, когато разбираш, че съм бяло момче от Бъфало, Ню Йорк и Евреин. Бях наел черен публицист, който да работи с мен. По това време имах мъничък малък офис с две бюра. Поставих я на едното бюро, а аз бях на другото и гледах всичко, което прави. Приех всяка техника, която имаше. Всичко се свали с един трик. Във всеки голям град в Северна Америка имаше черни седмични вестници и никой не им обръщаше внимание в музикалната индустрия. И така, обърнах много внимание. Бяхме шест месеца с това и се справихме добре, след което получих обаждане. „Боб има терминален рак. В момента той е в Швейцария в хижа близо до алтернативен лекар. Никой не би трябвало да знае, че е в Швейцария. И трябва да знаеш нещо друго. Всяка сутрин Боб напуска спалнята си на втория етаж на хижата и слиза на закуска. Около чинията си за закуска има вестници от цял ​​свят. Ако никой от тези вестници не каже, че Боб Марли умира от рак. той яде закуската, излиза на слънце и той и неговата банда играят футбол. Но ако Боб вижда едно заглавие, в което се казва, че Боб Марли умира от рак, Боб не яде закуската си, връща се обратно на стола си, напуска масата, отива до спалнята си и седи там със светлината през целия ден. " Всяка сутрин Боб напуска спалнята си на втория етаж на хижата и слиза на закуска. Около чинията си за закуска има вестници от цял ​​свят. Ако никой от тези вестници не каже, че Боб Марли умира от рак. той яде закуската, излиза на слънце и той и неговата банда играят футбол. Но ако Боб вижда едно заглавие, в което се казва, че Боб Марли умира от рак, Боб не яде закуската си, връща се обратно на стола си, напуска масата, отива до спалнята си и седи там със светлината през целия ден. " Всяка сутрин Боб напуска спалнята си на втория етаж на хижата и слиза на закуска. Около чинията си за закуска има вестници от цял ​​свят. Ако никой от тези вестници не каже, че Боб Марли умира от рак. той яде закуската, излиза на слънце и той и неговата банда играят футбол. Но ако Боб вижда едно заглавие, в което се казва, че Боб Марли умира от рак, Боб не яде закуската си, връща се обратно на стола си, напуска масата, отива до спалнята си и седи там със светлината през целия ден. "

Това направи много очевидно каква е работата ми. Моята работа беше тази: всички сме родени с терминална болест. Нарича се живот. Без значение какъв живот ви е даден, той завършва със смърт. Така че имаме избор да възприемаме всеки ден от живота си като жив или умиращ. Моята работа беше да се уверя, че Боб възприема всеки ден като жив. Така че това направихме за следващата година. Тогава получих обаждане, казващо: „Боб вече не ти е нужен.“ Плача дори когато ви кажа това: това означаваше, че Боб се е отказал. Това означаваше, че губя Боб. Никога не бях близък с Боб. Изобщо не бяхме близки, не се разбирахме. Да, прекарах време с него, опитвайки се да го разбера, но буквално не говорехме на същия език. Той говори ямайски патуа, който не можах да разбера. Но виж колко съм близо до него. Защо? Не говорихме. Просто се опитах да се уверя, че той може да изживее всеки час живот и че тези часове са толкова богати, колкото е възможно. И все пак бяхме толкова близки, че не мога да говоря за това без да плача. Години по-късно Virgin Records подписва Зиги Марли. Дева никога не е работила с мен, по причини, които никога не съм разбрал. Но Рита Марли каза на Virgin, че ще трябва да наемат публицист на семейство Марли. И кой беше този публицист? Мен. Въпреки че Рита и аз никога не се бяхме срещали. Да, Рита ме смяташе за семейния публицист. Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз: Търсене на душа в силните ями на рок и рол е изпълнено с подобни истории. Дева никога не е работила с мен, по причини, които никога не съм разбрал. Но Рита Марли каза на Virgin, че ще трябва да наемат публицист на семейство Марли. И кой беше този публицист? Мен. Въпреки че Рита и аз никога не се бяхме срещали. Да, Рита ме смяташе за семейния публицист. Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз: Търсене на душа в силните ями на рок и рол е изпълнено с подобни истории. Дева никога не е работила с мен, по причини, които никога не съм разбрал. Но Рита Марли каза на Virgin, че ще трябва да наемат публицист на семейство Марли. И кой беше този публицист? Мен. Въпреки че Рита и аз никога не се бяхме срещали. Да, Рита ме смяташе за семейния публицист. Айнщайн, Майкъл Джексън и аз: Търсене на душа в силните ями на рок и рол е изпълнено с подобни истории.

Моята работа беше да търся боговете вътре в моите клиенти. Какво означава това? Когато сте рок звезда и сядате в два часа следобед пред празен компютърен екран и трябва да пишете лирика ... .. знаете, че не можете да напишете лирика. Нямате представа как сте писали някога текстове в живота си. И в един добър ден, до 4 часа следобед пред вас има лирика. Веднъж или два пъти в живота ви тази лирика е толкова съвършена, че се чувства така, сякаш е написана през вас. Моята работа беше да намеря душата в теб, бога вътре в теб. Себетата под дъските на пода, на които аз написах тези текстове. Когато излезете на сцената и наистина е добра нощ и виждате лицата на публиката да се стопят, виждате учениците им да се разширяват, виждате как очите им се разширяват, фокусирайки се върху вас с цялото им внимание, усещате енергията на публиката да се слива в едно голямо амебично петно. Това петно ​​от енергия достига до псевдопад към вас, тунел и насочва енергията си във вас, сякаш сте празна тръба. Тази енергия преминава през вас и достига някъде около главата ви, където е напълно трансмогрифицирана и след това се втурва през вас обратно към публиката, където тя прави разтопяване на лицата, а очите се разширяват още по-далеч. Това е непрекъснат цикъл за обратна връзка. И имате опит извън тялото. Нормалната ви идентичност е някъде на тавана и наблюдава всичко това. Гледайки те как танцуваш като марионетка от сила, която е много, много по-голяма, отколкото си. А когато излезете от сцената, ви отнема час, за да се върнете към нормалното си аз. Моята работа е да намеря боговете във вас, които ви танцуваха на тази сцена. Вижте, музиката не е за размяна на парчета пластмаса, не за размяна на изтегляния, не за размяна на пари. Това е размяна на човешка душа. Моята работа е да намеря боговете вътре във вас, за да можете да предложите на публиката си тази размяна на душа.

https://louderthanwar.com/

* Paris Jackson: Life After Neverland

In her first-ever in-depth interview, Michael Jackson’s daughter discusses her father’s pain and finding peace after addiction and heartache

By

BRIAN HIATT 

Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson is staring at a famous corpse. “That’s Marilyn Monroe,” she whispers, facing a wall covered with gruesome autopsy photos. “And that’s JFK. You can’t even find these online.” On a Thursday afternoon in late November, Paris is making her way through the Museum of Death, a cramped maze of formaldehyde-scented horrors on Hollywood Boulevard. It’s not uncommon for visitors, confronted with decapitation photos, snuff films and serial-killer memorabilia, to faint, vomit or both. But Paris, not far removed from the emo and goth phases of her earlier teens, seems to find it all somehow soothing. This is her ninth visit. “It’s awesome,” she had said on the way over. “They have a real electric chair and a real head!”

Paris Jackson turned 18 last April, and moment by moment, can come across as much older or much younger, having lived a life that’s veered between sheltered and agonizingly exposed. She is a pure child of the 21st century, with her mashed-up hippie-punk fashion sense (today she’s wearing a tie-dye button-down, jeggings and Converse high-tops) and boundary-free musical tastes (she’s decorated her sneakers with lyrics by Mötley Crüe and Arctic Monkeys; is obsessed with Alice Cooper – she calls him “bae” – and the singer-songwriter Butch Walker; loves Nirvana and Justin Bieber too). But she is, even more so, her father’s child. “Basically, as a person, she is who my dad is,” says her older brother, Prince Michael Jackson. “The only thing that’s different would be her age and her gender.” Paris is similar to Michael, he adds, “in all of her strengths, and almost all of her weaknesses as well. She’s very passionate. She is very emotional to the point where she can let emotion cloud her judgment.”

Paris has, with impressive speed, acquired more than 50 tattoos, sneaking in the first few while underage. Nine of them are devoted to Michael Jackson, who died when she was 11 years old, sending her, Prince and their youngest brother, Blanket, spiraling out of what had been – as they perceived it – a cloistered, near-idyllic little world. “They always say, ‘Time heals,'” she says. “But it really doesn’t. You just get used to it. I live life with the mentality of ‘OK, I lost the only thing that has ever been important to me.’ So going forward, anything bad that happens can’t be nearly as bad as what happened before. So I can handle it.” Michael still visits her in her dreams, she says: “I feel him with me all the time.”

Michael, who saw himself as Peter Pan, liked to call his only daughter Tinker Bell. She has FAITH, TRUST AND PIXIE DUST inked near her clavicle. She has an image from the cover of Dangerous on her forearm, the Bad logo on her hand, and the words QUEEN OF MY HEART – in her dad’s handwriting, from a letter he wrote her – on her inner left wrist. “He’s brought me nothing but joy,” she says. “So why not have constant reminders of joy?”

She also has tattoos honoring John Lennon, David Bowie and her dad’s sometime rival Prince – plus Van Halen and, on her inner lip, the word MÖTLEY (her boyfriend has CRÜE in the same spot). On her right wrist is a rope-and-jade bracelet that Michael bought in Africa. He was wearing it when he died, and Paris’ nanny retrieved it for her. “It still smells like him,” Paris says.

She fixes her huge blue-green eyes on each of the museum’s attractions without flinching, until she comes to a section of taxidermied pets. “I don’t really like this room,” she says, wrinkling her nose. “I draw the line with animals. I can’t do it. This breaks my heart.” She recently rescued a hyperactive pit-bull-mix puppy, Koa, who has an uneasy coexistence with Kenya, a snuggly Labrador her dad brought home a decade ago.

Paris describes herself as “desensitized” to even the most graphic reminders of human mortality. In June 2013, drowning in depression and a drug addiction, she tried to kill herself at age 15, slashing her wrist and downing 20 Motrin pills. “It was just self-hatred,” she says, “low self-esteem, thinking that I couldn’t do anything right, not thinking I was worthy of living anymore.” She had been self-harming, cutting herself, managing to conceal it from her family. Some of her tattoos now cover the scars, as well as what she says are track marks from drug use. Before that, she had already attempted suicide “multiple times,” she says, with an incongruous laugh. “It was just once that it became public.” The hospital had a “three-strike rule,” she recalls, and, after that last attempt, insisted she attend a residential therapy program.

Home-schooled before her father’s death, Paris had agreed to attend a private school starting in seventh grade. She didn’t fit in – at all – and started hanging out with the only kids who accepted her, “a lot of older people doing a lot of crazy things,” she says. “I was doing a lot of things that 13-, 14-, 15-year-olds shouldn’t do. I tried to grow up too fast, and I wasn’t really that nice of a person.” She also faced cyberbullying, and still struggles with cruel online comments. “The whole freedom-of-speech thing is great,” she says. “But I don’t think that our Founding Fathers predicted social media when they created all of these amendments and stuff.”

There was another trauma that she’s never mentioned in public. When she was 14, a much older “complete stranger” sexually assaulted her, she says. “I don’t wanna give too many details. But it was not a good experience at all, and it was really hard for me, and, at the time, I didn’t tell anybody.”

After her last suicide attempt, she spent sophomore year and half of junior year at a therapeutic school in Utah. “It was great for me,” she says. “I’m a completely different person.” Before, she says with a small smile, “I was crazy. I was actually crazy. I was going through a lot of, like, teen angst. And I was also dealing with my depression and my anxiety without any help.” Her father, she says, also struggled with depression, and she was prescribed the same antidepressants he once took, though she’s no longer on any psych meds.

Now sober and happier than she’s ever been, with menthol cigarettes her main remaining vice, Paris moved out of her grandma Katherine’s house shortly after her 18th birthday, heading to the old Jackson family estate. She spends nearly every minute of each day with her boyfriend, Michael Snoddy, a 26-year-old drummer – he plays with the percussion ensemble Street Drum Corps – and Virginia native whose dyed mohawk, tattoos and perpetually sagging pants don’t obscure boy-band looks and a puppy-dog sweetness. “I never met anyone before who made me feel the way music makes me feel,” says Paris. When they met, he had an ill-considered, now-covered Confederate flag tattoo that raised understandable doubts among the Jacksons. “But the more I actually got to know him,” says Prince, “he’s a really cool guy.”

Paris took a quick stab at community college after graduating high school – a year early – in 2015, but wasn’t feeling it. She is an heir to a mammoth fortune – the Michael Jackson Family Trust is likely worth more than $1 billion, with disbursements to the kids in stages. But she wants to earn her own money, and now that she’s a legal adult, to embrace her other inheritance: celebrity.

And in the end, as the charismatic, beautiful daughter of one of the most famous men who ever lived, what choice did she have? She is, for now, a model, an actress, a work in progress. She can, when she feels like it, exhibit a regal poise that’s almost intimidating, while remaining chill enough to become pals with her giant-goateed tattoo artist. She has impeccable manners – you might guess that she was raised well. She so charmed producer-director Lee Daniels in a recent meeting that he’s begun talking to her manager about a role for her on his Fox show, Star. She plays a few instruments, writes and sings songs (she performs a couple for me on acoustic guitar, and they show promise, though they’re more Laura Marling than MJ), but isn’t sure if she’ll ever pursue a recording contract.

Modeling, in particular, comes naturally, and she finds it therapeutic. “I’ve had self-esteem issues for a really, really long time,” says Paris, who understands her dad’s plastic-surgery choices after watching online trolls dissect her appearance since she was 12. “Plenty of people think I’m ugly, and plenty of people don’t. But there’s a moment when I’m modeling where I forget about my self-esteem issues and focus on what the photographer’s telling me – and I feel pretty. And in that sense, it’s selfish.”

But mostly, she shares her father’s heal-the-world impulses (“I’m really scared for the Great Barrier Reef,” she says. “It’s, like, dying. This whole planet is. Poor Earth, man”), and sees fame as a means to draw attention to favored causes. “I was born with this platform,” she says. “Am I gonna waste it and hide away? Or am I going to make it bigger and use it for more important things?”

Her dad wouldn’t have minded. “If you wanna be bigger than me, you can,” he’d tell her. “If you don’t want to be at all, you can. But I just want you to be happy.”

At the moment, Paris lives in the private studio where her dad demoed “Beat It.” The Tudor-style main house in the now-empty Jackson family compound in the L.A. neighborhood of Encino – purchased by Joe Jackson in 1971 with some of the Jackson 5’s first Motown royalties, and rebuilt by Michael in the Eighties – is under renovation. But the studio, built by Michael in a brick building across the courtyard, happens to be roughly the size of a decent Manhattan apartment, with its own kitchen and bathroom. Paris has turned it into a vibe-y, cozy dorm room.

Traces of her father are everywhere, most unmistakably in the artwork he commissioned. Outside the studio is a framed picture, done in a Disney-like style, of a cartoon castle on a hilltop with a caricatured Michael in the foreground, a small blond boy embracing him. It’s captioned “Of Children, Castles & Kings.” Inside is a mural taking up an entire wall, with another cartoon Michael in the corner, holding a green book titled The Secret of Life and looking down from a window at blooming flowers – at the center of each bloom is a cartoon face of a red-cheeked little girl.

Paris’ chosen decor is somewhat different. There is a picture of Kurt Cobain in the bathroom, a Smashing Pumpkins poster on the wall, a laptop with Against Me! and NeverEnding Story stickers, psychedelic paisley wall hangings, lots of fake candles. Vinyl records (Alice Cooper, the Rolling Stones) serve as wall decorations. In the kitchen, sitting casually on a counter, is a framed platinum record, inscribed to Michael by Quincy Jones (“I found it in the attic,” Paris shrugs).

Above an adjacent garage is a mini-museum Michael created as a surprise gift for his family, with the walls and even ceilings covered with photos from their history. Michael used to rehearse dance moves in that room; now Paris’ boyfriend has his drum kit set up there.

We head out to a nearby sushi restaurant, and Paris starts to describe life in Neverland. She spent her first seven years in her dad’s 2,700-acre fantasy world, with its own amusement park, zoo and movie theater. (“Everything I never got to do as a kid,” Michael called it.) During that time, she didn’t know that her father’s name was Michael, let alone have any grasp of his fame. “I just thought his name was Dad, Daddy,” she says. “We didn’t really know who he was. But he was our world. And we were his world.” (Paris declared last year’s Captain Fantastic, where Viggo Mortensen plays an eccentric dad who tries to create a utopian hideaway for his kids, her “favorite movie ever.”)

“We couldn’t just go on the rides whenever we wanted to,” she recalls, walking on a dark roadside near the Encino compound. She likes to stride along the lane divider, too close to the cars – it drives her boyfriend crazy, and I don’t much like it either. “We actually had a pretty normal life. Like, we had school every single day, and we had to be good. And if we were good, every other weekend or so, we could choose whether we were gonna go to the movie theater or see the animals or whatever. But if you were on bad behavior, then you wouldn’t get to go do all those things.”

In his 2011 memoir, Michael’s brother Jermaine called him “an example of what fatherhood should be. He instilled in them the love Mother gave us, and he provided the kind of emotional fathering that our father, through no fault of his own, could not. Michael was father and mother rolled into one.”

Michael gave the kids the option of going to regular school. They declined. “When you’re at home,” says Paris, “your dad, who you love more than anything, will occasionally come in, in the middle of class, and it’s like, ‘Cool, no more class for the day. We’re gonna go hang out with Dad.’ We were like, ‘We don’t need friends. We’ve got you and Disney Channel!'” She was, she acknowledges, “a really weird kid.”

Her dad taught her how to cook, soul food, mostly. “He was a kick-ass cook,” she says. “His fried chicken is the best in the world. He taught me how to make sweet potato pie.” Paris is baking four pies, plus gumbo, for grandma Katherine’s Thanksgiving – which actually takes place the day before the holiday, in deference to Katherine’s Jehovah’s Witness beliefs.

Michael schooled Paris on every conceivable genre of music. “My dad worked with Van Halen, so I got into Van Halen,” she says. “He worked with Slash, so I got into Guns N’ Roses. He introduced me to Tchaikovsky and Debussy, Earth, Wind and Fire, the Temptations, Tupac, Run-DMC.”

She says Michael emphasized tolerance. “My dad raised me in a very open-minded house,” she says. “I was eight years old, in love with this female on the cover of a magazine. Instead of yelling at me, like most homophobic parents, he was making fun of me, like, ‘Oh, you got yourself a girlfriend.’

“His number-one focus for us,” says Paris, “besides loving us, was education. And he wasn’t like, ‘Oh, yeah, mighty Columbus came to this land!’ He was like, ‘No. He fucking slaughtered the natives.'” Would he really phrase it that way? “He did have kind of a potty mouth. He cussed like a sailor.” But he was also “very shy.”

Paris and Prince are quite aware of public doubts about their parentage (the youngest brother, Blanket, with his darker skin, is the subject of less speculation). Paris’ mom is Debbie Rowe, a nurse Michael met while she was working for his dermatologist, the late Arnold Klein. They had what sounds like an unconventional three-year marriage, during which, Rowe once testified, they never shared a home. Michael said that Rowe wanted to have his children “as a present” to him. (Rowe said that Paris got her name from the location of her conception.) Klein, her employer, was one of several men – including the actor Mark Lester, who played the title role in the 1968 movie Oliver! – who suggested that they could be Paris’ actual biological father.

Over popcorn shrimp and a Clean Mean Salmon Roll, Paris agrees to address this issue for what she says will be the only time. She could opt for an easy, logical answer, could point out that it doesn’t matter, that either way, Michael Jackson was her father. That’s what her brother – who describes himself as “more objective” than Paris – seems to suggest. “Every time someone asks me that,” Prince says, “I ask, ‘What’s the point? What difference does it make?’ Specifically to someone who’s not involved in my life. How does that affect your life? It doesn’t change mine.”

But Paris is certain that Michael Jackson was her biological dad. She believes it with a fervency that is both touching and, in the moment, utterly convincing. “He is my father,” she says, making fierce eye contact. “He will always be my father. He never wasn’t, and he never will not be. People that knew him really well say they see him in me, that it’s almost scary.

“I consider myself black,” she says, adding later that her dad “would look me in the eyes and he’d point his finger at me and he’d be like, ‘You’re black. Be proud of your roots.’ And I’d be like, ‘OK, he’s my dad, why would he lie to me?’ So I just believe what he told me. ‘Cause, to my knowledge, he’s never lied to me.

“Most people that don’t know me call me white,” Paris concedes. “I’ve got light skin and, especially since I’ve had my hair blond, I look like I was born in Finland or something.” She points out that it’s far from unheard of for mixed-race kids to look like her – accurately noting that her complexion and eye color are similar to the TV actor Wentworth Miller’s, who has a black dad and a white mom.

At first, she had no relationship with Rowe. “When I was really, really young, my mom didn’t exist,” Paris recalls. Eventually, she realized “a man can’t birth a child” – and when she was 10 or so, she asked Prince, “We gotta have a mom, right?” So she asked her dad. “And he’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And I was like, ‘What’s her name?’ And he’s just like, ‘Debbie.’ And I was like, ‘OK, well, I know the name.'” After her father’s death, she started researching her mom online, and they got together when Paris was 13.

In the wake of her treatment in Utah, Paris decided to reach out again to Rowe. “She needed a mother figure,” says Prince, who declines to comment on his own relationship, or lack thereof, with Rowe. (Paris’ manager declined to make Rowe available for an interview, and Rowe did not respond to our request for comment.) “I’ve had a lot of mother figures,” Paris counters, citing her grandmother and nannies, among others, “but by the time my mom came into my life, it wasn’t a ‘mommy’ thing. It’s more of an adult relationship.” Paris sees herself in Rowe, who just completed a course of chemo in a fight against breast cancer: “We’re both very stubborn.”

Paris isn’t sure how Michael felt about Rowe, but says Rowe was “in love” with her dad. She’s also sure that Michael loved Lisa Marie Presley, whom he divorced two years before Paris’ birth: “In the music video ‘You Are Not Alone,’ I can see how he looked at her, and he was totally whipped,” she says with a fond laugh.

Paris Jackson was around nine years old when she realized that much of the world didn’t see her father the way she did. “My dad would cry to me at night,” she says, sitting at the counter of a New York coffee shop in mid-December, cradling a tiny spoon in her hand. She starts to cry too. “Picture your parent crying to you about the world hating him for something he didn’t do. And for me, he was the only thing that mattered. To see my entire world in pain, I started to hate the world because of what they were doing to him. I’m like, ‘How can people be so mean?'” She pauses. “Sorry, I’m getting emotional.”

Paris and Prince have no doubts that their father was innocent of the multiple child-molestation allegations against him, that the man they knew was the real Michael. Again, they are persuasive – if they could go door-to-door talking about it, they could sway the world. “Nobody but my brothers and I experienced him reading A Light in the Attic to us at night before we went to bed,” says Paris. “Nobody experienced him being a father to them. And if they did, the entire perception of him would be completely and forever changed.” I gently suggest that what Michael said to her on those nights was a lot to put on a nine-year-old. “He did not bullshit us,” she replies. “You try to give kids the best childhood possible. But you also have to prepare them for the shitty world.”

Michael’s 2005 molestation trial ended in an acquittal, but it shattered his reputation and altered the course of his family’s lives. He decided to leave Neverland for good. They spent the next four years traveling the world, spending long stretches of time in the Irish countryside, in Bahrain, in Las Vegas. Paris didn’t mind – it was exciting, and home was where her dad was.

By 2009, Michael was preparing for an ambitious slate of comeback performances at London’s O2 Arena. “He kind of hyped it up to us,” recalls Paris. “He was like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna live in London for a year.’ We were super-excited – we already had a house out there we were gonna live in.” But Paris remembers his “exhaustion” as rehearsals began. “I’d tell him, ‘Let’s take a nap,'” she says. “Because he looked tired. We’d be in school, meaning downstairs in the living room, and we’d see dust falling from the ceiling and hear stomping sounds because he was rehearsing upstairs.”

Paris has a lingering distaste for AEG Live, the promoters behind the planned This Is It tour – her family lost a wrongful-death suit against them, with the jury accepting AEG’s argument that Michael was responsible for his own death. “AEG Live does not treat their performers right,” she alleges. “They drain them dry and work them to death.” (A rep for AEG declined comment.) She describes seeing Justin Bieber on a recent tour and being “scared” for him. “He was tired, going through the motions. I looked at my ticket, saw AEG Live, and I thought back to how my dad was exhausted all the time but couldn’t sleep.”

Paris blames Dr. Conrad Murray – who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in her father’s death – for the dependency on the anesthetic drug propofol that led to it. She calls him “the ‘doctor,'” with satirical air quotes. But she has darker suspicions about her father’s death. “He would drop hints about people being out to get him,” she says. “And at some point he was like, ‘They’re gonna kill me one day.'” (Lisa Marie Presley told Oprah Winfrey of a similar conversation with Michael, who expressed fears that unnamed parties were targeting him to get at his half of the Sony/ATV music-publishing catalog, worth hundreds of millions.)

Paris is convinced that her dad was, somehow, murdered. “Absolutely,” she says. “Because it’s obvious. All arrows point to that. It sounds like a total conspiracy theory and it sounds like bullshit, but all real fans and everybody in the family knows it. It was a setup. It was bullshit.”

But who would have wanted Michael Jackson dead? Paris pauses for several seconds, maybe considering a specific answer, but just says, “A lot of people.” Paris wants revenge, or at least justice. “Of course,” she says, eyes glowing. “I definitely do, but it’s a chess game. And I am trying to play the chess game the right way. And that’s all I can say about that right now.”

Michael had his kids wear masks in public, a protective move Paris considered “stupid” but later came to understand. So it made all the more of an impression when a brave little girl spontaneously stepped to the microphone at her dad’s televised memorial service, on July 7th, 2009. “Ever since I was born,” she said, “Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine, and I just wanted to say I love him so much.”

She was 11 years old, but she knew what she was doing. “I knew afterward there was gonna be plenty of shit-talking,” Paris says, “plenty of people questioning him and how he raised us. That was the first time I ever publicly defended him, and it definitely won’t be the last.” For Prince, his younger sister showed in that moment that she had “more strength than any of us.”

The day after her trip to the Museum of Death, Paris, Michael Snoddy and Tom Hamilton, her model-handsome, man-bunned 31-year-old manager, head over to Venice Beach. We stroll the boardwalk, and Snoddy recalls a brief stint as a street performer here when he first moved to L.A., drumming on buckets. “It wasn’t bad,” he says. “I averaged out to a hundred bucks a day.”

Paris has her hair extensions in a ponytail. She’s wearing sunglasses with circular lenses, a green plaid shirt over leggings, and a Rasta-rainbow backpack. Her mood is darker today. She’s not talking much, and clinging tight to Snoddy, who’s in a Willie Nelson tee with the sleeves cut off.

We head toward the canals, lined with ultramodern houses that Paris doesn’t like. “They’re too harsh and bougie,” she says. “It doesn’t scream, ‘Hey, come for dinner!'” She’s delighted to spot a group of ducks. “Hello, friends!” she shouts. “Come play with us!” Among them are what appear to be an avian couple in love, paddling through the shallow water in close formation. Paris sighs and squeezes Snoddy’s hand. “Goals,” she says. “Hashtag ‘goals.'”

Her spirits are lifting, and we walk back toward the beach to watch the sunset. Paris and Snoddy hop on a concrete barrier facing the orange-pink spectacle. It’s a peaceful moment, until a middle-aged woman in neon jogging clothes and knee-length socks walks over. She grins at the couple as she presses a button on some kind of tiny stereo strapped to her waist, unleashing a dated-sounding trance song. Paris laughs and turns to her boyfriend. As the sun disappears, they start to dance.

From being a kick-ass cook to a strict dad, here are the 5 things we learned about the King of Pop from Paris Jackson.

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