Thank You Bonnie! I had decided to watch the show as I really wanted to hear about this family & Michael's relationship with them. I was very impressed by them, and it's a warm fuzzy feeling knowing he had this very normal family & home to escape to whenever he wanted or needed to. Most importantly, it was certainly the most 'vindicating' interview yet, from Oprah or anybody else that I know of. It's about time!!!! Still.....I have serious doubts that she herself is convinced. I still don't think she is, and I'd absolutely love to find out that I'm wrong!
I agree. It is hard to know if Oprah keeps asking those questions because she is not sure herself or if she feels the audience needs to here it again and again that Michael was innocent.
I have to wonder why this family apparently was not mentioned in the Will. Since Michael's children were only with nannies or them. Hmmmm It makes me think there has to be another Will.
well, considering in her interview with Barbara Walters she just said this:
"I'm not a lesbian. I'm not even kind of a lesbian," she said. "And the reason why it irritates me is because it means that somebody must think I'm lying. That's number one. Number two: why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life."
I'm going with she thinks people are lying. Guess it's possible she has a double standard, one she applies to others and the one she applies to herself.
I'm actually not so fond of the Cascios. I know they were untruthful about just Christmas presents when asked about gifts and trips - come on... are they serious? Must think some of us don't have good memories and/or research skills. That's just one thing. I am glad he felt comfortable around them, like some sort of family. That's a good thing.
I don't know when or even IF I'm going to watch this video segment. While I want to think kindly of the Cascios if they gave Michael kindness and some kind of friendship for a number of years, I must be honest and state that I have my suspicions about them at this point.
I'm going to briefly state that within a couple of days after I made a comment on the Sony site regarding the legitimacy of the new Michael Jackson/Cascio songs, a statement was released online (I don't remember the website link or where I read it) that 'new' material was going to be released that would feature out takes and extra dialogue featuring Michael, the Cascio's and Michael's children.
This is what I posted on November 13, 2010 on the Sony site in answer to a thread topic regarding some things related to Sony/the Will/ the Cascios music, etc being fake:
11/13/2010 Well, in my opinion, some things (and people) ARE fake. I question the validity of the 2002 Will. I question just how much effort the Estate is putting into caring for Katherine and Michael's children (let me know when Katherine and Michael's children receive the SAME PERCENTAGES OF ALL THE DEALS BEING MADE BY BRANCA AND MCLAIN that those two executors receive), and I don't fall for the guilt trips being laid out and set up by certain companies and groups, which only serves to DIVIDE AND MANIPULATE MICHAEL'S FANS.
I see through it, and I call a spade a spade.
I have taken voice over classes, I have watched professional actors in ADR, and I work in the motion picture industry. I have been a motion picture costumer since 1988. I've worked on shows and I've witnessed actors performing ADR and looping. I know for a FACT that Sony didn't need to use alleged forensic 'experts' to authentic this new music coming from the Cascios.
Anyone with experience in voice over work, ADR, sound mixing, sound engineering, or at least having taken some classes in voice overs knows what's needed here in regards to this album - and more importantly, what's missing.
After all is said and done, Michael Jackson would not have wanted incomplete works released.
Michael Jackson provided for his children - and his mother - in his Will, be it genuine or fake.
The Estate of Michael Jackson has a responsibility to provide for Katherine and Michael's children. Maybe if those two men were doing their jobs honestly and properly, Katherine and her family would not have to resort to some of the things they've been resorting to for money. ********************************************
So, a couple of days later, what I and probably others hinted as being missing from these 'sources' suddenly gets a HIGHLY convenient 'discovery' and will be released. However, SONY just doesn't know WHEN this material will come forth.
As the saying goes, "Color me NOT surprised."
I don't need the Cascios, or any other people, be they civilians, big name celebrities, attorneys or doctors to tell me that Michael Jackson was a good person, a gentle soul, a loving and kind and devoted father to his children, a self driven and extremely ambitious and talented perfectionist - especially when it came to his art and performance craft - and that he would NEVER harm a child. The Cascios aren't doing any real favors here, as far as I'm concerned. The bottom line for their appearance on Oprah and any other PR and publicity venues is to PROMOTE, PROVE, JUSTIFY AND VALIDATE THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH MICHAEL JACKSON AND BY ASSOCIATION THE VALIDITY OF THESE ALLEGED RECORDINGS.
Too bad that after 25 or so years (is that the correct number?) of this deeply rooted and loyal friendship with Michael, the Cascios never fully understood or appreciated certain concepts and values that Michael deeply held and believed in. For instance, you'd think that THEY, of all people, having spent so much quality and sincere time with him, would understand and appreciate - and FULLY RESPECT 100% - Michael's insistence on not releasing an incomplete song or project. He was a perfectionist and would not have wanted bits and pieces of his work cobbled together for some kind of release, especially without his final touch and blessing.
Sony should have insisted on listening to and analyzing all the extra takes and additional dialogue that is part and parcel of sound recordings, looping, ADR work and recording music.
Then again, money is money. This ain't about honor, integrity, truly creating art through music, maintaining Michael Jackson's artistic high standards and quality, or honoring him and his memory. It's about the bottom line, and that line is $250 millions dollars long.
As for Oprah, as I posted on the Sony site, she's finally going to learn to empathize with Michael. Gee, being rich and famous won't automatically enable her to control what the public thinks, and she can say she's one thing while members of the public accuse her of lying and choose to believe she's something other than what she claims.
Well, Oprah, maybe a big name powerful celebrity talk show host will give you the same 'understanding' and 'treatment' you gave Michael. When the time comes that you are no longer useful to THEM and/or fall out of favor with THEM, you too may find yourself being kicked to the curb, lied about, misrepresented, caught up in some kind of (Illuminati manufactured?) scandal, and can ask for sympathy from viewers and listeners. Maybe Geraldo can give you some air time - and then he can pull the plug on you, go completely silent and claim "I've been punked!" the same way he did with Michael.
As for the Cascios being left out of the will, Bonnie, I don't feel sorry for them. Yes, it is rather odd that such a family, having been so close to Michael, would have been left out of his Will. Then again, considering they're making plenty of $$$ on this deal with Sony, it translates to me, personally, that yet another group of 'friends' is selling Michael out. Whatever they were 'denied' in Michael's legitimate 2007 Will is perhaps being provided for via this record deal with Sony and the Estate.
They have no business releasing Michael's unfinished work. They have no business taking bits and pieces of his voice and vocals and cobbling them together and calling it a genuine Michael Jackson song. If their recordings of Michael Jackson are the real deal, they should have supplied ALL out takes and dialogue recordings to Sony for verification. And even if they had done all that, they should have considered and honored what Michael Jackson would have wanted regarding his unreleased and unfinished music.
They are profiting off his music and his death, as well as exploiting their relationship with him. That's my personal opinion. They may be nice people in general, and may have been nice to Michael and his children and nannies in life. However, they are selling him out in my opinion, and doing it under the guise of "Saving and honoring his legacy" doesn't move me one bit.
True friends of Michael's, especially if they had known him and worked with him for quite a number of years, would have understood and respected certain things about him.
Is there anyone who hasn't sold Michael out or made a fast buck on him or on their personal and/or professional association with him? I can think of a few people (you can count the number on one hand), but I won't name their names because I don't want them to be pressured, hassled or manipulated.
Sorry for the long essay.
Warmly, Carmen
Last Edited by on Dec 08, 2010 9:55 PM
Thank you Carmen! I - again - feel exactly like you do regarding this whole matter! I am sad and angry...and sometimes I feel too overwhelmed by this whole thing to voice my feelings... I just wish Michael could let us know what he feels about it all...
---------- "...be alive, be free, feel consciousness, subsciousness, being GOD..." MJ
There had to have been another Will. There was too much that transpired with regards to Michael's status and financial situation between '02 and '09 that had to have required at least one if not several updates or complete revisions.
In all that I've learned about Michael he was too smart to leave that kind of matter unattended to.
Also the fact alone that Branca was fired and supposedly rehired would have been reflected in a more updated Will showing those changes in legal counsel.
Last Edited by on Dec 09, 2010 12:16 AM
It is very possible that at this place in time we ARE speaking for Michael. Many of us have a pretty good sense of him by now.
In my case I do not feel that he needs to validate any of this.
There is one possibility, which just popped into my mind as I am writing this, with respect to Cascios and their role in this, is that perhaps the songs Michael left them may have been a present to them, as opposed to including them in the Will; but a present I feel he would have wanted to come back to and put finishing touches on but did not get the chance to.
one last comment: And I am really just thinking outloud here as the scenarios could be many. It is possible that the Cascios were in the Will but that the Will was altered. Perhaps Michael never saw this filed '02 version, which was presented to the public. There is such a web of lies and deceit around this story that everything and everyone who has ever come in contact or had anything to do with Michael falls under suspicion and scrutiny. It is just that much of a twisted tale at this point. At least in my eyes.
But I do with all of my heart hope that all will come to light in the end.
I have to add, and I know I speak for many, it is a very difficult and painful situation to witness.
Last Edited by on Dec 08, 2010 11:06 PM
