In
the moments following Michael Jackson's death,
LaToya Jackson rushed to Neverland, not to hide Michael
Jackson’s many and varied medications or to see to the welfare
of his children, but, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, to
search the house for bags of cash she and the family knew
Michael kept on hand. This may have been done for all the right
reasons, but what, if anything, she found and how much of it she
actually turned in (and to whom) helps maintain the atmosphere
of the Jackson clan as stunningly hateful and selfish people who
have exploited their multi-talented brother all of his life and
now have been riding his coffin for four years.
It’s been widely reported that Michael and Janet Jackson have
been the sole mega-bread winners for the Jackson clan for many
years. It is unknown how much financial support Janet has
provided the family (i.e. everyone but Michael), but a common
clam among many Jackson biographers underscores tabloid rumors
of Michael footing the bill for Havenhurst, the family estate in
Encino, California, ostensibly to take care of his mother, our
Great Lady Katherine Jackson. The brothers leeching off of
Katherine was the ransom Michael would pay in order to see to
her needs and honor her. Michael would allegedly dole out the
money to Katherine, and the brothers would harangue Mother for
their varied expenses, including delinquent child support and
tax liens. Reading between the lines, I’m led to believe big
sister Rebe is likely the only Jackson sibling content to live
something resembling a “normal” life; although Michael may have
been supporting her, my sense of it is anything in the realm of
sanity—say, under $300,000 per year—would likely take care of
Rebe and her children. The brothers, however, are widely
reported to live extravagant lifestyles requiring millions every
year to maintain. These are rich people who are no longer rich
but continue to live in denial. They have no problem at all with
exploding their brother—dead or alive—or pressuring their
octogenarian mother for cash.
With Michael Jackson’s estate thankfully in the hands of his
attorneys and career managers, allocations to Katherine Jackson
and Michael’s children have been strictly defined and monitored,
likely forcing the Jackson clan to abandon Havenhurst and move
into a much more modest (for them) home (despite Katherine’s
fiction about “too many memories”). The brothers’ ongoing
leeching likely has belts extremely tight, as the support is
tailored only for Katherine and the kids, but it is likely being
stretched to cover the lavish lifestyles of LaToya and the
Brothers as well. Mind you, these are grown folk, Jackie nearly
62 years old.
The largest problem has been the fabrication, for well over
forty years now, that these people are talented. Jermaine has a
wonderful voice, but an ego the size of Texas and a tin ear for
choosing quality material. Jermaine Jackson’s career was in full
swing so long as Berry Gordy was running it (“Daddy’s Home,”
“Let’s Get Serious”). Had Jermaine Jackson turned back to Arista
Records’ Clive Davis at the launch of Davis’ J-Record label
(Jermaine was signed by Davis to Arista when his career flamed
out), and given Davis complete creative control (as did Rod
Stewart and Luther Vandross, among others), he’d likely be
somewhere in Janet Jackson’ orbit now. Instead, Jermaine choose
pride over intellect and labored on with ridiculous music that
proves how out of touch he and his brothers are with mainstream
music, if not reality itself.
The embarrassing horror of their coffin-riding A&E Network “reality” TV show, The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty, was that it was released around the time of Michael Jackson’s posthumous documentary, This Is It. Both documentaries showed the behind-the-scenes preparation for major comeback tours—Michael’s and that of his brothers. While This Is It was a phenomenal (if not largely fictitious) account of Michael’s focused and nuanced prep, A Family Dynasty revealed a shockingly disorganized, bickering group of brothers laboring over incredibly lame and uninspired music, and turning down (turning down!) Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the machine behind sister Janet’s success. We see the Jackson brothers tooling around in convertible Bentleys and living in lavish homes, all of which I suspect were leased for the filming (or these were, possibly, several of Michael’s reported 75 luxury cars, which included a small fleet of Bentleys). I remember my neighborhood band, back in junior high, being better organized and, frankly, writing better songs.
