Michael Jackson Might Have One Last Live Album Wrung From Him

noah | June 29, 2009 4:00 pm

Just when you think the music business can’t get any more icky, here comes a quote from an (understandably unnamed) executive at concert promotion outfit AEG regarding the concert rehearsal that took place the night before Michael Jackson died: “We have a live album in the can.” OK, the quote from the anonymous employee of the company that was presenting Jackson’s 50 shows at London’s O2 Arena isn’t gross, but Sharon Waxman’s use of the verb “boasted” to describe said utterance certainly skeeved me out more than a bit. More Jackson news after the jump. • AEG might need that money, as questions about Jackson’s health–and the timing of a physical–might play into the size of the insurance payout that would presumably help the company refund money to ticket buyers. Although there’s a bit of a silver lining: “After the deaths of other major stars, including Elvis Presley, in 1977, and Kurt Cobain in 1994, around half of outstanding concert tickets were never returned for refund, according to people in the concert business, because fans preferred to keep them as souvenirs.” [WSJ] • Jackson’s mother Katherine has been granted temporary guardianship of his three children. [USA Today] • How Michael Jackson helped bring joy to sports fans all over New England in the ’80s. [Shutdown Corner] • Another way that Breaking News e-mail alerts are annoying: Mean computer-savvy types are cloaking virii in e-mails touting “exclusive video” of the King of Pop. [Computerworld] • Who wants to bet that the person who bought InMemoryOfMichaelJackson.com on eBay–for almost $10 million–is going to have some very sternly worded “Bad Bidder” feedback in their future? [eBay] • Katherine and her husband Joe also filed papers in court to probate their son’s estate. The papers claim that the 50-year-old singer passed away without a will in place, although attorney John Branca says that he has those papers and is intending to file them ASAP. [TMZ] [Pic via TMZ]