‘Attack him – with love’
The final date of Michael Jackson's Bad tour was at the end of January in 1989 at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Dionne Warwick, and many other celebrities attended the concerts, as well as Katherine and Janet Jackson. Michael dedicated his Motown hits medley to Berry Gordy, who was sitting with Diahann Carroll and Suzanne dePasse. 4.5 million people had paid to see Michael perform since the tour began in September 1987. Over the last year and a half, he had performed 123 concerts in fifteen countries on four continents. The show's weekly expenses were between $500,000 and $650,000. The tour grossed over $125 million at the box office.
It hadn’t been all work, however. ‘He would always take time to see the sights,’ recalled Seth Riggs. ‘When we were rehearsing in Liverpool, he stopped the practice session so that we could look at some beautiful clouds that had wafted in. That’s Michael. They closed down the Louvre in Paris for a whole day while Michael and the rest of us went through. In Rome, Franco Zeffirelli gave him a big party. All of the crème de la crème were there, and suddenly Zeffirelli couldn’t find Michael. He looked all over and found Michael in a room with a bunch of little kids in their pyjamas, playing. He’s the most natural, loving person I’ve ever known, a very good person, as corny as that sounds,’ continued Riggs, who still works with Michael on a regular basis.
‘He’ll see a picture of a baby, and if it’s a cute kid, he will go gaga over the picture. During the tour, on his nights off, he would go into a toy store and buy ten of this and ten of that and then stay up all night long putting batteries into toys, making certain each one worked so that he could have them ready to give to kids backstage the next day. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about.’
On one leg of the tour, Michael brought along his ten-year-old friend, Jimmy Safechuck. Michael had a copy of one of his stage uniforms made for Jimmy so that they could dress alike. Most people found the relationship strange, especially when Michael would take him on shopping sprees. He spent thousands of dollars on toys for Jimmy in London. At one point, Michael had to cancel two shows because he caught a cold from the kid.
Another young friend of Michael’s, Jonathan Spence, said, ‘When we hang out. He’s just like any other guy. He never talks about himself, only about what is going on with others. We never talk about show business. Sometimes he’ll put on a disguise when we’re in public. When we go to Disneyland, we’ll go through the back and take all the alleys and back ways and get in front of the lines. He can’t wait in the line, no way. He would cause a riot. We move fast through Disneyland; if people get a good look at him, that’ll be it for that outing.
‘He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever known. He’s smart. He knows a lot about everything. He’s a kid. He never really had a childhood, and he’s having it now. The stuff I read in the papers about him, I know it’s all a bunch of B.S. I just ignore it. A couple of times I’ve asked him about girlfriends and stuff, but we never really get into that. We don’t talk about the plastic surgery either, because it’s none of my business. He never brings it up. It’s not like he says, “Well, how do you like my new chin?” It’s hard to get in touch with him, though. I usually have to call his secretary, and then a couple of days later, he’ll call me.’
After Michael gave Jimmy Safechuck’s parents a hundred-thousand-dollar Rolls-Royce, Frank Dileo became concerned about the way it looked. It seemed inappropriate. He suggested that Michael break off his friendship with Jimmy. Michael was hurt, then angry. ‘No way,’ he told Frank. ‘Forget it.’
‘But I don’t like it, Michael,’ Frank insisted. ‘It looks bad, you and all these kids.’
‘Mind your own business then,’ Michael snapped back, ‘and maybe it won’t look so bad. How’s that sound?’
With the tour finished, Michael and Jimmy holed up at Neverland, recharging their batteries, so to speak. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Michael, someone named Kenneth Choi wanted his signature on the contract for the Jackson – Moonies Project. ‘I was getting faxes left and right,’ Jerome Howard recalled. ‘The heat was on. We had to get Michael. But the timing was wrong. It was a bad time to approach him.’
‘We’re giving Michael his space now,’ Jermaine said at the time. ‘But after he finishes his tour, we’re all going to attack him – with love.’
Michael might have responded by saying, ‘Please, don’t do me any favours.’
None of the Jacksons was even able to contact Michael. It was sad that he didn’t feel comfortable contacting his family members, but he sensed that whenever he opened himself up to them they ended up wanting something from him, and he had nothing else to give. ‘Dirty Diana’ realized Frank Dileo’s prophecy of five number-one hits from the
Bad
album, the first album in pop history to generate five number-one singles. Yet, despite all of the touring, his last two singles, ‘Another Part of Me’ and ‘Smooth Criminal’ did not make number one. Michael wants
every
record to go to number one. The sales of the
Bad
album stalled at seventeen million, amazing but still a far cry from
Thriller
‘s sales of almost forty million. It was obvious that Michael would not break his own sales record, which depressed him.
‘They think he’s shy and he’s evasive and all of this,’ observed his guitarist David Williams. ‘No. He’s just fucking scared and tired of people bugging him.’
Whenever Michael went out, it was in disguise. For instance, he visited a pharmacy in Westwood disguised with a large Afro wig and dark glasses. Still, he was picked out by the store’s manager. ‘I recognized him the minuteI saw his nose and chin,’ he said. When asked what Michael had purchased, he answered, ‘A hand-held power vibrator.’
One does have to wonder about the true reasons for Michael’s outrageous disguises. It seems that when he truly
wants
attention, he wears a costume so ridiculous he gets the desired result. Occasionally, though, matters get out of hand. For instance, Michael once went into a jewellery store in Simi Valley, California, wearing a wig under a baseball cap, a phony-looking moustache, and fake buck teeth. He was accompanied by a young boy. Nervously, he continually adjusted his moustache while looking into a mirror. When employees feared the suspicious character was ‘casing the joint’, a security guard asked him to step outside and demanded an explanation. ‘I have to wear a costume,’ Michael said. ‘I’m Michael Jackson.’ Michael then removed the disguise. By that time, however, three squad cars had arrived, as had a huge crowd. Michael’s presence, along with the police, had caused such hysteria, everyone present had to have his autograph. He happily signed for all. Perhaps the get-up did serve a purpose, but not the one most people thought it was supposed to serve; he clearly wanted the attention. He loves his fans, and he also loves knowing they still love him.
Another time, though, things didn’t work out as well. When Michael was driving his Rolls while wearing a disguise, he was stopped by a police officer who thought the automobile ‘looks like a stolen car’. (Of course, there is a prevailing racism among some police officers in America who routinely stop blacks who are driving expensive cars.) Michael didn’t have his licence with him. Worse, he had an outstanding ticket. The officer didn’t believe he was
the
Michael Jackson, even when he removed the disguise. The next thing he knew, he was in the Van Nuys jail. Bill Bray bailed him out. Afterward, Michael said, ‘It was the coolest thing, ever. I never thought I’d get to go to jail. I loved every second of it.’