Slog - Comments on Neverland Closes http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close I'm surprised that Schmader hasn't had anything to say about this. Via Defamer... Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson's personal Xanadu built on a million candy cane dreams and Underoos-bottom nightmares, has been suffering dearly from neglect as its owner reconfigures his life in Bahrain. First, his large staff of llama wranglers and cotton candy engineers were barred by officials from reporting to work due to hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. Then, after he managed to somehow come up with the money, Jackson decided to shut down the estate and lay his staff off... THIS JUST IN: Michael Jackson... Copyright 2007 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:43:25 -0800 Sat, 18 Mar 2006 10:20:50 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by baker "we're living in my own personal xanadu!"

]]> baker http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038412 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038412 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:52:48 -0800 Comment by fnarf You realize that we will all soon have the opportunity to buy half the rights to the Beatles catalog, if we can just get about 250 million bucks together? LA-area auction houses are going to have a TON of really hideous, and really expensive, Italian marble gew-gaws up soon as well, at fire-sale prices.

]]> fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038415 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038415 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:55:49 -0800 Comment by David Schmader It's hard to type through a VEIL OF TEARS.

Actually, I was going to Slog about this as soon as I finished up an overdue music piece about DJ Dave Paul, who's bringing his "Prince vs. Michael Jackson" DJ show to Re-bar next week.

So, while I was busy not writing about the closing of Neverland (which has been on its deathbed since Jacko fled for Bahrain, with today's revelation simply a dramatic formality), I was re-listening to the greatest dance hits of both MJ and Prince. And, clearly, Prince is the superior artist. But damn Michael Jackson could make amazing records. By "records" I mean singles, as none of Jackson's albums compare the best of Prince's. But Prince rarely conceived individual songs as epic and amazing as MJ's handful of masterworks, most notably "Billie Jean," which God just required me to listen to 14 times in a row.

Still, sad about Neverland. Should we pool our resources and make a bid?

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038420 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038420 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:00:23 -0800 Comment by charles mudede never say neverland.

]]> charles mudede http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038422 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038422 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:04:41 -0800 Comment by amy kate OH MY GOD, I can't wait for this: "Prince vs. Michael Jackson"

]]> amy kate http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038432 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038432 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:31:49 -0800 Comment by fnarf Exhibit 1: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", 12-inch version.

Exhibit 2: "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)", 12-inch version.

Case closed. It's no contest. Michael is, or was, one hundred thousand times funkier than Prince.

]]> fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038445 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038445 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:54:52 -0800 Comment by Longball Has anyone ever fallen so far? From legitimate national treasure and worldwide GOD, to the most rediculous freak show on earth! Compared to MJ, OJ Simpson could have his face carved into Mt. Rushmore. Of course, there seems to be some sort of "slaves owned" quota for getting your face on that mountain.

]]> Longball http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038461 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038461 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 13:30:41 -0800 Comment by David Schmader I refuse to judge a man by his funkiness.

(But I agree about the awesomeness of those two Jackson tracks.)

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038462 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038462 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 13:34:13 -0800 Comment by Alvis My Fave: "Never Can Say Goodbye."
.

]]> Alvis http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038465 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038465 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 13:55:29 -0800 Comment by Longball PYT - that's the cut.

]]> Longball http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038468 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038468 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:03:31 -0800 Comment by David Schmader Re: "PYT": I'm sorry, but that's one of the songs that's been irreparably damaged by the "alleged" criminal activity of Jackson's later life. And it's not just the "pretty young thing" stuff: "Tenderoni you got to be"?!?

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038471 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038471 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:11:07 -0800 Comment by Longball Oh my GOD, i retract my PYT statement. I replace it, hesitantly, with Smooth Criminal.

Now i am going to go shower in molten lava to wash away the ickiness.

]]> Longball http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038474 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038474 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:22:26 -0800 Comment by Sars Personally I've always considered "Liberian Girl" my song.

]]> Sars http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038479 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038479 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:52:56 -0800 Comment by fnarf The middle break in "Shake Your Body" where the tracks fall away and it's just the insane plucking noise plucking and plucking and plucking and then it comes back in with a BOOMPH and pluckitachow and pluckitachow and another BOOMPH and finds the groove again somehow in the middle of the million grabbing stretched rubber bands around your feet -- that's the moment. Shit. You cannot not dance. I can levitate when that happens. I have to go change my pants after just thinking about it.

]]> fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038496 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038496 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:33:58 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi Teddy Roosevelt owned slaves?

My problem with Prince is that he seems to have trouble figuring out when to end his songs. I've been listening to 1999 a lot recently and most of those songs could easily be cut in half.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038506 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038506 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:12:20 -0800 Comment by Longball Yeah, i guess Lincoln didn't have slaves either. sorry, i'm drunk.

There's got to be some joke to be made involving Man in the Mirror, am i right?

]]> Longball http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038513 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038513 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:25:41 -0800 Comment by fnarf In retrospect, Prince's songs are also marred by massive doses of terrible guitar playing. He certainly had a way with a lyric though: "My sister never made love to anyone else but me / She's the reason for my, uh, sexuality / She showed me where it's supposed to go / A blow job doesn't mean blow Incest is everything it's said to be".

]]> fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038524 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038524 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:06:32 -0800 Comment by David Schmader Re: Prince's "terrible guitar playing"? WHAT? The guitar shit laced through the funk is one of the prime reasons I love him. (For evidence, see "It," or the gorgeous opening to "When Doves Cry.")

Re: The mildly oppressive length of most of 1999: True. But when the record landed in '82, the endless groove was one of its great attractions. It was a double LP of 12-inch dance tracks. (Plus, if it ended sooner, "Let's Pretend We're Married" would never gotten to Prince's offer to fuck the taste out of our mouths.)

Re: The miracle of "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)": Agreed.

Re: The extended quote from Prince's "Sister": God bless you, Fnarf, and all hail the timeless miracle of Dirty Mind.

I guess that's it. Now go start enjoying your weekends or I'll fuck the taste out of your mouths.

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038550 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038550 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:40:45 -0800 Comment by fnarf Yeah, "guitar shit". I just don't like guitar shit even when it's played by a perverted purple dwarf with a funk habit. Veers to close to Lenny Kravitz territory. Not that I'm comparing Prince to Kravitz. I just hate the rock, that's all.

]]> fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038830 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c038830 Sat, 18 Mar 2006 00:57:59 -0800 Comment by David Schmader Don't get me started (again) on Lenny Kravitz....

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c039264 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/03/neverland_close#c039264 Sat, 18 Mar 2006 10:20:50 -0800