Post by Admin on Jul 21, 2014 10:41:09 GMT -4
THE LOVE CHILD
The Early Years:
On June 28, 1968, the Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers (NATRA) hold its show/dance fund-raising affair, ‘Soul In’, in the Sunset Ballroom. The show featured Jerry Butler, Mable John, Jean Wells, the Esquires, the Jackson 5, Maurice & Mac, the Trends, the Mirettes, the Forevers, Bobby King and Fran Oliver.
The Jackson Five’s June, 1970 concert at the Los Angeles Forum in California, the group returns to the stage, at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan as part of a star-studded tribute to boxer Joe Louis. By 1970, the ‘Brown Bomber’ was broke and ailing, and the organizing committee hopes to raise 100,000 dollars to help him defray hospital costs. Comedians Bill Cosby and Redd Foxx, and music artists Billy Ekstine, Mahalia Jackson, B. B. King, the Four Tops and the Jackson 5 entertain crowd of 12,000 spectators on August 12. Louis himself is too ill to attend, although a vacant chair is left in front in his honor. Berry Gordy, himself a former boxer, serves as the Honorary Chair for the event, and is probably responsible for getting the Jackson Five to perform for the gig.
On January 31, 1971, the Jackson 5 return to their home county, Gary, Indiana, to play two benefit concerts for Mayor Richard G. Hatcher’s re-election campaign at Westside High School. A ceremony is held outside their former home at 2300 Jackson Street.
Approximately in 1972, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 visit the Children’s Heart Hospital in Philadelphia County, PA., the singer also being seen signing pictures and autographs for the children therein.
In early 1972, the Jackson 5 and The Supremes are the headliners performing a benefit concert, the first annual 'Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Concert' in Atlanta, Georgia, helping to raise the start-up funds for the "Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change" in Atlanta.
On September 30, 1972, the Jackson 5, and a variety of entertainers, perform for "Save The Children", a film theme of the 1972 "Black Exposition" and conducted by "Operation PUSH" ("People To Save Humanity") in the International Amphitheater of Chicago, the event highlighting, among musical acts, footage of the city’s black population, their churches, schools, slums and playgrounds, and promoting the hope for an improved future, benefiting the children of Chicago, Illinois.
On November 18, 1972, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 perform at an NAACP fund-raising dinner at Hollywood, Palladium, California, at the 6th annual Black Image Awards. The NAACP is the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People, one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States.
On December 9, 1972, Michael J. and the Jackson 5 make an appearance in the Watts Christmas Parade in Los Angeles, California, and they serve as honorary chairmen. The parade is televised the following day on KTLA.
On December 23, 1972, in Los Angeles, California, the 14-year old singer and the Jackson 5, dressed as Santas, make their appearance at a Christmas party held at the Pacific Townclub, to visit and offer presents - on behalf of their record company, Motown - to 700 (according to some sources, others reporting a number of 400) underprivileged children. In an article, titled “The Jackson 5 Really Changed!”, the writer points out that “the first time the J-5 did a benefit at a children’s hospital, Michael came home and cried all night at the memory of all those sick children lying in beds, some not even able to move their hands to clap. That is when he became actively involved in communicating with these kids. He corresponds with youngsters his own age in hospitals all over the country. These are not letters dictated to a secretary by a superstar, but letters written in Michael’s own hand during breaks in recording or rehearsing or even in school.”
On December 24, 1972, the Jackson 5 perform Christmas songs during a benefit concert at the "Foundation for the Junior Blind" in Los Angeles, California, for 1000 visually impaired children, 400 of which attending the benefit party. On his thoughts about the event, Michael Jackson declares: "You know, really, this is what Christmas is all about - giving."
On March 7, 1973, young Michael Jackson visits the bedside of 6-year old Leslie Robinette - suffering from from aplastic anemia caused by the genetic disease fanconi anemia – at the Seattle Children’s Hospital - then The Children's Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center. Robinette received a bone marrow transplant, and was one of the youngest to ever have the procedure. She went through chemotherapy, radiation, an ever-changing plethora of medications and was kept in isolation for three months; her state of health was precarious, the doctors saying, after she was dismissed from the hospital, that she might live 10 years. “I was sitting in my room looking out the window, ironically listening to 'Looking Through the Window' by the Jackson 5, when I heard all the nurses going wild and carrying on”, Robinette declares 26 years later. Coincidentally, the Jackson 5 were there. “They asked me which one I wanted to see, and I said I wanted to see Michael - he was the cute one”, she says, laughing. She describes teenage Jackson as shy, but kind and sincere, signing an autographer for her, holding her hand and asking about her state. “I would never say that he saved her life - that's crazy - but he gave her back a little of her will to live because she had lost it”, Trine Robinette, Leslie’s sister adds. Leslie eventually did improve, and her family returned to their farm in Greeneville, Tenn., where she still lives with her parents. 11 years later, Leslie met Jackson again, while he was on tour in Knoxville with his brothers, where she received free tickets, then went backstage to meet the Jackson clan. "I asked him if he remembered me, and he said yes. We talked about my singing in chorus and how I was getting my back brace off soon”, Robinette says. Jackson then told his security detail that she was his guest, so she got to watch the third show from a raised VIP platform, seated right next to Jackson's mother, Katherine. Still struggling with her disease, she is less than 4 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds, but she is now 42 and is involved in North American Riding for the Handicapped Association and currently is training to become an instructor. "I've always felt that Michael and I were kind of kindred spirits, because we both grew up not being able to really go anywhere or do anything normal kids do”, Robinette says, adding that she hopes people will remember Michael Jackson for his good deeds and music.
On August 16, 1973, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 perform in a benefit gig at St. Paul Civic Center Arena in Minnesota, with proceeds of the concert being funneled to the Afro-American Music Opportunities Association (AAMOA). AAMOA, based in the Twin Cities, promotes Black Music and assists Black composers and musicians worldwide.
On January 29, 1974, the Jackson 5 start their one-week tour in Dakar, Senegal for their first African tour, where they perform concerts, attend representations from several African dancers, visit the humble dwelling places of some inhabitants there, and also pose for pictures with and sign autographs for them, among sightseeing and shopping experiences. They also hold a press conference with a Senegalese radio, and visit Goree Island.
On August 17, 1974, the Jackson 5 perform at the World Expo/Expo ‘74 in Spokane (Washington). Expo '74 was an environmentally themed world's fair, which ran from May 4 to November 3, 1974. Spokane was the smallest city to host a world's fair, until Knoxville, Tennessee held the 1982 World's Fair eight years later. The theme for Expo '74 was “Celebrating Tomorrow's Fresh New Environment.” The fair had 5,2 million visitors and was considered a success, nearly breaking even, revitalizing the blighted urban core, and pumping an estimated 150 million dollars into the local economy and surrounding region.
The Jackson 5 attend The Tournament of Roses Parade in 1974. Better known as the Rose Parade, it is "America's New Year Celebration", a festival of flower-covered floats, marching bands, equestrians and a college football game on New Year's Day, produced by the non-profit ‘Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association’.
In 1977, The Jacksons (as they would be known since 1975) visit the impoverished areas of Trinidad, Port-au-Spain, namely the economically deprived inhabitants, not affording to attend a Jacksons’ concert. Michael Jackson enters their cardboard – stone houses and visits and greets the Catholic – school girls therein. The mentioned year finds The Jacksons competing with other teams of entertainers in the "Rock ‘N’ Roll Sports Classics" special program; being joined in their East team by affiliated show business members, they are awarded as first – place winners of the competition with a set of 20,000 dollars, a charitable contribution funneled to the University of California, U.S.A.
On May 17, 1977, the Jacksons flow to Glasgow, Scotland for a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, with proceeds of the show going to the Silver Jubilee Fund. The Fund was established 1977 to commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, and its purpose is to enable a small number of senior students in Cumbria’s schools and colleges to undertake work experience projects of academic nature overseas, connected to industry, service to the community, the arts, sport etc.
Michael Jackson is seen signing autographs prior a benefit show he attended at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles, California, in October, 1978.
In January, 1979, the singer donates a number of his favorite books, including J.M Barrie's "Peter Pan", to the Chicago Public Library’s Young Adult Services and, on occasion of a library project, "Boogie To The Book Beat", he delivers a speech on the importance of reading. According to the “Michael Jackson, The Early Years” biographical publication by Chris Cadman and Craig Halstead, some of his other favorite titles he presents to the Library that year were: “The Old Man and the Sea”, “RIP Van Winkle”, “The Red Balloon”, “Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and the War Years” and “The Complete Works of O. Henry” among others.
In 1979, "The Black Linkage For Adoptive Children" hosts a charity event during which the Jacksons’ costumes from their 1979 Destiny Tour were auditioned off to the highest bidder; Michael Jackson’s costume garnered 575,00 dollars, the highest price from an impersonator who performed in an outfit that night for a gig.
In October, 1979, the entertainer participates at a fundraiser, 'Stars Come Out For The Sun', in Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles. The event was organised by Jackson's friend at the time, American actress, writer and activist, Jane Fonda and was to benefit solar energy.
Candy
