Jackin4Beats Magazine

Though still in shock regarding the death of Michael Jackson, rumors are flying that there was possibly some foul play in his sudden death.

Being in the medical field for quite a few years, everything that has been reported thus far is not adding up.  The “Personal” physician on hand when he collapsed, the fact that  you have EMT’s reporting  he was DOA, and not in a coma. What is really going on here?

I  have to say J4B fam, something don’t smell good here.  I’m on the case though. I think we have a criminal case on our hands.

Here’s the latest, as reported by an anonymous tipster, the doctor had just, 11 days ago, sent letters out to all his patient’s notifying them that he had a better offer and would not be practicing for awhile.

Something about this doctor ain’t sitting right with me.

It’s a sad day, but one thing for sure the man who sought inner peace his whole life, now has accomplished his ultimate goal! He’s moonwalking on the clouds!  You go Mike!

RIP Mike!  I gotcha back!

In Gary, Indiana back in August of 1958, Michael Jackson was brought into this world as the seventh child of nine. Michael has 3 sisters and 5 brothers which he had to share his childhood with. At a relatively young age he was introduced into music by his father and was set as the lead singer for the family band known as the Jackson 5.

The band’s earlier years saw them playing in both clubs as well as at private parties although they also had the opportunity to compete in competitions from time to time as well. It would not be until Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers heard them that the group would finally get the break they were looking for. He set up an audition with Berry Gordy at Motown who signed them instantly, and if you are interested in seeing some of their older stuff, it is still available on dvd rental new releases.

After the contracted with Motown was signed, the entire Jackson family headed out to California where the group went to work. Singles like The Love You Save as well as I’ll Be There were immediately liked by the listeners and set the Jackson 5 to the top of the charts.

The Jackson 5 would go on to make 14 albums with Motown and Michael Jackson would make 4 solos before the group made the switch to Epic in 1976. While with Epic they released another 6 albums but under the name the Jacksons because Motown had the rights to the Jackson 5 band name. Most of these Epic albums too were big hits.

The movie The Wiz allowed Michael Jackson to make his film debut and while working on the film he met Quincy Jones. With Quincy, Michael went on to release the album Off the Wall which features 4 number one singles. Following that album would be no easy task, but when Michael Jackson released Thriller, all records would be broken as more then fifty million copies have been sold.

When Michael Jackson released the album Thriller, he would receive 8 Grammies. This also marked the time when Michael was entering into the musical video scene and started releasing his short films as he calls them. These short films which can be longer then 10 minutes helped increase the sales of Thriller and it is through these that the world got their first glimpse at the trademarked Moonwalk. The moonwalk wowed kids all over the world, and they still watch it today Neflix.

Michael Jackson was married for a short time to Lisa Marie Presley who is the daughter of Elvis, however this marriage would end quickly and within only a yea and a half they were divorced. He would then married again and now has two of his own children including the first which was a boy, and more recently a girl. However a recent scandal has made Michael leave the music industry and he has believed to have moved to the country of Bahrain where he owns a mansion.

Eric Clapton is an acclaimed musical artist, nicknamed Slowhand and known for his superb guitar playing ability.

Originally from Surrey, England, Clapton was born on March 30, 1945.

As far as his musical tastes go, he has been influenced by the blues, rock and psychedelic rock. He is considered by many people to be one of the world’s greatest guitarists.

And his achievements have been recognised by the winning of Grammy Awards, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The first band that he joined, in 1963, was the Yardbirds, and he stayed with them until 1965 by which time he felt that they were moving into pop, and he wanted to stay with the blues.

Eric then joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, who would help Clapton establish himself as one of the worlds best blues guitarist

But he did not stay with them for very long, breaking away and forming the all time great band Cream, where he developed not only as a guitarist, but as a singer and songwriter.

Sad to say, Cream broke up in 1968 and Eric played with a number of other successful groups before he felt the need to take a break from the music industry.

Eric has released a number of solo albums including Theres one in every crowd, Another Ticket, Reptile, and Back Home.

This brief look at the life of Eric Clapton is just one of a series of articles that I am writing on various great performers. If you would like to be kept posted as each article comes out then please go to my website (see below) where you will find my email address. Just write to me and ask to be kept informed.

The president’s 75 billion dollar Housing Fix-it Plan has arrived and because people are asking if there are loan modification benefits in it for them, here is my expert analysis. In a nutshell, the plan offers to make house payments more affordable for hard-pressed homeowners and contains five major benefits. Here they are:

1. The main benefit is that it provides assistance to homeowners who wish to stay in their homes. The sour economy has made it tough for many homeowners to refinance because for most, their equity has dried up and they are unable to do so. This plan also helps those who may have lost income due to the current recession.

2. The Initiative Offers No Aid for Speculators: This initiative will go solely to helping homeowners who commit to make payments to stay in their home ” it will not aid speculators or house flippers.

3. The Initiative Aids Neighborhoods. Because a foreclosed home often attracts vagrants, vandals and graffiti, not to mention being an eyesore with the dried grass landscaping and yellowed newspapers piled up on the stoop, stopping a home from becoming a foreclosure benefits the entire neighborhood. Not to mention the rock-bottom values that the foreclosed home will get from the new purchaser.

4. Supports Homeowners at Eminent Risk of Foreclosure. Usually a homeowner does not qualify for loan modification unless he can show that he is behind by several payments. This new plan provides support for households at risk ” even though the homeowner may not yet be late on his mortgage payments.

5. The Plan helps to restructure total Debt. The financial stability part of the plan is to create payment plans that can be kept by the homeowner ” not pipe dream payments. By working in conjunction with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to standardize loan modifications, the Treasury Department hopes to do just that.

The Financial Stability Plan’s goal is to bring back a sense of security to the struggling real estate market. The plan has been designed to discourage lenders from opting to foreclose on mortgages that could be viable now out of fear that home prices will fall even further later on. Plunging house prices, for example, make it harder for purchasers to obtain new loans ” even with good credit, because lenders concerned about the true value of homes, simply refuse to extend credit for fear that they may be in the same situation five years down the road.

The Obama Housing Fix-it Plan has much more to it. Parts of it involve granting incentives to lenders who postpone foreclosures, paying down principal for owners who stay in their property for five years, and even giving incentives to people who successfully modify loans.

By helping to modify the loans of millions of hard-pressed homeowners and thus lower their monthly payments, the administration may also be jolting the economy at the same time. The word on the street is to look for June 2009 to be the time for that to start to happen. Who knows? Purchasing a real estate bargain now and holding it as a rental property may prove to be a smarter move than parking the money in an IRA or in the wild and crazy stock market!

I have watched soap operas on and off my entire life. I think it started when a babysitter I had when I was about ten would watch Days of Our Lives each day like clockwork. Because all of the other children under her care were very young, they had naps each afternoon.

At my age, this was not something I needed to do. That meant she would treat me to a soda and then allow me to watch the soap with her. I have watched Days on and off through the years, and this led me to watch the Passions soap opera when it debuted nearly a decade ago.

I still watch Days of Our Lives, but I always found the Passions soap opera very interesting and worth watching. Perhaps it was because it had a bit of something that most other soaps did not. On one hand, the supernatural element that was sometimes in the soap was cheesy, but it was interesting at the same time. It added something to some of the storylines that you just don’t see on other soaps. The actors on the Passions soap opera were good, with a few exceptions, and many of them were believable as the parts they were playing.

It came as a huge surprise when the soap opera Passions was taken off of the air. NBC decided to take the show out of its time slot in order to make the Today Show longer. There are even rumors that Days may some day be taken off the air as well. All is not lost for the Passions soap opera fans however, as you can still see the series and it is still in production. The only problem with this is that you can only see it on DirecTV. It was still online for a time, and you could buy whatever episodes you wanted to see, but I am not sure if you can do that any longer.

Whatever the case, you can have the Passions soap opera in your life if you want. For me, switching to DirecTV from my current cable company was not an option that I wanted to pursue. However, those who must see it still have that option. There may come a time when Passions will be available otherwise, or it may not have much longer to go on. If you want to keep up, but you dont want to have a new television company, you can look around online for Passions updates on many of the soap opera fan sites out there.

A lot of times, actors begin their careers by modeling. Both of these careers in themselves are intertwined to some extent. If you are a model, your work is being displayed on magazines, in newspapers, on billboards, on posters, on advertisements, and even on packets that grocery stores offer. Models are paid really well, if you are high quality. These types of models can expect to be paid anywhere from about $30 to $300 per hour.

These types of models that I am referring to above are either very good looking, or they might look the innocent next door neighbor. Models main motive is to have a face that certain people find very attractive so that they might sell a product. These are the types of models who are trying to take their careers to the next level, which is acting.

To get into the acting world, it is very difficult and highly competitive. Not only must you have a gorgeous face, but you need a good agent to help you get there. Having a solid agent, will give you a competitive advantage when trying to find acting jobs.

There are a few steps that you should take that will help you in your search for a good agent to represent you. If you take the time to follow these steps, you will be much more successful in selecting a good agent and in having a successful entry into the acting side of things.

The first thing you must figure out is where to start looking to find an agent to represent you. With this task, you definitely have a few options available to you. You can begin by visiting any local theatres in your area and talk to the actors there. They might have agents that represent them, or know of some good agents in the area. Next, you can visit some photography studios and ask the photographers if they know of any good agents. Photographers are constantly in touch with the modeling world, so they might be your best bet in pointing you in the right direction. You can also do an internet search for a good agent. You can find reviews about talent agencies and certain agents online.

After you have searched and selected a few potential agents, your next step would be to choose the best one. For this step, you will want to do some extensive background research on each agent. You can contact other people they may have represented, do an internet search on their name or agency’s name, or just take a good look around you (office cleanliness, professionalism, etc.) when meeting them in person.

The last thing you should pay attention to is how comfortable you feel around the agent. If they are very friendly, warm, and communicative, you probably have an excellent agent. Don’t let them force you into anything you don’t feel comfortable doing. A good agent is one who will work with you and help you accomplish your goals, not force you into accomplishing your goals.

Keep in mind that your agent can really make or break your chances of taking your career to the next level. The industry is very competitive, so you can’t afford to screw this one up. Do your homework and you will find a good agent to help you meet your goals.

Each and every single year, the annual Grammy Awards are hosted as a means of honoring the best and brightest starts in the recording industry. These awards were originally know as the Gramophone Awards when started by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. These annual awards are held every February and currently cover roughly 20 genres and over a hundred categories.

Every year in at the Grammy Awards, many artists can win an award or even multiple ones. You will hear about the Song of the Year award or even the record of the Year. Some years they have special awards issued for lifetime achievements by a recording artist as well. All of these winners are selected by a voting committee that includes top names in the recording industry like Beyonce Knowles, Paul Simon as well as Prince.

Based on their expertise, more then 150 people in the recording industry are selected every year to have the honor of selecting and reviewing all of the artists and all of the categories. Though this committee, the nominees for every award are chosen and then passed on to the voting committee who keeps their selections a secret until the day of the awards. The works that are taken into consideration every year has to be released after October 1st two years prior with anything after October 1st of the previous year having to wait until the following years annual Grammy Awards.

For most of the years, the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles was home to the Grammy Awards just like they continue to be for the Oscars. However in recent years due to the increase in categories and genres, the venue needed to be moved to a larger location so the Los Angeles Staples Center was chosen.

If you plan on attending the Grammy Awards then you will have to purchase a ticket, even if you are a nominee for an award. The most recent ceremony cost more then $2,000 for each and every single ticket and did not even include the official post party. This post Grammy party is additional and requires advanced purchasing of tickets. However, when you attend these awards you will find a goodie bag on every seat filled with all sorts of things such as jewelry, CDs and even gift certificates with the official award stamp on them.

Since 1971, every year the Grammy Awards are aired live around the country and the nation. It was ABC who originally had the contract for the ceremony, but in recent times CBS has been in charge of airing the live performances. To date, there have been just over 50 annual Grammy Award ceremonies.

There have been a number of complaints against the Grammy awards including those who insist that the recording industry has been influencing the outcomes of the awards as well as the fact that the RIAA also having influences on alternative artists. This has been a constant and heated debate especially in cases where big name artists who are not members of the RIAA have yet to be recognized for their work and talent. Irregardless though, this is still one of the largest award ceremonies for those in the recording industry anywhere in the world.