Michael Jackson's father Joe is definitely Startin' Somethin'. Last week he announced plans for a Jackson family museum in Gary, Indiana - where the late singer first moonwalked into the world in 1958. A huge area of land was given over to the Jackson Family Foundation by a town mayor, no doubt rubbing his hands at the prospect of a tired industrial suburb of Chicago becoming a place of pilgrimage for Michael Jackson's millions of fans. There was talk of an exhibition space, a concert hall, and a performing arts centre.
Except there was a slight problem. Michael Jackson's estate - run by lawyers for The Michael Jackson Family Trust - jealously guard everything from his music to his likeness. And they haven't given the go-ahead for Joe Jackson's plan - probably because they are planning their own "world-class museum," likely to be thousands of miles away in California. All of which leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth. Essentially, music museums are less about celebrating the classic songs and the people who wrote them, and more about the money that such endeavours generate.
In America, only The White House receives more visitors than Graceland, Elvis Presley's home in Memphis - $34 (Dh125) buying a look inside the colonial-style mansion the King Of Rock'N'Roll died in nearly 33 years ago. It is an interesting experience, but for the wrong reasons. It is, in effect, a voyeuristic journey into how ridiculous Presley's life had become - there's even a tour of one of his huge private planes, of which the lasting memory is that it only sat four people.
