Jacko's Song | Jacko's Recorded Past | Ja Ruled Out | 'Barbarians' Invade
Jacko Song About D.A. May Haunt Him Now
Will a song from Michael Jackson's HIStory album come back to haunt him now?
Jackson fans have always known that "D.S.," a track on HIStory, but certainly not included on the new Jackson greatest-hits album, was a pointed reference to Santa Barbara District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr.
Sneddon, who led the investigation into allegations that Jackson molested a 13-year-old boy in 1993, is still on the case today and said to be more eager than ever to "get" Jackson.
In the song, Jackson actually appears to call out the name "Tom Sneddon," even though the lyric sheet says the name is "Dom Sheldon." Sneddon is no doubt even angrier for the baiting in the song, which implies he is a member of the KKK and has no social life.
The line that may really come back to haunt Michael is "He didn't do half what he say." Now Sneddon is said to be ready to do twice what he say, and more, with the new case looming over Jackson.
These are the lyrics that appear on the HIStory album:
"DOM SHELDON"
They wanna get my a**
Dead or alive
You know he really tried to take me
Down by surprise
I bet he missioned with the CIA
He don't do half what he say
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
He out shock in every single way
He'll stop at nothing just to get his political say
He think he bad cause he's BSTA
I bet he never had a social life anyway
You think he brother with the KKK?
I know his mother never taught him right anyway
He want your vote just to remain DA.
He don't do half what he say
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom S. Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Does he send letters to the FBI?
Did he say to either do it or die?
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom S. Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom S. Sheldon is a cold man.
Bashir Film at Root of Jacko Case
The controversial Martin Bashir documentary about Jackson that aired last February on ABC may now come back to haunt him.
The whole world knows by now that the Santa Barbara sheriff's department and other arms of the law have been combing over Jackson's Neverland Ranch since early Tuesday morning.
Tom Sneddon, the Santa Barbara D.A., I am told, "is determined to make a case stick." He is even said to have sequestered the family of a 12-year-old boy who may have made a complaint against Jackson.
Rumors of an arrest warrant for Jackson, who has been in Las Vegas for three weeks filming a new video, began to swirl Tuesday evening and were confirmed Wednesday. Calls to Jackson's lawyer and the Santa Barbara sheriff's office were not returned.
The real irony here is that Jackson may have filmed evidence that will either save him or hurt him if the case proceeds through the courts. Unlike the story a decade ago, when Jackson was branded a child molester and settled the case out of court, this story may have been documented.
First, Jackson let Bashir follow him with cameras for months before selling his documentary around the world. Then it turned out Jackson was filming the filming, with miles of film shot by all parties. Police will be examining everything from those films, including all the interviews and Jackson's interactions with others, to search for clues about these latest allegations.
In a statement issued Tuesday evening, Jackson decried all the self-appointed friends and spokesmen who took to the airwaves in his defense. Some of those friends, as with most celebrity cases, are turning into paid consultants to various TV shows.
Among those who've suddenly bobbed up on the air: Shmuley Boteach, the shamed rabbi who ran a shady charity with Jackson for a short time. The two have actually not been on good terms for more than a year.
A Jackson insider, hearing that Boteach had started giving interviews, literally shrieked with horror: "I hate that guy. He's not Michael's friend. Someone should tell him to shut up, already."
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, there was some speculation that Jackson's new problems stemmed from the infamous 10-year-old charges brought by the son of a Los Angeles dentist-screenwriter. That case was settled before it got to the arrest stage, with Jackson paying the boy's family a reported $20 million.
Last spring I reported that the boy's story had been questioned in a detailed 1994 GQ magazine article. Both the boy and his father have since purchased multimillion-dollar homes.
Another theory about the Jackson case is that it may have something to do with jailed Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano. Only a couple days into his 27-month sentence for wire-tapping, Pellicano is thought to be negotiating with federal authorities for an early release. His leverage may be files on celebrities he investigated or worked for, implicating them while freeing himself.
"There may be a long line outside the D.A.'s door of people who want immunity," a source said last night. Already, several high-profile figures, including powerful attorney Bert Fields, have admitted that they've been questioned about the work Pellicano did for them.
But Jackson's case may not be so complicated in the long run. By simply ignoring criticism and openly entertaining children in his house — and in his bedroom — he may have set himself up for this investigation.
The fact that so much of the last two years is on film may have seemed normal to him as a person who lives in the public eye. But to the police, all that publicity may very well seem like nothing so much as evidence.
Even worse than last week's showing, rapper Ja Rule's new album dropped an astounding 45 percent in sales last week. It went from No. 6 to No. 26, selling about 50,000 copies. It sold 145,000 in its first week.
Ja Rule is not exactly a long-term artist. In fact, it was a fluke of sorts that his "duets" with Jennifer Lopez and Ashanti became hits. He can't sing and he doesn't write songs. The success of his raps have had little to do with lyrical content. He's merely been the counterpoint to female singers in hit songs.
Still, the quick failure of his album can only sting at his label, Murder Inc./Def Jam, which is struggling right now. Murder Inc. founder Irv Gotti recently announced that he was dropping the word "murder" from the company's moniker because of the connotation. (There's been a lot of violence associated with the label.)
Def Jam itself would be in big trouble right now if it weren't for another rapper, Jay-Z. His "Black Album," touted as his grand finale, sold a little less than a half-million copies and finished first on the charts.
The big question is whether it can hold those sales and build, or if Jay-Z and the Def Jam rap phenomenon is over. If so, or if it's been badly wounded, the real victims could be label execs who might be viewed as expendable in what's currently a bad time for the record business.
'Barbarians' Invade: Canada's Oscar-Bound Movie
How could Canada have the Best Foreign Language Film? I mean, they speak English up there, don't they?
Well, not all of them. The people in Quebec speak French, and Quebec's famous director, Denys Arcand, has made a wonderful film in French called "The Barbarian Invasions."
Already a big hit in Paris and Moscow, these "barbarians" have nothing to do with Conan. The film is a kind of sequel or follow-up to Arcand's much-admired 1986 film, "Decline of the American Empire." Some, but not all, of the characters carry over from that movie. You don't have to know a thing about it to enjoy "The Barbarian Invasions," however.
"Barbarians" won two awards at Cannes this year, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. The film itself was a finalist for the prestigious Palme d'Or, aka Best Picture.
You pronounce the director's first name "Den-nee." But if you make a mistake, and call him "Denise," that's all right too. It's his wife's name.
Arcand is kind of a Canadian national treasure. But he got his film education in the United States.
"Because of censorship in the '60s, we used to drive down to New York from Montreal," he said. "Four of us in a Volkswagen. We'd see 20 movies in three days."
The films that held his awe were by Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, François Truffaut and Michelangelo Antonioni.
A few weeks ago, the Canadian consulate here in New York threw a bash in Arcand's honor. His star, Stéphane Rousseau, was also in town.
In "Barbarians," Rousseau makes an impressive feature-film debut as the buttoned-down financier son of a hedonistic playboy who is dying of cancer. Watching Rousseau, you'd think he was a serious thespian. In fact, in Quebec he has been famous for twenty years as a stand-up comic.
"More Dean Martin than Steve Martin," he told me. His act is entirely in French. He has not performed it in English. The handsome actor is best described as a slightly shorter David Duchovny.
Arcand has never seen Rousseau's show. But he captures his comic sensibilities perfectly in one memorable scene from the film when the young man's clueless-square character, Sebastien, visits a local police station to buy heroin as a painkiller for his cancer-ridden father.
"I actually called the Canadian Royal Mounties to research that scene," Arcand told me a few weeks ago. "I went to police headquarters and said, 'I'm interested in buying heroin.' I wound up going around with them undercover. I learned the difference between white and brown heroin. They were thrilled to help."
"The Barbarian Invasions" opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles, then expands to other cities over the next month. Don't miss it.
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