After the unfortunate events during the shooting of the 1984 pepsi commercial Michael befriends an unlikely girl in the hospital. And there starts the beginning of their very tumultuous journey.
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April 15, 1984
My brothers were a pain in my ass.
And maybe it was the pain from my head injury, or the fact that I really didn't want this tour to happen in the first place, or maybe it was because everything was all over the place and unorganized. Then again, it was probably all of the above.
But if mother hadn't asked me to do it, I would've never agreed.
After Thriller's success I assumed that what my brothers and I had career-wise would come to a bittersweet end, but they were pulling me to the end and draining me for all that I was worth.
But they were my brothers. My family. So, I dealt with it. Plus, I was doing it for the fans, which is who I really care about. Though even with keeping them in mind it still didn't make doing the tour easier.
There were too many people trying to make decisions which only made confusion. And attending a meeting where there were too many bosses was only a recipe for disaster, but in the words of Zaria, my name was Bennett and I wasn't in it.
I just sat in the chair at the conference table, swirling left to right while keeping my true expressions hidden behind a pair of dark Ray Bans and masking my grunts of disapproval with a bite of my lip or nibbling on my thumb.
Occasionally, I looked at Bill and with a simple head gesture, told him I was ready to go. The meeting was pointless. All of the guidelines, deadlines, and things of that nature could've been sent to my assistant, saving both my time and patience.
I was preparing to leave, not wanting to stay any longer, but then Joseph stood to speak. It was sort of like a force of habit for me to stop twirling in the chair and I took my hand down from my mouth, giving him my undivided attention. That didn't mean I wasn't still ready to go-I was readier than ever-but Joseph was well... Joseph.
So, I listened.
"Alright, listen up boys. This is a very anticipated tour. Everybody and their mama want to see it, so when it comes to these ticket sales we're gonna be smart. Don, Chuck, and me-we done came up with a way for the ticket sales to generate a little more money than they would by themselves."
At the sound of more and money, my brothers perked up. Disregarding the fact that Don King, one of the promotors of the tour the other being Chuck Sullivan, had already offered us a three-million-dollar advance when my brothers and I announced that we would be having a major tour, last year around thanksgiving.
But these were also my brothers I was talking about, so I knew better. The more money the merrier for them.
"We're going to play it almost as a lottery. Those who want to attend the concert will have to send in a special form and money order buying a four-block ticket at a hundred and twenty dollars, thirty dollars apiece. The money generated from ticket sales will then be held in a special account for roughly seven to eight weeks, until the lottery is over, where it'll earn a seven-percent interest before the money is refunded back if they don't win. By doing that you'd all be earning ten to twelve million in interest alone."
