Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson Read Online Free Page B

approached countless times by people trying to sell stories about Jacko. Some of them were obvious frauds.
Others were quite convincing, but too shocking even for the Enquirer.
Incidentally, I no longer work there."
    On the road, traveling from "blood bucket" to "blood bucket," Michael
learned about sex from his father. It wasn't exactly a healthy introduction.
    Joe was a known womanizer. With Katherine safely tucked away at home,
he could indulge his passions with other women, often quite young ones.
Many women found him attractive, and he did possess sexual charisma.
    Joe often flaunted his dates in front of his boys, sometimes bringing them
back to his sons' bedrooms where the young women could give "my boys
baby kisses and tuck them in for the night." Whenever that happened, Michael
would turn over and bury his head in the pillow so he wouldn't have to kiss
"one of Joe's whores." The other brothers were only too willing to be kissed
on their mouths.
    When the brothers stopped playing the honky-tonks, they were booked
into black theaters as opening acts for performers who included James Brown,
The Temptations, and Gladys Knight and The Pips. The Jackson 5 appeared in
theaters from Boston to Kansas City, and from Washington, D.C., to Tucson.
    Motown stardom wasn't forthcoming as month dragged into endless
months. Gordy just wasn't pleased with any sound The Jackson 5 recorded.
One song-a rip-off of The Temptations-was recorded forty times with no
satisfaction. The boys still lived in Gary, whose streets were giving way to the
violence of an increasingly powerful drug culture. One night two thieves cornered Joe staggering home in the early hours. Thugs hit him over the head,
removing the fifty dollars he carried in his wallet.
    In Gordy's bank vault rested the contract that Joe had signed without reading it. Motown's chief honcho was now ready to start exercising the options
granted to him. He decided the time had come to order the Jackson brothers
to Los Angeles, where they would be directed to start recording at Motown's
new studio. Gordy told Ross, "If Jackson had read the fucking contract, he
would have found that I owned his gold teeth and the air the Jackson boys
breathe. The only one in the group that's got any talent is the midget." This
was an obvious reference to Michael. "That one's gonna set the world on fire.
Sooner than later."
    In a large van-made in Detroit, of course-Joe drove to California carrying Johnny Jackson (no relation), the group's drummer, and Ronny Rancifer, the keyboardist. Michael, along with three of his brothers, were
given economy class air tickets to Los Angeles.

    Along with eight-year-old Randy, the Jackson sisters as well as Katherine
were left behind in Gary until Joe "could get the lay of the land," in Gordy's
words. Later, a Motown executive in Los Angeles privately said, "California
wouldn't be the only lay that Joe was scoping out."
    As the plane flew over America's heartland, Michael was only ten years
old with a birthday fast approaching.
    On a smog-shrouded morning in Los Angeles-August 9, 1969 to be
exact-Michael and his brothers landed in Los Angeles. On the way into town
from the airport, Michael looked in awe at all the fast-moving cars, the palm
trees, the oranges, the grand mansions. His eyes widened as he told Jermaine:
"I have truly found Oz. No harm will ever come to me here."
    One of Gordy's assistants delivered the boys not to a mansion but to a "hot
bed" hotel on Santa Monica Boulevard, which was teeming with hookers,
both male and female. Michael was given a room to share with Jermaine and
Marlon. On the way to the dump, he heard through the paper-thin walls one
woman telling someone: "That's twisted!"
    In five weeks Gordy ordered that the boys be moved to another seedy
address, the Hollywood Motel, which stood across from the famous
Hollywood High, which so many children of stars had attended. By the late
1960s, the