King of Pop: a Once in a Lifetime Auction Featuring

Julien’s Auctions announced they will be auctioning Michael Jackson memorabilia with part of the proceeds going to charity. Items for sale will include his American Music Award for “Thriller,” a velvet cape given to him by his children for Father’s Day and a pair of 1981 rhinestone-trimmed socks.

The auction takes place April 22nd – 25th, 2009

Exhibition:
9900 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills, California 90210
Adjacent to The Beverly Hilton
April 14th – April 21st (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Daily)
$20.00 per person for Exhibition and Auction
Designed by WRJ Design Associates, LLC
Auction:
9900 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills, California 90210
Adjacent to The Beverly Hilton
April 22nd: Session I: Garden Statuary and Outdoor Furniture
Session II: Furniture and Decorative Arts
April 23rd: Session III: Furniture and Decorative Arts
Session IV: Antiques, Paintings and Fine Decorative Art
April 24th: Session V: Amusements, Arcade Games and Disneyana
Session VI: Amusements, Arcade Games and Disneyana
April 25th: Session VII: Memorabilia From the Life and Career of Michael Jackson
Session VIII: Memorabilia From the Life and Career of Michael Jackson

After an angry crowd of Facebook users protested the changes to Facebook’s privacy policy, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, posted clarification and a new policy. In the prior wording, it appeared Facebook was saying they owned all the users’ content for forever. Now, they make it clear that a user owns their own content.

From Mark Zuckerberg’s Blog:

Update on Terms
by Mark Zuckerberg Yesterday at 10:17pm
A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.

Many of us at Facebook spent most of today discussing how best to move forward. One approach would have been to quickly amend the new terms with new language to clarify our positions further. Another approach was simply to revert to our old terms while we begin working on our next version. As we thought through this, we reached out to respected organizations to get their input.

Going forward, we’ve decided to take a new approach towards developing our terms. We concluded that returning to our previous terms was the right thing for now. As I said yesterday, we think that a lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective so we don’t plan to leave it there for long.

More than 175 million people use Facebook. If it were a country, it would be the sixth most populated country in the world. Our terms aren’t just a document that protect our rights; it’s the governing document for how the service is used by everyone across the world. Given its importance, we need to make sure the terms reflect the principles and values of the people using the service.

Our next version will be a substantial revision from where we are now. It will reflect the principles I described yesterday around how people share and control their information, and it will be written clearly in language everyone can understand. Since this will be the governing document that we’ll all live by, Facebook users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms.

You have my commitment that we’ll do all of these things, but in order to do them right it will take a little bit of time. We expect to complete this in the next few weeks. In the meantime, we’ve changed the terms back to what existed before the February 4th change, which was what most people asked us for and was the recommendation of the outside experts we consulted.

If you’d like to get involved in crafting our new terms, you can start posting your questions, comments and requests in the group we’ve created—Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. I’m looking forward to reading your input.On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information
by Mark Zuckerberg Mon 2:09pm
A couple of weeks ago, we updated our terms of use to clarify a few points for our users. A number of people have raised questions about our changes, so I’d like to address those here. I’ll also take the opportunity to explain how we think about people’s information.

Our philosophy is that people own their information and control who they share it with. When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they’ve asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn’t help people share that information.

One of the questions about our new terms of use is whether Facebook can use this information forever. When a person shares something like a message with a friend, two copies of that information are created—one in the person’s sent messages box and the other in their friend’s inbox. Even if the person deactivates their account, their friend still has a copy of that message. We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like email work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear.

In reality, we wouldn’t share your information in a way you wouldn’t want. The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work. Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment.

We still have work to do to communicate more clearly about these issues, and our terms are one example of this. Our philosophy that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant. A lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective of the rights we need to provide this service to you. Over time we will continue to clarify our positions and make the terms simpler.

Still, the interesting thing about this change in our terms is that it highlights the importance of these issues and their complexity. People want full ownership and control of their information so they can turn off access to it at any time. At the same time, people also want to be able to bring the information others have shared with them—like email addresses, phone numbers, photos and so on—to other services and grant those services access to those people’s information. These two positions are at odds with each other. There is no system today that enables me to share my email address with you and then simultaneously lets me control who you share it with and also lets you control what services you share it with.

We’re at an interesting point in the development of the open online world where these issues are being worked out. It’s difficult terrain to navigate and we’re going to make some missteps, but as the leading service for sharing information we take these issues and our responsibility to help resolve them very seriously. This is a big focus for us this year, and I’ll post some more thoughts on openness and these other issues soon.

The Japanese electronics maker is facing an annual loss of $1.4 billion. After cutting 5,900 jobs last year, they plan to cut an additional 10,000 jobs.

Once a leader in the making of flat screen TVs, they announced their decision to pull out of that market.

“Since the US financial crisis and ensuing global downturn, our sales of car electronics products and flat-screen TVs plunged worldwide,” said a Pioneer spokeswoman.

“We were severely hit by battered consumer sentiment.”

There have been many rumors about Blink 182. After frontman, Tom DeLonge, left to
form Angels & Airwaves and drummer, Travis Barker, was in a serious plane crash, many thought the band would never play together again. However, they have announced on their website that they are back:

“Hi. We’re Blink 182. This past week there’ve been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, We’re back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy.

Summer 2009.

Thanks and get ready….”

STATEMENT FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW JERSEY’S OFFICE
Division of Consumer Affairs

NEWARK – The Office of the Attorney General and the Division of Consumer Affairs are investigating Monday’s sale of Bruce Springsteen concerts tickets after consumers complained about problems they encountered during attempted online purchases.

“Consumers are questioning what transpired and if they had an equal opportunity to purchase these concert tickets. We share these concerns and are investigating this matter,” Attorney General Anne Milgram said.

More than 250 consumer complaints have been received as of midday today. The Division of Consumer Affairs has placed an icon labeled “Bruce Springsteen/Ticketmaster Complaints” on its main web page for consumers to link to an online complaint form. The Division’s web page is located at http://www.njConsumerAffairs.gov

Consumer Affairs investigators will review submitted complaints to determine how the online sales process was conducted and whether any violations of the state’s Consumer Fraud Act or ticket resale law occurred.

Though happy to have won a Grammy, Bruce Springsteen is not happy with the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. He wrote on his website:

Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice.

We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. TicketsNow is supposed to be a secondary site where people who already have tickets may exchange, trade, and, unfortunately, speculate with them. We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.

A final point for now: the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing. Several newspapers are reporting on this story right now. If you, like us, oppose that idea, you should make it known to your representatives.

The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours.

Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and the entire Springsteen Tour Team

TIME WARNER INC. REPORTS RESULTS FOR 2008 FULL YEAR AND FOURTH QUARTER

NEW YORK, February 4, 2009 – Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) today reported financial results for its full year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said: “We’re making progress at Time Warner toward our goals of becoming a more content-focused company and delivering increasing returns to our stockholders. Last year, our priorities were to rationalize our structure and improve our operating performance. Despite the challenging economic environment, we achieved most of what we set out to do. Moving into 2009, we intend to build on these accomplishments.” Mr. Bewkes continued: “Operationally, we’ll continue to improve the efficiency of our businesses while creating even more of the compelling content that’s becoming increasingly valuable. Structurally, we’ll complete the Time Warner Cable separation soon. At the same time, we’ll strengthen our balance sheet, improve our strategic flexibility and return capital to our stockholders on a consistent
basis. Through these steps, we expect to emerge from this downturn in an even stronger competitive position.”

Full-Year Results
Revenues grew 1% over 2008 to $47.0 billion, reflecting increases at the Company’s Cable and Networks segments. Adjusted Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization rose 1% to $13.0 billion. The growth
at the Cable, Networks and Filmed Entertainment segments more than offset declines at the Publishing and AOL segments. The Company’s Operating Loss of $16.0 billion reflected a decline of $24.9 billion compared to 2007’s Operating Income of $8.9 billion, due mainly to a $24.2 billion noncash impairment to reduce the carrying value of goodwill and intangible assets. Cash Provided by Operations totaled $10.3 billion and Free Cash Flow amounted to $6.0 billion (reflecting a 46% conversion rate of Adjusted Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization). As of December 31, 2008, Net Debt was $33.0 billion, down $2.6 billion from $35.6
billion at the end of 2007, due primarily to the generation of Free Cash Flow, offset in part by acquisitions. Diluted Loss per Common Share from Continuing Operations was $3.74 for the year ended December 31, 2008, compared to Diluted Income per Common Share from Continuing Operations of $1.08 in
2007. The current and prior year amounts included certain items affecting comparability that are described in Note 3 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements. The net impact of such items was to decrease the current year results by $4.73 per diluted common share and to increase the prior year results by $0.12 per diluted common share.

by widgette.com

Disney disappointed Wall Street with a 14% drop in profits. Though they did still turn a profit, it was not as large as had been predicted. The company was hit hard by the collapse of Lehman brothers and had to write-off $91 million in bad debt.

BURBANK, Calif. – The Walt Disney Company today reported earnings for its first fiscal quarter ended December 27, 2008. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter were $0.45, compared to $0.63 in the prior-year quarter. EPS for the current quarter included a gain on the sale of our investment in two pay television
services in Latin America, which resulted in a benefit of $0.04 per share.

“We faced a challenging first quarter with many of our businesses impacted to various degrees by the economic downturn,” said Robert A. Iger, Disney’s president and CEO. “We are forcefully confronting current circumstance while investing in the great creativity, brands and assets that are Disney’s strengths and keys to its long-term success.”

by RomBox.com for the Rock n’ Roll Romper Room

Mt. Pocono, PA — Caesars Paradise Stream Resort is located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The resort is located in a picturesque position close to the major ski attractions. The modern facility is clean, attractive and well staffed. Not only does it have nice guest rooms, but the added amenities afforded a gambling facility make it an ideal entertainment destination.

The Lounge and Nightclub offers a theater-like atmosphere. The stage offers the feeling of a large venue while the seating offers a feeling of intimacy. On Saturday night, comedian Willie Asbury played to a crowded house. Willie is a veteran of the comedy circuit and has performed everywhere from Madison Square Garden to television.

The moment Willie took the stage an aura of glee swept the venue. A look across the audience revealed one ear-to-ear smile after another. Then, the jokes started flying followed by knee-slapping impressions. Laughter roared. Not only is Willie hilarious, he can also sing. Or, maybe it should be said he is a one-man boom box. It wasn’t long before he had the whole audience singing along to classic TV show theme songs. The people ate it up. By the time Willie left the stage, a call had to be placed to 911 for the sides that had split open and the funny bones that had been fractured.

The next time you are thinking of a get-away consider making the Poconos your destination. There is first class accommodations, as well as, first class entertainment. Best of all, it is at an affordable price.

Written by RomBox.com for the Rock n’ Roll Romper Room

The Beatles
The White Album

Ft. Washington, PA — The students of Paul Green’s School of Rock put on a concert of the Beatles’ White Album. Think about that? What an endeavour! Most musicians would not even consider it possible. To start with, the album has such a diverse mix of styles, sounds, sound engineering and recording techniques that it is hard to imagine trying to recreate the music. Then, to consider not just recreating it, but to do the music justice, seems an impossible feat. Nevertheless, that is just what the kids did.

The age of the students wasn’t listed in the program. However, a good guess would be the children ranged in age from 5-18. They took the stage and went right into Back In The USSR… then, played right through the entire 2-album set. Many of the students are multi-instrumentalists, as well as, vocalists. In between songs, the performers would change. Sometimes musicians would come on stage. Sometimes musicians would go off stage. Sometimes musicians would change positions — the bassist would change to guitar, or the guitarist might change to drums. On several songs, it felt like all 15 performers were on stage at the same time. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill included a menagerie of performers on stage.

One of the hardest songs to imagine covering would have to be Revolution #9. You would have thought, “just leave it out of the set-list. After all, Paul McCartney and George Martin wanted to leave if off of the album. Why even attempt to perform it?” Much to the delight of the audience, the school pulled it off. A multitude of performers traversed the stage creating a visual and audio extravaganza.

The entire show was enjoyable. It would be hard to pick out a favorite song. So, a “first timer” in the audience was asked their thoughts on the show. What was their favorite song? A: Helter Skelter.

That kind-of makes you think a little deeper. Another person in the crowd was overheard saying to the man next to him, “Do you even know who Charles Manson is?” Wow! What do you call that when an album from so long ago felt so relevant today — a timeless work of art? When you think back to the album’s original release, a song like Helter Skelter was a revolution in the sound of what would become known as Heavy Metal. Quite a few things about the album were revolutionary. Listening to the album performed in its entirety, you realize this concept album was way ahead of its time. Going back in through Pink Floyd’s The Wall to Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, you find their seed in the White Album.

The audience’s revolution that they were feeling the revolution of a new generation brought the spirit of the Beatles to heart. You might say the students got the beat of the Beatles.

Set 1
1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
5. Wild Honey Pie
6. Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
8. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
9. Martha My Dear
10. I’m So Tired
11. Blackbird
12. Piggies
13. Rocky Raccoon
14. Don’t Pass Me By
15. Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
16. I Will
17. Julia

Set: 2
1. Birthday
2. Yer Blues
3. Mother Nature’s Son
4. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
5. Sexy Sadie
6. Helter Skelter
7. Long, Long, Long
8. Revolution #1
9. Honey Pie
10. Savoy Truffle
11. Cry Baby Cry
12. Revolution #9
13. Good Night