Michael Jackson Avenue / Detroit

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The Jacksons to Headline Detroit Music Weekend, Receive Key to the City & Honorary Street Renaming
5/17/2018 by Gary Graff

Fifty years after The Jackson 5 signed with Motown and came to Detroit for the first time -- famously performing for the label's roster around Berry Gordy's home swimming pool -- the city will honor the group with a street named after it.

Well, one of its members, at least -- and possibly more.

Michael Jackson Ave. was announced Thursday for a block in Detroit's downtown, with an unveiling to take place during the second annual Detroit Music Weekend June 14-17. The surviving Jackson 5 brothers -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon -- will headline the festival and receive a key to the city. But Jackie and Marlon, on hand for the Thursday announcement, were surprised that the street was being named just for their late younger brother and indicated there might be a change.

Marlon told Billboard that the street was "supposed to be" named for the entire group and added that "I think it is going to be that. There was a mistake." A Detroit city ordinance requires any honorary street naming to be for an individual only, but sources said that talks were underway to allow for an exception to that. Festival founder and producer Vince Paul explained, "I'd like to do the other four brothers individually. It seemed appropriate to start with Michael because of his premature passing, so that's the first one we'll start with. But if I had my druthers there'll be [streets named for] Tito, Jackie, Marlon. That's where I'm going with it."

Aretha Franklin was the recipient of a street naming before last year's Detroit Music Weekend. Altering the ordinance will also allow the festival to name streets for other legendary Detroit acts, such as The Temptations, Four Tops and Supremes without controversy.
The two Jacksons were nonetheless happy to be returning to Detroit for the festival, especially during the anniversary year of their arrival at Motown. "We should have a music festival here," Jackie said. "This is the music city. This is where the music comes from. Everybody talks about the Motown sound all over the world, so we should have a music festival here." Marlon added, "We're looking forward to it. Music is universal. It all accomplishes the same thing -- unity, happiness, love, peace. That's what music is about and that's what Detroit is about, too."

In addition to the Jacksons' free public performance on June 16, a tribute concert to the group will take place the night before, with former Jacksons and Michael Jackson keyboardist Greg Phillinganes co-directing the band with Kern Brantley.

Detroit Music Weekend will also feature more than 500 performers on five stages during the Saturday program, including former Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner, Emmy-winning actor and recording artist Jeff Daniels and his son Ben Daniels' Band, and the Craig Brown Band. Full information is available at DetroitMusicWeekend.org.
Source. Billboard

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https://www.freep.com/story/entertai...wnd/617997002/

DETROIT -- Joining the likes of Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, pop icon Michael Jackson will soon have a Detroit street named after him.

In announcement made Thursday afternoon, city officials revealed that a portion of Randolph Street will be renamed Michael Jackson Avenue as part of the Detroit Music Weekend next month.

The four-day festival will also feature a performance by the four living Jackson brothers -- Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine -- on June 16. Other announced acts for the festival include Grand Funk Railroad's Mark Farner, Chelsea native Jeff Daniels, Craig Brown and Will Sessions.

The Jackson Five have a deep history with the city having been signed to Motown in 1968 and recording the groups biggest hits during their seven-year stint with the label.

Marlon and Jackie Jackson were both on hand for the announcement of the street this morning.

The Michael Jackson announcement is just the latest in a series of streets in the city being named after music icons with ties to the area. Along with Franklin and Wonder, Eagles lead singer Glen Frey has also been honored with a street being named after him.






Randolph between Gratiot and Madison in downtown Detroit will be renamed “Michael Jackson Avenue” as part of Detroit Music Weekend, city officials and organizers of Detroit Music Weekend, June 14-17, announced Thursday at a news conference. The weekend event, June 14-17, will include 500 acts and a shopping day Saturday featuring Detroit merchandise and some 100 restaurants.

The naming of the street might have hit a roadblock, though. After the event, Marlon Jackson told The Detroit News that the street will be named after the Jackson 5. “We’ll work that out,” he said, as brother Jackie nodded.

The Jacksons, who signed a contract with Motown in 1968, will be honored with a key to the city and a tribute concert June 14. They will perform as The Jacksons on June 15 at the festival.

Marlon and Jackie Jackson spoke at the event, which touted Detroit's "Entertainment District," the cluster of downtown venues that includes three major sports stadiums, four sports teams, and several theaters, all within blocks.

“We spent most of 1969 here in Detroit, staying at Bobby Taylor’s apartment, and rehearsing,” said Jackie Jackson, laughing. “We signed to Motown in 1968, but nobody believed us. They said, when is your record coming out?”

“We recorded all these songs ... but then our first four records went to No. 1.”

“This is Detroit — you have Big Sean, Eminem, Aretha... it should have a music festival,” Jackie Jackson added.

In March, Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts announced that the free, outdoor event would return for a second year June 14-17 with headlining acts the Jacksons, Michigan-raised actor Jeff Daniels and Mark Farner of Flint’s Grand Funk Railroad.

“The purpose of Detroit Music Weekend is to articulate the impact our creativity has on our economy,” said Vince Paul, founding director of the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.

At last year's Detroit Music Weekend, the city honored Aretha Franklin with a street named in her honor and the key to the city of Detroit. This year, The Jacksons and the Jackson family will receive the key to the city at 8 p.m. June 15.

The city is working on officially designating the Entertainment District to highlight downtown's theaters and other entertainment venues.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/en...end/617573002/

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https://www.freep.com/story/entertainme ... 695488002/
Michael Jackson street naming canceled in Detroit
Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press Published 2:09 p.m. ET June 13, 2018 | Updated 4:55 p.m. ET June 13, 201

An honorary street designation for Michael Jackson in Detroit has been called off.

Michael Jackson Avenue was scheduled to be unveiled Friday along a stretch of Randolph Street in the city's theater district. The naming ceremony was announced last month during a media event for the Detroit Music Weekend festival, which will feature the surviving Jacksons as headliner on Saturday night.

But the Jackson camp was apparently caught off guard by the announcement. The group had been under the impression the entire Jackson 5 — not just Michael Jackson — would be honored with a Detroit street.

The hitch: An amendment passed last year by Detroit City Council prohibits ceremonial street designations for organizations or groups. The decision to go with Michael Jackson Avenue was "a compromise," Stephen Grady, chief of staff for council president Brenda Jones, said at the time.

Marlon and Jackie Jackson, on hand for the May press event, told reporters that day they hoped the entire group would be recognized when all was said and done. The Jacksons are guests of Music Hall, which produces Detroit Music Weekend. Honorary street designations are overseen by Detroit City Council.
Now the street naming has been tabled altogether, as the city council seeks a solution. The unveiling ceremony, scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, has been deleted from the Detroit Music Weekend itinerary.

"We're still working through the process," Grady said Wednesday. "The amendment to the ordinance is fairly new, and we're trying to understand what we can do. We still plan to do something for the Jackson 5."

Michael Jackson Avenue would have been around the corner from Aretha Franklin Way, a stretch of Madison Street designated for the Queen of Soul at last summer's inaugural Detroit Music Weekend.

The festival will run Thursday-Sunday, with a slate of free music on Saturday that will include Mark Farner, Jeff Daniels and the Jacksons. The festival's main stage will be situated alongside Madison Street, between Music Hall and the Detroit Opera House.

The Jackson 5 signed with Motown Records 50 years ago this summer, following the group's audition in Detroit.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

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Michael Jackson street naming scrapped
By Afp

Published: 01:43 BST, 14 June 2018

An honorary street naming in Detroit for the King of Pop was canceled Wednesday.

Michael Jackson Avenue was supposed to be officially unveiled Friday in Motor City, just as the late artist's surviving brothers prepared to perform at a weekend concert.

But the ceremony was called off, as members of the Jackson 5 -- the family act where Michael Jackson got his start -- wondered why the entire group wasn't being honored.

Under city rules, honorary street names cannot be granted to groups or organizations, only persons, the Detroit Free Press newspaper reported.

A city official told the newspaper that the naming ceremony was called off while a solution is sought.

"We're still working through the process," Stephen Grady told the Free Press.

The street naming was announced in mid-May with much fanfare and two of the Jackson 5 present at a news conference.

The tribute was to come 50 years after the family group birthed their career with a successful recording contract audition in Detroit, which has a rich history of nurturing American artists.

But Marlon and Jackie Jackson told reporters at the May event that they wanted the entire group to be honored.

Michael Jackson, who started with the group, went on to become one of the most famous performers in pop music history.

He died in 2009 at the age of 50 from a fatal dose of drugs, including the powerful anesthetic propofol.

Had the street naming gone ahead, the King of Pop's honorary stretch of road would have been near the one named after the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin. Her street naming was last year.





Shame that jealousy seems to rear its ugly head again.

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