The associate choreographer for Michael Jackson's comeback tour says that the 50-year-old performer "was at his best" before his sudden death last week. “He really was in good shape, he was moving well," Stacy Walker tells EW. Walker worked with choreographer Travis Payne on the "This Is It" tour that Jackson would have headlined in London this summer. "I don’t know what he was feeling on the inside but he certainly looked good on the outside. He was very, very up and happy. We all know he wasn’t a big guy. He was always very lean. Oddly enough, his best rehearsals were his last two on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. That’s where all the magic happened. We were all like, 'Wow!’ It was stunning and ironic that he was at his best, right before he left us.”
Walker says she and Payne were rehearsing the show's 11 dancers at Staples Center in Los Angeles when they heard the news about Jackson. "We were waiting for Michael to come," Walker recalls. "None of us believed it. You know, there’s so much craziness around Michael’s life, so we are pretty good at sticking with the truth. We didn’t truly believe anything until our director Kenny Ortega got an official call."
Talks are still ongoing over whether to continue Jackson's show in some form. "We’re hoping to still do something," says Walker. "I don’t really know what that is at this point because it’s all very fresh, but all of us feel the need to somehow spread his message because he had a big message. It was very important to Michael for people to get along without judgment and make this world a better place. Without sounding corny, it was about taking care of each other. We’re all very hopeful we’ll be able to do something and honor his life and get his message out there."
Steven Spielberg has released this statement about the death of Michael Jackson exclusively to EW:
"Just as there will never be another Fred Astaire or Chuck Berry or Elvis Presley, there will never be anyone comparable to Michael Jackson. His talent, his wonderment and his mystery make him legend."
"Last Friday I was surprised to find out that songs I recorded back in 2005 were being released. Since then I discovered the entire track listing, revealed online today. I was shocked to learn that songwriting demos of songs that I co-wrote and recorded over the past few years may be released in an album. Like a rough draft that a writer does before finishing a book, I did not intend my work on these demos to be heard by the public. I was unaware that anyone intended to release these recordings until I heard about it in the press, and I'm very disappointed by this entire situation."
In other news pertaining to the popular Idol alumnus, a source close to the singer revealed exclusively to EW.com that Lambert recently met with acclaimed producer Linda Perry (Christina Aguilera, Pink, James Blunt); had writing sessions with Idol judge and in-demand songwriter Kara DioGuardi and Grammy nominated Sam Sparro ("Black and Gold"); and hit the studio with One Republic's Ryan Tedder, the white-hot tunesmith behind Leona Lewis'
"Bleeding Love," Beyonce's "Halo," and Jordin Sparks' latest single
"Battlefield." It was previously reported that Lambert laid down some tracks with Lady Gaga producer RedOne.
Follow EW's 'American Idol' updates and news on Twitter: @EWMichaelSlezak
Outside UCLA Medical Center, where Michael Jackson was pronounced dead earlier today, the crowd has been growing for hours. In the middle of about 500 fans and journalists, an argument broke out between a hardcore fan and another man. The fan, who had brought his boom box to blast Jackson's "Heal the World," was telling EW.com how much Jackson had changed the face of music when another man approached the fan and said, "You're full of s---! Do you think he was a good man or that he was good for children unfortunate enough to cross his path?" The fan looked furious, but responded, "I choose to look at the positive."
Across the street from the medical center, the fraternity brothers at UCLA's Sigma Alpha Epsilon house were choosing to look at the positive, too. They opened their doors and windows and began blaring Jackson music for the crowd. “We know that a lot of people out here care about him," said SAE member, Edwin Alvarado, 20. "So we thought we might as well play music for them, and as a way to commemorate him.” Asked if Alvarado and his pals had dug through old CDs to find the Jackson tunes, Alvardo said no. "We all have his songs on our iPods." (Reported by Christine Spines and John Young)
Sources close to MTV and Sacha Baron Cohen tell EW that the infamous stunt on the show between Eminem and the Bruno star was staged, with Eminem's consent and participation. The sources confirm rampant speculation that the rapper simply must have known that the comedian, dressed in a thong and angel's wings as his flamboyantly gay alter ego Bruno, would fall from a high-wire harness onto the rapper's lap and straddle his face.
Meanwhile, comedy writer Scott Aukerman, who says he was the head comedy writer for the awards show, also claims on his blog that "the Bruno/Eminem incident was staged," explaining "they rehearsed it at dress and yes, it went as far as it did on the live show."
Microsoft recruited some heavy hitting pop-culture icons for its annual E3 videogame conference press presentation this morning in Los Angeles. Surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, helped announce the launch of The Beatles Rock Band. Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg showed up to tout a new controller system in which players use just their bodies to manipulate the game on their TV.
McCartney, Starr, Ono, and Harrison all made brief appearances to help plug the newest version of the popular Rock Band franchise, which will hit stores on Sept. 9 (you know, 9/9/09), which just happens to be the same day on which CDs of the entire Beatles digitally remastered catalog will arrive on shelves. (The game will also be available for Sony's Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.) "The game is good, the graphics are very good, and we were great," said Starr. After watching a demo of the game, featuring Sims-like avatars of the Fab Four, McCartney joked, "I'd never thought I'd see myself as an android." A total of 45 songs -- including "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "Daytripper," and "Here Comes the Sun" -- will be available on the game itself, and players will be able to download entire albums off of XBox Live, starting with Abbey Road.
Microsoft then unveiled a new controlling system it had internally dubbed Project Natal, bringing out Spielberg to (quickly) sing its praises. Think of it as the Nintendo Wii's motion-sensitive controller, but without the controller: A special camera in front of your TV will recognize your face and match your body's movements to your character's movements within the game. "It's not about reinventing the wheel, it's about no wheel at all," said Spielberg, who noted he'd first seen the technology two months ago and is currently developing games for it. As for when regular Joe gamers would get their chance to use this newest toy and how much that toy would run them, Microsoft wouldn't say, but the company did promise that its attempt to win some of the Wii's market share would be fully compatible with current XBox 360 systems.
The company also announced several new games, including a new Halo game for fall 2010, and plans to incorporate Facebook and Twitter into XBox Live. (Reporting by John Young)
Twenty-five years after This is Spinal Tap made them almost-famous, the band responsible for Smell the Glove and Break Like the Wind is back...from the dead. Not literally, of course, but Back From the Dead, their first album since 1992, is due June 16. In his first interview to promote the album, which includes "improved" versions of classic Spinal Tap songs like "Big Bottom" and "Stonehenge," guitarist Nigel Tufnel (né Christopher Guest) gets philosophical about life, death, and drummers. We also have an exclusive clip of Tufnel in the studio with lead singer David St. Hubbins and bassist Derek Smalls, embedded below. And be sure to pick up a copy of the new Entertainment Weekly this Friday and check out our exclusive First Look image of the band in the recording studio.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Just a few years ago, you were in the countryside raising miniature horses. Had you given up thinking about Spinal Tap or—
NIGEL TUFNEL: Oh, no. Never. Always playing. Always playing music and writing. Stuff like that. Horses are the diversion.
So the reunion was always something very much in the front of your mind?
Well, I don’t really have anything in the front, literally, of my mind. Everything’s sort of swilling around in the back area. If there’s stuff in front, you know, it gets all junked up a bit, you know.
What was the impetus for getting the band back together, and what made the three of you think this new album was a good idea?
Well, I don’t know if it is a good idea. It’s fun. We have some new stuff on it which people haven’t heard, which I hope they like. So the impetus was fun dot dot dot.
Rap is finally getting the Ray treatment. New Line is developing Straight Outta Compton, an urban drama about N.W.A. (a.k.a. Niggaz With Attitude), the hip hop group that helped pioneer the gangsta rap movement in the '80s and early '90s. The project will chronicle the rise and fall of the rap quartet, founded by Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and MC Ren, whose songs were so incendiary (i.e. "F--- tha Police") they were banned from radio playlists but still sold millions of albums. Then came the inevitable fiery breakup, a grudge match between the former bandmates, and Eazy-E's tragic death due to AIDS. The film's producers, which include Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Tomica Wright (Eazy-E's widow), and Circle of Confusion entertainment, are now actively searching for a director along the lines of Curtis Hanson (8 Mile).
Fox has confirmed reports that the Top 13 finalists on American Idol will tackle Michael Jackson (his music, not the man) in their first performances on the main Idol stage next Tuesday, March 10. Several contestants told EW.com at last night's Top 13 party in Los Angeles that they were excited and more than a bit nervous to take on the King of Pop's catalog, but it was unclear at the time when that night would fall in Idol's schedule. "Michael Jackson might be coming up," said contestant Kris Allen, "which would be kinda fun, but scary as well since I actually did a Michael Jackson song [in the semifinal round]."
A rep for the show says Jackson will not be mentoring the contestants, but was mum about whether Jackson would be making an appearance, replying only, "Not to my knowledge." Meanwhile, Kanye West and original American Idol Kelly Clarkson are scheduled to perform on Wednesday's elimination show.
In the monthlong media blitz following 21-year-old pop star Rihanna's alleged Feb. 8 beating by her 19-year-old R&B beau Chris Brown, the duo's case has certainly been tried in the court of public opinion. But according to the latest news, the charges have yet to reach the bench. Will they ever, what with recent reports
that the onetime lovebirds are back together?
After being spotted at one of Sean "Diddy" Combs' homes on Miami Beach's Star Island -- Brown was repeatedly photographed; Rihanna was not -- the duo flew back on March 2 to L.A., where Brown had been scheduled to appear at an arraignment three days later. When contacted on March 3, however, the Los Angeles Police Department said that the case was still under investigation and had not yet been moved to the district attorney's office -- a necessary step for arraignment.
What isn't necessary to press charges in cases of domestic violence: the victim's cooperation. According to Nancy Lemon, the director of the UC Berkeley School of Law's Domestic Violence Law Practicum,
it's "extremely typical" for domestic violence victims to opt out of
testifying against their abusers, and Lemon says there is at least one
academic study that indicates that conviction rates actually go up when
the victim does not appear in court. "Probably 80 percent of the time
in the United States, domestic violence victims either don't testify at
all, or if they do testify, they may testify for the defense," says
Lemon, who emphasized that she was speaking generally and was not
familiar with the details of Brown's alleged crime.
In the monthlong media blitz following 21-year-old pop star Rihanna's alleged Feb. 8 beating by her 19-year-old R&B beau Chris Brown, the duo's case has certainly been tried in the court of public opinion. But according to the latest news, the charges have yet to reach the bench. Will they ever, what with recent 
