I’m back in Montreal and just ran into Griffy, the highly strung, sixtyish intellectual who works as janitor for the building where I live. He’s always watching cable news and he loves to pour out his thoughts, so he gave me an earful about developments in the Jackson story. And I must say they sounded great. Well, not “great,” because they’re kind of horrible, but fascinating and therefore the elements of a great story. MJ weighed 112 pounds, was covered with needle tracks, and had lost all his hair [update, no it was “thinning” and “greying,” per Ian Halperin], and there’s likely to be a custody fight over his kids, who are white because Michael not only hired a mother to have them, he also hired someone to provide the seed (what?). And Michael’s mother was asking an au pair or someone where MJ hid cash around the house. Somebody bought Neverland a while back and renamed it, but now is renaming it back in hopes of creating a Graceland-style tourist shrine and … all sorts of things. Amazing things. [update, MJ selected his kid companions from the snapshots sent in by hopeful parents across the country. Staff would pick likely photos and send them on to MJ; they threw out all the shots of girls. Source here isn’t Halperin, just Griffy and his tv viewing.] As tabloid/cable news spectacles go, this is l’edition supreme, a specimen so gorgeous it makes all others look like dim preparation. A great story, or a conglomeration of great stories, each one ready to hatch progeny that will continue until there’s a cable network dedicated to covering nothing but MJ fallout.