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Dancing on the
Jetty: The Death of Michael Hutchence, et al.
POP EATS IT
YOUNG, THAT'S FOR SURE -- MICHAEL HUTCHENCE ON KURT COBAIN
On November 22,
1997, the day Michael Hutchence was found tethered by the neck to a door
fixture at
the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Sydney,
Australia, Reuters placed his death in context: "If Michael
Hutchence's death is eventually ruled a suicide, the INXS vocalist would
join a long list of rockers who have taken their own lives ...
Joy Division singer Ian Curtis built a career on songs filled with
angst, paranoia and death. After making inspired hits such as 'She's
Lost Control,' 'Transmission,' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart,' he
hanged himself in his Manchester, England home in 1980. Richard
Manuel, pianist and vocalist with the Band, hanged himself in a
Florida hotel room a month shy of his 43rd birthday in March
1986. Little had gone right for him since the group broke up in 1976,
and a subsequent reunion -- without main man Robbie
Robertson -- further depressed him. ... Psychological problems
may have played a part in the 1979 death of soul-pop singer Donny
Hathaway, who fell to his death from a 15th floor hotel room in New York
City. Hathaway, who was 34, best known for his duets with
Roberta Flack ..."
The mortality rate among rock musicians
-- who, as a group
receive more than a share of capital, sexual gratification, and public
adoration -- is extremely high. Depression is often cited as the
prelude to death among these pitiful creatures. Of course, Michael
Hutchence was despondent over a custody battle and destroyed
himself. Case clos ...
But hold the phone, if you please. Kym Wilson, a friend of the
vocalist's, spent some five hours with him the morning he died. She
was the last person to see him alive and reported, "He was concerned
about the custody hearing but I wouldn't say he was depressed. His
attitude was that he believed he was right and that he and Paula
should get custody of the children and if they didn't have luck this
time, they would keep fighting on. I never for one instant think he
thought that would be the end." Hutchence had spoken "with such
excitement of his future -- I had really never seen him with so much to
look forward to." [1]
God hides in the details, so before rushing this case file to the
"Day the Music Died" morgue, one last check for Him in the flotsam
of details related to a very peculiar death is in order. There was no
inquest. Friends of Hutchence told investigators that the
"happy/depressed" rock singer was "involved in kinky sex over the
years," and though it's fairly certain that he was not the first rock
musician to indulge in "kinky sex," authorities explored auto-eroticism
as the cause of death.
The salacious indictment originated with Australian police,
appeared in the New York Post, took on a life of its own, gathered
momentum on the newswires, sprinted across the airwaves and barreled through the world media machine.
On December 24, police
spokesmen announced that they were anxious to quash this ugly
rumor. Argumentative "paranoids" might ask why this particular bit
of speculation was fed to the press in the first place. The "mainstream" media ran with it
-- and both passed the buck to the tabloid
press, as El News Online reported: "Authorities have not officially ruled
Hutchence's case a suicide, although that's where they've indicated
they're leaning, in spite of tabloid reports that the 37-year old singer
accidentally hung himself while practicing an oxygen-deprivation
masturbation game."
Two weeks after his death, INXS members called a press conference to complain about a cover story on their late lead vocalist entitled "Auto-Eroticism
-- the Sex that Kills," in New Weekly magazine.
The article played on the conjecture that Hutchence did not
commit suicide but hung himself accidentally. The stills, lewd S&M
bondage scenes, were shot by fashion photographer Helmut
Newton two weeks before Hutchence died. The magazine's cover
featured a photo of Hutchence chained, a ravishing tart, barely clad
in leather, arching over him. Another portrayed the tart wearing a
saddle, with Hutchence the domineering equestrian. Surviving
INXSers announced that they were considering legal action. A
spokesman for the band found the article "incredibly insensitive."
[2] It
was a smear reminiscent of Albert Goldman's postmortem demolition jobs.
All around, it was a damned peculiar death. Senior Constable
Mark Hargreaves of the New South Wales Police media unit, asked
by reporters why Hutchence was naked when he hung himself,
replied: "It was early in the morning, he could have just gotten out of
bed. It's hard to determine if he did iton purpose or by accident."
[3]
He didn't leave a
suicide note behind. [4]
The night of his death, Hutchence had dinner with his father and
stepmother at a local Indian restaurant. They laughed throughout the
meal. His father expressed concern about Michael's personal problems, but was reassured,
"Dad, I'm fine."
The INXS vocalist "was an unlikely candidate for suicide," noted
Glenn Baker, an Australian pop music historian. "He was the consummate rock star. He took on the role of a star so comfortably. He
floated above the pressures. Why he would choose this moment to
throw in the towel I think will always remain a mystery." Ian "Molly"
Meldrum, a television celebrity in Australia and close friend, said he
last saw the singer in Los Angeles eight weeks before Meldrum told
reporters: "He seemed so happy and at peace, and even said to me,
'I've never been happier in my life." [5]
Zinta Reindel and Tamara Brachmanis, guests at the Ritz during
Hutchence's last stay there, talked to him the night before his
"suicide," and recalled, "He looked like he was a bit high on something
... but he was happy." Why not? He was branching out into a
thespian career in a Quentin Tarantino production and working on a
solo album. His daughter was to be christened soon. Why abandon
her without so much as a note?
Significant
details were excluded from most press accounts.
Corporate outlets reported: "SYDNEY, Australia -- Michael
Hutchence, the lead singer for the rock band INXS, was found dead
Saturday in a Sydney hotel ... shortly after midday. The INXS front
man was in Australia preparing for the band's 20th anniversary tour.
His body was discovered by a maid when she went to make up the
room. Prescription pills were found scattered over the floor of his
suite and there were bottles of alcohol on a sideboard." [6]
Pills, mostly antibiotics, Prozac,
booze and a hotel room in a state of
squalor -- a death scene completely
consistent with suicide. Hutchence
died of asphyxiation. His body was
still warm when he was found suspended from a door, the leather
belt looped around his neck.
Music critic David Fricke,
writing in Rolling Stone, supplemented the standard metro daily
obituary: "His body bore the marks
of a severe beating (a broken hand,
a split lip, lacerations)."
[7]
MICHAEL HUTCHENCE
Yet Australian police found "no evidence" of foul play. Derek
Hand, the new South Wales coroner, stated without reservation: "The
standard required to conclude that his death was a suicide has been
reached." [10] But the coroner's report did not address the protruding
contradictions. Did Hutchence break his own hand? Did he bludgeon
himself until his lip bled, then beat himself into a pulp, and by doing
so break bones in his hand? Then how, with one good hand and the
other in excruciating, throbbing pain, did he manage to loop the belt
through the door brace and around his neck securely enough to hang?
The coroner didn't address the lingering questions, but was so confident of his verdict that he advised against an investigation: "Nothing
will be gained by holding a formal inquest," he concluded. A homicide probe would consume unwarranted "time and expense."
Case clos ... but, please, one more small peek at the record.
The "suicide" verdict may have been self-evident to a trained
medical examiner, but it wasn't universally accepted. Paula Yates
appeared on Australian television in March, 1998 to declare publicly
that she sought legal advice to contest the finding. She said that Hutchence considered suicide the most cowardly act in the world. "I
will be making it abundantly clear that because of information that I
and only I could know about, I cannot accept the verdict. And I won't
have my child grow up thinking that her father left her, not knowing
the way he loved her." She acknowledged that Hutchence may have
been depressed, but Hutchence's infant daughter was his passion, his
"reason to live."
"In no way do I accept the coroner's verdict of suicide."
[9]
The Devils
Outside
Whatever Paula and only Paula knew, it's certain that the name
Michael Hutchence appeared on more than one enemies list.
Hutchence was a political activist.
His will designated Amnesty
International and Greenpeace as the benefactors of the lion's share of
his assets. And like many popular musicians on the left, the authorities harassed and set him up for a fall. In a July 1998 interview that
appeared in a fan newsletter, Colin Diamond, Hutchence's attorney
and former executor of his estate, was asked about the vocalist's
September 1996 opium bust and his defense that the narcotic was
planted by police.
"Perhaps you should try and figure it out for yourself!" Diamond
snapped. "Michael and Paula were out of the country and during that
time only a few people had any real access to the place: Bob Geldof,
Anita Debney, the nanny who used to work for Bob for twelve or so
years, and a woman called Gerry Agar, who had developed a grudge
against both Paula and Michael. The police were called days after the
nanny claimed she'd found two Smarty packets with opium in them.
Geldof immediately had a new custody application before the courts,
'in light of recent events.' The local police and prosecutors had the
media on their case. There was enormous pressure on them, but even
they had to admit something was a bit fishy. [The court] dropped all
charges, remember, and Michael was issued with a certificate of non-prosecution by the Crown."
When asked if Hutchence "got off" fairly, Diamond snapped
again: "Got off, GOT OFF?? I think the question should be who tried
to get him on. You figure it out!" [11] The barrister turned on his
interrogator again when asked about the late singer's complicated
finances, the "missing millions" reported by the Australian press:
Q: You've copped a bit of a hiding in the press as some sort of financial Svengali to Michael, with suggestions that, with regards to his
estate, all is not as it should be. You've refused point-blank to speak
to
the media before this, so let me ask you directly: Where's the money?
Diamond: None of your business. That's the point; it's private. Don't
you guys get it? It's PRIVATE.
The word "private" is not to be found in the dictionary used by
most daily news reporters -- seven months later Australia's Courier-Mail found the "missing millions," and a horribly intriguing
"Mafia Tie
To Rock Star's Lost Riches."
It was reported that Hutchence "was involved
in property dealings with a company allegedly connected to the Mafia. Bruno
Romeo Sr., an alleged high-ranking member of the L'Onorata Societa,
or Calabrian mafia, and his family are current and former directors
of a company which sold a Gold Coast bowling alley for $2.25
million to a trustee company linked to the former INXS front man.
A police intelligence report alleged Romeo was a key member of
Italian organized crime groups." The National Crime Authority, in
search of cocaine, descended upon the bowling alley in 1995.
"Company records indicate Harbrick Pty. Ltd., whose former directors include Bruno 'The Fox' Romeo, a convicted drug dealer, also
borrowed $270,000 as part of the deal." Colin Diamond "signed the
earlier loan documents."
Lawyers and accountants of Mafia-owned Harbrick were hauled
to court by Hutchence's mother, Patricia Glassop, and stepsister, Tina
Hutchence, in a bid to recoup millions of dollars in assets. Harbrick
Ltd., was the nexus in an intricate web of companies, some of them
based offshore. The purpose of the lawsuit was to force Harbrick to
declare an estimated $25 million in assets not included in the
Hutchence estate.
"The bowling alley at 378 Marine Pde., Labrador is one of five
multi-million dollar properties worldwide which Mrs. Glassop and Ms. Hutchence claim should have been included in the singer's estate
and divided according to his will," the newspaper reported. "The
NCA ... targeted a person associated with Harbrick." This would be
Bruno Romeo, Sr., 69, "jailed for 10 years in 1994 over his role as the
ringleader of an $8 million cannabis-growing operation on remote
pastoral leases in Western Australia." Bruno was a director of
Harbrick, a family-owned operation, "from 1988 to 1990. His son,
Bruno Lee Romeo, 42, who was jailed for eight and a half years in
Western Australia in 1987 for conspiring to cultivate a 1.5 hectare
cannabis crop, is still a director of the Queensland-registered firm.
The other director is Romeo Sr.'s son-in-law, Guiseppe 'Joe' Sergi, 42
... sentenced to five years jail after being convicted over a
marijuana
crop in 1982." [12]
Court documents revealed that the representatives of Harbrick in
the loan agreement also worked for a baroque score of offshore companies that helped themselves to the finances of Michael Hutchence.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on May 29, 1998, "both sides have
been told in writing that Hutchence had nothing to do with the
investments."
His mother and sister charged before the bench that the £16
million in dispute had been siphoned off by Colin Diamond.
Australian tax inspectors said that the vanishing funds meant that
his widow and daughter might not receive a cent of the inheritance. Outraged, the family filed suit in the Queensland Supreme Court
against Colin Diamond and Andrew Paul, Hutchence's Hong
Kong-based tax consultant. Companies in Australia, the United
Kingdom, France and the British Virgin Islands controlled the
singer's income.
In fact, the Hutchence clan complained that the pop singer had
relinquished most of his assets, including luxury automobiles and
property in the south of France, Australia and London. His
immense wealth had completely vanished into a black grotto of
investments and trust accounts, and most, perhaps all of these
firms, were managed through discretionary trusts administered by
Colin Diamond and Andrew Paul. Hutchence himself was penniless the day he allegedly looped a belt around his neck and found
oblivion.
Many of Hutchence's most cherished possessions "were not actually owned by him," noted the London Telegraph in April 1999, "but
were controlled by companies -- themselves under the control of
others. Beneficiaries have been told that only Mr. Hutchence's personal effects will be distributed to them."
[13]
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on March 8, 1998 that
Hutchence "died almost penniless. But up to $30 million worth of
property, cars, shares, bank accounts and income streams from his
music and publishing -- believed to have belonged to Hutchence -- is
held by obscure trusts in tax havens stretching from Hong Kong to
the British Virgin Islands." Closed hearings on the will were
requested by Andrew Paul, who had the temerity to ask that legal
expenses in the pending litigation be underwritten by the estate.
"The looming court battle has been variously reported as a 'squabble
over the estate' or 'the family contesting the will," complained the
Herald, "but this is not so. All members of the estranged family have
agreed that Hutchence's will ... was fair. What is disputed is the
claim by his executors that there is nothing in the Hutchence estate
to distribute." [14] Too much funny business, and still no investigation
of the singer's death. Reporter Vince Lovegrove, reports New Idea
Magazine, "was the last person to interview the rock star, and has
hinted at a conspiracy to cover up what really happened." [15]
The financial ties to the Calabrian Mafia raise the specter of
Michael Hutchence's close friend, Gianni Versace, the celebrated
fashion designer gunned down on the front steps of Casa Casuarina,
his palatial South Beach home, by a serial killer on July 15, 1997,
only five months before the INXS vocalist was found dead. Versace,
in fact, was raised in the south of Italy, a locale dominated by the
Calabrian Mafia. The Telegraph reports that Versace "would become
inflamed with rage at suggestions that he had links with the Mafia."
[16]
But another Telegraph story notes, "There have long been reports that
Versace, whose family comes from Calabria in southern Italy, had
been financially involved with the Mafia" (and so was Hutchence,
without his knowledge. "It had been rumoured that he borrowed
mob money to expand his business, and had been paying 'protection
money.'" [17]
In Europe, the press ran rampant with allegations of Versace's
Mafia connections. Newspapers in Italy and Ireland offered stories on
the designer and the Mob. The Russian Information Agency ran a feature
on the topic.
Then there was the dead mourning dove found lying beside
Versace's body. The dove was rumored to be a "hit man's calling card,"
but police denied there was any connection to the Mafia. Seems one
of the .40 caliber bullets that struck Hutchence's friend in the head
ricocheted off the front gate of his house, a police spokesman
explained, sending a lead fragment hurtling skyward. The fragment
struck a dove sailing overhead in the eye, killing it instantly. The
dove
(the reincarnation of John Connally?) plummeted to the gutter,
bounced and dropped beside Versace's dead body. [19]
But the conclusion of a private detective formerly employed by
the fashion designer was sharply at odds with the official verdict.
Frank Monte, an Australian P.I. -- and former recruiter of mercenaries
for the African campaigns of the 1960s -- told radio shock jock
Howard Stern and other interviewers that he was convinced "both
Versace and Cunanan were murdered by the Mob." He said that he'd
been hired by the designer to investigate the killing of a friend's
lover, and was recruited again to follow up on reports that employees
of his own company had been laundering mob money. The private
eye held that Versace was gunned down because he intended to turn
evidence of the laundering operation over to Italian police. Andrew
Cunanan, Monte insisted, was a patsy kidnapped and "suicided" to
provide the cover story. The investigator was so confident of the
Mafia connection that he publicly advised Cunanan, after Versace's
murder, to turn himself in or he would be next.
Ten days after the slaying of Versace, Monte told reporters:
"Nothing that has happened since then has changed my mind."
He could not shake
off certain unresolved discrepancies. Cunanon is reported to have stolen a
.40 caliber pistol and used it to
shoot Versace twice in the head and subsequently turned it on
himself. Cunanon was so badly disfigured by one blast that police
were unable to identify him at first -- but the same gun left two small,
pristine holes in Versace's skull. The private investigator was skeptical that the stolen gun could have produced drastically dissimilar
wounds, and complained that FBI ballistic tests had been "fudged."
[13]
The funeral of Gianni Versace in Milan Cathedral was attended
by Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales, a month before her own
death in a Parisian tunnel. As it happened, another social butterfly
and friend of Michael Hutchence with organized crime connections
was Dodi Fayed. Dodi's uncle was arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi of
Iran-Contra fame. Mohamed al-Fayed, Dodi's father, is "one of the
richest men in Britain," notes the St. Louis Tribune, "The source of al-
Fayed's wealth always has been somewhat murky. Born poor in
Alexandria, Egypt, he acquired a university education and married
Samira Kashoggi, sister of the fabulously wealthy Saudi Arabian arms
dealer. His brother-in-law gave al- Fayed his start in business by
putting him in charge of his furniture-importing interests in Saudi
Arabia," [20] He is said to have sicced Donna Rice on Gary Hart to sabotage
his bid for the Oval Office. Dodi and his uncle introduced
Marla Maples to Donald Trump. Denise Brown, a gadfly in organized
crime circles with a black book of mobbed up boyfriends, dated
Dodi. Al-Fayed and Adnan Khashoggi were closely associated with
the Sultan of Brunei, who has been accused by an American beauty
queen of presiding over a white slaver's harem.
Dodi Fayed and Diana Spencer were killed in a car crash on
August 31, 1997, four months before Michael Hutchence died.
Intelligence officials withhold files on the accident and have
steadfastly refused to declassify them. In November, 1998, in
response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the proprietors of the APBNews website, the National Security Agency confirmed that it had on file "39 NSA-originated and NSA-controlled
documents" concerning the crash, but "refused to release them." The
NSA insisted that the files were "top secret," and their release, it
seems, could bring about "exceptionally grave damage to the national
security." Press accounts of the secret files moved Al Fayed to undertake a series of lawsuits in Baltimore and Washington district courts
for their release. His demand included any intelligence that might be
cabbaged away in CIA, DIA and NSA files. Each agency was sued
separately in February 1999, and to date Fayed and the media have
been denied any classified files pertaining to deaths of his son and the
estranged princess. [21]
The Deep
Politics of Pop Music
Roger Bunn, director of the Music Industry Human Rights
Association (MIHRA) in the UK, lives in the eye of the corporate
music beast, and had his own perspective on the death of the core
member of INXS. These letters from Bunn were circulated to rock
musicians, journalists and researchers in late November, 1997. [22]
MIHRA
Talking Sense about Hutchence, News Reports
The Really Really Spoilt? The flight is over?
Paula Yates threw champagne over a Thai airport official who was
asking her to reboard the plane. Paula, out of her box on champers
and prescription drugs and in company with her lawyer and child
was smuggled out of her hotel to view the body of the recently
deceased. There is to be an airline report on the incident.
Pride of the Welsh, Tom Jones, has suggested that the band will "be
devastated" and Michael Hutchence "was a nice guy."
So that's it, huh? Death due to hanging?
Sorta unusual that, even for the music industry. Those wonderful featured artists. Really light up the sky
every now and then. Maybe we should consider making the poor darlings an endangered
species?
Think about this the next time you buy your next conglomerate
primitive/folk music. Every time you buy, every time you watch a
movie using well known material, you add strength to the cartel
monopolies, because nobody else is allowed (by their governments' lack of legislation and their ineffective inquiries and "monopolies
boards." And that, now he had "reached his peak," MH is probably
worth far more to his conglomerate dead than alive.
I spoke to a close friend tonight. He suggested that Paula was so
outta her head that Sir Bob had every legitimate right to keep an eye
on his kids. My friend was not a fan of "herself." In fact in the past he
had always avoided an introduction.
However, apart from being a less than mediocre music journalist
employed by the Cartel and lousy singer (for the Boomtown Rats), Sir
Bob is still being condemned by the industry's creative "cognicenti" of
using the kudos and money he obtained by reinventing and promoting himself with "LIVE AID" to gain his title.
He blamed Paula for just about everything to do with the situation
that lead to the strange death of a man who was probably one of the
"sub-normal featured artists" used by the industry to maintain it's
monopoly over 95 percent of the western world market.
MIHRA first came into contact with Michael after he had contacted
Central TV's, (now Carlton TV) John Pilger and David Munro in relation to "Death of a Nation," their doc about the genocide in East
Timor. He was after all ashamed of his nation's appeasement policies
on Indonesia. But like the rest of these elite musical figures, Michael
was isolated and uncontactable in person and so the proposed "INXS
benefit concert for ET" never took place.
Then MH became a waste of MIHRA's and British Coalition for
East Timor's time. In fact, to do such a concert would have laid the
band open to a court case by a well known UK promoter who was
looking to sue INXS as soon as they performed, as they had reneged
upon a previous contract to appear in London.
"The sexiest man alive," Michael was brash and brutal. He punched
the paparazzi who had locked on to the affair he was having with
Paula Yates, herself well used to controversy during her long (for
showbiz) marriage to "Bob" the TV tycoon.
The police are now seeking a man in his forties with a weird haircut
and beard, a taste for kudos and titles.
Pop saint Sir Robert Geldof of "LIVE AID" (or something even more
patronizing) should call his lawyer immediately, just in case.
"And where were you between the hours of
... Sir Robert?" Are
INXS fans now thinking of building another long living $ Shrine to
yet another isolated god of the paparazzi?
MH was 37 years old and although INXS was not selling conglomerate product as much as over their previous five year span, they had
gone back to Australia to plan yet another tour.
Featured artists are sometimes Very Strange, sometimes very
unprofessional "creators" indeed. The Stones are a much iconed
and imperfect example of the "kick back at society" role model
syndrome that now exists, not to enlighten society but simply to
make even more money. Similar to the overpowering ethic of the
six conglomerates.
The Music Publisher's Association rules the world of music and the
six conglomerate recording companies with their old friends MTV
and Rupert Murdoch in close association, they really really don't care
a damn about governments or legislation because the industry turns
over $12--billion a year. They can afford to be and are very generous
to both sides of any argument or national election.
Music is the third richest industry on the planet. To do this they
have to seek "talent" and provide the public with a marketing false god
syndrome so that it can consistently buy its products. But unlike sport
(if one gets the right invitations), the talent of an athlete will stand
a
chance of reaching the commercial surface. Whereas this may be a
difficult struggle for some athletes, in the music industry there is no
such thing as true competition.
Who judges what is good an what it not, the audience? The Artist
and Recording Manager from the record company down for a fleeting
visit to catch the band playing live? This person is probably readying
himself to fly for the weekend to Mex with a couple of groupies and
a few ounces of coke on one of his clients' accounts.
"Double indemnity" is a very tough clause indeed. Into this world
comes children on the make and the genuinely talented.
When an artist's "usefulness" to a conglomerate is over, things can
get a little "sticky." Lawyers tend to proliferate and costs
rise. Michael
Hutchence may have been "trouble" to deal with.
In recent years artists have begun and won more battles in the
courts than over the whole of the previous four decades. Artists, that
are said to be "difficult to work with," are winning and are becoming
"the norm." Sometimes, if I were a tycoon with a problem, maybe I
would think to myself, "I wish that little faker were dead, then I could
become his career."
Was Michael more trouble than he was worth? Tom Jones doesn't
think so. Tom says that "Michael was a sensible guy."
BIG and influential Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof ... journalist (ha!), he worked for "Melody Maker," one
of the papers OWNED by the six member Cartel ...
Bob and Midge Ure (a nice guy and ex-neighbour of ours) who
played in Ultravox started LIVE AID the concert that went around the
world and raised, millions and KUDOS and MONEY for the Third
World and the conglomerates as the guys got tons and tons of news
exposure when their careers were seriously faltering. Suddenly Brave
Bob was on every TV in the land, day after day.
So the Show/Music biz doyens got together and did the first big
Wembley Concert, they did not consider putting something together
like MIHRA outta this massive bundle of cash, they were the EXCLUSIVE FEATURED ARTISTS and were the "untouchables."
The promoter of LIVE AID, Harvey Goldsmith, also arranged the Concert
(some say on behalf of the UK and US Govts) for the Kurds after
Desert Storm.
Kids in a Serious Playground ...
So Midge and Bob got back into the world headlines saying, "I want
to stay in the background, outta the headlines" huh? Of course
Amnesty and the NGOs were very pleased with LIVE AID, and the
chaps all went off on a happy tour around Africa showing their "solidarity" with all the natives. So AFTER all the dosh had been made and
the limos paid for and the HARVEY GOLDSMITH (recently
honored) Promotion Agency got their good works publicized, the
money started to get dispersed.
Some LIVE AID money bought a ship full of SPOILT GRAIN from
an Indian businessman to go to SOMALIA or somewhere. As the
docks were on strike, the grain ship stayed in dock, the ship eventually left dock when strike finish, the ship arrived, Lo and Behold the
grain was discovered to be SPOILT, inedible, it cost LIVE AID millions, that's just one example, there may be others, we do not know
them, maybe one could begin to ask more loudly?
But where did it ALL go? Certainly some of the KURDISH
GROUPS wanted it to buy arms to stop Saddam H from exterminating their right to live where they choose and do the work that
George Bush and John Major, without the support of the 29 member
coalition, couldn't, or refused to do.
Which was to take out Saddam H. To the displeasure of Paul Simon
and some of the other artists appearing, the UK/US Govt bought
bread for the Kurds instead of bullets. So under John Major, Sir Bob
became a TV TYCOON. Sir Bob owns the production company that
does the BIG BREAKFAST SHOW for young people 5 days a week.
"Big Bob" they call him at the office. And it seems like TV power is
now his most favourite "toy" ...
Again under PM Major Sir Bob gained his title, Sir Bob of something
as one of the showbiz awards from the "Krown." Sir Bob doesn't
bother too much with being a "singer" anymore. Midge is now living
in Cal ... He probably can be contacted through his Cartel (RCA)
contract but we would rather not.
Right now Geldof now lives at his mansion in Kent and his house at
129. We have the address on file somewhere because when we started
MIHRA we wrote to the TOP HUNDRED PRS EARNERS IN THE
UK. One of the hundred we wrote to was Sir Bob. Only one
responded. Bob Geldof, the man of "vision" was Not that singular
person.
In fact the person who did write, really didn't write at all. And so
that's why MIHRA returned the tiny cheque from Mark Knopfler to
his manager ED BICKNELL. Head of AURA, the organization that
represents the UK Featured Artists in their indecently hasty chase for
the multi-millions of Euro royalties about to hit the UK after Brussels
started ruling on the lack of econ-system in the UK music industry
and the "policies" of the UK Musician's Union.
But you are not going to hear us saying that the death of Michael
Hutchence on the 21st November 1997 was a hit by the mob ...
Buddy Holly would only be the first.
MIHRA's sources also says that Cath, ex-girlfriend of Jimi Hendrix,
has exhausted herself trying to reopen an inquiry into his death and
as she is married to his doctor, has now given up. As it was through
this contact that Jimi became a star in the UK and later the world, I
suggest we take this as "gospel."
NOTES
1. Mike Gee, The Final Days of
Michael Hutchence, London Omnibus, 1998,
p. 152.
2. "INXS fury
at photos of bondage," South China Morning Post, December 11,
1997.
3. Gil Kaufman, "Police Say INXS Singer Left No Suicide Note," Music
News of the World, December 5, 1997.
4. Ibid.
5. Geoffrey Lee Martin, "Hutchence seemed so happy, say friends,"
London
Telegraph, Issue 914, November 24, 1997.
6. Gee, p. 150.
7. Ibid.
8. David Fricke, "The Devil Inside," Rolling Stone, January 22, 1998, p.
17.
9. Derek W. Hand, Inquest into the Death of Michael Kelland Hutchence,
February
6, 1998.
10. "Yates in Legal Move to Fight Suicide Verdict," London Telegraph,
March
30, 1998.
11. Diamond interview transcribed by Leah Sungenis, as INXS newsletter,
July
1998. In May 1998, six weeks after the suit was filed by Hutchence's
family against Diamond and co-executor Andrew Morrison Paul, the
Australian attorney told the Queensland Supreme Court that he wanted
to be released from any legal responsibility for administering the
estate.
The diversion of Hutchence's income makes hash of Diamond's boasts
of a bosom relationship with the late singer, and in fact the Morning
Herald reported on May 29, 1998 that Colin Diamond, "who has been
described as one of Hutchence's closest friends, did not attend the
funeral or the scattering of his ashes."
12. Paul Whittaker and Rory Callinan, "Mafia
Tie To Rock Star's Lost
Riches," The Courier-Mail, February 13, 1999.
13. Mark Chipperfield, "Hutchence family
fights for 'missing' fortune,"
Sunday Telegraph, April 19, 1998.
14. Ian Verrender, "Fight begins for control of Hutchence assets,"
Sydney Morning Herald, March, 8, 1998.
15. Leigh Reinhold, "Angry Kim
-- I didn't kill Michael -- A year later, Kym
Wilson is still haunted by Michael Hutchence's death," New Idea
Magazine, Always INSX website.
16. Caroline Davies, "'Boy Raised Among the Brothels Who Became a
Fashion Star," London Telegraph, July 16, 1997.
17. James Langton, "Did Mafia silence Versace to hide financial
scandal?"
Sunday Telegraph, July 27, 1997.
18. "FBI Hunt Gay Serial Killer After Versace Shot Dead," London
Telegraph, July 16, 1997.
19. Bruce Taylor Seeman, "A murder theory takes wing: 'Dead bird clue'
fosters speculation," Miami Herald, July 27, 1997.
20. Anonymous, "Dodi's Royal Romance Was Coup for Father," Salt Lake
Tribune, September 3, 1997.
21. Tami Sheheri, "Al-Fayed Demands Spy Agency's Diana Files,"
APBNewscom, April 19, 1999.
22. Open correspondences from Roger Bunn, MIHRA, November 24 and
30, 1997.
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