Jackson 'speaks' from beyond the grave

The voice sounded like a recording played back on very slow speed. It was as if Michael Jackson was speaking from beyond the grave.

In slurred, sometimes incoherent words, the King of Pop said, "My performances will be up there helping my children and always be my dream."

He was referring to This Is It, a package of 50 concerts he had planned to perform in London to mark his comeback.

The tape segment, lifted from a conversation between Michael and his physician, Conrad Murray in May 2009, a month before his death, was played back at the trial last week of Murray in Los Angeles.

Murray is accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael. If convicted he could spend as much as four years in prison. The trial is covered live on television.

The prosecution is trying to establish that Murray administered the powerful anesthetic propofol to Michael and caused his death. Murray’s lawyers say Michael injected himself with an extra dose of the anesthetic after the doctor had left him.

In the recording, Michael also mentioned his children. "I love them because I didn't have a childhood. I had no childhood. I feel their pain," he said.

He said he wanted the concert “to be phenomenal.”

Listening to the tape during the trial drove Michael’s brother Jermaine to tears.

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Vicki Belo is so excited about getting married the celebrity doctor bought three wedding gowns to choose from.

Vicki first bought a Monique Lhuillier gown because she liked the one that Regine Velasquez had worn when she tied the knot. Then she fell for a Givenchy. But her fiancée Hayden liked a Valentino, so she bought that too.

Hayden says the wedding is scheduled for next year, and definitely it will be held in another country. I’m guessing Paris.

Hayden also says he has made peace with Vicki’s son, Quark Henares. For a long time the doctor’s children had not approved of the relationship and were wary of Hayden.

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Both AJ Muhlach and Nadine Lustre are excited about reprising the Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion starrer P.S. I Love You as a teleseries on TV5.

AJ and Nadine is the latest love team being pushed by Viva’s Big Boss Vic del Rosario.

AJ is the younger brother of Aga Muhlach, now a certified Kapatid. Nadine started out as a commercial endorser before joining Pop Stars. She and AJ are the mainstays of Bagets, TV5’s Sunday afternoon offering.

AJ is 18 years old and –get this – was taking up Applied Physics at UST before showbiz beckoned. He also took up Culinary Arts at the American Hospitality Academy.

AJ was also into music, being a member of the band XLR8.

And did you know that he used to weigh 250 pounds? That’s heavy enough to qualify him for Biggest Loser. But look at AJ now – a trim 146 pounds, thanks to a strict diet, gym and dancing.

“I want to shed a few more pounds,” AJ told me when I met up with him at the Viva office.

Nadine has had screen stints before, in Petrang Kabayo and Who’s That Girl. With Boss Vic managing their career, there is no question AJ and Nadine will make it big as a love team.

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The Cinema Evaluation Board gave an “A” grade to Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, one of the winners in the recent Sinemalaya film festival. The film weaves dance, poetry and song into a tapestry of understated eroticism. It stars Jean Garcia as a literature teacher and dance teacher, and Paulo Avelino and Rocco Nacino as her students.

Ang Sayaw, according to some film critics, could very well represent the return to a golden age in Philippine cinema.