(Friday, 3 July 2009) Legendary producer and composer Quincy Jones says in a magazine interview that he thinks his longtime friend Michael Jackson didn't want to be black.

Jones, who produced many of the King of Pop's most successful hits including the groundbreaking album "Thriller," said to BBC Wales television that losing his friend was like losing a part of his soul. Jones also spoke earlier about his grief, and his thoughts on Michael's changing color, to Details magazine in an interview published online. Here is an excerpt:

DETAILS: Have you been crying?
QUINCY JONES: Oh, man, it's more than that. It's way more than that. It hurts my soul, man. It's just a lump down there.

D: You were there to witness the strange evolution in Michael's appearance. Did you ever step in and saying anything about it?
QJ: Oh, we talked about it all the time. But he'd come up with, "Man, I promise you I have this disease," and so forth, and "I have a blister on my lungs," and all that kind of b.s. It's hard, because Michael's a Virgo, man--he's very set in his ways. You can't talk him out of it. Chemical peels and all that stuff.

D: Did you believe him about the disease?
QJ: I don't believe in any of that bull****, no. No. Never. I've been around junkies and stuff all my life. I've heard every excuse. It's like smokers--"I only smoke when I drink" and all that stuff. But it's bull****. You're justifying something that's destructive to your existence. It's crazy. I mean, I came up with Ray Charles, man. You know, nobody gonna pull no wool over my eyes. He did heroin 20 years! Come on. And black coffee and gin for 40 years. But when he called me to come over to see him when he was in the hospital on his way out, man, he had emphysema, hepatitis C, cirrhosis of the liver, and five malignant tumors. Please, man! I've been around this all my life. So it's hard for somebody to pull the wool over my eyes. But when somebody's hell-bent on it, you can't stop 'em.

D: But it must've been so disturbing to see Michael's face turn into what it turned into.
QJ: It's ridiculous, man! Chemical peels and all of it. And I don't understand it. But he obviously didn't want to be black.

D: Is that what it was?
QJ: Well, what do you think? You see his kids?

D: Did you ever discuss it? Did you ever ask, "Michael, don't you want to be a black man?"
QJ: No, no, no, please. That's not the way you do it.

D: But he was beautiful before?
QJ: Man, he was the most gorgeous guy.

Read Jeff Gordinier's entire interview with Quincy Jones here.

• "Got to be there" for Michael Jackson's public memorial? An event has been confirmed for Tuesday, July 7 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Thousands of free tickets for 17,500 fans will be made available in a lottery-type drawing. You have to register online at www.staplescenter.com; registration ends at 9:00 Saturday night (Eastern) and 8,750 names will be randomly selected to each receive two tickets. Then, Sunday, you will be notified with more details. Excpect it to be swamped; a PR firm tracking visitors says the site got 500 MILLION hits within the first 90 minutes. But don't expect to fly to LA just to hang around outside the Staples Center, hoping to watch it being broadcast on a big JumboTron or something. Authorities, trying to minimize chaotic crowds, say if you don't get tickets, you won't be let near the arena, and your best bet is to stay home and watch on TV.
  
  
  "If you do not have a ticket, if you are not credentialed, not only will you not be allowed at these venues, you will not be allowed in this area," said Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger.
  
  
  The press conference Friday didn't specify the format of the memorial, whether Jackson's body would be there, or who may speak or perform. Not all of the tickets are for admission to the Staples Center; 11,000 are for the arena, and 6,500 will be for a simulcast at the neighboring Nokia theater. Staples is in part owned/operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group, the promoter bankrolling Jackson's farewell/comeback "This Is It" London shows.
  
  
  From CNN: AEG Live released this video clip of Michael Jackson rehearsing at the Staples Center for his tour, just two days before he died suddenly after suffering cardiac arrest at the age of 50. He's performing "They Don't Care About Us."
  
  
  
• The powerful IV sedative Diprivan was found in Michael Jackson's rental house, according to a law enforcement source who talked to the Associated Press. That's the drug that registered nurse Cherilyn Lee this week said Jackson begged her for. It's used to knock out patients for surgery. CNN sources say Jackson had such severe insomnia that he traveled with his own private anaesthesiologist--Dr. Neil Ratner--during his HIStory tour in the mid-1990s. The doctor would routinely "take him down" and "bring him back up," said the sources. Still, official autopsy results for Jackson have not been released as authorities say toxicology results are still pending.
  
  
  
• Reporters were let into Neverland Ranch by the owner, Colony Capital, which is the Los Angeles firm that established a joint venture with Jackson to rescue Neverland from foreclosure last year. Here's a slideshow from the New York Times.