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Lisa Robinson Interview

Date confirmed in Variety Fair

Lisa Robinson, Vanity Fair (September 2009)

The Plaza Hotel, New York City, February 1977: For a photo session, Michael wears a blue sweater, blue pants, a white shirt, and, for some reason, an E.L.O. (Electric Light Orchestra) pin. His bodyguard and a friend/publicist are with him, and when it comes time for photos, the publicist calls him into another room to tell him to take off his undershirt; when he comes back, Michael says that he could have been told that in front of us. He’d arrived late the night before and is staying an extra day so he can go see The Wiz starring Stephanie Mills (there were rumored publicity attempts to drum up a fake romance with her to calm down Michael’s black female fans who were upset he was never seen with a black girl). “I’ve seen [The Wiz] three times already,” Michael says. There is a discussion about birds—Michael had spent the morning at the Bronx Zoo visiting the birdhouse; he says he likes the exotic birds and used to have some, but they made a lot of noise, especially during the mating season, and usually at night, and the neighbors complained, so he had to give them away. It was his first trip to the Bronx Zoo. He asks if Coney Island is still any good, or if they have taken all the good stuff out. He talks about Disneyland—which he’d been to lots of times—and Disney World: “Disney World is better,” he says. “It’s more of a world, like they say. It’s a resort; they have everything—golf, tennis, hotels—it’s all fantasy time.”

“There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll”, autobiography

When we met in New York at the Plaza Hotel, Michael was wearing a blue sweater, blue pants, a white shirt and, for some reason, an Electric Light Orchestra pin. When it was time to take photos, his publicist called him into another room to tell him to take his undershirt off; Michael came back and said he could have told him that in front of me. Michael said he’d seen The Wiz on Broadway three times but wanted to stay an extra day so he could see it again. He asked Bob Gruen questions about lighting while Bob took photos. Michael had visited the Bronx Zoo that morning; it was his first time there. He said he liked the exotic birds the best, that they used to have some at the Encino house but the mating calls were so loud it drove the neighbors crazy, so the birds had to go. He asked if Coney Island was still any good. He compared Disneyland to Disney World and said, “Disney World is better; it’s more of a world, like they say. It’s a resort, it has everything--golf, tennis, hotels. It’s all fantasy, all the time.”