It starts in a hotel lobby, when he's seven. ■

Cascio first meets Jackson at age seven — his father Dominic managed the Helmsley Palace Hotel in New York, where Jackson stayed on visits. Jackson took to the family at once; the friendship ran until his death. His brother Aldo was a Neverland regular and appears on “♪The Lost Children”; brother Eddie recorded separate sessions with Jackson in 2007, outside the Invincible era. By this record, Frank was the day-to-day.

Why the artist was so often absent from his own record. ▤

Cascio's memoir records the health context behind Jackson's documented distance from the sessions. Propofol was administered to help him sleep before early studio dates; Demerol, Cascio writes, “made him dull. In a fog,” and coming down left his mood “mad, bitter, and grumpy.” During the Miami finishing sessions, regenerative-medicine specialist Dr. Farshchian was brought in specifically to help Jackson get clean — he wore a detox patch on his stomach while recording. Cascio calls him “the only doctor who sincerely did his best to break Michael of his habit.” This absence is the condition the album was made under — not a footnote to it. The sessions themselves are Phase II's file.

INTERCEPT ┤ N-02 — IN THE ARTIST'S OWN WORDS, AS CASCIO RECORDS THEM

> JACKSON, to Cascio, on the pain: “I can't breathe. I can't sleep. You have no idea what it's like to be in this much pain.”

AS QUOTED IN CASCIO'S MEMOIR, MY FRIEND MICHAEL (2011) · press ▤

On the video shoot, a bathroom door closes. ▤

During the “♪You Rock My World” shoot, someone suggested darkening Jackson's skin and reshaping his nose. He locked himself in the bathroom and broke everything inside it. Cascio found him on the floor — he'd cut his own hair, half long, half short — and stayed with him for hours until he could compose himself and finish the day. A documented moment of Jackson's struggle with body image and public perception, sourced to Cascio's own account.

INTERCEPT ┤ N-03 — ON THE FLOOR

> JACKSON, sobbing, as Cascio records it: “Would you believe it? They think I'm ugly. They want to remold my nose. I am a monster. I am a monster.”

AS QUOTED IN CASCIO'S MEMOIR, MY FRIEND MICHAEL (2011) · press ▤

The Plaza Athénée: drunk, in pain, and right. ▤

Spring 2001: Jackson arrived at the hotel incapacitated — vodka and Xanax on a private Amtrak railcar, his children present — and launched into a tirade at the label: “I'm the biggest artist in the world. You haven't shown me a marketing plan. You're purposely trying to sabotage this album.” Cascio's own framing: Jackson was drunk, in pain, and right — he just couldn't prove it yet. The label conflict is Phase III's whole file.

THEY HAD A 9/11 APPOINTMENT AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. ■

Jackson and Cascio had a WTC appointment on September 11, 2001 — to return a $2 million diamond watch on loan and settle an account for a necklace of Elizabeth Taylor's. Cascio set his alarm for 7:45am; their contact Henry called first with the news, then stopped him from heading downtown. He met Jackson, Paris, Prince, and Grace (a family employee) in the hallway; their security guard, a retired police chief, got permission to cross the closing George Washington Bridge into New Jersey. As they crossed, they saw the first tower fall — Jackson started to say something more, looked at Prince, and stopped himself. That afternoon, already in New Jersey, he began talking about repurposing “What More Can I Give” for 9/11 relief. (Corroborated in outline by Jermaine Jackson's autobiography — previously the only source.)

INTERCEPT ┤ N-05 — THE MORNING OF

> HENRY, calling first: “Hello, sir… I just want to let you know that planes hit the Twin Towers.”
> HENRY, stopping Cascio from heading downtown: “No, sir. I don't think you fully understand. We need to get out of here.”
> JACKSON, watching the first tower fall from the bridge: “Wow.”

DIRECT QUOTES · Cascio memoir, My Friend Michael · documented ■

The manager's-chair power struggle — and “the devil.” ■

John McClain, brought in as Jackson's manager mainly for Invincible, moved to consolidate power after release — trying to fire ⌜Brad Buxer (who kept a keyboard by his bed for Jackson's 3am calls), then Jackson's longtime assistant Karen Smith, to install his own people. Cascio intervened both times; Jackson backed him. McClain then turned on Cascio, telling Jackson Frank was “the devil” and should go. After the 30th Anniversary Special, Jackson had Cascio fire McClain — partly because McClain had taken a full manager's cut of the concert proceeds without planning or attending it. McClain came back anyway.

The double-decker bus — the first time he refused. ■

June 2002: Jackson organized a fan protest circling Sony HQ with “Go to hell, Mottola” signs, framing it to Cascio as retaliation for Sony trying to take his catalog. Cascio pushed back — he couldn't get behind the racial framing, and told Jackson directly he wanted no part in it — the first time in their relationship he'd refused to stand behind him. The clearest documented daylight between Cascio's own account and Jackson's public framing of the fight; presented as Cascio's disagreement, not the site's position. ⌜Mottola's side is on his page.

INTERCEPT ┤ N-07 — THE DISAGREEMENT

> JACKSON, on the protest: “These people, they're trying to take my catalog. I'm tired of being taken advantage of. We have to expose them.”
> CASCIO, on why he couldn't get behind it: “Sony's marketing plans for Invincible had nothing to do with race… trying to make it seem like they were was, I believed, beneath Michael.”
> CASCIO, telling Jackson directly: “I want no part in this.”

DIRECT QUOTES · Cascio memoir, My Friend Michael · documented ■

The MTV “Artist of the Millennium” that never existed. ■

August 29, 2002: manager Trudy Green told Jackson MTV was honoring him with a first-ever “Artist of the Millennium” award. Cascio's own MTV contact said no such award existed — Jackson was just being brought out for his birthday — and Cascio warned him twice. Jackson dismissed it. That night Britney Spears introduced him as “the artist of the millennium” with a birthday cake; there was no award; Jackson gave the acceptance speech he'd prepared anyway, and the press had a field day. Afterward, in his suite, Jackson admitted Frank had been right.

INTERCEPT ┤ N-08 — THE ADMISSION

> JACKSON, afterward in his suite — his way of admitting Frank had been right: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

DIRECT QUOTE · Cascio memoir, My Friend Michael · documented ■

A letter from a lawyer — and that was the end. ■

Weeks later, Cascio received a letter from Jackson attorney Brian Wolf instructing him not to contact any of Jackson's friends or associates — cc'd to Jackson, McClain, Trudy Green, ⌜John Branca, and Barry Siegel. Cascio's framing: “After all our years together, this is what it had come to.” He had in fact already taken a formal break in March 2002, ahead of the letter — the people advising Jackson in the later Harlem-rally period were not the same people who'd been present during the sessions.

The night before release, they play the whole thing through. ■

Jackson and Cascio listened to the final tracklist together. Jackson told him the album was ahead of its time — people wouldn't understand it now, but would in ten years. Cascio: “Neither of us suspected… he wouldn't be around to see if his prediction came true.” This beat belongs equally to Phase IV — The Legacy as its closing note.