The Jackson siblings’ you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up story runs the gamut from the highest of highs (the Jackson 5’s early ’70s run of hit singles, Janet Jackson’s decades of mega-stardom, baby brother Michael’s culture-changing solo career) to the lowest of lows (the alleged physical and emotional abuse by their father and manager Joe Jackson, Michael’s child molestation scandal and his overdose death at 50 in 2009).
Their latest rendezvous with tragedy occurred just last month when 70-year-old Tito Jackson suffered a fatal heart attack on Sept. 15 while driving through New Mexico on a trip from California to his home in Oklahoma. Tito was a member of the current Jacksons, along with brothers Marlon and Jackie. As such, it would have been completely understandable had the group’s two remaining brothers called off the rest of a tour with the Pointer Sisters and Billy Ocean.
But according to Marlon, that was never an option, and six weeks after Tito’s passing, the Jacksons are back on the boards, beginning with Friday’s date, Oct. 25, at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. According to 67-year-old Marlon, calling it quits wasn’t going to happen because – as he noted during a recent phone chat – “That’s not what (Tito) would want us to do. So that’s why we’re going to continue.”
While Tito – the second oldest of the five brothers from Gary, Indiana, who took show business by storm in the late 1960s and went on to unprecedented and unmatched pop music success – won’t physically be on stage, he will remain a presence for his younger brothers.
“Tito won’t be there, but I’m sure his spirit will be there with us,” Marlon insisted. “The same with Michael; his spirit is there with us.”
But hasn’t the loss of one-third of the group engendered changes in the Jacksons’ presentation?
“Sure,” replied Marlon. “But the show’s pretty much gonna be the same, with (a few) minor changes. It is something that Tito would want us to continue doing. So that’s what we’re gonna do. You make adjustments, but we’ve been doing this for so long, adjustments are part of what comes with the territory.
“We make adjustments all the time.”
For Marlon, a life’s journey on an often torturous road has certainly endowed him with the ability to take the hardest of punches and get up off the mat.
“As it is, when you lose anybody you loved, you never get over it,” he reasoned. “But you learn to deal with it. You learn to live with it, and each day it gets better and better and better. The same thing that happened with Michael, that’s where we are right now. We’re still grieving, still mourning. But, people will want us to (continue) our engagements, and that’s what we’re doing.
“So it’s still gonna be a fantastic show,” Marlon added. “We’re gonna celebrate, Tito.”
Marlon promised the Jacksons’ Hard Rock set will be chock full of signature songs like “A-B-C,” “I Want You Back” and “State of Shock,” all of which the brothers have performed for decades. So, are there any tunes that Marlon is tired of rendering night after night, year after year, decade after decade?
“How,” he asked with a chuckle, “can you get tired of hit records?”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Park Place Prime a prime place
In days of yore, Prime Place, the steakhouse at then-Bally’s Park Place (now Bally’s Atantic City), was a personal favorite.
One reason was a wonderful view that encompassed, among other sites, the Boardwalk, Brighton Park, Claridge Hotel-Casino (now Claridge Hotel) and the gone but not forgotten Sands Hotel & Casino. Another reason was what I truly believe Prime Place had the greatest salad bar ever, a large, circular affair of stainless steel and glass that had pretty much everything you could ever want in a salad.
A decade ago, Prime Place morphed into Guy Fieri’s Chop House. But the deal the “Mayor of Flavortown” had with Bally’s expired earlier this year. Instead of recruiting another celebrity chef to put their name on the second-level dining room, the casino reclaimed it and rechristened it Park Place Prime, a nod to both the restaurant’s location and its past. And while the salad bar was not resurrected, I can report that Park Place Prime is worthy of its predecessor.
The refurbished dining room’s view remains unique among casino eateries: elegant without being stuffy. And during a recent visit, I had a perfectly cooked 14-ounce, dry and aged New York strip steak that can rightfully claim a spot among AyCee’s best.
It’s not unusual for a casino to close a restaurant, rearrange the furniture, slap a new name on it and start over. But the folks at Bally’s have made a concerted effort to separate Park Place Prime from its predecessor.
“I would say the difference between the Chop House and (Park Place Prime) is, it’s definitely more ‘fine dining,'” noted Chris Carmany, the restaurant’s youthful general manager. “The service is more detail oriented, the food is much more refined, more modern and it’s a higher quality.”
Carmany said the eatery’s atmosphere has been adjusted as well.
“It’s not like that casual, high-paced feel that (Fieri’s place) had,” he explained. “This is more of a slow, meticulous type of table service. So, you’re not eating now, you’re dining.”
And here’s a dining tip: If you go to Park Place Prime, try to be seated at a table attended to by Lou, an old-school kind of server whose friendly, welcoming demeanor made a superb meal even better. And while any casino “beefeteria” is by definition traditional, the Bally’s restaurant is also of its time: The operation recognizes and embraces the place social-media platforms have on the contemporary dining scene.
“You’ll notice it when you see the food come out,” Carmany said. “It’s definitely an ‘Instagrammable’ plate,” offered Carmany, referring to the online platform. “Before you eat it, you just want to see it, because it’s just so nice looking. People say they eat with their eyes before their stomach, and it’s absolutely true.”
Which is why, he added, “We like to say it’s (the steakhouse experience) lifted to a modern level.”
