RIP Michael Jackson

6-26-09

I was never a crazy fan of his. I have enjoyed a lot of his songs, and when some come on I can’t help but dance. My brother’s friend back in elementary school gave him a copy of Thriller for his birthday. This was big to him. I remember watching videos of his in the library of my middle school and noting that most of them looked like workout videos since he was always the front man with several dancers copying his every move behind him. One didn’t even have other dancers, just other images of himself dancing along with the infectious beat. I actually made a point of being in front of MTV when they had the world premiere of Back or White, being quite impressed with the whole thing. The video for Leave Me Alone constantly mesmerizes me and it is one of those songs that gives a rare insight into a troubled man who despite losing his life at the age of 50, will always be that little boy belting out ABC to me.

In case you were under a rock yesterday, Michael Jackson died from a cardiac arrest. I was on Facebook when someone posted a link to TMZ with the headline Michael Jackson Dies. I thought it was a hoax at first. Yet I knew that Harvey Levin would never post it unless he knew for sure. The other news outlets were slow to confirm. It took them at least another hour. A few were so bold to post TMZ as a source of this information, but then only reported he was in the hospital, or that he was in a coma. In fact, based on the time of death, and the reports that came out in the subsequent hour or so, most of the news was incorrect. LA Times confirmed from their own sources, and within a few minutes, the net, which was brought almost to a halt due to the insane amount of traffic, agreed, there was no hope for their “King”.

I went into my own net info overload. I stared in disbelief at the screen as I jumped from site to site. On an already busy FB day for me, I watched comments posted every second. My brain was fried. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I found myself helping to spread the hoax website that had been set up to pray on the already mourning public. The site had indicated that as if it wasn’t bad enough that we lost Farrah and Michael in one day, now Jeff Goldblum had fallen to his death in New Zealand. There was a web site that an already shocked me looked at with believing eyes. It looked legit, and even though a web search came up with nothing, I chalked it up to the coverage of MJ. No one was going to pay attention to anyone else. Luckily Brandy was thinking straight and she forwarded me the Snopes page debunking the old rumor with an updated actor name. Apparently yesterday also saw the rumors of Harrison Ford dying. I am glad I wasn’t taken in by that one.

As I drove in to work this morning, I found myself flipping through the stations. I never do that in the mornings since I listen to Kevin and Bean. But I knew that they were doing best of so there was nothing there I had not heard before. I was sure someone was paying tribute. I found it. On K-EARTH they are playing his music all day. I listened as I drove in to his songs. Yet when I got to work, I have kept it on KROQ. I figure I will turn back to it when the show is over. I don’t know why, exactly. I guess this is one of those days that no matter how big a fan you were, you pay tribute in any small way you can.

I downloaded the Jackson Wiki page and the LA Times obit. I am pretty sure I know all there is to know, yet I keep looking at the thousands of new articles being posted on him. I don’t know what I expect to discover. But we as a society, and me especially, are drawn to tragedy and death of our idols.

And as sad as this sounds, I think that it is good that he died young. He loved the fans, and even in his pajama bottoms and slippers at his trial, you saw that he was a young man. I think had he died at 100, we wouldn’t be as rabid about it. It is the shock and awe that will put him on the map of other fallen stars who died before their time. Elvis, Monroe, Lennon, and now Jackson. Sure, they all had unmistakable talent. But Jackson especially needed to have tragedy to keep his legacy alive. Had he faded away, that may have been even more tragic.

My heart goes out to his kids, who even though must have had such a strange upbringing so far, always did seem happy around their father. You wonder if they understand the magnitude of what their dad was. To them, he wasn’t the King of Pop, he was just Pop. I only hope that they find closure and are granted as much of a normal life that they can have. Maybe their mother can be a bigger part of the picture now.

This may sound cold, but truly I had forgotten that he was black. I wish I could say it was because I don’t see color. But in reality, when I look at him, his almost freakish appearance superseded any race. You see old footage of him in front of prominent black leaders (blowhards) and it hits you, oh yeah, he is black! It doesn’t matter if he is black or white, because he did influence many people of different colors.

There is a part of me that wants to go to some kind of memorial for him. You know there will be some kind of public funeral or memorial done for him. It seems silly, but this seems like a time in which I should be a part of it, if only a number.

One of the celebrity tour busses happened to be in front of his house when the ambulance was there getting him. It even accidentally blocked the ambulance for a period of time. That would be quite the star tour.

I am now immersed in Jackson music. That is really how he should be remembered today. Not the crazy nose or court cases. Of course he had demons and wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he had talent, and let’s remember that. Tomorrow you can hate, tomorrow you can criticize, tomorrow you can not care one lick. Today, let’s just dance to the music, and know that truly, an artist has passed. Rest in Peace, Michael. May any suffering you had be gone and know you will be remembered.