Last night we were walking into the restaurant for dinner and as we passed through the bar area to get to our table I caught the TV @ the bar. I caught the headline on the TV that Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital and the word was it was his heart. My first reaction that it was just another Michael Jackson drama, something to get headlines leading up to his concerts in London. About 20 minutes later my niece texted that he was dead. We were with my sister and brother in law. The four of us just sat there for a few seconds, a little shocked and with a sudden sense of sadness. At first I thought how silly, why be sad over the death of Michael Jackson. I had stopped being a fan about 20 years ago and in fact was quite disgusted by his actions and behavior.
Michael and I grew up together, the same way I grew up with Prince Andrew, JFK Jr, Donny Osmond & Ron Howard. We are (were) all about the same age. Michael Jackson was part of my life for as long as I can remember. In sixth grade we were all bused for the first time. To kill the time we copied the lyrics to Jackson 5 songs and sang them over and over again. It was bonding and a great distraction for me, I forgot about the potential beating I was going to get once we got off the bus. Tough kids versus geeky, nerd boys.
Flash forward a few years and Michael Jackson has become a young man, just like me. His look and sound matured and he showed the world that he was a real talent. A few more years we continued to mature but Michael did not. He became this weird man /child. His face changed, his hair changed, his skin color changed but his talent did not. A few years later he had physically changed so much he no longer looked like Michael Jackson he looked like an odd white transgendered person. If you did not know it was Michael Jackson and you saw him on the street you would not have been sure which way he/she was transitioning.
A few more years later he just became really weird and his talent went away too. The stories of the animals, boys, booze & drugs ruined what ever good memories I had of the man/boy I grew up with. I no longer had any interest in anything he did and yet I followed all of it's sordid details with a growing level of disgust and yet a little sadness.
What happened to this enormous talent? What did his father do to him? What did fame do to him? Why did the other famous peers I mentioned earlier turn out all right and Michael Jackson became such a freak show?
Today the sadness that I felt for him became even more real with the knowledge that what ever information comes out now about his life and death will no doubt be so sordid, sick and repulsive that many of us will have a hard time remembering the bright talent that was Michael Jackson. In an interview today Liza Minnelli said she was glad we have some time to celebrate him before all the stuff comes out.
After JFK died a book came out titled "Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye", unfortunately for Michael Jackson we will know way too much about him.
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