It is impossible to deny as I sit here and watch the Michael Jackson memorial, that he was a phenomenon. I am usually a cold and unfeeling person as most can attest but I am truly moved. He was quite the style maker to be sure. I didn't realize until now how much I missed him while he was out of the musical spotlight. Where was he for so long? Why wasn't I paying attention.
I remember clearly, that in jr. high I tried to be the one person who didn't have a zillion Michael Jackson buttons on my backpack and on my jean jacket. I think I was trying to run upstream but I did have the albums and I secretly knew all the words. Then the Thriller video came out and I couldn't pretend any longer. I was a giant fan. His theatrics were magnetic and couldn't be resisted. I was all in. His music always makes me move and sing and laugh. It brings me back to the best of those awful, awkward growing up years.
Newshead misses his news. He keeps complaining about how no one is reporting anything but "Michael Jackson stuff." I realize the world of politics and the fight for health care is important. But this is Michael Jackson. I mean, he is the world.
Janet, Rebbie and LaToya look lovely. Very regal with the big hats and sunglasses. The picture of mourning. Sad but Beautiful. Queen Latifa is so compelling. Maya Angelou proves once again that she is a genius. I have been reminded how pretty Brooke Shields is. I feel sorriest for her for some reason. Maybe I want to be her right now. I wish I had known him like she did.
I never had an active goal to meet Michael Jackson but now that he is gone, I am so sad that I will never get the chance. I know it makes no sense but I am so jealous. His memorial makes me wish I somehow had the chance to get dragged into his craziness because with all the bizarre stuff in his world there also seems to have been so much hope and helping and light. I wish I had been closer to it. All I can hope now is that I can make the tiniest speck of a mark on the world. He is an inspiration. Weird, bizarre, troubled, an enigma, but truly an inspiration.
*Note to self. Renewed interest in Brooke Shields. I guess I should netflix Lipstick Jungle or watch Blue Lagoon again.
Couple things here.
ReplyDeleteI am with Newshead, absolutely, 100%. He died on June 26, almost two weeks ago. And, he is still dead. And he is still the top headline on most news sites in the country. Meanwhile, aside from health care and politics, we have a Coup in Honduras,riots in China, major military offensive in Afghanistan, the pull back of troops out of Iraq cities...seriously.
Yes, it is news. Yes, it should be covered, as he was a cultural icon, a popular phenomenon, and a brilliant performer. Also a magnet for controversy and freakishness. So, yes...he should be covered. But COME ON. Yesterday was RIDICULOUS. I say that as one of the only people that did not watch any of it. That means I did not turn on my TV at all. I tired of this spectacle a long long time ago.
I understand I am banging my head against the wall, and that what happened was international and blah blah blah...and you are right. But, it was such an extreme example of what I dislike about our 24/7 minute by minute culture.
Secondly...I am not sad, or, should I say, sadder about Michael Jackson today than I was one two months ago. He actually died perhaps as well as could have been expected from a guy like that. His unfortunate demise was pretty much written in concrete, and has been for years. I can think of far worse potential circumstances, that as outlandish as they would sound, would not be out of reach of the used to be black chimp owning baby dangling elephant man collecting beatle buying former elvis son in law quincy jones student whose nose disintegrated in front of millions of people.
ReplyDeleteEvery public appearance he (with the exception of the performance stage, as he still had his stage chops) made him more and more ghoulish and haunting. Every time he spoke to anyone in the media, it made his music seem, well, not inconsequential, but...the direct product of a haunted and frightening product of American popular culture and unrestrained excess, and therefore, ever so slightly tainted.
The ONLY option left for him, from a PR standpoint, was his death. His body of work is FAR more eloquent a spokesperson for him than the freak he became could ever be. As far as image rehabilitation goes, this was the only option. And it worked.
And lastly, as far as getting dragged "into his craziness" because there "seems to have been so much hope and helping and light."
ReplyDeleteIf Michael Jackson was successful in bringing hope and helping and light into the world, that is a great thing. But, to quote Alan Watts using an ancient Buddhist simile "like a finger pointing at the moon, and one must take care not to mistake the finger for the moon."
I do not care for this trend, begun I believe in the modern era with the death of Princess Diana, of wanting to "take part" in this public mourning of celebrity. I understand the true fan (trust me, I will cry like a baby when Pete Townshend or Keith Richards kicks), and I understand taking a moment for a career retrospective...but these public acts of mourning seem more spectacle than anything else.
If you think he brought light and helping, then let that inspire you to do the same, in your neighborhood, but do not confuse that with the confusion and the spectacle and the craziness and the insanity of this 24/7 mourn-a-thon.