Thursday, June 25, 2009

I know many others have died

Today was a celebrity death double, one that has not had such star power since the triple of Billy Wilder, Milton Berle and Dudley Moore back in 2002, and before that was Sammy Davis Jr. and Jim Henson back in 1990.

We knew Farrah was not much longer for this world. She fought the brave fight, took it public when the rumors and lies went out of hand. Now, I suspect her family and friends will be able to mourn privately after Michael Jackson's sudden death.

At first CNN was saying cardiac arrest, at the same time TMZ was saying he was dead. It reminded me of when Lady Diana was in her car accident, but we got the sad news much quicker.

Jackson's music and talent are unparalleled. You cannot take that from his legacy. He left behind an incredible body of work.

It's the surgery, the changes of skin color, the trial, the dangling of a baby over a balcony that too many will remember him by. Like me and Elvis. My memories of Elvis while he was alive are of a fat, bloated pill popping has been. Jackson left us as an anorexic pill popping space cadet. It's a damn shame.

He leaves behind a financial mess and I'm wondering what's going to happen to the kids he bought.

I got nothing else but Thriller on vinyl, the cardboard 45s from the back of the box of Alpha Bits cereal were thrown out years ago.

Listen.

3 comments:

last year's girl said...

I was thinking about this morning after watching half of Twitter make sick jokes while the other half mourn. I think for people older than me, the loss of Michael Jackson was like the loss of Elvis for our parents' generation. But I was born the year Thriller came out, I didn't have older siblings and my parents weren't interested in his music. By the time my pop culture knowledge was fully-formed, Michael Jackson wasn't known as much as a musician but as a baby-dangling, face-changing, whatever-the-truth-in-the-rumours tabloid monster.

I hope he finds the peace in the afterlife he so desperately sought while he lived.

Someone Said said...

As my Mother and her generation witnessed the rise and fall of Elvis, I and mine watched Jackson's. A friend of mine made a wonderful podcast of his music, and that's how I'm going to remember him.

BrownSugar said...

Same here Ed. Scott's podcast has been the perfect way for me to remember him. I didn't even turn the TV on last night because I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach all the crap.