Goodbye, Michael Jackson

I'm sure many of you are mourning the loss of Michael Jackson today like I am. I was obsessed with him in 6th, 7th & 8th grade. I had all his posters all over my walls and all his buttons all over my jacket. For Christmas I got a red pleather jacket that looked just like the one he wore in his Beat It video. My brother got a black one just like it and my mom a white one.

I think our neighborhood was the last one in the entire USA to get cable. When the Thriller video came out I had to go over to a friends house to catch it. MTV was playing it every half hour. They've never done that since - that's how groundbreaking the video was. That zombie dance is STILL totally kick ass!
And the moonwalk?! W-O-W!! There hasn't been a dance move before or since (or any kind of move by anybody doing anything) that blew everyone away. 'Fess up - you tried to do it and failed miserable but even now you still wish you could to it. (It's ok, me too.)

I dragged my whole family (though it wasn't hard) to the Jackson's Victory concert at the Pontiac Silverdome when I was 13. It was my first concert so I couldn't say for sure, but I think that was the first concert tour that was a 'production' and not just a concert. I remember we were all dazzled the entire time. I got to see him moonwalk live while singing Billie Jean. What a memory to have! I still have my concert ticket.

I remember when the Black or White video premiered on MTV when I was college. It obviously was about race relations so I thought it was going to be slow and preachy, but it turned out to be one of the best pop songs he ever wrote. And how cool was the end of that video when all those people were morphing into each other?!

At the end, it seems like he surrounded himself with a bunch of self-serving leeches who didn't do anything to help him emotionally or physically. And if the toxicology report reveals that his death was caused by all meds, I hope the evil Dr. Feelgood gets stripped of his medical license and thrown in jail. He had all those people around him - why didn't any of them help him? The frustrating thing is that he could have gotten help and didn't have to die.

MJ: You are missed. Say 'hi' to Elvis for me.