Very sad news today. Michael Jackson (50) died. News reports are saying he died of a heart attack. For years he has been very thin and in not the best of health. Stress and the media assaults on him probably had a lot to do with it. Although he had been charged in a couple of court cases, he was always found not guilty. We in America believe in innocence until proven guilty, so for any haters out there who say harsh things about Michael but say they believe in "the rule of law" should remember this.I always loved Michael Jackson and his music. He and his family were so talented. The first song I remember hearing was "ABC" in 1970. My little brother brought it home. I remember when my little brother brought the album home, I kidded him by saying "Oh good. Now you can learn the ABCs at home." My baby bro and I always kidded each other like that, even to this day.
I grew to love the Jackson 5 and all of their music. There was such a rhythm to his music. I grew up loving Motown especially the Temptations, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Four Tops. In the mid-seventies, Michael's music began to evolve. There were so many beautiful songs in his album "Off the Wall." I cried to "She's out of my life", danced to "Don't stop til you get enough" and "Rock with You." The seventies were the times of miniskirts, hot pants, disco boots and Discos. In the discos, we danced and danced to them all.
Then my lovely husband and I married. I had my oldest son a year later. I always say my son saved my life because he brought so much more love and happiness (and maturity) to our family. He was so beautiful. He was a brilliant baby. He learned to walk at 10 months. He was potty trained at 18 months. He was reading Grover's "Monster at the end of this book" at the age of two. And he was rockin' to Michael Jackson's music since he was born. When he was four or five years old, I bought the Thriller cassette tape. He loooooooooooved Michael Jackson. I bought him his own walkman with headphones for the Thriller tape. He was so cute rocking and moving to the music. There were so many great songs on that tape. Besides "Thriller", there was "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" and more.
My husband played softball every summer and my son and I watched his games from the stands. While on the stands, my son wore his earphones and rocked to the tapes. Everyone just loved him. Some of the jocks would say, "What you got there little buddy?" My son proudly beamed, "Michael Jackson's Thriller tape."
When the TV Special "Motown 25" came out, we all sat in front of the TV watching it. When Michael Jackson did the moonwalk for "Billie Jean", we all started screaming in awe. My baby son immediately got up and started imitating the moonwalk. It was beautiful!
Thriller remained my sons favorite album for years.
By the nineties, when my son became a young teenager, he moved on to other music, other interests. I think this happened to a lot of people. My son and my music interests parted at that time. He became interested in Hard Rock and I stuck with the Oldies, Pop and Country. But through those teenage years, every Halloween, I brought out the old Thriller tapes and we danced again to Michael's music.
Those times will always, always hold a special place in my heart.
I if you still hold OJ innocent even after the rule of law resulted in an adverse verdict in the civil trial.
ReplyDeleteAlso, one has to wonder about the outcomes for those boys Jackson was alleged to have abused. How did they fare years later? Were they like some of those abused by priests? Wasn't it common knowledge that the first child was bought off? The second one may indeed have been a gold digger. Who knows? The abuse was certainly plausible in view of fact of the first case, which never came to trial, and Jackson's admission that he saw nothing wrong with having unrelated children in his bed. To many, he will always be a creep but you are quite right that in the eyes of the law, he was found non-guilty which is not to say "innocent".
It didn't take Lisa Presley long to find that out.
Ultima,
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you find SC Governor Mark Sanford as reprehensible as you find Michael or are you waiting until he is proven guilty of the crimes he is alleged to have committed? What about David Vetter? Are you appalled by his actions? Or what about Mark Foley? Or Larry Craig? Or is it just certain people that you believe are guilty even though their crimes are not proven in a court of law?
All I am saying is, I loved Michael's music. I have some beautiful memories of his music and family times.
I miss those times and I will miss Michael.
I say he was never proven guilty of anything. I say I am sad that he died and I will miss him and his music.
Farrah Fawcett, the Burning Bed Fighter ( And Movie Director Robert Greemwald )
ReplyDeleteHuffington Post - Excerpts :
"Farrah and Ryan came to visit me about a month ago.
Her spirit and passion and intelligence were as sharp as ever.
The deep connection between Farrah and Ryan stronger then ever, with the teasing and humor in full throttle.
But her body was being destroyed by the cancer. And it showed. Painfully."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-greenwald/farrah-fawcett-the-burnin_b_202049.html
Robert Greenwald and the starving children of Afghanistan
The most horrible movie that you can imagine. Robert Greenwald has been in the War Countries visiting the refugees. And in Kabul, Capital of Afghanistan and surrounding places.
His cameras have filmed the most beautiful children and the most gruesome spectacle of starving children, dying of hunger because of the War. Their parents want to sell them before they die, but nobody wants to buy the children. They also show the photos of other children and folks that have been killed by airstrikes.
The Children scavenge for food in garbage, competing with the rats. ....
I can also add that Heroine Addiction was never so high as it is now in Afghanistan .... ( I saw that in the Discovery Channel ) ....
The Taliban always fought against heroine addiction and against the crops of poppies.
Thank the War for these Wonderful Gifts and Benefits to Afghanistan.
Robert Greenwald also contributes and directs the site FoxAttacks.com with a wonderful blog :
http://foxattacks.com/blog/
See the movies of Robert Greenwald ( "Rethink Afghanistan" ) and related informations here :
Prophesizing.com
Vicente Duque
Millions will be made off of his legacy.
ReplyDeleteThe man, like Elvis, will be worth more in death than he ever was in life.
I liked much of his music in later years but as a man [sic] he was greatly lacking.
Now the circus begins. The three children, who have been cloistered all of their lives should be at the top of everyones list of concerns
I also want to mention I am saddened by the deaths of Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett. They do say famous people die in threes.
ReplyDeleteEd McMahon: my husband and I loved Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. That was our alone time at night after the kids went to bed. We especially loved the Great Karnac.
Farrah Fawcett: She was so beautiful! She had the most beautiful hair. I copied her hairdo for years. She was also a great actress. My two favorites were Small Sacrifices and the Burning Bed. She was brilliant in both.
These 3 superstars will be missed.