Today is a very sad day for many. First, Farrah Fawcett, one of the leading actresses of the TV show, Charlie's Angels, died yesterday of anal cancer. That show was one of many popular shows during the mid 1970's. I never was into the show, but my adopted family was. Still, for many Farrah Fawcett fans who admired her, the news of her death, though expected, is hard to take. Second, the King of Pop named Michael Jackson also died yesterday of cardiac arrest. Nobody expected this, as this was sudden. Everyone was publicly told that Michael Jackson was fine and that he was preparing for his tour in London, which was to start in two weeks.
I hadn't planned to watch the evening CBS news but decided on it at the last minute. The first headline bulletin that flashed across the screen at the beginning of the news was the death of Farrah Fawcett. However, before Katie launched into that headline, she began with the news of Michael Jackson's death, which CBS had just received within minutes of going on the air. Michael died at 2:26 PM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time), so it was 4:26 CDT (Central Daylight Time) here. An hour had passed before the public officially learned of his death. Of course, when the news anchor first blurted out the words, "Michael Jackson has just died", I initially thought that someone had pulled a terrible trick by putting such a headline up for her to read from the teleprompter to the public. But, as the words seemed to flow out of the news people's mouths like water, I began to realize that nobody had pulled a terrible trick. Then I thought, "am I dreaming all this, or is this real?" After watching the entire evening news and the local news, I decided to switch to CNN in hopes of more coverage about Michael Jackson's death. John and I watched CNN for about three hours as many talked about his popularity, the accusations and alleged charges filed against him for acts of pedophilia, and his recent attempt at making a comeback in his upcoming London tour. Then, we switched back to CBS for their hour-long special on Michael Jackson in which they talked in brief about all the things people reflected on extensively on CNN. So, I'm quite grief stricken, which is why I've been awake since 3:15 AM.
I'm not going to go into a long history lesson here about Michael Jackson's music career, but his career started in 1968 with the Jackson Five. As many pointed out, Michael stole the show and became the lead singer of the Jackson Five through and through. I think I was about five years old when I first heard a song by the Jackson Five. The song was called Ben. Of course, I didn't know until many years later that I was listening to the Jackson Five. It wouldn't be until I came here to the States from the Philippines that I heard many more songs by them over the years. Even when he came out with his Off The Wall album in 1979, I didn't know much about the Jackson Five. I was introduced to his music by the deejay saying, "That was Michael Jackson." I shall confess here that as a nine-year-old, I couldn't understand how a man could sound like a woman. I was taught, and observed from listening to people's voices when they sang or talked, that a man's voice is very deep and a woman's voice is mid-range or very high. So, whenever Michael's name was mentioned after his songs were played, I initially thought that the deejay was, probably, pronouncing the name wrong. Then, I got to thinking that it was possible that the deejay was right and that Michael was a woman with a boy's name. Of course, I never told anybody I was surrounded with at the time about this for fear of looking like an idiot. Still, I loved his singing--the excitement he put into the dance music, and the love and soulful sound in his ballads. As the year of 1979 passed, I soon realized just from listening to the radio and my friends talking about Michael Jackson that he was, in deed, a man. Still, I never asked then or down the road, when I learned about puberty and voice-changes in males, why it was that Michael's never changed. I did wonder but decided to never ask because of many people's negative talk about his voice. Some were saying that his voice never changed because he went through a sex change that failed. Others spoke of him as a faggot, etc. Not liking the negativity and the derogatory ways people made fun of him, I decided to keep my wonders about his voice to myself. It was one thing for people to imitate his singing style or mimic his squeals just because you enjoy his music, but it was another when people did it to poke fun of him pretending to be a girl. Then, there was the inevitable Thriller phase when that album came out at the end of 1982. All through 1983, everyone was blasting that album on their stereos and boob boxes. Whenever one of the songs from that album was playing on the air waves, the stereo, which was playing low, would suddenly boom with sound, filling houses, backyards, cars, etc. That was certainly the case at the Minnesota Academy for the Blind during their summer program. I think that it was later that fall at a Church youth group meeting that we watched the Thriller video. It was like watching a fifteen-minute-long horror movie, so it was scary to me. I wasn't as scared as I normally would've been over a horror movie, though, because I knew who the main character was that was playing the evil monster--Michael Jackson. Perhaps it was his all-around gentle personality and kindness in his voice whenever he sang or talked that made me feel safe, like he would be right beside me to protect me. I know that it's a strange way to explain all this, but it's the best way I know how to in words. Even in 1984, when Prince came out with Purple Rain, Michael Jackson and his music still never left the popularity scene. I think that it was the fall of 1984 when that mishap in which a pyrotechnic act for a Pepsi commercial got out of control and Michael's scalp was burned. I found myself praying at Sunday church the next day for his recovery. Of course, I felt funny about it as I prayed, but I reminded myself that, though he's a popstar, he's still a human being like the rest of us. Even popstars need to be prayed over. In March of 1985, the song and album, We Are The World by U.S.A. for Africa, came out. Someone copied the album for me on cassette, but the recording was very low quality. I hadn't planned on it, but a friend of mine from a recreation group for blind people called me at the beginning of April, suggesting the idea that a bunch of us get together to sing We Are The World at the group's annual talent show that always took place in may. I, too, thought that it was the coolest idea, so I transcribed the lyrics into Braille and print for everyone that was going to be involved, and made copies of the actual song on cassettes while my friend practiced on the piano. For hours on end, we practiced in our own homes and together until we had our solo parts down to a T. Since there wasn't going to be thirty or more people in our group, as was featured on the actual song, each of us had many solo parts that came in at different times throughout the song. Of course, when we got together to do all this, we worked our hardest, but it was for enjoyment, not to win any awards for it. Yet, after we finished singing at that talent show, we got a standing ovation. At the end of each talent show, judges voted on the best three talents, and those three best end up performing at the Old Log Theater, a high-class performance theater. At the talent show in 1985, we won first place. The other two played a musical instrument. Needless to say, my friends and I looked at each other, wondering whether this was for real or just a dream. It wasn't until my adopted mother hugged me and my friends and I were gathered together in a huddle that I realized that I wasn't dreaming. So, we practiced some more for the next two weeks so as to keep ourselves brushed up. We mingled in the lobby for a little bit while the audience was being entertained by other performers before the three best performances from the talent show were scheduled to step up to the plate. While the first two performers did their thing, we mingled quietly backstage. Then, when our group was announced, my name was mentioned as the main one who assembled the group and production work. I gladly took the credit, but the credit was actually to be to my friend. I even told him that, but he didn't say yes or no to it. So, in historical terms, I'm the one who assembled our group and worked on the production. Once again, we got a standing ovation at the Old Log Theater. The fame was nice, but I'm glad that performing never became my career, as I was getting mentally and physically exhausted by this point. I listened to the rest of Michael Jackson's songs that came out in the years that followed 1985, but I also heard many more songs by the Jackson Five, which helped me put all the pieces into place from beginning and on. I liked a lot of songs by the Jackson Five, but there were more songs by Michael Jackson, himself, that I liked more. Rather than writing a long list of all my favorite songs, I'll pick one or two from the 1970's through the 1990's--Off The Wall, The Girl Is Mine, We Are The World, Man In The Mirror, Heal The World and You Are Not Alone. I loved many of the dance club kind of songs, but off The Wall was my favorite one out of all of them. Otherwise, my other favorites that I listed were either ballads or songs that are meant to make one focus in on themselves and how they are contributing to the world, or should be contributing to the world.
As I said, while there was a lot of reflection on Michael Jackson's career and popularity, there was also reflection on his hard times. Yes, the good and bad come together as a package when you reflect on someone's life and the impact they may have made in your own life. However, it seemed like for every good thing that was mentioned about Michael, that was followed by something bad about him. Sure, dangling a baby over the balcony may not have been the wisest thing to do because the infant could've fallen out of his arms, but people made a bigger deal about that than they did about the guy who held his baby near a crocodile's mouth. The crocodile could've easily grabbed the infant out of his arms. To me, there was no difference in the actions. Both are cases of endangering a child's safety. The fact that Michael Jackson's children were White was the underlying issue. It's one thing for a White person to have Black children, but it was another for a Black person to have White children. People are more willing to accept the former but not the latter. What also bothered me were those who talked about him like a dirty dog, like Lisa Marie Presley, suddenly coming out to express how they were confused, were sorry about Michael's death, and were sending their condolences out to his children and family. To me, if you're going to say something good about me, why don't you tell it to my face rather than waiting to say it at a eulogy or put it in writing to be read by a news anchor on some major TV and radio network. If Lisa Marie Presley was so heart-felt about Michael, then she should've told him that upfront while he was alive rather than make the statement now, especially since she was his former wife and had a way to contact him personally. It's quite funny how people do stupid things like that. The irony of Michael's death was that John and I were just talking about Michael and his well-being a few days ago. We feared that we would, one day, read a headline talking about his death and how he "mysteriously died." While it's not a mystery here how he died, people are wondering whether there was a case of drug abuse or reactionary problem with some prescription drugs. Whatever the case be, I believe that it was the stress over the years and the anxiety over the upcoming tour that took it's physical toll on him. A person can only take so much before their body simply cannot take anymore and gives up. The person's spirits may be high, but that doesn't mean that the body is able to handle the stress that can come with whatever comes their way. As I've heard many who were interviewed say, "Michael was anxious about the upcoming London tour." I think that that was due in part to the fact that he hadn't toured in awhile coupled with the bad publicity he's received over the last fifteen years. Who wouldn't be anxious over trying to make a comeback when in that situation? Before commercial breaks, clips of his songs and videos were played. When they played a little bit of We Are The World, it was all I could do to fight back tears as I reflected on the popularity of that song and remembered when my friends and I performed it at the talent show and at the Old Log Theater. A few of the other members of U.S. A. For Africa, like Ray Charles, have already passed, and now Michael Jackson is in that next world with him and others.
Well, I guess I will conclude here. I just hope that people will focus on all the good things that Michael has done to help those in need rather than focus on the bad publicity. He changed the face of pop music, but he also did songs that make one look into themselves and the world around them. Now, he's "The Late Great King of Pop, Michael Jackson", which was a hard thing to write. Not only is it quite a long title, but such a title as "The Late Great" applies to one who's died.
Linda
Minnesota
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