Yesterday at lunch I was talking to a co-worker about the fact that both Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett died this week. I speculated on who else would pass this week since I subscribe to the theory that celebrities die in threes. I started composing this blog entry in my head. But before I actually had time to get online and write it, Michael Jackson died. Thus ended the speculation.
Michael Jackson?!?! Wow. I mean, he was only 50 years old!! I was thinking Patrick Swayze, Liz Taylor, maybe even Liza Minelli. Not Michael Jackson. Granted, he's looked a little (okay, a lot) frail in recent years. Certainly odd. But wow.
I admit that most of my thoughts of Michael Jackson in the last, oh, 15 years have been about how odd he'd become; how he was painful to look at; how he wasn't making great pop music any longer. If I'm being honest, I actually didn't think of him at all unless his latest gaffe -- dangling his kid over a balcony railing, showing up for court in pajamas, losing his Neverland Ranch -- was being widely publicized in the worldwide media.
But he was a great and ground-breaking musician. You can't argue that. Back in the day, I watched the making of the Thriller video over and over so I could learn parts of the dance. I had a Michael Jackson poster on my bedroom wall. I knew all the lyrics to every song on the Thriller album. I know I was not alone in those "achievements."
Michael Jackson leaves a legacy. Hopefully the tarnished parts will fade with time and he will be remembered for his artistic accomplishments.
Perhaps the only person today who is thrilled about Michael Jackson's passing is the governor of South Carolina...
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