Jackson dropped dead of an apparent heart attack in L.A. His health has been the stuff of rumors for a while, but his handlers swore it was all just "exhaustion" and that he would be more than fine for the concerts he was supposed to perform in England next month.
Now, when you turn on the news, click on a news site, read a forum or even a blog ( :D ), Michael's death is the one dominating the airwaves. I suspect his picture will be on the top fold of every paper in the land tomorrow--hopefully one from his younger days. You know, before vitiligo set in and he stopped being black...
I suspect it is because we cannot resist the tragic last act to an already tragic story. Jackson was a very talented performer, songwriter and choreographer. He could move in ways you would not expect and he looked GOOD doing it. But his talent was overshadowed in the end by his alleged (never quite proven) prurient fondness for little boys. THAT became the focus of Jackson's public life. Every joke was about Michael Jackson and molestation.
No one was able to prove it, even though he once paid out a good chunk of change to shut one family up (the dad was a failed screenwriter and was trying to convince Jackson to bankroll one of his scripts or something). Later, after he allowed a cancer patient and his entire family to move into his Neverland mansion, paid all their bills and treated them pretty good, that family swore Jackson was molesting the cancer patient, getting him drunk and groping him. Again, there were questions--the mom was a serial lawsuit filer and wanted more money, plus a house and other stuff. The kid took back a lot of what was said. Jackson was found not guilty.
But the damage was done. In the first case, the authorities made Jackson drop trou so they could take pictures of his penis for evidence. Those pictures were taken before Drudge and Ain'tItCool, so they didn't get wide distribution. But you can bet they are out there somewhere. In the second case, the police raided Neverland, filmed all over the place, took pictures of everything (whether pertinent or not) and those DID get a wider show. Jackson abandoned the home he worked hard to create.
He didn't work anymore, so he paid some nutcase to have babies for him. She married him, but the truth is she probably just wanted the money she got for signing away her rights to said kids. Jackson tried his hand at some comebacks and the shows in London were supposed to be his Britney moment. Alas, not now...
I don't know if he did all the bad things attributed to him. I don't think it matters now. He was the man who wrote and performed "Thriller" and told us about "Billy Jean" and got Eddie Van Halen to play some badass guitar on "Beat It". He made wearing one glittered glove and jackets that looked like Members Only look good. AND he brought back military/band jackets as a fashion statement (but The Beatles did it better).
He owned a lot of The Beatles' music. He owned a lot of Elvis's, too. I see a MAJOR fight brewing as Paul, Yoko, Lisa Marie and every Motown star starts their own bidding wars. Meanwhile, who gets those kids conceived by methods I do NOT want to have a mental picture thereof.
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Meanwhile, there is Farrah to think about. A beautiful, almost-star known as much for this iconic poster which appeared over many a young man's bed (including the beds of both my brothers) as for her acting chops. Face it--her first gigs, like on "The Partridge Family" where she was always credited as "Pretty Girl 1", pretty much marked her as "dumb blond" for a long time.
Charlie's Angels made her a kind of role model for a lot of girls because she was part of a trio of smart women who really could kick ass and take names.
Then she decided to become a "serious actress" and proved she could handle the tough roles. If you ever saw "The Burning Bed", "Extremities" or "Small Sacrifices", you knew she was the real thing. But she never got the movie roles she deserved. In "Logan's Run", she was a ditzy blond--probably there as eye candy and to contrast Jenny Agutter. We won't even talk about "Saturn 3" lest all our gag reflexes kick in.
Did people know that Farrah was an artist? She was a pretty good one, too--even if she DID paint with her naked body for Playboy a while back.
Farrah's death was expected, as she had been fighting cancer for several years and it was a foregone conclusion she was not going to be around much longer. She made a wonderful documentary about her struggle that will be watched for years. I hope her end was peaceful and that she died with a minimum of fuss. I figured when they sent her home from the hospital earlier this week, she was going home to die. One of my co-workers swore she was going to ease the transition along. So what if she did? I wouldn't want to linger like that, either.
Jackson was hauled out of his house on a gurney, people (including, I believe, one of the paramedics) snapping pictures like crazy. How would you feel if the last picture of you was taken as you WERE dying? How would your kids feel?
I hear Geraldo is already talking overdose as the COD for Jackson. At least wait for the autopsy, dude!
