Recently, we have had a lot of famous people to pass away. Some because of the evil of a disease that seems to have no end to its appetite for human life. Some to just having lived a good long life and their bodies just wore out and they went on to get a new and better version in Glory. And then we have had some that came as a total surprise and that is the one that has taken me by surprise in my reaction to it.
If you have been on my contact list for any time at all.. you probably know that in my life I have faced up to a lot of loss of loved ones and am carrying on in spite of myself and the effects that can have on a person. I am by no means the same person I was only 10 years ago.. but whom among us is? No matter the circumstances. So when Michael Jackson died so suddenly last week... this coming on the heels of losing Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon.. and Kung Fu Dude.. David Carridean.. it shouldn't have bothered me as much as it has.
You are listening to the one song this man has produced as an adult in a solo role... that I actually like to listen to ..( if you haven't turned it off because your sick to death of hearing about the guy)
I spoiled the songs he gave the world by watching him perform them.. and gotta say.. the guy turned me off totally with his stage presence. The grabbing of a crotch should be left in the bathroom or back alley and not on a world tour, in front of millions of young people who were allowed by their parents to be so dramatic and overcome with emotions about this guy that they would actually pass out from the thrills.. sigh..
I did learn to moon walk.. simply because it was too cool not to be able to do it!
I think I surprised myself most about my reaction to the man passing away in that I simply can't get it off my mind. I am the same age as he and I grew up listening to the Jackson Five and The Osmond's. Donnie Osmond is also the same age as Michael and I. I actually bought and still own the 45 record of Ben.
I remember spending the night with my Granny and we would watch.. some fella whose first name was Andy and his signature song was Moon River.. and he had the two singing groups on his show a lot.. I remember singing along with..
ABC.. Easy as 123.. Baby You and Me!
I loved the version of The Wizard of Oz that they came out with to be the "black" version of the classic movie .. Michael played the scarecrow and the song.. "Ease on Down the Road" was their answer to "Follow The Yellow Brick Road"... it was a fantastic movie.. and I loved it.. and never saw the reason for the need for the "black" version other than entertainment value. But I think it made a statement perhaps for them, and I applaud any kind of work that makes someone feel more at home in the world they live in.
I think that is what bothers me the most about the famous singer passing away so young. He never seemed able to handle his own life. He was a brilliant musician.. simply brilliant. He was just weirder than me I guess and that made him so... well weird! And the man was definitely weird you will have to admit! But it was an understandable weird. Seemed like everybody wanted a piece of him, but I don't think he ever really felt loved for just being himself by anyone.
I had a hard time making up my own mind about the child molester thing. The media just makes me so sick with their garbage they throw out at us and sadly most folks eat it up with a spoon. I don't believe a word of anything I read from the media anymore... They are causing wars and causing panic and pandering to the elite who can further their careers by making headlines by feeding them a big bowl of crapola for us to eat, while reading our morning papers. So I suppose I never did really decide if I believed it or not.. till now.
I have thought it over and went back and looked at the whole thing that was put out by the media .. and then I looked at the people who testified for the man. Then I looked at the ones who accused the man of deviance.
I don't think he did it.
Plain and simple I think he got shafted by society and its eagerness to believe anything ugly about someone in the lime light of life. Movie stars, Rock and Country Music Stars... I pray for those folks ... they have too much money, too much freedom, and too much adoration to not be affected by Hollywood and its party life.. the public are just nuts now.. they follow these people around and every scrap of dirt or information that comes out to the public they simply go nuts over it. Like they were these peoples next door neighbors or something. I understand the young people having idols and wishing they could have what the stars do... but when it runs into people in their 60's and 70's standing in line for days in zero weather to get Rolling Stones tickets.. folks that is just too far out on a cliff for me to think they are playing with a level playing field.. about a half a bubble off plumb is where I categorize these people!
I still have not figured out why I have had such a strong reaction to his death, other than I suppose I had to face my own mortality in the age bracket I am in. When I first found out that the music from my teens and twenties are now the Classics.. well that knocked me back a bit, but not like this has hit me. I know I have lived more life than I have left to live.. but for some reason I just never believed it I suppose ... I am getting older and older every day. The world is turning faster and faster with each passing moment and here we are in the middle of a economic melt down that has already cooled and is getting hard at the edges.. I will not have the end of life my folks got to have, but then I did not have the hard life they had when they first began their lives.
I feel most worry about our children. They have never had a day of real want in their lives. When I say want I am talking food, clothing, shelter, and security of knowing there are jobs out there if they want them. My folks grew up with nothing and built something. Now that is in danger ... and I and you all are in charge of it all.
What we manage to save and leave behind our kids will get and .. sigh... they will just never be able to understand how hard it was to get. I never understood the fear in my fathers life when it came to him having a job. Until I surfed around in google and found some really really honest photos of what the depression was like. I don't even want to think of living that life again... I don't know how.
Thanks for listening to me... I just felt the need to talk today... more than usual that is!
lockerridge
