RIP Michael Jackson

The biggest popstar is gone! Very sad ending...RIP

Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

Every day the World mourns over the loss of a loved one, a relative, even a pet...but it's not every day the whole World mourns over a single person like they were a loved one or blood relative.

Thu, June 25, 2009, WE lost an icon, a legend, a superstar named Michael Jackson. I don't think there is a man, woman or child over 5 years old in the World who doesn't know the name Michael Jackson, THIS in itself is an achievement that is rarely attainable anymore but it shows this man was known for better or worse (in my book, always better, the negative side of his life was always something I always chose to ignore as the MUSIC blanketed this) by EVERY person in the 21st century, and he will be remembered through his music & his legend.

Of all my childhood memories, many of them included buying my 1st 45 Single (yes, that would be a small 8" vinyl platter called a 'record'!) of the Jackson 5ive's 'I Want You Back' to standing in front of a mirror at the ripe age of 5 with a spoon in my hand, pretending it was a microphone & singing at the top of my lungs to every word little Mike was belting out. When my brother Joey & I were about 7 & 8, we would draw crowds at the local Boys Club of NY as the song Rockin' Robin would be blast on a record player, Joey would pound on benches/tables as they were percussive instruments while I crooned along to the alto notes of Michael's version. They called us the 'Tweet Tweet Brothers', if you know the song, you'd understand why

Last night, I was witnessing the birth of a new supergroup, an amazing incarnation called Chickenfoot (featuring the eternally youthful Sammy Hagar, the baddest bass pounder Michael Anthony, the untouchable Joe Satriani & the mischievous Chad Smith) performing in London, an energetic & amazing evening only to be flattened by the news of what was happening in Los Angeles simultaneously....a night to remember indeed!

Today & forever, I celebrate the music & the influence of Michael Jackson, long live the King Of Pop, long live 1 of my few mentors of the mic, RIP Michael!

Jeff

Very very sad news

I'm shocked...
The world has lost one of the most influential and iconic artist in music history... Entire generations have grown up listening to his music or simply admiring his incredible talent... also those, I'm sure, who prefer to listen to other genres...

It's very sad to know that all this has suddenly stopped forever... no matter which kind of music one is listening to...
All my sympathy to his children, entire family and friends... Your talent Michael will be immortal...

Stefy

I'm still in shock. I don't know how long it's going to take before this sinks in. It's very weird to think of him as being dead. What a great loss.

From Dan Reed's blog:

'La Vie En Rose' and Michael Jackson

One week before the news of Michael Jackson's death came, I had just watched a movie called 'La Vie En Rose' (roughly translated as 'Life is Bliss'), a film that displays the life and death of Edith Piaf, a magnificently gifted French vocalist who struggled all through her life, from childhood to her lonely, painful and slow death on a small farm in the countryside of France. After watching the film I was almost in tears realizing how much joy this 'song bird' gave to the world and yet the world did not take care of her the way her talent and voice had taken care of the world's spirit. Hearing a week later that Michael Jackson had died, perhaps not as 'alone' as Edith yet still alone, was deafening. One could argue that Michael was indeed alone in his solitude amongst the myriad of people all trying to make a living off of him and in the end this attributed to his demise, for where were his friends and family when he needed comfort, and support for his pain, both physical and mental? Perhaps they were there, but Michael could not hear them.


Like Edith, Michael was and still is the worlds 'songbird'. In his interviews, lyrics, melodies and his dance, he always reached for something higher that exists within ourselves. He tried to point humanity in a compassionate direction, despite what people believed of the controversy that surrounded his later years.


His father Joseph Jackson, appearing to show no remorse or sense of loss whatsoever since his son's death is a testament to the truth that Michael told in his interview's over a decade ago where he described his desolate childhood, and the sickness that followed him his whole life whenever his father was near. Maybe Michael would not have been so innovative and driven had his father not been such a tyrant within the family atmosphere, but Michael turned his pain into a art, into hope, into more pain in his life... and through that process he touched the heart of the entire world.


I imagine more people in the world have been touched by Michael Jackson's art than have been touched by Jesus, or Mohammed, or the Torah. Michael touched everyone with his music and one need to look no further than the song "Man In The Mirror", to understand what and who Michael Jackson was, or at the very least who he longed to be and how he wished the world to be.


We put our song birds in a cage, we ask them to sing, we show them off and parade them around, give them awards, and then we feed them with fan mail, cynicism, critiques, condescending headlines, and when they die of starvation of the soul... like Edit Piaf and Michael, the world sits back in shock and marvel at how much of an empty space they left behind, when all the while we could have fed them with friendship, listened to their pain and help lift them instead of trying to bring them down, and possibly allowed them to flourish outside of the cage, instead of crumble within.


I was not alive during Edith's era, but was touched by her story. Michael Jackson on the other hand was a part of my life since childhood. I was 9 years old singing the song 'Ben' having no idea what or who the song was about. I can't tell you how many times me and my friends have tried to moonwalk, or how we were moved by the lyrics, melodies, the dance moves, but most importantly the 'voice'! He sang from his heart it always appeared... even when reduced to tears in 'She's Out Of My Life', some would laugh and snicker at him breaking in to tears on the recording when he was alive... perhaps now it is us who will cry when listening to this song.


Michael Jackson was not the only voice out there, but he was the world's voice... in the music world, the spiritual world, and in the political world as well, through many decades and generations... for it is obvious now after his death he has united people from every country, from every religion and every background... this cannot be said of Gandhi, JFK, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, the United Nations... no one but Mr. Jackson has done this.


In the generations to come many will not believe that a gifted soul like this had ever existed in reality, for the world will never see one such as him again. I wish the media and us, the lover's of his art, would have let him know this before his passing. I wish we could have all been the childhood he missed out on and been there for him when he felt too much pressure to 'perform' for the world. We wish...


Thank you for the music, Mr. Michael Jackson... and may you have a safe journey home.

Like Jeff, Mr Dan : well said!!!

That was beautiful.

Thanks Thierry for sharing...

I'm sure each one of us has at least one clear memory connected to Michael Jackson and his music... that was his "greatness"... I'm really really sad over this loss which belongs to us all...