Michael Jackson Is Dead?

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[Snoskred]

Wow.. I am really finding this a bit difficult to believe.

Whether you liked him or not, his music and dancing have been a part of our lives for many years.

Also that thriller film clip will always be one of the best ones ever made, I think.

[Alex]

Yes.  Apparently his personal physician was with him when he went into cardiac arrest (or so said brother Jermaine at a press conference this afternoon) -- which suggests all kinds of things (none of them particularly good).

To quote ... um... me:

Has there ever been anyone who achieved so much, had so much talent, then so completely disintegrated in public over so many years in attempt after painful attempt to achieve what he once was able to do almost effortlessly?

Also, the sound of helicopters hovering over the UCLA medical center (which is about 2 miles from my house) has been deafening all afternoon. 

Sorry to quote myself...

[ds55]

A local radio station, B96, has been playing only MJ's songs since the news broke.  People are calling in to request favorites.  I know all of them, word for word.  You just don't realize how much someone like MJ is a part of your life. "Man in the Mirror" almost made me cry.

[Jaime from Wasilla]

I'm sorry we didn't get to see and hear his "come back" concert. I was looking forward to the video of it, and had hopes he would give us something new and wonderful.

There is no denyingt that the public story about him has a tragic thread to it.  The Thriller album is iconic, and those of us who remember the early 1980's remember how Michael Jackson, The Police, and Madonna and the Talking Heads dominated the music scene with some really great music. I think Thriller, Like a Virgin, Synchronicity and Burning Down the House are all from that era. That was when music came back alive after a long dry spell.

I hope Michael Jackson's spirit finds some peace, his family finds solace, and his fans keep singing and dancing.

[Ripley in CT]

I've been watching BET all night. They are playing every video he ever made... at least it seems that way.  Some I've never even heard of.

Every time I read the headline, it feels a little like a dream.  Or a bad joke. 

I never believed any of those accusations against him, and apparently neither did the jury.  I felt so sorry for him and the tragedy that was his childhood at the hands of his father.  All of us would have had some "issues" if we had his life. 

Rest well, Michael.  Teach the angels the moonwalk by Monday morning!

[Snoskred]

There was a documentary once which I cannot remember the name of, but Michael said while being interviewed during that documentary that he once was walking through an airport as a teenager and he was having some issues with acne, and some thoughtless person made a nasty comment about it, and it really upset him.

It does explain so much about the masks and the blankets and the plastic surgery and the other things which people thought were weird - obviously he never wanted himself or his family to be upset like that again.

I also did not believe the allegations - I think Michael was deprived of his childhood - did you know that never once was he allowed to have a friend sleep over when he was a kid? His father was very controlling. But in some ways that is the reason he became such a star.

I hope that the kids who made those allegations will come out and tell the truth now that he is gone. It also says a lot about those kinds of allegations - while they could not be proven to be true, they also cannot be proven to be false, either.

[EyeOnYou]

It didn't hit me full on until a little while ago.  I still cannot believe it.  I watched him in the Jackson 5 and just followed him after that.  I don't mind admitting when I was a "tween" I had a huge crush on him and Donny Osmond at the same time.

I was never sure about those "accusations" but I always wondered....was it all about money because no one could buy me off with a settlement if someone had touched my child, there is no amount of money that would keep me from filing and following through with charges....and then I considered maybe there might be something to it, but only because he was so isolated all of his life that perhaps the only people he could really relate to or feel comfortable with, were children.  I think that his childhood and the isolation/trust issues he had may well have caused him some mental issues, but that again is only speculation. I can say that I don't honestly think that he ever intentionally harmed or would harm a child.

I adored him when I was young and have followed his career all my life (and his too as he is only a few years old than I).

I hope he is resting in peace and I would like to thank him for all the wonderful memories I have of him.

[ds55]

Before Oprah, before Tiger Woods, before Obama... MJ was a talented, popular, wealthy Black man.  For that he was both loved and hated. 

The child abuse allegations unleashed an army of haters (think of Letterman being called a pervert as a small example) who then had a 'legitimate' reason to bash him openly.

[Alex]

Whether or not you believe the abuse allegations, MJ was clearly much more troubled than most people knew... (and had enough money, at least in the 80s, to buy his way into a bubble where no one questioned him and his grasp on what was considered "normal" or "acceptable" slipped away).

A reporter on TV this afternoon said that Jackson only weighed 107 pounds the last time he was arrested.

I've got a feeling the next few weeks will be filled with wave after wave of revelations about MJ -- few of them positive. 

The entire thing just makes me sad...

[CO Almost Native]

Whether or not you believe the abuse allegations, MJ was clearly much more troubled than most people knew... (and had enough money, at least in the 80s, to buy his way into a bubble where no one questioned him and his grasp on what was considered "normal" or "acceptable" slipped away).

A reporter on TV this afternoon said that Jackson only weighed 107 pounds the last time he was arrested.

I've got a feeling the next few weeks will be filled with wave after wave of revelations about MJ -- few of them positive. 

The entire thing just makes me sad...

I agree.  I loved his music, and it was revolutionary, but his behavior--- maybe he, like other artistic geniuses, had a shaky grip on reality.

[Sirenoftitan]

I woke up to this news this morning - so sad and, at fifty, he was so young.  I loved Thriller, Billie Jean, Beat It, Man in the Mirror..... so many great songs. 

A great artist with a troubled existence.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jun/25/urban-michaeljackson

[samper]

I can't believe it either.  They are speculating about drugs now.  Demerol, in particular. 

I was never a huge fan, but with every commercial break on MSNBC, they are playing his songs.  What a library!  Many good times were set to his music.

It seems very odd that he would be preparing for a tour by doing drugs.  Touring is not easy, especially for those of "a certain age".  It is a physically demanding and stressful thing to do.

I remember when Bob Seger was preparing for the 2006-2007 tour.  He cut back on smoking and was hitting the gym, fearful that his 62 year old body couldn't take the demands.  He lost a ton of weight on the tour, too. 

MJ is far less substantial physically... how would he have fared without a reasonable prep regimine?  It just seems that physically, MJ would have had serious problems keeping up with the demands of jumping around a stage every night.

[Jaime from Wasilla]

I am a Michael Jackson fan, but I also found this comic true and amusing
http://picturesforsadchildren.com/blog/famous.png

[samper]

A couple more thoughts...

This will be JUST like when Diana died.  We used to joke that it was "All Di, All the Time, on Every Station."  There IS a point at which you can claim "overkill" ... no pun intended.

It was barely a footnote that Mother Theresa died the same week as Diana.  So it will be with Farrah and Ed.  A galliant fighter of cancer and someone who entertained for decades.  We'll hear very little about them, their families, their funerals.

11AM EDT:  Autoposy is about to begin.  Report will be at 3PM, but they didn't say what time zone.  I would assume EDT because autopsies don't really take that long.  An able Coroner can do four or five a day.  Toxicology, of course, takes time.  Weeks, sometimes.

They haven't reported, but I wonder if Hitsville, USA (Home of Motown Records) has a crowd.  It's now a museum in Detroit, IIRC.

[samper]

I am a Michael Jackson fan, but I also found this comic true and amusing
http://picturesforsadchildren.com/blog/famous.png

HILARIOUS!  And it fits with almost every "famous dead person" report!   

[Sirenoftitan]

I am a Michael Jackson fan, but I also found this comic true and amusing
http://picturesforsadchildren.com/blog/famous.png

That just about sums up today's BBC rolling news.

[samper]

Also on MSNBC... they really had a guy you've never heard of before telling MJ stories!  I guess MJ is his kids' Godfather.

[Sirenoftitan]

Mark Lester ?  He played Oliver in Oliver ! (film 1968 )  The BBC (see what I mean about the coverage here) interviewed this morning - he was MJ's kids' godfather and MJ was his kids' godfather.  We also had to endure Uri Geller. 

[ds55]

HuffPo has an article stating MJ had a live-in doctor who injected him daily with Demerol.  MJ's family says the injections killed him.

Code:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/26/michael-jacksons-livein-d_n_221393.html

[Alex]

Also, too -- the Hollywood Walk of Fame star for Michael Jackson (the now deceased singer) was covered by the red carpet for the Bruno premiere in front of the Chinese Theater... so fans were leaving flowers at the star of Michael Jackson (the British-born longtime L.A. talk radio host).  The talk-show-host MJ is still alive and has this to say about the death of the other MJ.

Now, there's also a third Michael Jackson, famous in beer circles (and especially beloved to homebrewers).  That third Michael Jackson was the host of the fun and informative documentary series The Beer Hunter.  I hadn't kept up with him since my subscription to Zymurgy lapsed, so I just learned this morning that the beer-hunting Michael Jackson died in 2007 after suffering from Parkinson's.  He had no star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.