MEMORIES
Michael Jackson, A Man, A Legend,
And On Oct. 3, 1988, A Master Magician Live On The Stage
Michael Jackson in 2004 or 2006. (Photo:
Getty Images)
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Friday, June 26, 2009
A 6.8 earthquake couldn't have hit me or California any harder than the
hard-to-fathom news yesterday afternoon that Michael Jackson had passed away at
the tender age of 50. I say tender because Mr. Jackson, whom I was an
enormous fan of for his entire career, was just that. He hadn't truly
lived. Yet he lived both old and young at the same time, a tragic
confluence of innocence, naivete and lifelong exposure to the harshest sun rays
of all: the media glare. The media circus may have psychologically played
the biggest part in his ultimate physical passing: the endless scrutiny and
increasingly vicious lies, "jokes", rumors, innuendo and insult which sends some
people into headlong severe depressions, painkiller addictions and extreme
stress not entirely borne of predicaments of Mr. Jackson's own doing.
An autopsy and toxicology report will allow us to assess the actual causes of
his deeply saddening passing.
For the last couple of days I have been here shuttling between this tony town
and nearby Westwood for the 15th Los Angeles Film Festival, and it wasn't easy
to absorb the news that caught everybody in total shock. Westwood, home of
the University of California at Los Angeles, has the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical
Center, where Mr. Jackson's body was kept for several hours yesterday before
being flown via coroner's helicopter to rival University Of Southern California.
While I was not the only one, it bears repeating that I was crestfallen at Mr.
Jackson's swift and untimely departure. I remain numbed and stunned that
Michael Jackson has decided to depart to a Neverland of a More Heavenly
Destination. Angels like this one don't come along too often, and
sometimes the best of them is here for a brief slither of time to show us
something, to teach us about what we need to do in our own small way to make the
world a better place. Michael Jackson asked us to look at that man in the
mirror, to heal the world, to smile though your heart was aching, to wish the
lost children well and to make a change.
Twenty-one years ago in October I went to see Michael Jackson live in concert at
the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey. It was October 3, 1988, a Tuesday, I
recall. I almost didn't get to the Meadowlands because someone had snuck
in on a ticket-buying line several months before for the concert -- which was
called "The BAD World Tour". Another guy had vouched for my being in line
ahead of the sneak freak -- and my 13 hours waiting on that long line in New
York City outside the now-defunct Tower Records on 66th Street and Broadway was
rewarded as I was just able to get in beyond the cut off point for ticket
purchasers. There were a lot of disappointed people who didn't become as
fortunate as I that day.
And there are billions more disappointed and heartbroken people today.
I too am merely one among them.
But on that night 21 years ago it was an electrifying experience seeing Michael
Jackson live in concert. The energy and the excitement level pulsed
throughout that building in the state that has often been ridiculed as The
Swamp. Michael Jackson was no swamp thing that night however -- he wore
exactly what you see in the photo below. I still remember the songs he
performed like it was just yesterday: "Heartbreak Hotel", "Beat It", "Bad", "Wanna
Be Startin' Something", "Rock With You", "Billie Jean", "Thriller", "The Way You
Make Me Feel" -- those were just a few of the electrifying hits he performed.
Goosebumps. His dance moves, choreography and showmanship were beyond
compare that night. Millions of people won't get to see him in concert
now, but I will never forget his concert that night.
He was one selfless being who rarely aggrandized himself. He gave
everything of himself in all he did. I will miss him severely.
The loss of Michael Joseph Jackson is heartbreaking. A pioneer, a genius,
a family man, a child, a megastar. Thanks so much, Michael. For
everything.
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com.
2009. All Rights Reserved.
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