If you told me that I would outlive Michael Jackson, I would have told you no way. Honestly, MJ is one of those people who you just knew would live forever. We thought of the possibility of other artists and iconic people dying, but never Michael.
I grew up with the guy, and I am sure that damn near all of you reading this did as well. He just seemed like one of those constants: Death, taxes, and Michael Jackson. But no more. That part of A-merry-can music history died today in a Bel-Air mansion at approximately 4:00 PM EST. That white glove and the red jacket will be in the Smithsonian one day. (If they are not already.) The guy was that much a part of A-merry-cana.
To us black folks this loss is especially hard, because no matter how hard he tried to change himself and run away from who he was, many of us still accepted him. He was the same little Michael from Gary, Indiana that he was four noses ago. Maybe it's because we understood that he grew up on the stage and under the eyes of a taskmaster like unforgiving father. Maybe it's because we understood that he never really had a childhood and for all his talents, he was somewhat of a pathetic figure. And then, of course, there were the alleged little boys. None of us can pretend that the ugly trial didn't take place. We all whispered about it long before the trial, and even after he was acquitted of those horrible charges, many of us still believed that the whispers were true. And still, in spite of all that, we accepted him. Oh we killed him for those and other indiscretions, and rightfully so, but at the end of the day, he was fam.
We forgave because he broke barriers. He was the first black artist to really get some shine on MTV. He turned white folks on to our music and the way we dance to it. (Who can forget Michael moon- walking into white A-merry-ca's living rooms and their hearts?) And he crossed over and got paid. (Yes, we celebrated the fact that he got paid. Because contrary to what plenty of you believe; black folks aren't all crabs in a barrel)
But we loved him mostly for what he gave us: The memories. Those old J-5 albums: The Love You Save; ABC;Dancing Machine;One More Chance. Pick one. Anyone. I am sure you would be picking a memory right along with it. I watched some of those old J-5 routines on television tonight, and I got goose bumps. (Oh if that Michael Jackson could have still been with us) I felt a profound sense of sadness, because it reminded me of a youth and an innocence that I will never get back. In a way, Jackson's dying closes that chapter, and I never wanted to say goodbye.
264 comments:
1 – 200 of 264 Newer› Newest»His death was definitely a shocker. The Angel of Death been busy this week in the entertainment industry and with in my own family :-(
My heart is broken. When a giant talent leaves us, it's as if the light dims a bit.
RIP, Michael.
I wish all peace and hope. I'm right up there with you in age- my 1st concert. Was The Jackson Five @ she 8. I always thought of him here. Thankfully he did some good with his music that will never have anyone come close to his abilities. His music is timeless and ageless.
May all who feel this loss grieve and move on in positive ways. Especially his children, his parents and siblings and all that care.
And may the media give some a break and allow the good memories, not the crazy behaviors and creepiness to endure.
Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson...all gone. My childhood and youth.
I think of being little, and the only way you saw Ed McMahon was if you snuck out of bed, and was standing in the doorway, trying to hide from your parents as they watched Carson in the living room (no such thing as a tv in every room). Sometimes they scolded you, other times, they told you to come on and sit with them.
Farrah - Charlie's Angels was revolutionary for its time, as odd as that might seem now. That poster was everywhere, and we wanted that hair.
Michael - wow...for my sisters, who actually went to see The Jackson Five routinely when they were growing up, to me being fully aware of Michael with Off The Wall first, then Thriller, and him MAKING MTV, and all that meant.
Before him, it was still Black Music and Top 40 (i.e., White) Music.
After him, began the ascension of Black Music AS Top 40 music.
MTV should build a statue to him.
Every popular Black artist today owes something to Michael Jackson. He did so many different things, refusing to be pigeonholed, that the multi-hyphenated artist is now commonplace. But, Michael was the one who blew open those doors.
his talents were only matched by his demons
I am so stunned. Why couldn't it have been just the White Michael Jackson? Black Michael Jackson still lives.
Field,
You are the first place I went to see what was written about Micheal when I got into this hotel room in Burlington, VT. I been doing a combination of flying and driving from Memphis to get my son to Middlebury for its summer immersion language program.
I listen on radio for about four hours but with all the people I have heard comments from, I have not heard of our President commenting.
Do you think he will? I am starting to get fed up with his inability to speak out about issues, events, and people important to the black community where he does not hesitate to address other minority communities and their issues and white women issues.
Thank you for writing that we understand why he was unique and never stoped loving him.
So many of the Jackson videos are disabled on Youtube. But, the Motown, 25th Anniversary one is not. I was so happy to see this embeddable.
Watching it today, brought back the memories.
It was the moment when you KNEW he had crossed into something never seen before. That performance STILL holds up after all these years.
Amen, Brother Field. We lost an icon.
I'm honestly not that familiar with MJ's discography. I know a lot of the major hits from talking to people and what not over the years. I remember what an icon he was in the 80s (I was 2 when he put on that legendary Moonwalker performance), but by the time I was old enough to really familiarize myself with his music he'd been sullied by those (first) molestation charges.
I listened to some of the major hits ("Beat It" was a fave for a long time), but I never really got past the charges. After the second trial, I tended to hit skip anytime one of his songs came up on my iPod. But I'm stunned today, much more than I thought I'd be. Because damn could he perform and his talent is undeniable.
RIP Michael.
true words.
he is definitely missed :(
Yes we did Lisa J. Yes we did.
Hey, like I am sure is the case with all of you, I had some issues witht he guy. But at the end of the day; he gave us a lot. And as rikyrah so brilliantly stated, black music owes him so much.
Anon. 11:32PM, thanks for putting me on your reading list. I am glad I could express what you were feeling. As for his O ness; I don't know. I have stopped trying to figure him out. I am guessing he will come out with a statement, but let's see. Like you, I am watching.
Blinders Off, sorry to hear about the loss in your family. I will keep you in my thoughts. I am sure the other folks reading this will as well.
That guy,sounds like you are after my generation. The thing about icons is though, their music crosses generation after generation.
Well said, Field. Who knew you had a soft side? Michael death shocked everyone. Even here in conservative north Florida, a good portion of the local newscast was dedicated to Michael Jackson.
I'm sure people are grieving the world over, across races, across ethnic groups, and across generations.
I am so hurt by this lose. Seriously, Michaels music is the sound track of my life. He was my first major crush, in the late seventies and early eighties when white fols declared Disco sucks MJ moonwalked across the stage and got everyone off their asses, He put MTV on the international map and without him there would be know Usher, hris Brown or a hundred other singers.
I pray for him and his family
I am so sad! I grew up with the Jackson5. With Michael's passing---it's like losing a loved one from your own family.
I hate to say it, but I'm glad he's gone because the amount the stuff he had to go through was horrible. I'm really hoping he found some peace. Sure, he brought some stuff on himself by playing a little too innocent, but when you go from being a world superstar to being a punchline, it's sad. The man was hunted down, put down, and really made money for other people that should have been his. All I am happy about hearing this is that maybe for a second he had some peace. The same goes for Farrah and Mr. McMahon. Who knows, maybe they're all doing the Tonight Show with Johnny right now.
RIP Michael Jackson we'll miss you!
New blog posts available: http://alwaysrealtalk.blogspot.com/
I'm realizing that the icons from my childhood are passing away. I don't know how I feel about that.
I have been listening to Micky J's music this afternoon and have been going down memory lane. I pointed to where I was 10 listening to "ABC", to "Off the Wall" at 19 over in Korea, to "Thriller" at 20 something lost in Memphis poverty, to "Remember the Times" at 30 something graduating from college at San Diego State University.
The news has been focusing on his alleged transgressions, but I'm focusing on a time line of my life and the music that got me through to this day.
First Sammie Davis, then James Brown, now Mickey J. That's it folks, no more Einsteins forthcoming.
damn. damn. damn.
Can I just say... damn, Michael! Even, Liz (90? year old) Taylor out-lived him! I'm actually really, really, saddened by this in a way I've never been for... well anything except family or friends - and I'm not a 'celeb- fiend.' I almost find myself bewildered by just how much of an impact he's had on me w/o me even looking. I think it's cause his story is so tragic? Which of course, is a hell of a lot of celebrity untimely deaths... or maybe it's cause he was way too young to die? Maybe because we all saw how incredibly... complex, messed up, he was through his physical appearance. Kind of like seeing a burn victim, you can obviously tell that what he's lived through or going through is hard, fucked-up, and that it just might kill him. And it did.
I mean, that brother made music for like... 3-4-5? generations? That don't get no bigger than that. To know that his one album (Thriller) is still the biggest selling album, bigger than Elvis, bigger than The Beatles, in history at 50 million and counting! I mean, I dare you to find one damn person who a) doesn't know who he is or b) hadn't listened to at least one of his songs on: I-Tunes, the radio, cd, video (remember Thriller or Billie Jean?!), and a vinyl record. Remember that 1984 Grammy performance when he dropped the Moonwalk on millions of people world-wide?! It was electrifying! There hasn't been another Grammy performance since. I'm heading Uptown-Harlem to celebrate his life the way it was, the way it should have been, and even what it wasn't, cause no matter what? I'll always be thankful for the incredible contribution he gave the world.
it’s a very strange energy like someone in the family has passed .. my prayers of peace go out to the entire jackson family .. in particular katherine.
image the music in heaven tonight .. rest in peace michael.
I'm saddened to report that another Gary IN resident was found dead yesterday ... 2-year old Jada Justice found dead by authorities. Her body burned. Two people are in custody.
Yesterday was a bad day all around...
peace, Villager
Indeed it was Villager. Thanks for keeping everyone in the loop!
I just knew i was going to grow up and marry Michael. I still hear Ben in my mind. Rest now Michael, you are missed.
Has Usher released a statement about MJ passing or Neyo, Chris Brown...Since they ripped Michael off with stealing his dance moves...
I'm one year older than Michael Jackson. My little sister had his poster on the wall when we were listening to the Jackson 5. "I'll be there" is a song that makes me cry because it brings back memories of that time when we (and he?) were still innocent, before some things happened that made us want to hide. I think it was the song about the rat that made me think something was off--it was that same yearning voice, but singing about his imaginary friend who would be there for him.
I hope that there is someone in his children's life who can give them stability and love. God preserve them from the jackals who will be after his estate.
The original MJ is now resting in peace. His troubles no longer haunt him, and one can only hope whatever he did or didn't do while here on earth can be forgiven.
Thriller is one of the few albums you can play from start to finish and every track was a hit. I challenge anyone in today's music industry to pull that off.
Godspeed, Michael.
I've known Michael all of my childhood. "Thriller" dropped the year of my birth. I'm pretty sick about losing him. I'm an admitted FANatic. The pain on Jermaine's face... I don't even want to think about what the family is going through. I just can't imagine.
PART I
I can imagine no worse curse to afflict someone, in America, than dying while famous.
He was strange to the point where he became a poster child for strange, but it was all the sadder because you could tell exactly where the trouble had come from. Since he was a child, he never once had a normal life or happy family or, apparently, any stable cadre of friends that would not defend him against his own absurdities, or screw him over for a little money. His childhood was bitter, brutal, and short. He was a superstar, and perhaps an addict. He was a dominant American force, and perhaps something malevolent. He was undoubtedly unbalanced, mentally and physically frail, maybe even insane. And he was brilliant.
F. Scott Fitzgerald could have written his life story. His was the essence of modern American fame and wealth; an icon of both the selflessly good and the shockingly bad; famous, but alone; shining genius and grotesque self-destruction in constant competition.
Even at his peak he was a tragic figure, already isolated. Wasn't it always obvious why he used his millions to build himself a full-fledged childhood? And how sad it was that he had, apparently, nobody around who could act as an adequate foil. He surrounded himself with friends as he could, but also with fools and clowns and hangers-on.
PART II
He was like the kid from the Twilight Zone, I always thought, the one who could get anything he wanted, or wish anyone he wanted into the cornfield, and nobody would or could say a thing about it. Everyone around him seemed afraid of him, except the people who thought maybe they could use him. He was not human, not like them. And he seemed to feel it exquisitely. He mutilated himself -- there was no other word for it. Over decades, he tried to turn himself physically into something else -- a thing in his own image.
Michael Jackson was a dismembered soul; bits and pieces of him had been long ago sold off, and of his own volition. His physical appearance was stark, but uncannily apt, in a world where such things almost never are so literal.
He lay in death as he lived in life, alone but surrounded by thousands. Even as corpse, there are police cars and helicopters and television cameras everywhere, and all his friends (supposed and true) and business partners (close and distant) and hangers-on (of all stripes and demeanors) are on all the networks expressing their sorrow on live television.
One or two voices, mean and self absorbed, leap into the fray with the supreme confidence of an alpha vulture jumping into a flock already thousands strong. Was this one really a true friend? Was that one? Who can tell? Apparently he had about ten thousand closest friends, all of them loved, and every damn last one of them is going to appear before a television camera or do a telephoned interview while old stock footage of the person they loved gets played on a continuous loop, moments of genius and despair carved into a video tombstone.
MSNBC shows the goddamn ambulance footage -- the ambulance backing up through his gate, backing into the street very slowly and cautiously to avoid the person with the video camera who is filming the unfolding tragedy and will not move farther away. And then as the ambulance drives off, the tour bus drives in, careening past the fire vehicles, blocking the driveway so the tourists can get a good view of the day and place Michael Jackson died.
Gawd, what fuckers these people are. I think if they didn't have police protection on the hospital, people would be going in with scalpels to dismember him piece-by-piece, selling his remains as mementos. If his soul goes to heaven, it will first have to get past a hundred paparazzi with butterfly nets.
He was Norma Desmond, but played larger; he was his own Captain Ahab, seeking to find and murder himself. But goddamnit, he was brilliant too, a nuclear force of music, and no matter how his own soul failed him, that much cannot be denied. Hearing his young voice once again, touching each note flawlessly and effortlessly and with such weight, is nearly shocking. Then video of the gold and green helicopter, spiriting the corpse away. And what luck, in the control room -- we have video of the corpse, unnervingly small and light, wrapped in a brilliant white.
He was loved. By uncountable millions as idol, and by some too-few friends as a person. I hope that in the end he at least knew as much, and that even the most famously, visibly, agonizingly tortured soul in the world could find a little peace in that.
MJ led a life that defied conventions and, to use an overused cliche, a life that was stranger than fiction. Like many, I find myself saddened at his passing. The Jackson 5 were a part of the soundtrack of my teen years, the Michael of Thriller made the music of my mid-20's.
Here is a link to a Jackson 5 performance on Soul Train (another of my fond childhood memories) from 1974:
http://www.imeem.com/lanier2/video/J7mD7fPx/the-jackson-five-dancing-machine-soul-train-1974/
Hunter,
Your comments, so poignant - brutal, harsh, and yet dead on. Thanks for summing up my frustration and disgust with the media feeding frenzy that is unfolding.
I am really sorry to hear about Michael Jackson passing. He was an icon in the music industry. I used to love that song "Billy Jean" by him, and I liked both "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" albums. Just think 7 or more of his songs on his albums made #1 on the charts. That was amazing in itself and showed how much of a genius he was. Michael crossed age, race, gender barriers with his music.
My baby girl used to go crazy over Michael Jackson, she was one of his biggest fans. She would get so hyper whenever she watched him perform. I had to buy her an identical red jacket and glove just like his that is how big a fan she was of Michael Jackson.
Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael Jackson.
They say that death comes in threes, but only Michael's death commanded the entire newsday.
I have nothing to add to what has already been said here, and will remain mostly silent as the events of the day slowly sink in.
Rikyrah's voice touched me the most, but many other voices here have chorused what I'm feeling.
I can't reassure you about the first molestation charge, but I can tell you of a certainty that the second one was bogus.
At the very best, he had a creepy fascination with children, and his ongoing effort to turn himself from a black man into a 13-year-old white girl was something out of a freak show.
It doesn't help that I never appreciated the music, either. Funk just never did it for me. To me, it was a way station on the road from Motown to the disaster called hip-hop.
About the only thing I can think of to say in his favor is to note that he seemed to be the product of a horrendous childhood at the hands of a real monster, his father. On that score, I occasionally felt sorry for him.
I grew with MJ too. I just KNEW I was going to marry him.
I saw a picture of him this morning circa "ABC" and burst into tears. I'm kinda surprised at how upset I am given the MJ I loved "died" many years ago.
I breaks my heart to see what happened to him post Thriller. The surgeries, trials, money troubles. I heard on the news there were days when he spoke to nobody. So strange as he always seemed to have people around him.
He IS Norma Desmond. I wish there was a happier ending for Michael.
But I will always remember jumping for joy whenever he and his brothers were on American Bandstand or Soul Train, the GENIUS that is OFF THE WALL, The Motown 25 special, the opening bass line to "Billie Jean" , how love for his talent transcended race, generations, countries. He along with Price and Madonna built MTV back in the 80s. (how weird they are all the same age!)
RIP Michael. I hope he has some peace now.
black girl # 1, the 1984 Grammys wasn't the first time that MJJ dropped the moonwalk on the world. That happened almost one year earlier.
Also, Thriller has sold well over 100 million copies.
Thanks so much for your post, Field. I am so sad about this. I watched the entire trajectory of his career from his introduction as a child prodigy, all the way through until today. In addition to his prodigious musical alents, he hired the best professionally trained dancers in the business and outshone them all. The dude was a genius. Period.
His music not only touched the world, it really changed the world. I truly hope he has finally found the peace and contentment he sought.
I could never understand why Michael so despised "The Man In the Mirror," he saw, or why, with the freedom & power the success of Thriller gave him, he thought most important goal was to make an album that topped it in sales, not an album that topped it in concept & beauty. He was peerless, but he wasn't without good models. It was like during those great years between Off the Wall & Bad, he took Quincy Jones' advice on everything but the most important stuff Quincy could teach him about life. Rest in peace, Michael.
Hunter, those were some great points! We all thank you.
Villager, I am so sorry to hear about that little girl.:( (I had the alert on my sidebar)It is so ironic that she was from Gary, as well. Thanks for your work with keeping us updated.
All of your coments were honest and on time. I am glad that we can express how we feel about the guy (good and bad)in a way that makes it so clear for the other folks reading.
An astonishing talent. Look at this 8 year old boy/man perform, and tell me he's not a genius.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3joe0GdTA
**
Abused by almost everyone he knew. Even his 'big brother' Quincy Jones (allegedly) kicked him into unconciousness during the recording of 'Billy Jean', because he didn't like the way Michael was singing the song.
In many ways it's a miracle that he came out of it as normal as he was.
**
On a sour note, let us not forget how our enemies thought of him. This, one of the weirdest, most paranoid, pieces of wing-nut strangeness I have ever read. If you love MJ and soccer, then you must hate America, apparently.
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2005/06/michael_jackson.html
My first concert was a Jackson 5 concert, too..... like you field and others of a certain age.... feel like his music was the sound track to my youth..... Through his music, he will always be with us. His death is sad because he was too young and it was so sudden. But also, because the icons that died....., Michael, Farrah, and Ed, signal a passing of our own lives in such an abrupt and finite way.....I sincerely hope the media will leave his children alone and his family can mourn, treated with dignity.
I love the Jackson family, I really do. All of'em....no matter what transpired, at the end of the day, they would come back together. no matter WHAT happened, they were a family first bunch. Love that. During the trial, I will never forget watching Rebbie, Latoya and Janet holding hands, all wearing white suits, looking like triplets....the sisters...just being SISTERS, there for their brother. The Jacksons were a family that when it got to the nitty gritty, did what a family does. Hold on to each other.
Field (who has, of late, been of the House, given the Black women-bashing):
Great post; it made me cry. And this is from someone who more often hates your thought process than not.
(Don't ask why I still visit your blog. It's the same reason I drop in on conservative/racist/white supremacist talk radio: masochism and morbid curiosity!)
As a black man, you do not get as big as MJ without changing to fit the image of white America. While he is put down for his appearance, I am confident that he would not have become the huge international star without his altered appearance, for it made many whites forget completely that he was an African American. Luther should have been as big as MJ if you want to just look at raw talent. There is not a motherfucker living or dead who could out sing him but outside of a few hip whites Luther is virtually unknown. Consider Miles, he was a genius, but again outside of a few hip whites mostly European he is virtually unknown. So whatever the reason MJ changed his appearance to fit the de-sexualized male and his career sky rocketed. Black people did not like his ever changing appearance but we loved his music. I wished that he would have moon walked into retirement. I now wonder if the family is going to have a Muslim burial as MJ converted like Jermaine to Islam a few years ago.
Michael is only a couple of years older than me and I hadn't even hit puberty when my sibblings and I got our parents to buy us our first Jackson Five album. We had every single one of them. We knew all the words and boy did we dance.
I read somewhere, where a person said, he never had a childhood and now he'll never have an old age. Even sadder is he'll never get to see his children grow up and they;ll never have that father whose whole world revolved around them.
After reading the most recent book on Sammy Davis jnr, I worry about the state of his estate, the family and those whu have been managing his business.
Is Sonny Murray still in bidness?
Ross them are some statements worthy of some thinking. You do have point. There again I think the hise moves and beat of the songs was what helped him cross over.
i have been feeling this same pain
for decades
i am 46
and i always expectd to outlive mj
the only shock to me was that his tragic death did not come much sooner...
the visibly toxic bleaching and emaciation
the constant drug ingestion
the perpetual surgeries
the opulent spending
the legendary stress of ALL who leeched him into being a pauper...
the incessant karma...
mj died for me very long ago
may the beautiful black boy inside that twisted white man finally rest in peace
http://aliciabanks.blogspot.com
I grew up on MJ too, especially after the thriller video. I was about 6 years old the year after it came out. That following Halloween at my elementary school, they used that video as one of the Halloween attractions. They set up a dark class room with a big TV, and you sat down to watch it like a haunted theater. You had to pay a whopping dollar (the haunted house was also in another class room).
Yup, I really looked forward to all those mini-movie videos he would bring out. When I hear the song "Do you remember" I think about the great times I had beginning high school, and a boy I had a crush on. To this day, that 'boy' is my on-call splakaveli (hate all you want). Oh the memories...
I have to admit, I'm feeling a little awkward because while he was displaying his black skin disdain and trying to transform himself into Bram Stolkers Dracula, I grew a strong feeling of contempt for MJ. But now, after all that, I sincerely feel awful about his death, I'm still in shock. I realize that deep down, I wanted to see him do well and rise again. All night my daughter and I were catching all the news on TV, she too was surprisingly into it last night (that's strange for a 12 year old who only seem to care about iphones and getting new clothes). I guess MJ, will always have that kind of curiously or appeal on many.
Rest in Peace MJ, and Rest in Peace Jada Justice.
Mike went out just like Elvis.
A caricature of himself.
A waste of extraordinary talent and wealth.
So sad.
"A waste of extraordinary talent and wealth."
Yup. And never mind how much millions he left in debt. Sales and royalties might just pick up and clear everything into profit for the ‘beneficiaries’. Yup, every time black folk make money, it manages to dissolve right into the hands of white beneficiaries (in this case, who are not even related by blood, btw). Damn shame.
Yeah, this and the other deaths of Ed and Farrah were unexpected. What a month!
R.I.P!
FN.
I've been replaying my youth thinking of MJ. The cartoons. Show at night. J5 v. Osmonds "Anything your brother can do, mine can do better" Remember that? Motown 25, everybody trying to Moonwalk after that. Him cleaning house on Grammy Night. Him MAKING MTV. Moving from Minneapolis to Portland OR hearing "We are the World" in North Dakota ON EVERY CHANNEL the radio would get in. May he find the peace that he never found living.
I can't even believe that it's true.
"black music owes him so much"
Are you kidding, Field? AMERICAN music, period, owes the man. He was a genius. Issue-laden, yes, but a genius.
God rest him.
Damn Field. You got a girl tearing up at her desk this morning.
Not mourning the loss of MJ. Upon hearing the news yesterday, my first thought was the same one I had when I heard Marvin Gaye had passed - May he finally have found peace.
It's the last two sentences of this post that have brought the tears. Co-sign totally with what you wrote.
That chapter has indeed ended for me too. But, I'm drying my eyes and turning the page now. Got to compose myself in order to finish the book!
I am sad. Have been listening to his music the last few hours. Know every word to most of his songs. Made me wonder will my girls have the same legends we have.
Peace and Blessing MJ
dd:
ditto!!!
real music and talent are FAR too rare these days...
every time we lose an icon i think...there are only WEAK pretenders to their thrones left...
i drive/visit with my 13 yr old nephew often...and music lessons are a constant
he loves roots reggae now
i wanted him to know dancehall is a joke just like most rap!!!
i stopped loving mj...
but i will always love his music!
and, there will never be anyone who can touch his genius!
Ross,
"Consider Miles, he was a genius, but again outside of a few hip whites mostly European he is virtually unknown."
I totally disagree.
I saw Miles 3 times during the 80s after his late 70s sabbatical and was shocked at the paucity of blacks in audience.
The blacks of my fathers generation loved Miles and jazz in general which was Americas popular music during the 40s and 50s.
But most American blacks of my generation (post 1960) are very unfamiliar and unresponsive to jazz (not that smooth jazz bull$hit) which is America's only true homegrown artform.
Jacko was fine until the ambulance pulled up to the Children's hospital... his heart couldn't take it. Sounds like a clear case of mal-practice to me... He's gonna need a good lawyer for where he's goin....
So will you Franko-Vernon, how many peeps died or got a heart attack due to your steroids and other drug peddling?
He's the OUR Elvis!!!! But thousands of times more outstanding.
Good post.
Field, I love MJ's music, had a bit of a crush on him back in the 90s when he still had a little melanin in him. But I learned something very disconcerting from all this wall to wall coverage of MJ. His children were conceived with donated sperm. I always wondered why his children looked so white. Even though he himself has changed his complexion his children should have at least looked biracial. And if he had some medical problems and had to rely on donation to have children why not use a brother's?
Wow, Hunter, your comments were so beautiful. Thank you. Everyone's comments except for one evil troll have been great.
anon:
ditto
mj bought those kids who have not one ounce of black blood
bleaching is not genetic!
oj wanted white kids and he bought everything he wanted on credit
and paid way too many leeches...including the white moms of these white kids
that is why he died broke
http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/mjfree.htm
What pains me most is that Michael is the only man in America who is more eurocentric than O. J. Simpson. Michael has proven that he is a pathological liar as he continues to lie about his blatant cosmetic surgeries, two sham marriages to Caucasian females, fabricated police brutality during his pre-trial arrest, sympathy evoking antics during the trial, the glaring bleaching of his skin, and the visibly Nordic genes of his children. Michael's own genes can never be bleached. But, the whitening of his reputation has clearly begun.
see his white kids here
http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2009/06/25/michael-jackson-dies-leaves-three-kids-behind/
I remember my mom letting my sisters and I stay up past crewfew on a school just to watch his concerts on t.v, music had changed so much since then and it'll never be the same. Love always Micheal may your soul continue to rest in peace.
Rose
Thanks AB, for the links. I know he's fam and all but, the fact that he deliberatly chose to have white children just doesn't sit well with me. I'm sorry how can so many of hate ourselves? So sad.
ditto anon
i am so sick and tired of loving black people who do not love us back...
the twisted adult mj/oj and obama included!...
AB/Anon -
Yeah, Micheal Jackson was on some other stuff...I mean, he literally adopted three white children. Its amazing what a few great songs and fame make people forget just why we called him 'Whacko Jacko'. It does disturb me that most people some to forget that Micheal Jackson is also the same crazy man who dangled a baby out a window or scared the beejezus out of most of us when he was when he was interview by the late Ed Bradley. (I think he kind of freaked out Ed, too.)
That being said, he was possible the most influential man in pop music, period.
And AB, don't put Obama in the same class of lunacy as Micheal Jackson and OJ. You may not agree with his policies or politics -- but I highly doubt that Barak Obama has the same level of self hating neuroses of those two Negroes. And he's actually half-white.
LACoincidental,
How can a black woman who posted (and endorsed) on a thread titled "Have Whites Lost America" call anyone a Tom?
alicia banks said...
-------
You know you are an exceptional woman, Alicia. But we've heard enough vicious critique of Michael Jackson. It's what ultimately destroyed him. Frank Sinatra cavorted with criminals, and was abusive toward women. Elvis Presley committed multiple felonies, move a 14 year old in his mansion, and to top it off, was crown king of our music. If anyone would dare to chastise the Chairmen of the Board, or say Chuck Berry is the true king of Rock & Roll, there would be hell to pay. So on this day, when we have lost the last iconic legend, would you kindly show some respect by shutting the phucc up!
alicia banks-
not fair on obama. he has a beautiful black family. check yourself
respect begets respect
i have felt the same pain you are feeling today for DECADES!!!!
you cannot tell me what to feel or how to express it
can you show me some respect???
i am mourning too!
but only for the black boy
http://aliciabanks.blogspot.com/
mj only hurt himself as he thrilled us all with his music and dancing until his very last day
obama has hurt all of us and our kids by bilking us to pay the rich
...sending our kids to wars as cannon fodder etc
mj and obama are adored by black people whom they LEGENDARILY betray
i wish that angered you as much as my own honest grief over mj does!!!
“I think it is symbolically very significant that Michael Jackson, after introducing a vehicle, the music video, that promotes colorism and the supremacy of White standards of beauty, proceeds to remove any and all vestiges of his identity as a Black man.”
http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/colorism.htm
yes
and obama's policies are destroying LOTS of other beautiful black familes...
if only his beautiful wife and kids could help us keep our homes and jobs....
"and obama's policies are destroying LOTS of other beautiful black familes..."
This is patently insane.
I did not mean to open a can of worm here. I always puzzled by the complexion of Michael's children and to learn he had a choice between black or white offspring and he picked white, I find a bit unsettling. I don't really know why but it does. Also, I do not cosign AB's sentiment of the Oman....I love the man(types this as she is sipping coffee from her O mug).
again
pastor manning made a superb analogy to poor blacks losing harlem to gentrification and
obama gentrifying america to elite whites exclusively
any prof would give him an A+
for his cogent comparisons!
i am not a tom
i am a realist
and that video is dead on!
us:
it is a bit hard for black families to to be beautiful while homeless
fyi
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/nyregion/16foreclose.html
alicia banks-
you seemed to expect miracles from obama and now you're disappointed.
he's one man, and i'm pretty sure we're the ones destroying our own families just fine without his help.
you're either massively naive, or a cynical republican out to get the O-man. which is it?
"disappointed" is a gross undertstatement indeed!
millions of democrats and independents hate obama as much as i do...
his journalist fans simply erase us by omission...
that too shall soon pass...
http://www.alternet.org/politics/137011/got_a_hopeover_a_dictionary_for_disheartened_obama_fans/
I don't know... seems like we have PLENTY of time to 'fight' about Obama's policies. instead i rather we'd all just continue the wonderful analysis of MJ's life: no matter how painful it was for him or for us. which SO MUCH more superior than the fake analysis we're seeing on the news! when you have people saying that FOX is giving the best coverage so far, you know it's more than i can stomach!
Excellent post Field. I was thinking yesterday that Michael's death is the end of an era. He was the last worldwide megastar of popular music. There was Elvis, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson. Because there are so many options and because popular music is so fragmented, there will never be a performer/group who will command that type of attention again.
When I tell some people that MTV didn't play black videos until MJ's "Billie Jean", they are shocked. It was inconceivable then and it still is now. It's ironic that MTV had the unwritten rule about not playing videos by black artists because Michael Jackson helped put them on the map and raised music videos to an art form.
Ugg.
My initial reaction to the news was "now I don't ever have to hear about this idiot again"
No luck. The media leaches are going to drag the rotting corpse around for decades, getting the last dime for the last peek at the train wreck.
The next Elvis: he's not really dead, I saw him at Walmart !!!
i never expect miracles
i also did not expect govt owned banks and auto cos/obama tv/endless bailouts to the rich/escalated wars/robbery of the poor/no triage on foreclosures/trillions in bonus checks to rich wms ETC...
fyi
ab
Alicia, for once this is not about you and every fucking thing that occurs in life is not about Obama.
The man (Michael Jackson) is dead and no matter how much we dissect is life, his corpse is not going to rise up and correct whatever mistake were made.
So let's just enjoy the memories of listening and dancing to his music as kids and the joy that those simple acts brought us.
ann:
i disagree that critique
destroyed mj...
in fact, i say
the lack of critique of his personal demons amounted to his prolonged self-mutilation/sabotage/suicide...
Jackson's former publicist Michael Levine: "As someone who served as Michael Jackson's publicist during the 1st child molestation incident, I must confess I am not surprised by today's tragic news. Michael has been on an impossibly difficult and often self-destructive journey for years. His talent was unquestionable but so too was his discomfort with the norms of the world. A human simply can not withstand this level of prolonged stress.'
I don't know why, but like Field always thought that MJ would be alive after the nuclear holocaust.
That being said, I liked "Off the Wall" more than "Thriller" -- just a really good funk/disco album. "Butterflies" & "Do You Remember the Times" were the last two 'black' songs he made.
Autopsy Results just in... sounds like Jacko got into some bad Chinese food...sumthin about some bad kumufsum-yung-gai.....
Wow, I heard people in Iran stop protesting to moron MJ. Damn, that's gangsta.
Just made an MJ tribute station on my Pandora account. Gonna jam today.
RIP MJ. the world has just lost one of its best musicians ever..
Field,
Michael Jackson was a sensation all over the world. People who can't speak a word of English and knew nothing about America are able to sing along to his songs.
I was really sad. And my mom, who doesn't really care, or wait, care at all, about music in the English language was sad, too.
My all time favorite song, Will You be There, from MJ was for that movie Free Willy, "Hold me, like the river Jordan...."
I listened to it last night after years, and, well, cried.
I hope he can find peace now, which he wasn't able to find on Earth.
i did like the jackson 5 circa abc..and then nada for years. i did not really like thriller but i did respect him for what achieved with that album.
i lost respect with all the surgery and all the little kids, never did respect him again.
i am sure he will get some peace now. i hope the end wasn't something he looked forward to.
every family is dysfunctional it is to bad his was public fodder.
alicia,
you are one angry person.
have you considered therapy?
even i, who am a committed socialist are not as angry as you and that surprises me.
Y'all are twisted, fallin all over your untied sneakers to fellate a freak-show dead child molestor... He'd have been better off in prison, sure he might have a sore rear end, but he'd have gotten off the Crack, the Meth, or watever made his such a freak... He molested more kids than a Monastary full of Priests, bleached his skin whiter than an albino eminem, and worst of all...MARRIED A WHITE WOMAN!!!!
Clarence Thomas is da Man....
Alicia Banks Posted comment 4 you in Sanford hope you read it
thanks
Field,
I wonder what will happen to the infamous Beatles Music Catalog that was owned by Michael Jackson.
Nonetheless, my first memory of Michael Jackson was not moon waliking, or seeing him perform with his brothers, but seeing him transform into a Werewolf in Thriller. I was 8 years old. It terrified me.
Can you imagine having that as a first impression of someone?
My daughter, now 12, watched, "The Wiz" for the first time two days ago. Her first impression of Michael Jackson is far different from mine.
I never thought Diana Ross would outlive Michael Jackson.
Hey Field Negro,
I knew you would do a post on Michael...
It is just so horribly sad that he's gone... GONE...
I am still just reeling from the total shock.
He was indeed a phenomenal man who broke so many barriers and was courageous enough to present MANY aspects of black manhood that the world had not encountered (although he was viciously ridiculed for it).
He will be an amazing part of all of our memories and there will never be another Michael J....
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
"Adam said...
Field,
I wonder what will happen to the infamous Beatles Music Catalog that was owned by Michael Jackson.
Nonetheless, my first memory of Michael Jackson was not moon waliking, or seeing him perform with his brothers, but seeing him transform into a Werewolf in Thriller. I was 8 years old. It terrified me.
Can you imagine having that as a first impression of someone?
My daughter, now 12, watched, "The Wiz" for the first time two days ago. Her first impression of Michael Jackson is far different from mine.
I never thought Diana Ross would outlive Michael Jackson.
"
Adam, that's my first memory of MJ too. Thriller and the Incredible Hulk scared the crap out of me until I was 10.
Diana? And I never thought Liz Taylor would outlive MJ.
Beautifully said, Field.
Thanks for all the links, everybody.
My favorite video - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - the joy and talent evident in that video melts my heart.
I'm sad. It should have been different for him.
I'm sure I'm alone here but I always thought the best Jacksons' work was with Gamble and Huff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkA5S-YoVWQ
I'm calling Shenanigans!!!!
Michael Jackson is the ultimate HOUSE NEGRO.He bleached his skin white,tried to have white chillins,and tried to talk like a white woman. He even bought the Beatles Catalog.What self-respecting field negro listens to the Beatles??
FN, from this point foward,you should never speak ill of other house negros.You have lost your moral authority .Sadly, it seems like you are becoming more and more like the people you criticize.
"He was indeed a phenomenal man who broke so many barriers and was courageous enough to present MANY aspects of black manhood that the world had not encountered (although he was viciously ridiculed for it)."
oh geez.
Where do these freakin nutcases come from?
You mind explaining what aspects of "black manhood" previously unknown did MJ presented to the world.
I bet she doesn't answer.
Some of these folks are just dying for attention.
Alicia Banks,
Michael Jackson had more talent in one of his discarded toenails than you have in your entire being.
So what if adopted white kids? So what if dated white women? Anyone who truly believes in God knows that it is never about "color."
Get over yourself girl.
"So what if adopted white kids?"
In the immortal words of Richard Pryor...
"I got nothing against (foreign) orphans but we already got a bunch of niggas here who need to be adopted!"
Field, I was at the Free Library last night where Farai Chideya was reading from her new novel. Rather than diving right into her book, she opened by talking about MJ for a while instead. So that's how I heard the news.
The notion of an alternate world, one where he could have grown up strong and brown and proud and whole, lingered in the room all evening.
I hope his spirit is finally free.
assnon:
i never wanted to be a pop star
i do not envy mj's unique and extreme talents as you do mine...
his wretched life was a curse and his ghastly face and deeply indebted estate prove that
EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL!!!
hair
skin
music
death
estates
lies
truths
bios
kudos
etc....
___
us and j2:
thanks for keeping mj real in death!!
i posted a HUGE tribute to the boy mj at my site yesterday
but i refuse to ever pretend that he was some afrocentric political icon akin to marvin gaye...he was psycho and apolitical and a surgical white alien female when he OD'd
funny how fools herein are angrier at me for being real than they are for his murderding doc who is on the lam with illegal meds in tow...
___
re anger
it keeps me alive in a world full of docile tame suicidal morons
without anger, i would be just another one of the sheeple
so i thank god for every iota of my anger each day
jesus was angry too
go figure
One of the best attested sayings of Jesus found in a number of independent sources is a prediction that at the end of the age, the Temple itself would be destroyed (Mark 13:2, 14:58, 15:29)…
Remember the time:
When you couldn't wait to watch the Jackson/Sonny & Cher/ Donny & Marie/ Captain & Tenille shows?
When you had a Charlie's Angels/ Six Million Dollar Man/ Bionic Woman/ David Cassidy lunchbox?
Watching the Jackson 5 cartoon and Soul train and Ameican Bandstand?
Staying up to see the "Thriller" video?
Seeing Michael do the "Moonwalk?"
Our collective youth has left the building. He wasn't "our Elvis"- he was Michael Jackson- THE KING OF POP!! I finally understand how the Elvis fans and John Lennon fans felt.
Michael has finally found some peace. Remember the time forever.
Ann 1:40 your missing the point. He did not adopt the children. He went to a sperm bank, perused a few bios and selected a white man with blonde hair and blue eyes to be the biological father to his children. He had a say in his children phenotype and he chose to have children with no observable characteristic as him.
jen
ditto
see an awesome poem on mj that goes even deeper into his tortured psyche
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Wings-Blind-Angels-Poems/dp/0679767312
I disliked MJ for many years, as I too felt he was running from his blackness. In ALOT of ways he was, but some of that stuff was beyond his control; and I felt he did those things to feel a little more (normal)due to his issues.
Michael Jackson had a disease called vitiligo, which over a short period of time, turns your skin colorless; almost albino-like. Once the disease progresses over more than 2/3
(I think)of the body; one has the option of bleaching the rest of their skin to have the appearance of an even skin tone. People affected with this disease literally look 1/2 black,1/2 white. Michael used pancake makeup to even his skin color out. Former pop singer Cisqo (remember him) also has this disease. I wonder if that’s the reason we don’t see him anymore? Michael had lupus as well; and I know 2 people personally who have this disease, which becomes pretty painful and debilitating in its later stages. I’m not making excuses for MJ’s sometimes strange actions; but to an extent I sympathize with him because of alot of things I didn’t know about him. Wikipedia has a great bio on him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson;
I also did a brief writeup on my blog http://alwaysrealtalk.blogspot.com/
Peace
AB said, ditto anon
i am so sick and tired of loving black people who do not love us back...
the twisted adult mj/oj and obama included!...
Are you confusing Barack Obama with John McWhorter? I know the two are both biracial, but Obama is no McWhorter. Obama has no truck with black folks.
Never can say goodbye....cool.
I agree with another poster that I liked the "Off The Wall" album the best.
The man is dead, but the music is too good to ever be forgotten.
anon
thank you
mj erased blackness from his life in every possible way
as fn said, from 4 noses and way beyond
ironic and tragic that the mj, most beautiful and gifted black boy i have ever seen wanted only nordic children in his own life
most black children today refuse to believe that mj ever looked like them...
and mj would demand that those beautiful black photos of himself be edited from al montages etc
mj hates himself
but loving who he became MUST mean
that we hate ourselves even more
As a 41 year old eternal fan of the young Michael, I will always adore the memory of that beautiful, gifted, ebony skinned, African-American boy that he once was. I will always love his wonderful music and dancing. Likewise, I will always loathe the gruesome, phony, devious, ghastly, ghoulish, twisted, anemic, Caucasian pedophile that he has surgically and chemically chosen to become. Those white supremacists who initially claim that they cannot understand my repulsion and resentment need only envision Elvis Presley choosing to physically morph into Naomi Campbell. Then, they tend to feel my pain.
Did anyone think that MJ changing his physical appearance was a marketing move? I could by that.
However, it seemed he had an unhealthy love for white folks.
I enjoyed MJ the artist, but not the person. I am able to compartmentalize they two. I suspect most of the mourners are mourning the artist, not the person.
I'm looking at the man in mirror ....
Nice post, Field.
Did anyone think that MJ changing his physical appearance was a marketing move?
I don't think so. You don't have to turn yourself into a 13-year-old white girl to make money. Look at Ray Charles and Steve Wonder, to name just a couple. Not only that, but Jackson's surgery turned him into a freak and worked against his marketability over time.
I don't accept the vitiligo explanation either. Lots of black people have that issue and don't go and try to turn themselves into 13-year-old white girls. I'm afraid MJ's issues went deeper than marketing or vitiligo.
By the way, my guess is that this will wind up being another celebrity drug overdose.
i will mourn the artist too
forever...
MOURNING MICHAEL JACKSON TOO…
We have lost two icons today...
I once loved Michael too.
I loved that magical chocolate boy who always had awesome musical and physical talents that no person of any age could ever rival.
I loved that dark skinned, nappy haired, black male, superstar who was a wonderful singer and hypnotic dancer even as a child.
Michael as a boy was my religion as a child. That black boy died long ago…
I have mourned the death of that black boy for decades.
I adored the original gifted, gorgeous, and eternal black prince who will always be that Michael Jackson.
May that beautiful black boy rest in peace eternally.
The pain that millions of Michael’s global fans feel today is the very same pain that I have felt every time I looked at Michael Jackson the man…for years.
I never stopped loving Michael’s music, even when I did not recognize his ghastly white face or excuse his brazen wrongs…
Michael will live forever because he and his music were magnificent originals.
I will always mourn and adore the gifted black boy that Michael once was…
I know that Michael is in a better place where he can finally see his irreplaceable black beauty. May his black soul find peace.
See the young Michael Jackson that I will exclusively mourn and adore always here:
See why I will never mourn the twisted man Michael became here:
http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/mjfree.htm
I dedicate this song to the eternal memory of that beautiful black boy
Michael Jackson:
NO IMAGES
By Sweet Honey in the Rock
She does not know
her beauty.
She thinks her brown body
has no glory.
But, if she could dance
naked ‘neath palm trees,
and see her reflections in the river,
then she would know.
But, there are no trees
on the street where she lives.
And, dishwater gives back no images.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_dmusic?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=NO+IMAGES+HONEY&x=0&y=0
peace
ab
As a 41 year old eternal fan of the young Michael...
I thought you were 46, you lying ass bitch!
and for those herein who dare to vulgarly, unfairly, and selectively curse me beause i refuse to love the adult mj or grieve as they do
alice walker etrnally spoke my sentiments best:
BE NOBODY'S DARLING
Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.
Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.
Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead.
___
works for me...
nahmean?
anon
you really are a moron
that was an OLD column on mj that i penned when i was 41
i pasted a para from it
wake up!
i will be 46 on 8/10
i start counting in jan each yr
got a clue/valium
fn:
it is official
mj overdosed on demerol
http://gawker.com/5302772/sun-reports-michael-jackson-collapsed-after-a-demerol-injection
"Did anyone think that MJ changing his physical appearance was a marketing move?"
Hell no.
My wife and I were talking about it last night and there is nothing wrong with a little nip and tuck to tweak your imperfections.
If MJ had stopped with the plastic surgery after "Off The Wall" where he just had his nose pinched and his teeth straightened he would have been fine.
He was a very handsome and marketable young entertainer at that.
But within a few years we saw the public descent into the grotesque.
The skin whitener, clef chin, sculpted jawline, the nose...etc..
That was total self-hatred.
ditto grinder
dermatologists leaked that mj never had vitiligo long ago
and they stated he used massive doses of liquid hydroquinine to bleach his skin via specific site injections
many of the boys he molested and those who knew he never wore shorts explained that most of his lower torso was less white/bleached/patchy brown
diane dimond has been getting death threats for 24 hrs
because she has done the most truth telling of all mj bio authors
For more on the documentation of Michael's crimes, read:
Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case by Diane Dimond
Michael Jackson Unauthorized by Christopher Anderson
La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family by La Toya Jackson
The Myth, The Magic, & The Madness by Randy Taraborrelli
Trapped: Michael Jackson and the Crossover Dream by Dave Marsh
funny how mj's crazed delusional violent fans love him for being so "peaceful"
and
they are stalking a wf author rather than a wm killer doctor
sexism rules all!
just like politics
For those wondering about the Beatles Catalogue - Michael willed it back to Paul McCartney
I always wanted to do this...I was so jealous I couldn't be like everyone else who did it at the concerts but....
MICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!
Just had to get that out. He was the greatest to ever do what he did.
The Many Faces of Michael Jackson
Looks like narcotics were the culprit in this one. All too common among artists. Many of the greats were addicts at some point in their lives, Miles Davis and Saint John Coltrane among them.
Alicia, I do understand how you feel about MJ. I hated everything MJ began to represent regarding his anti-blackness. Then recently I realized that MJ was way too troubled and 'certifiable' for me or any other black person to take on seriously (as a matter of fact, that should go for all non-blacks too).
I now wonder if it was ever about black people, I think it was mostly about MJ taking his own self-hating whimsy manifestations to a whole new twisted level. (I have a feeling if he was medically able or socially allowed to turn himself into Thing One or Thing two, he would have done it). I really do hope he finds what he was looking for now.
BTW, there is absolutely no connection with Obama to MJ or OJ.
li:
cool
we agree to disagree
peace
i save my undying love for bros like mumia abu jumal and mike dyson
Grinder, how come you only conveniently named black artist?
"Field,
I wonder what will happen to the infamous Beatles Music Catalog that was owned by Michael Jackson."
As SisinMD said,it was willed to McCartney.
"enjoyed MJ the artist, but not the person. I am able to compartmentalize they two. I suspect most of the mourners are mourning the artist, not the person."
Rudy, to a certain extent, we were all able to do that.
Great points Malcolm.
"FN, from this point foward,you should never speak ill of other house negros.You have lost your moral authority .Sadly, it seems like you are becoming more and more like the people you criticize."
sick freak, had that come from any one else but you, I would have actually given it a second thought.
uptownsteve, I was listening to Kenny Gamble this morning, and he was talking about those two albums he did with the Jacksons. It's funny, but listening to them now, I do detect that Philly International sound.
BTW,Is it me, or was "You Rock My World" from 2001 the stone cold s&#t?
most black children today refuse to believe that mj ever looked like them...
----
And most black children would pick Halle Berry over Angela Bassett, any day. Unfortunately, when it comes to beauty, the black community's tolerance for extreme black features are about as intolerant- as the White's. Alek Wek, the very dark Sundanese model appeared on the cover of Elle- long before she appeared on the cover of Essence. When Newsweek featured Alek's modeling career, it was African Americans who complained.
Look, Let's face it, Michael Jackson's plastic surgery was not the exception, indeed, for black celebrities, as well as white, it is the rule. After all, even Angela Bassett has had a nose job.
God inlaid in Michael a remarkable talent unmatched by anyone. He was truly the undisputed "King of POP". No other entertainer in the history of music and dance can be compared to him.
On stage, he was the best…distinct…incomparable. He was loved throughout the world as the greatest entertainer of all time.
Off stage, Michael was like a wounded and lonely little boy. He seemed to have had a hole in his soul that even millions of adoring fans on our planet could not fill. Michael tried to fill that hole as best he could. It was strange, and unfortunately very public. But sometimes trying to feed a hungry love hole can lead a human to bizarre places--places where one had not intended to go. Michael is not alone. Human history and literature is filled with shadowy stories much darker than his, and they had no talent.
MJ's death has been a very sad moment for me because his life has been so poignantly moving--from childhood to sudden death. To me, Michael exhibited the beauty of human greatness and the ugliness of human weakness. Depending on where you were standing, Michael was famous or infamous--or maybe both.
Yet, it cannot be denied that Michael gave so much of himself to the world, and I am truly grateful to him for that.
Also, MJ's death stands as a stark reminder that the world is constantly assailed by death. It never lets up. Even worse, it can come suddenly without warning. That's the way life often works. Therefore, it’s a good idea to have your spiritual valise packed and ready for ‘the journey’, IMO.
Goodbye Michael, have a nice trip. Man, you were awesome! Thank you for sharing your talent and life with so many people.... Peace.
And thanks for the touching post, Field.
A+
ditto ann
but mj's euro surgery went beyond the typical white supremacist norm
it became alien/ghastly/vampirish/nordic female/painful/tiny mobile nose etc
and all around him allowed him to mutilate himself while being coddled and excused in every arena
lil kim is also going way over the line with the same euro surgery!
and
for the same reasons
she adored that gruesome blacker dog biggie..yet he made her hate her blackness as he chose yellow women like faith and charlie baltimore over her...
i adored tupac...but he constanly bashed lil kim as ugly too as
he dated salli richardson and neraly wed khidada jones...
white supremacy and colorism are rabidly real...they made mj hate himself
i pray my now knows just how flawlessly beautiful he ORIGINALLY was...eternally
Too many comments to even comment on but FN this was a good post.
My wife and I were talking about it last night and there is nothing wrong with a little nip and tuck to tweak your imperfections.
If MJ had stopped with the plastic surgery after "Off The Wall" where he just had his nose pinched and his teeth straightened he would have been fine.
He was a very handsome and marketable young entertainer at that.
But within a few years we saw the public descent into the grotesque.
The skin whitener, clef chin, sculpted jawline, the nose...etc..
That was total self-hatred.<<<
UptownSteve,
My sentiments exactly. If he had ceased going under the knife after Thriller, he wouldn't have been the butt of so many jokes.
His morphing into the pasty-faced, red-lipped, cleft-chinned creature was not an improvement whatsoever.
I am sick and tired of people BEATING DOWN JOE JACKSON! he was not a perfect father, but, he was a BLACK father with BLACK SON'S, he had sense enough to pull the HIDDEN TREASURE'S out of his children, and they used them to the best of their ability's, how many BLACK FAMILY'S in the sixty's were running all over AMERICA singing? none that I can remember, the JACKSON FIVE were so TOUGH that the OSMOND'S tried to imitate them! but, they couldn't!
Yes MICHAEL did begin to look strange over the year's, but, once he hit that stage no one could touch him, first we had SAMMY DAVIS Jr. then we had JAME'S BROWN, and then along came Mr. MICHAEL JACKSON, he was in a league of his own, he was GREAT!!!
MICHAEL JACKSON may have did thing's to make our people ashamed of him, what about WHITE celebrity's, what about ELVIS, do you think his people would be on a BLOG tearing him down? NO? they would be PRAISING his TALENT!
MICHAEL JACKSON died a ACCOMPLISHED BLACK MAN, he was a HUMANITARIAN! he tried to make human being's reach out to their fellow man, but, some of you people don't to want to remember that, you want to remember his PHYSICAL appearance whether than his HEART!
So rest in peace MICHAEL JACKSON, for you were LOVED by many, and you touched many!!!!
President Obama offers condolences to the Jackson family.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/26/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5117150.shtml
anon
fyi
libraries are filled wth books by white authors who slew elvis
many were members of his own posse and kin who grew tired of his drugs and killer docs etc...
priscilla's own classic bio
"elvis and me"
also slew elvis as a pedophile/whore/liar/junkie etc
mj hated joe more than he hated himself
many say mj vomited when joe came near him for many yrs
and
mj insanely cut joe out of his own face via plastic surgery
joe was a savvy manager
but he was also an abusive whore to his wife, a horrid role model of a husband and man to his sons, and a child rapist himself
all 3 of the girls have said joe sexually abused them
and
i think joe raped mj to break his defiant virgo spirit...
again
i will love no one unconditionally
not mj or joe
you may love joe as u wish
I didn't think it was scientifically possible to bleach melanin. I always thought it was just makeup. I also didn't think Micheal Jackson was any stranger than many geniuses. One only has to look at Nathaniel Ayers, that Jamie Foxx has recently portrayed, Vincent Van Gogh and Nobel Laureate John Nash, who was perhaps justifiably accused of rape.
I didn't grow up with his music, I am old enough to be his older sister:) But I do like his music and I wish his artistic greatness will survive the gossip and the pseudo psychoanalysis.
hathor:
it is possible
http://depigmentskin.com/
hydroquinine is a potent bleach in serums
there are small traces of it in all fade creams ie arta/ambi etc
and even reverse melanin is possible
ie
tanning pills
read "black like me"
x 2
melanin and pigmentation can be chemically manipulated in blacks and whites
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=730523&matches=282&wquery=black+like+me&cm_sp=works*listing*cover
Why is so many of you fools crying over Michael Jackson...This man hated being Black to the point of not wanting his kids being Black...Hell, he wouldn't touch a Black woman in less you put a gun to his head.
Yet, all I see is dark skinned Black women losing there mind over Michael. Shit, Michael was not thinking about you fools...hahahaha
Yes MICHAEL did begin to look strange over the year's, but, once he hit that stage no one could touch him, first we had SAMMY DAVIS Jr. then we had JAME'S BROWN, and then along came Mr. MICHAEL JACKSON, he was in a league of his own, he was GREAT!!!<<
And most people would concur with your assessment. But there is no need to make him into a saint.
Btw, Elvis and others who had questionable judgement and were self-destructive (i.e., Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Jackson Pollack, Jimi Hendrix) had their share of criticism in spite of their talent.)
Why is so many of you fools crying over Michael Jackson...This man hated being Black to the point of not wanting his kids being Black...Hell, he wouldn't touch a Black woman in less you put a gun to his head.<<<
Unless? What gun, what woman and when?
It's no secret that Jackson had issues with his identity and plenty was observed and said about these issues when he was alive.
This still does not detract from his accomplishments as an artist. And he will be missed, if only for being the artist he was years ago.
Bla Bla Bla, "Thriller" was Overrated, "Bad" really was Bad, and if he'd gone to prision like he deserved he'd still be alive...
Y'all know if you had to choose between Clarence Thomas and Wacko Jacko to baby sit your kids who it'd be.... I don't even think he's really dead, just a publicity gimick like with Biggie and Tupac...
Frank
Frank, That shit was funny...lol
Truthfully, Michael influenced other artist I see it every day. From White, Latino and Asian boy bands. They copied his dance moves to his style of dress in the 80's. There is no getting around that fact no matter how much you hate Black people or Michael Jackson for his later in life crimes. The man was a talented artist.
Um...Sharon said "Unless? What gun, what woman and when?" dear that was the point.
The man hated being Black I find is tragic to see certain Black women acting a fool in the streets to day over Michael dying. The man never married Black and chose to have "White" kids on purpose. He could have adopted neglected and abused Black children. Instead he rather pay some overweight fat White slob woman to breed him pale white kids.
I sorry to say Michael was not thinking about Black people until his bizarre behavior turned White people off.
Annon 703 is on point, sad isn't it. He could of done so much for the community who stood by him. I spent the day listening to talk radio and most white were dogging him only black folks were sticking up for him
Anon 7:03 PM has a point.
I was just checking your site, but I remember why I left
grinder -alicia banks
your site attracts too many demons
separate the art from the artist--accentuate the positive- thank allah for the blessing of MJ's music
june 25th, 2009 was one of the saddest days of my life...i'm absolutely devastated michael jackson is no longer with us...i've been a fan of his music and talents for nearly 40 years...i still cannot get over this...much sadness...
Field,
I just saw your ArtMaggot picture, and I want to thank you for bringing me back to reality, that is funny!!!
To weigh in, I loved the Jackson 5, I loved Michael Jackson's music and talent, nobody says, oh Picasso is a disgrace, they just cared about his art work, same with Michael Jackson, actually I think MJ is a prime example of colonization and the colonized mind, sick and sad. Frank you really should find a differnt license, the Three Stooges are far more funny and intelligent than you.
btc:
i am no demon
but i do think that living/consenting to lies = a very special kind of white hot hell
re: anger
To be conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage..."
James Baldwin
i am proudly enraged
fyi
It is amazing and disgusting how you folks have concluded that MJ hated Blacks. Obviously you have discounted and nullified what he did for Blacks. I can assure you it far exceeds your disapproval of his personal life and his preference for women.
BTW, what have you self-righteous judging black folks done for your people? Done anything lately to stop the killings of Black children or crime in the Black community? I didn't think so.
Some-but NOT all--of YOU like to sit on your asses and shoot your criticizing mouths off, as though you have really have your shit together... That's why we are still dragging up the rear as a race, because of condescending judging folks like you-all talk and no action.
But whenever some person of our race DOES something really great to advance themselves and their race, you sit on your fat asses and criticize them for NOT being 'Black enough'-- as if they should live and die for your "do-nothing-for-the-people" collective asses.
Maybe you should take a look in the mirror at YOURSELF to see how YOU measure up to the impossible standards you hold others to. It won't take a genius to know what you will see: "Zero."
In reading 'some' comments from 'some' of you bitching and never satisfied folks, I wouldn't blame MJ or anybody else from turning away from stinking-thinking people like you.
Take a look at the video below before 'some' of you holier-than-thou folks continue on your fun-bashing rampage against MJ. Afterwards, maybe some of you will have some MERCY and let him RIP. I swear, some of you are pure ass-holes, in particular AB and her tiny band of followers.
http://vodpod.com/watch/1813865-al-sharpton-speaking-on-michael-jacksons-legacy-michael-made-culture-except-a-person-of-color
SHARON, I see you are back, and forever SIMPLE MINDED!! and anyone on this form know's for a fact that, MICHAEL JACKSON had TALENT, and where in the world did you of all people get the word SAINT from, are you sure you of all people, know the meaning of that word!
MICHAEL JACKSON was talented, he was a gifted performer, NOT a SAINT! GOD gifted MICHAEL, and he chose to use it to entertain the WORLD, and trust me he was a long way from being a SAINT, but, then again, who is to say how GOD MEASURED MICHAEL JACKSON!
I would have preferred that he become a MINISTER but, he did not, I would have preferred that he used his gift's for the GLORY of GOD, but, he chose to follow his own man made path.
We wanted MICHAEL JACKSON to marry a BLACK WOMAN and have black kid's, well, he did NOT, this man lived a crazy life, and so do the MAJORITY of people! his life was exposed for the world to see, our life is hid in secret, and GOD forbid the cover's would come off!!
So if I give a BLACK MAN a complement, don't make it seem as if I am trying to make a SAINT out of him!
(SAINT)
A HOLY PERSON, UNSELFISH, in certain CHURCH'S a person, said officially to be in HEAVEN as a result of having lived a very HOLY life.
And SHARON take note of the word HOLY! you may want to look that word up!
anon
anyone who thinks that the adult mj-
who was indeed a twisted, emaciated, drugged out, boy raping, plastic faced, monstrous poster boy for white supremacy was anything more than a gifted singer and dancer
can call me anything they want
because they are clearly blind
when people with feces for brains refer to be as an anus
i take that as the ultimate compliment
ps: i loved mike's music and videos and dancing until the very end!
my fav mj video was "keep it in the closet"
because naomi campbell is gorgeous...and it looks like soft butch + femme black lesbian erotica
what do i do for black kids?
teach them to love the black skin, faces, and nappy hair that they are born with....unlike mj
fyi
ab
"Y'all know if you had to choose between Clarence Thomas and Wacko Jacko to baby sit your kids who it'd be...."
At least the kids would be alive with MJ. CT would probably lynch them.
fn
omg
have u seen this?
god help ALL ed
http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/stanford-u-study-shows-charter-schools-perform-worse-comparable-public-schools
Anonymous 9:10 and Anonymous 5:23:
AMEN! I've never in my life witnessed so many blacks folks claiming that they want to help uplift their black race have so many negative things to say about their own black people. They need to just quit claiming that they're helping because they defeat the purpose with they way they tear black folks down themselves. It is bad enough that whites have been putting down black folks for ages, but to see other black folks that claim they are helping their black people put them down worser than white people do is beyond confused. With black like those helping black folks, who needs enemies. They make the white supremacist job easy. Smh!
SHARON, I see you are back, and forever SIMPLE MINDED!! and anyone on this form know's for a fact that, MICHAEL JACKSON had TALENT, and where in the world did you of all people get the word SAINT from, are you sure you of all people, know the meaning of that word!
MICHAEL JACKSON was talented, he was a gifted performer, NOT a SAINT! GOD gifted MICHAEL, and he chose to use it to entertain the WORLD, and trust me he was a long way from being a SAINT, but, then again, who is to say how GOD MEASURED MICHAEL JACKSON! <<<
Ah...okay. Some needs his meds.
OK?!?! You lost me at"soft butch + femme black lesbian erotica" Other then that we are in full agrement when it comes to MJ....Leahrose
leah
smile
thanks
it is a gay thing...
nc and mj look like 2 gay women in that hot video
that is why i love it so
more on mj off stage
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0625091jackson1.html
no song and dance will ever make this ok
Annon 914 what the hell are you talking about....no one on this site said or imply that MJ was not talented....we were just discuss how MJ had issues with his race....why else would he chose to bleach your skin and mutilate his face as he did.....Leahrose
fn:
do you allow us to nominate house negro stars on your sidebar?
if so, here is my nomination
dyam!!!!!!!
this is why mj will rule music forever!!!
http://dailycontributor.com/profane-rapper-raps-profanely-on-the-louisiana-legislature-floor/5772/
I don't believe that Michael had issues with his race. I believe that is nothing more than a vicious rumor. Because if he had issues with his own race, he would not have dealt with so many of his own race. That's my opinion.
Really? I just watched keep it in the closet video and i did not see 2 gay women....saw a sexy hetero women(nc) and a very skinny white effeminate boy(mj)...but that's just me....Leahrose
i looked at it with lesbian eyes leah
we all see through our own windows
cool
i think blair underwood is a 10
and denzel is a 4
to each her own
peace
ab
"my fav mj video was "keep it in the closet"
because naomi campbell is gorgeous...and it looks like soft butch + femme black lesbian erotica"
I bet it is,pig!
Good lord, Field. I turn away from the black blogosphere for four months and visit your site and what do I find?
1. Constructive Feedback still infests progressive/thinking blogs with his fact-lacking comments and meaningless drivel.
2. This Alicia Banks person (my respect for her begins and ends with the fact that she is a lesbian of color, but that's it, after that) seems to be your new Kitty Glendower. As Mister's daddy said to Celie, "You has my sympathy".
3. The tin-foli hatters are getting crazier and they keep coming to your blog. I agree that you should ignore Blacksphere - but only because he's just a pretty face and not much else. He's the black Ted Baxter of the right of the Black blogosphere. LOL!
4. Your blog is still as ever relevant and a fun read. Keep it up, my Brother and look for me on facebook (darklywander is my handle there.) FB is my crack.
As for MJ, I'll say this - I'm not torn, confused, absolute in excusing him or absolute in condemning him. I just want Joe to know that he was always at the root of MJ's damage and pain. Monsters aren't made from a vacuum.
leah
i also love
"remember the time"
as these 2 videos feature the 2 blackest women i ever saw mj with...
iman and nc
BUT
as i adore the boy mj
my MOST fav video is this one
this is the mj i will miss, mourn, and love
forever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVSYJXpD2_E&feature=related
i also love how mj destroyed the myth that all whites cannot dance
his videos are filled with whites who rock!
like thriller
AB.... seriously, step away from the key board. Once again, you have attempted to hi-jack this blog....
You come off as bi-polar. And when you are in a manic stage, you are truly annoying. You have an obsession to tell us every little thing you think. I do not want to know every little thing you think. You are like an immature child, that when the grown ups are talking, jumps up and down yelling "look at me!, look at me!"
Seriously, step away. Go outside, or at the very least, go visit another blog and obsess there for awhile. FYI, I suspect I am not alone in NOT reading your comments because you render yourself irrelevant with your obsessive posting.
This is not your blog. You have your own. I realize you do not get attention there so you come here for it. But, really, can you just tone it down about a thousand.
Granny, I agree with you. I really don't think MJ hated black people per say. I think he had long deep self hating issues within himself and his own blackness. As for the OJ type, I don't think they suffer from self hate, they just hate other black people/black women. There is a little sinister difference there.
Like I kinda said above, As a black female, I had to realize MJ was way too troubled for me to take on seriously like that. RIP.
BTW, I'm not sure I get the humor/sarcasm on the Farrah pic on the side bar. I'm a little slow tonight, is it the red white and blue reference in the background? Someone please help me out. LOL
bruhcomedy:
i am not a lesbian of color
i am a BLACK lesbian...who could not care less about what u think of me
fyi
ab
jody
you come off as a hater
and a selective inept self appointed blog policer
i come here because i love the blog
as all the other bloggers herein do
get your own blog
you will never have to worry about me therein
fyi
ab]
I missed you, Jody!!! Loved your last comments.
"i am not a lesbian of color
i am a BLACK lesbian...who could not care less about what u think of me"
OMG! You so put me in my place. Oh, how will I live down the humiliation?
[roll eyes]
Laincognita:
I think it's in reference to that tan she always kept. (smile)
i have heard nothing about mj from:
emmanuel lewis
corey feldman
corey haim
mccauley culkin
all alleged boy lovers of mf
has anyone else?
bruhcomedy:
typed like the hating shady flamer that you are boi...
shame...i see u
Granny, it is a shame that Blacks can't grieve and mourn the loss of a great one without burying him in a pile of crap. It is disgusting.
There are Blacks who lack empathy for each other. The string of degrading racial and sexual comments about MJ on this blog have proven that. Some Blacks love to help Whites bury some of our biggest giants in shit.
This is like viewing a macabre dance of death for our race. It is tragic, and very painful to watch.
I am amazed that some have concluded that MJ hated his race because he bleached his skin. That's like concluding that Rev. Sharpton hates his race because he gets a process every week or two. Or, ALL Blacks who straighten their hair hates their race!
Only a person who hates being Black would even think like that. They don't know why Michael did what he did. So they chose the negative, which is 'projecting' their own hatred of Blacks onto Michael and our race.
Many Whites tan themselves but other Whites don't conclude that they must hate being White. Only Blacks do that. With the help of some Whites, of course.
Anon9:10p
Hello Prophetess Wallace, GBU.
Some people are so cruel with their comments about people when they die. No consideration or compassion for the family members who are grieving, or care about how they might be adding to that families grief by dredging up negative stuff about their loved one. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wonder how they would feel if people did them that same way.
there is absolutely no comparison between a perm that is a tribute to james brown as al's surrogate dad
and the bleached macabre poster face for plastic surgery gone wrong that is mj
that is like comparing a sprained pinkie finger to a double amputee!!!
i respect the dead
but i respect the whole truth more
Anonymous 9:10:
I totally agree with you. You and I are on the same page with this because I was thinking the same identical thing. You don't hear them trashing Elvis or Farrah.
Slave mentality is something else. Pharoah army drowned a long time ago, but some of my people's mind's are still in bondage. No other race does that to their own people but black people. smh! No wonder other races look down on us. Sometimes I can't say that I blame them.
i hear elvis trashed constantly!
from public enemy to pentecostal preachers to his soulmate priscilla
farrah was far less eccentric than mj and elvis
and it is sad that mj's brighter star
eclipsed her memorials
OMG, ab are you tryin' to out me? Please. Not gonna work and I'm not even about to get bent out of shape because I write with wit and style. Looking at your our blog and the company you keep (Sugar), I understand how my writing style would throw you off. Besides, being accused of being gay simply because one reads and writes is not a bad thing. Try again, ab, try.again.
Oh yeah, and let me introduce you to a phrase that your girl Sugar, Pastor (chitlin') Manning, and Sugar's dried up old friends in the PUMA movement know all too well:
EPIC FAIL!!!
http://grannystandingfortruth.blogspot.com/
Check me out some time. I'm fairly new at it, but at the urging of so many people, I decided to make an amateur attempt and try. So, my first attempts at it are shall we say practice and experimenting.
WILL AUNTIE ALICIA PLEASE LEAVE THIS FUCKING BLOG ALREADY????!!!!
You've been polluting this blog since 9:09am, don't you think it's time to say goodbye already?
If people wanted to read YOUR BLOG, I'm sure they know the link you use in your hijack posts 500 friggin' times already. Why don't you take a valium, smoke a blunt and SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!
I love your blog, GrannyStandingforTruth.
Whose truth AB...yours? Because I have observe people tell you some truths constantly on a daily basis and you've chose to ignore them. Sometimes, people should give their ears the same opportunity they give their mouth. Or in this case, give their eyes, the same opportunity they give their fingers.
Although, I know it's useless trying to get you to understand that, because you'll just ignore it and go on babbling away as if it wasn't said.
BrotherKromrade:
Thank you. You young folks are quick. (smile)
It is clear that ab is manic depressive. I think that you are right, Jody, AB is bi-polar. It is useless trying to reason with her.
She needs a good psychiatrist, and better acting meds. Otherwise, she is headed for a lot more chaos and psychic pain.
I have to say that MJ's death did not shock me. MJ was a complex individual, a talented superstar and sad and tortured person which is a great paradox. A man who grew up in the public without having a childhood because of being on the road performing. MJ never grew up who felt being more comfortable having relationships children than adults. He had a complex relationship with his father which might had led to the self-loathing (dad would tease him about having a big nose as a child).
I did not have issues with MJ because one could see that he was a troubled soul, and not into hero worship. We tend to forget that he was human being with problems. Perhaps we will someday Mj in his full humanity the best and the worst then we could have a greater appreciation of his life and a little more empathy.
Field, why do you allow the Alicias of the world to take over your blog?
If there is anyone who knows this young lady, please get her the help she so desperately is seeking.
Alicia, as I stated earlier: Michael Joseph Jackson has more talent in one of his discarded toenail than you have in your entire being. It's okay. Just get over it.
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