Michael Jackson, RIP

Marc Jenkins · Post by **Marc Jenkins** » 26 Jun 2009 8:40 pm

Don McLellan graciously attempted to pay tribute to Michael Jackson in another thread, but it quickly deteriorated. Please let's keep this one free of disrespect.

Don's post:

Michael Jackson, one of the greatest entertainers of all time, has died. He had heart problems. R.I.P.
Michael Jackson was a victim of our extremely corrupt main stream media. He was used as a "distraction story" to keep the American public focused on unimportant things and not interested in, or even aware of, the important things we need to know. Just like Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears, Barry Bonds, O J Simpson, etc. The list goes on and on. But none of them were as badly abused by our government's media as Michael Jackson was. He was not a child molester. That's just another bold faced, media fabrication.
With all the truth available on the internet (about many things) how could anyone still listen to and believe the disgusting and pathetic main stream news?
He had his troubles but he never deserved to be so badly raped by our "media".
Thanks, Don McClellan

A couple of nice articles:
Roger Ebert's tribute
FourFour's tribute

Donna Dodd · Post by **Donna Dodd** » 27 Jun 2009 7:21 am

Marc,
I especially enjoyed the piece by Roger Ebert. Thanks for the link!!

The boy who never grew up:
Michael Jackson, 1958-2009
June 25, 2009
by Roger Ebert

Michael Jackson was so gifted, so lonely, so confused, so sad. He lost happiness somewhere in his childhood, and spent his life trying to go back there and find it. When he played the Scarecrow in "The Wiz" (1978), I think that is how he felt, and Oz was where he wanted to live. It was his most truly autobiographical role. He could understand a character who felt stuffed with straw, but could wonderfully sing and dance, and could cheer up the little girl Dorothy.
We have all spent years in the morbid psychoanalysis of this strange man-child. Now that he has died we will hear it all repeated again: The great fame from an early age, the gold records, the world tours, the needy friendships, the painful childhood, Neverland, the eccentric behavior, plastic surgery, charges of child molestation, the fortunes won and lost, the generosity, the secrecy, the inexplicable marriage to Elvis's daughter, the disguises, the puzzling sexuality, the jokes, and on and on.

I never met him. My wife Chaz did, a long time ago when she was part of a dance troupe that opened some shows for the Jackson Five. What she remembers is that he was -- a kid. Talented, hard-working, but not like other kids. That's what he was, and that's what he remained. His father Joseph was known even then as a hard-driving taskmaster, and was later described by family members as physically and mentally abusive, beating the child, once holding him by a leg and banging his head on the floor. Michael confided to Oprah that sometimes he would vomit at the sight of the man.

Families are important to everyone, and to African-Americans they are the center of the universe. A census is maintained that radiates out to great-nieces and nephews, distant cousins, former spouses, honorary relatives, all the generations. Communication is maintained, birthdays remembered, occasions celebrated. Important above all are parents and grandparents. Family was a support system from a time when slave-owning America refused to recognize black families. Family was the rock.
Michael Jackson doesn't seem to have had that rock. His father seems to have driven him to create an alternate universe for himself, in which somewhere, over the rainbow, he could have another childhood. He named his ranch Neverland, after the magical land where Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, enacted his fantasies with the Lost Boys. I wonder if we ever really understood how central that vision was to Jackson, or how literally he tried to create it.

I have no idea whether Michael abused the children he "adopted." It is possible those relationships were without sex; he seemed frozen at a time before puberty. Whether he touched them criminally or not, it is easy to see what he sought: To create, with and for these Lost Boys, a Neverland where they could imagine together the childhood he never had.

Mixed with that was perhaps a lifelong feeling of inadequacy, burned in by the cruelty of his father. That might help explain the compulsive plastic surgery, the relentless rehearsal, the exhausting tours, the purchase of expensive toys, the giving of gifts.

The scene everyone remembers from "The Wiz" is Dorothy and the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion dancing and singing down the Yellow Brick Road. They were off to see the Wizard, and a wonderful Wizard he was, because of the wonderful things he does.

In the story, the Wizard is a lonely little man hiding behind a curtain, using his power to create a wonderland. Now Michael Jackson will never be able to tell us what he was hiding behind his curtain. But because of his music, we danced and sang.

Don McClellan · Post by **Don McClellan** » 27 Jun 2009 7:47 am

Aside from all the things we know (or think we know) about Michael Jackson one thing is for sure. His music was fantastic! I am the right age to remember the disco era well. I was young, single, had lots of hair and loved disco dancing. Michael Jackson's music was of such high quality for that genre that he was the undisputed king of dance music all over the world. And at that time disco was the biggest thing happening. I loved it! I have great memories of those days. I have always loved the artistry of Michael Jackson.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 27 Jun 2009 8:44 am

I guess the late Michael Jackson is a bigger deal here than I thought. He seems to have inspired more individual Steel Guitar Forum threads started in the past couple of days than Robert Randolph and Jerry Garcia in the last year combined!

Don McClellan · Post by **Don McClellan** » 27 Jun 2009 3:16 pm

Marc Jenkins, thanks for posting the link to FourFour's piece. Reading the comments about this very well written tribute, I'm very pleased to see how many other people never believed any of the shameless nonsense the media relentlessly spewed out about Michael Jackson. Don

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 27 Jun 2009 6:37 pm

A writer in the LA Times who had spent time with him from age 11 painted him a a magically gifted musician, but a lost little boy all his life.
RIP.

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 27 Jun 2009 11:52 pm

A fascinating human being;
so talented yet seemingly so deeply flawed,
able to reach out to millions yet reclusive in private life,
creator of his own reality and yet apparently unable to connect to it,
childlike, fragile yet enduring,
perhaps he embodies the dictum that great talents are often accompanied by greater weaknesses.

I have no strong feelings for or against him as a person, but in the history of American popular music in the 20th and early 21st centuries the late Michael Jackson stands as a giant; iconic, entertaining, awe-inspiring. This is a fact whether you like, feel indifferent to, or dislike his music.

The body of his work will stand imperishable long after the physical body his spirit occupied has returned to the star-stuff of which we - and everything else in the Universe - are made.

Don McClellan · Post by **Don McClellan** » 28 Jun 2009 6:23 am

Ned, Wonderful post. Very well said. Thanks, Don

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 28 Jun 2009 10:10 am

Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson. Thanks Don, Ned, Donna, and others for this respectful post.

LJ Eiffert · Post by **LJ Eiffert** » 28 Jun 2009 10:46 am

I know that most if not all on this Forum didn't know that Michael Jackson loved Country Music Too!.Yes,there are a few of us on here who knew he did.RIP Michael Jackson,your on the side line friend from the Academy Of Country Music & Dick Clark Productions Security who has great a time with you and your people at the Hilton in Studio City,California many moons ago. Leo J.Eiffert,Jr.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 28 Jun 2009 11:35 am

Yes,rest in peace and thanks for all of that great music.

Duncan Hodge · Post by **Duncan Hodge** » 28 Jun 2009 12:03 pm

Hell, I'm a "deeply flawed" human being and have a full time job trying to keep myself within the bounds of "acceptable behavior". I never really cared for his music, but it did provide the soundtrack for a part of my life. Seems strange that he is dead, what with him being younger than me and all.
Duncan

Henry Nagle · Post by **Henry Nagle** » 28 Jun 2009 10:10 pm

He was a great, great musician and performer. I wouldn't trust the celebrity media to tell me what day it is, so I will blissfully continue to not concern myself with things that are not my business. Suffice to say: Michael Jackson made a great contribution to popular music. He was an actual human being. Don't forget that!

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 29 Jun 2009 7:13 pm

In spite of what he was, he was not exempt from his "appointment" to meet and account to his maker.

George Kovolenko · Post by **George Kovolenko** » 30 Jun 2009 5:24 am

Well said Bill. By the tone of some of the posts on this board, it seems many here think that they were his maker.

Henry Nagle · Post by **Henry Nagle** » 30 Jun 2009 6:11 pm

Actually, we were just paying tribute to an artist that we appreciate, as people do here often.

Henry Nagle · Post by **Henry Nagle** » 30 Jun 2009 6:13 pm

I hope that you both are impressed by the remarkable restraint that I just showed.

Marc Jenkins · Post by **Marc Jenkins** » 30 Jun 2009 9:47 pm

Henry Nagle wrote:I hope that you both are impressed by the remarkable restraint that I just showed.

Well I am, Henry!

Katie Smith · Post by **Katie Smith** » 2 Jul 2009 6:31 pm

I also have enjoyed Michael Jackson's music. Think I'LL BE THERE is one of my favorites. Regardless of how you felt about him,the fact is he was, and will continue to be, one of the world's most notable music icons. RIP MICHAEL

Jeff Strouse · Post by **Jeff Strouse** » 4 Jul 2009 5:15 am

What a loss to world of pop music. I grew up in the 80's...I remember how hot Thriller was! He had a lot of classic songs in that era, as well as his classics as a kid. I wonder if he would have made the comeback, as he had hoped to...

It seems to me that he lived a troubled and lonely life. I felt sorry for him these last 20 years or so as he withdrew into solitude & eccentricness. I never believed those awful accusations of him, and I'm glad he was found innocent. He never got to live a "normal" life...as a kid, or an adult. I'm sure the inner turmoil he felt was massive. But, now, he's finally at peace. RIP, Michael.

Don Sulesky · Post by **Don Sulesky** » 6 Jul 2009 12:30 pm

What a great talent and troubled soul all rolled up in one person.
May he rest in peace.
Don

Donna Dodd · Post by **Donna Dodd** » 8 Jul 2009 2:10 am

VERY NICE, John!! BEN has always been one of my favorites by Michael Jackson!!

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 8 Jul 2009 11:28 am

Donna Dodd wrote:VERY NICE, John!! BEN has always been one of my favorites by Michael Jackson!!

Me too. I love rat songs and I played Ben at my first steel show 2 years ago. Maybe I should resurrect it in homage to the King of Pop, or as I learned yesterday, the greatest figure in all of human history.

Chris LeDrew · Post by **Chris LeDrew** » 16 Jul 2009 7:35 pm

When anyone dies, it's a tragedy. Michael Jackson's death is no more or less tragic than anyone over in "Gone Home". It's totally valid to mourn him, but it's important to keep your own life in perspective, and not to forget those who die alone in nursing homes every day, those on the battlefield, etc. If a lesson can be learned from MJ's death, it is to pay closer attention to your loved ones, and reach out to the lonely and elderly in your community.

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 17 Jul 2009 11:00 am

Chris LeDrew wrote:When anyone dies, it's a tragedy. Michael Jackson's death is no more or less tragic than anyone over in "Gone Home". It's totally valid to mourn him, but it's important to keep your own life in perspective, and not to forget those who die alone in nursing homes every day, those on the battlefield, etc. If a lesson can be learned from MJ's death, it is to pay closer attention to your loved ones, and reach out to the lonely and elderly in your community.

This makes more sense that anything I've heard about MJ, or anything else on the forum. Great advice. We should all strive to do better along those lines.