Michael Jackson R.I.P.

TMZ and Reuters are reporting it.

holy shit!

no way! holy smoke

so are like eight other threads

OMG

!!!!

wtf @ today's toll

and yeah RIP for real.

also can't believe he was 50! i don't know how old i thought he was, but that just seems wrong somehow.

countdown to epic ilx argument over MJ's death in 10..9...8...

RIP :(

This is bumming me out! Like, a lot!

I always repped for you, Michael Jackson. The world is made better by people like you & it's sad to see you go. RIP

I wasn't really going to revive every single Michael Jackson thread on ilx.

bummed out :(

too amazed for argument -- I mean, this is the death of a guy who, when I was a child, I would dress up as and dance around like, so ... it takes a bit of processing

^^^^^^^ otm

wow

and I'm guessing I'm one of like two dozen ILXors who share that childhood experience

Where are the reports that the cardiac arrest was caused by an overdose coming from?

remembering when my sister was 8 she wouldn't go to cemeteries because "haven't you ever seen michael jackson thriller?"

and I'm guessing I'm one of like two dozen 99% of ILXors who share that childhood experience

yeah really!

Alba: TMZ

To be honest, I'm not convinced he's dead yet so I'm not putting forward condolences until there's an official statement.

yeah i think it would be weirder if you're a certain age if you didn't dance like MJ

He's dead happy that he got CPR?

idk why this would bum anyone out, even his most hardcore of fans - he was a tortured ass monster, may he find the peace in death that so eluded him in waking life~~~

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/9/9/1/991b4502ab9cad2014862726299cada2.gif

The TMZ story I'm seeing doesn't mention overdose, Dan.

Don't stop til you get enough. Come on, Mike. Come ON.

And hey canks - shut the fuck up.

Huh. The one I saw did, or maybe that wasn't TMZ and I'm mixing up gossip sites...

Stunned. It seems really not possible.

i was making a completely earnest statement

tbh (and i know it's not the time) my first thought was along the lines of cankles'

http://scandalist.thefablife.com/files/gallery/michael-jackson-memorabilia/auction19.jpg

npr is still not saying he's dead but i bet he is

I'm gonna pretend cankles meant how I first interpreted his statement: meant he was tortured by tabloids and exploitative & inaccurate lawsuits & criminal accusations, and at least in death he'll no longer be harrangued in such a way.

I'm a little distraught over here - sorry.

call all, mine kinda was too, RIP anyway :-/

I wonder how my mom is going to feel about Farrah Fawcett and allegedly MJ dying on her birthday.

This is bad news for Obama. (too soon?)

tbh (and i know it's not the time) my first thought was along the lines of cankles'

same here.

The instructor played all of Thriller during our water aerobics class last night.

The ass monster was tortured?
Or the monster was ass tortured?

uh Stan in what way? or is that some meme I missed the birth of?

pretty sure he ws an emotionally tortured dude too, abbott : /

xp So my first thought was along the lines of "Is it rational to think that my water aerobics class killed Michael Jackson?"

stan please stop trying to make bad jokes.

Seriously, cankles - my bad. Knee-jerk reaction.

i guess i agree w/cankles but that doesn't stop it being shocking and upsetting

xp Jenny: No less rational than thinking Tuomas did it, in order to finally score a point in the Dead Pool.

too amazed for argument -- I mean, this is the death of a guy who, when I was a child, I would dress up as and dance around like, so ... it takes a bit of processing

Same here, same here. This is weird.

I'm gonna pretend cankles meant how I first interpreted his statement: meant he was tortured by tabloids and exploitative & inaccurate lawsuits & criminal accusations, and at least in death he'll no longer be harrangued in such a way.

― baleen, the krill queen (Abbott), Thursday, June 25, 2009 5:02 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

no, he was fucked up, and now whatever demons that were screaming in his head are quiet

I don't think MJ actually molested anyone, based on some long thing I once read. But I dig why people would. So that's why I'm...uh...sad he was incompatible with the world at large when he wasn't making music.

Yeah, bug, that's exactly how I interpreted it! OTOH then I thought cankles meant 'good thing the evil bastard die.'

it's not about him molesting anyone, he had a fucken annihilated psyche and was a damn frankenstein's monster

but he was still making some pretty great music

Well sure, I doubt many people will hear it without thinking at some point that MJ was surely a troubled and unhappy person in a way that ran deep and probably wasn't ever going to "get better"

Dumb question but: were his kids in his custody these days?

He was defs fucked up but I don't think he ever tried in any way to fuck anyone else up.

Shall we start casting the biopic now?

still, r.i.p. for the tortured guy with great tunes.

(sorry lex, I forgot I annoy you with that)

xp Abbott: I don't think most child molesters do what they do to try and fuck the kid up.

it's like when this girl i knew killed herself @ age 19, she'd been hella raped in her childhood and was basically this shattered human being with all these insane anxiety disorders and unmanagable depression and when she merc'd herself it was gut wrenching and tragic on so many levels but in a way you were relieved that she didn't have to go on being her anymore

There must be an inkling of satisfaction* at any tragic resolution, no matter how tragic it is, and cankles & co are expressing this fairly well :(

*this might be a bad word...can't think of a better one.

It is shocking. I was growing up in the 80s. It's almost impossible to overstate the size of his fan base, and how fanatic they were about him. He named himself "King of Pop" a few years too late, but for a while there, he absolutely was.

RIP, anyway.

idk why this would bum anyone out, even his most hardcore of fans - he was a tortured ass monster, may he find the peace in death that so eluded him in waking life~~~

― (╬ ಠ益ಠ) (cankles), Thursday, June 25, 2009 4:58 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

real talk

i dunno, this is taking zero "processing" for me

Is anyone besides TMZ reporting this yet?

I don't think most child molesters do what they do to try and fuck the kid up.

;_;

I meant I don't think he ever did that to anyone, and wouldn't have.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30940

Is anyone besides TMZ reporting this yet?

Actually -- contrary to TMZ -- CNN.com is now reporting that parametics did, in fact, revive MJ before he reached the hospital. So maybe this is all premature.

idk why this would bum anyone out, even his most hardcore of fans - he was a tortured ass monster, may he find the peace in death that so eluded him in waking life~~~

― (╬ ಠ益ಠ) (cankles), Thursday, June 25, 2009 4:58 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

real talk

i dunno, this is taking zero "processing" for me

― i want to marry a pizza (gbx), Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:10 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

Me too.

It's sad when anyone dies but honestly someone this tortured has to be better off not living inside their own head.

Also I can't find this anywhere except TMZ either.

also let's face it now he can't bone any more kids so that's good.

xp Abbott: fair enough - curious about the long thing you read - to me, it always seemed somewhat ambiguous, and I never really delved into the details.

yeah anyone other than tmz running this? cdn't see it on reuters

nope

kinda odd that I saw a guy dressed as Thriller-era Michael Jackson (regalia and all) in downtown SF on the way to work today (tbh I'd seen him once before but it was still kinda an unusual sighting)

the ones who are - quoting TMZ

also let's face it now he can't bone any more kids so that's good.

― (╬ ಠ益ಠ) (cankles), Thursday, June 25, 2009 10:13 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

lolz thx for saying it so I wouldn't have to

Michael Jackson: Dead Or Not? is all over Facebook but on 'reputable news sources' it only says heart attack.

Sky News now saying MJ is in a coma

the ones who are - quoting TMZ

including the washington post ...

o_O

also let's face it now he can't bone any more kids so that's good.

― (╬ ಠ益ಠ) (cankles), Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:13 PM (13 seconds ago) Bookmark

Or adopt some more and name them things like BLANKET thereby effectively ruining their lives forever.

maybe MJ is a zombie now.

cnn reporting a coma?

how many of you guys threw on some mj tunes as soon as you heard about this?

lol enbb!

i played billie jean in my head immediately

Hollywood Reporter editor was just on BBC radio saying she'd heard reports (separately from TMZ) that hospital couldn't revive him.

LA times says coma now

LA Times - Updated at 2:46 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson is in a coma and his family is arriving at his bedside, a law enforcement source told The Times.

Everyone is making bad jokes and only I get complaints from Lex. Great.

Uri Geller on the BBC right now, being totally clueless.

la times updated to dead

Michael Jackson: Dead Or Not? is all over Facebook but on 'reputable news sources' it only says heart attack.

― Adam Bruneau, Thursday, June 25, 2009 5:15 PM (20 seconds ago) Bookmark

between this and the iranian election, 'social journalism' has truly come of age

jacko in a coma, i know it's really serious ...

radio playing PYT forgot how awesome that song is!!

l.a. times:
[Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.

heaven needed a popstar with a surgical addiction

it doesn't matter if you're alive or dead

i think people are just bummed out because his life is a sad thing to contemplate?

Everyone should read the Rolling Stone interview he did in the early 80s where he's talking about installing The Pirates of the Carribean robots in his house. I think it was right after Thriller or something. It was pretty amazing how weird he seemed back then and the things he said made him out to be truly a weird asexual innocent Peter Pan creature that is Not Of This World.

i think people are just bummed out because his life is a sad thing to contemplate

Didn't Farrah Fawcett also have a lot of plastic surgery?

Uri Geller on the BBC right now, being totally clueless.

In fairness, if it were a close friend of mine, and I only knew what was being broadcast, I'd be pretty clueless too.

i mean, yeah, that's a bummer HS, for real, but getting :( because like the world can no longer live contently knowing that our greatest entertainer is ~out there~ is......weird, to me

i think people are just bummed out because his life is a sad thing to contemplate?

exactly -- also this is the ending of a really strange and momentous story. any processing happening in my head is akin to what happens just after putting down an intense book with an abrupt and unexpected ending.

xxx xxx wonders if mj scoffs at only 40 virgins
16 minutes ago · Comment · Like

yyy yyy Captain EO has defeated the final whip warrior
11 minutes ago · Comment · Like

love this raw demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsaAFyr0VFE

Wait isnt Uri Geller the guy from the 70s that said he could bend spoons with his mind?

did anyone here read the Margo Jefferson "On Michael Jackson" book? I'd recommend it

yeah captain eo...

This is kind of like when John Ritter and Johnny Cash died on the same day and nobody really cared about Ritter. Way to steal Farrah's thunder MJ.

Uri Geller on the BBC right now, being totally clueless.

He IS clueless!

ha wait I remember Ritter's death and not Johnny Cash's, at all!

because like the world can no longer live contently knowing that our greatest entertainer is ~out there~ is......weird, to me

i don't know, it makes sense to me. it'll be weird to talk about mj in the past tense.

exactly -- also this is the ending of a really strange and momentous story. any processing happening in my head is akin to what happens just after putting down an intense book with an abrupt and unexpected ending.

― nabisco, Thursday, June 25, 2009 5:22 PM (52 seconds ago) Bookmark

this makes sense to me. being like actually ~sad~ that he's no longer around, doesn't

or stalin and prokofiev ...

xxp I've thought about reading that, N. It's pretty slim, isn't it?

Yeah but that's because you obv recognize true genius, Abbott.

crazy. rip. there a long stretch, when i was maybe 7 or 8, where there only movie i ever wanted to rent was thriller on vhs, and my dad would be like "you know that it's only 15 minutes long, right?" but i'd watch like ten times so it didnt matter.

The king is dead. Long live, uh, that other guy.

Related Stories

* Michael Jackson Delays First London Concerts

This is kind of like when John Ritter and Johnny Cash died on the same day and nobody really cared about Ritter. Way to steal Farrah's thunder MJ.

I don't remember -- how was Jim Henson/Sammy Davis Jr. covered?

Putting on Thriller in tribute. I'm pretty sure the man was a child molester, but he enriched my life. RIP.

<3 u E. That and Mr. Tripper, who later dealt with Problem children.

msnbc now citing la times saying he's dead

like i was genuinely bummed when DFW died, but that's because thru reading him i felt like i sorta had an idea what he was like, as a person. MJ was an icon and hermetically sealed off from the world and my understanding, and hearing that he died is no more or less troubling than hearing that an old neighbor lady passed away

Clay Aiken: The King is dead, long live the new King of Pop.

still gonna listen to thriller, tho

being like actually ~sad~ that he's no longer around, doesn't

i'm sad that i won't get to hear the at least 3 or 4 great jams that would have been on his next album (which he was supposed to have been working on?).

apparently Michael Jackson "passed a physical" in preparation for this upcoming tour. Wonder what that was like...

Dunno who this is being interviewed on BBC News 24 but she just said "I remember him as a little boy. He was enormous." and it made me LOL IRL.

see, i'm not

˜\(°_°)/˜

xp

Lindsay Lohan: NO OMG ... sending my love and prayers out to Michael and his family ... i feel sick..

Marlon Wayans: My prayers, my love, my heart goes out to michael jackson and the entire jackson family. I pray so hard for them. I'm crushed! Please pray.

Pete Wentz: Prayers and thoughts with michael jackson ... I haven't hope in so long that news isn't true.

Kim Kardashian: Wow I am truly in shock that Michael Jackson has passed away! I love u Jackson family, my prayers are with the whole family!

nbc just confirmed

Weirdly enough, it seems tough to chop through the whole being-Michael-Jackson thing and actually see him as a human whose death to be sad about -- it was hard before, too, of course, maybe partly because really thinking of him that way would have been profoundly sad.

Yeah, the Jefferson's thin, and really worth it -- like a good way to spend an afternoon thinking about this person

DFW? Dallas Fort Worth? The airport?

This is kind of like when John Ritter and Johnny Cash died on the same day and nobody really cared about Ritter. Way to steal Farrah's thunder MJ.

― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Thursday, June 25, 2009 10:23 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

See I was thinking more along the lines of Steven Wells being the Darby Crash to MJ's John Lennon

It's like all the '70s and early '80s got killed in one day. What a bizarre 24 hours.

I never went on a David Foster Wallace themed event at disneyworld before I was consistently not pissing the bed though

watching reports on tv now, and when you see that footage hell yes it's weird to think of pop without MJ

i wonder if we'll see his kids faces the funeral

kids faces AT the funeral

I filled an entire 20 page scrapbook with recollections and memorabilia from seeing the Bad tour at Wembley in 1987. Kim Wilde, I believe, was the warm up act.

I wonder how my mom is going to feel about Farrah Fawcett and allegedly MJ dying on her birthday.

― get money fuck witches (HI DERE), Thursday, June 25, 2009 5:02 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

haha it's my brother's birthday today as well

really? like its weird to think of pop ~right now~ without MJ? c'mon

xp

still lol-ing at Blanket Jackson.

Holy shit; French media reporting this too. RIP MJ, you were my first musical love.

DFW? Dallas Fort Worth? The airport?

David Foster Wallace, although this post reminds me of when Laurel once mentioned the "mostly BWI population in my old neighborhood" and my first thought was "Baltimore-Washington International? What?"

there wuz kids faces in a recent ish of us weekly, read up j0rdan! xpxp

Wondering what the eventual autopsy (if any) report is going to say and how it squares with Jehovah Witnesses' medical practices.

he was JW??? had no idea

guessing there will be no autopsy

like, would put money on that

put off the wall on. hmm, should i re-price the records in my store? just kidding! hmmm...

No, you should. he would have wanted that

MJ & kids:
http://coverawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/michaeljacksonkidsphotos2.jpg

He was a huge hero of mine for years. Glad I saw him live at least once. RIP.

xp gbx: yeah belonging to a semi-batshit religion came before the plastic surgery and the alleged child molestation.

Sweet coat

xxp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5bBGoItSfg

they are cute! id never seen them

really? like its weird to think of pop ~right now~ without MJ? c'mon

no not at all. but to me he is such a big part of the concept of pop, and even tho he's been out of it for a long time now this still puts an end to all that

the little girl looks really sad :\

It's kind of weird to read about this! The guy, I couldn't ever dig his music, but he was a giant. Ppl like that, you can't imagine them dying somehow.

not to mention dudes like timberlake, usher, chris brown who basically wouldn't exist without mj

cnn confirms btw

x-post IDK he was obv so unstable that I'm sort of surprised he lasted this long!

That pic - No Blanket :-(

of course they wouldn't, i agree

but music has been doing fine w/o michael for like twenty years

oh sorry, cnn just confirms that other sources are reporting it, ha

(CNN) -- Entertainer Michael Jackson has died after being taken to a hospital on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, according to multiple reports including the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. CNN has not confirmed his death.

did you know that with early pressings of off the wall mike is much darker than later pressings. talking about the cover shot.

screenshot I just took:

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs102.snc1/4882_99121976595_681036595_2531413_7079224_n.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2438/3660562709_6ae9bdd520.jpg

Holy shit

so...the girl goes to mcartney then. it's official.

wait wha

he was JW??? had no idea

Katherine Jackson was JW and (if I remember correctly) the kids were occasionally JH. I remember a mini-flap around the time of the Thriller video from hard-core JW'ers objecting to the occult stuff Jackson was into and the whole business with the hyperbaric chamber. I think he quit then, but years later (after the trial) he was spotted in Kingdom Halls again.

LA Times have taken that front page down; they're back to Farrah.

confirmed by bbc

so...the girl goes to mcartney then. it's official.

Ha.

it's sad to me because MJ is by far the major cultural association of my childhood - i've never bought an album, rarely thought about him in adulthood, but his music and his persona were a huge, huge part of my experience growing up

okay so i just got the 'girl' joke, lol

i cant keep track of what thread im reading

Originally Posted by adolf_hitlist
Oh... this will be interesting. Farrah Fawcett, a beautiful white woman, and Michael Jackson, a black child molesting singer, dieing on the same day. Now, who will the Jews-media give the most and longest coverage to?

can't wait to see corey feldman on larry king tonight

oh come on they were both beautiful white women

x-post

it's a thriller

xxxp

Sucks to be the highest bidder on ebay for London tickets eh?

C0ry J Skl@r: EVERYONE WHO APPEARED ON THE TONIGHT SHOW IN 1984 FOUND DEAD TODAY

Oh... this will be interesting. Farrah Fawcett, a beautiful white woman, and Michael Jackson, a black child molesting singer, dieing on the same day. Now, who will the Jews-media give the most and longest coverage to?

you'd think the shiksa goddess, but then again they do love their black pedophiles

[18:44] me: i just turned PTI on and i'm shocked that they're not talking about it
[18:44] toshman: i can see wilbon being all shook over it
[18:44] me: lmao wilbon will be devastated
[18:45] toshman: lol 'tony michael jackson was pop music for me growing up'
[18:45] me: "Your boy is dead Wilbon"
[18:45] toshman: 'happy trails to michael jackson. wilown he was your boy and he loved boys'

looooll @ chaki

An office mate's sister works at UCLA med - she has confirmed it.

so does ryan white's aids ghost own the beatles now

Fox News: Michael Jackson (D) dies

at least this means no more leno

this is so sad

bbc: let's turn now to uri geller...

who's gonna break the news to Bubbles the Chimp?!?

A real WTF moment, Just flicked on to BBC One and General Michael Jackson is being interviewed about Afghanistan on 'This Week'.

After reports spread in 1990 of the death of Bubbles, Jackson's press agent Lee Solters told the press that "When Bubbles heard about his demise he went bananas".[23]

so, you can imagine how hard this will be. xp

Poor Bubbles!

In December 2003, it was reported that Bubbles had tried to commit suicide. The chimp was taken to hospital in time to be saved.

They may send him over the edge. Chin up little chimp.

bbc now dredging up gambaccini

BBC dude totally insensitive to Uri Geller who has just heard the news that one of his best friends has just died.

Paul Gambaccini relating odd snippets of info like "Michael was taller than Dermot O'Leary". Come on, you MUST have better stuff than this, Beeb.

An office mate's sister works at UCLA med - she has confirmed it.

My wife works at UCLA... Media and helicopters are piling in and most of the staffers are going home early.

also, whatever happened to that 100-foot tall Jacko statute that he had floating up and down the Thames during the 90s?

Maybe he's not really dead, maybe he's had plastic surgery and gone into hiding.

"I was at his house 24 years ago...I met the llama, I met the snake"

My wife works at UCLA... Media and helicopters are piling in and most of the staffers are going home early.

This tells me nothing! Help an Angeleno out!

This was briefly alluded to upthread, but for those of you who don't follow the ILX Dead Pool, you should know that Tuomas said this earlier today:

I'm so bad at this game, I don't think I've ever scored a single point.

― Tuomas, Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:20 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Guess who was the only person to have picked Michael Jackson?

I'm just saying.

damn that's a serious score for tuomas

A moment of silence is planned for 7:38 tonight

this is gonna give Glastonbury a real twist - almost every band will pay some kind of tribute

e.g. maybe Springsteen will dedicate Born In The USA to Michael which could be pretty cool (shit now i'll be weirdly disappointed if this doesn't happen :[

Wonder what Jarvis will do?

lol at BBC News dude talking to some Glastonbury punters and asking them how they heard the news since they don't have TVs or computers. Get with the technology, grandad!

this is gonna give Glastonbury a real twist - almost every band will pay some kind of tribute

Keen to find out how many times one man can be killed in a weekend

4:22 PST

xposts, am surprised they haven't phoned Jarvis for a quote yet.

(xxp would watch the Quo medley though)

The songs only hint at what a deeply mysterious man he was; his imagination couldn't keep apace with his demons and passions. I know the newssmen are themselves getting their wits togeher, but I wish they wouldn't talk about him in such abstract terms. He was, with Prince, the most brilliant popular musician of his generation -- why isn't his songwriting and production ever discussed as often as his dancing and celebrity goofiness?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehal1eUG1jk

why isn't his songwriting and production ever discussed as often as his dancing and celebrity goofiness?

because it isn't as good

It makes me really sad. His talent was so singular and, at its zenith, so broad. And he was so fucked up. Even when they do unspeakable damage to others, as I'm sure he did, I can't help but feel sorry for people who're so clearly damaged - rich or not he seemed really just completely lost his whole life.

Thanks to Jordan for posting the "Working Day and Night" demo. I've listened to that like five times in the last hour.

I should know not to ask a rhetorical question about MJ around Shakey or Alex in NYC (who isn't here, but is probably listening to "Man in the Mirror" as I type).

Some Oxford University dude on the BBC says he helped Jackson write a book "on the sanctity of childhood", which was never published.

Reposting from @aQuariusrecOrds - "already had someone come in looking for thriller. people are strange..."

john d OTM. what a really sad thing.

One of my former students on Facebook: "waiting on the official "in memoriam" poem from Stevie Nicks on Nicksfix about Michael Jackson. God. If Stevie ever died I'd have to be sedated."

rich or not he seemed really just completely lost his whole life.

and never really had a chance. even as a child star who made it, he never really got over or out of whatever his family and all that early celebrity did to him.

The weird items from his recent auction are even spookier now:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulscheer/sets/72157617373340442/

One of my former students on Facebook: "waiting on the official "in memoriam" poem from Stevie Nicks on Nicksfix about Michael Jackson. God. If Stevie ever died I'd have to be sedated."

― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:23 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ahahahah this is killing me

Rest In Peace Michael Jordan
As I write this with the glare of the computer screen reflecting in my tears, it's hard to believe that The Prince of Darkness Michael Jordan has shed off the chrysalis of life and ascended to the butterfly laden aether of the cosmic realm. Now we truly know why doves cry.

lol at the reporter on BBC news being surprised that people at Glastonbury ("the coolest of the cool") being saddened by the news.

Now talking about people imitating him on YouTube. God, the old media's attemts at catching up with the new media is toecurlingly bad sometimes (they were reading out a tweet from Ashton Kutcher earlier)

rhondadiana (15 seconds ago)

My God - I never thought I would out live this man - may God rest his soul and I know Jesus is asking how he does that Moon Walk thing - we will miss you MJ - I grew up with your music!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbvP7dT3Dx0

it's impossible for me to imagine michael jackson dead regardless how how irrelevant he'd become to music, to pop culture at large - it's like elvis dying, years and years removed from his peak. what was that quote? like somebody telling you there won't be any cheeseburgers, ever again. michael jackson was my first full-on pop music crush. this news is crazy to me.

i'll always remember a friend of my mom's, watching me practice my moonwalk over and over, telling me "you know how you feel about michael jackson now? that's how i felt about michael jackson at your age."

Aaaand BBC are showing AL SHARPTON speaking on the scene at UCLA...

MICHAEL
JACKSON

THIS ITEM WAS HAND DRAWN BY MYSELF

WHEN I WAS AT COLLEGE

IT WAS DRAWN FROM MEMORY

ON A TRAIN ON THE WAY TO LONDON

THERE IS ONLY 2 COPIES OF THIS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

1 IS THIS WHICH YOU ARE BIDDING ON

( THE ORIGINAL ) AND THE OTHER I POSTED TO THE NEVERLAND RANCH

( A COPY )

IT IS ROUGHLY A4 IN SIZE

I DO NOT WISH TO BE SEEN AS MAKING MONEY OUT AN UNFORTUNATE EVENT

SO I WILL START THE BIDDING AT 10P

ANY MONEY THAT I MAKE WILL GO TO CHARITY

WWW.EXTREMECLOWNING.PICZO.COM

MJ HAS BOUGHT A LOT OF MEMORYS TO US ALL OUT THERE

AND WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

lol James Mitchell -- i actually DID think about "indian thriller" after the news broke

o_O

M1k3 Bl@nk is worried that michael jackson will arise with an army of the dancing dead

Suzy: Sharpton introduced on BBC as "we don't who this is, but let's listen to him speak"...

i'll always remember a friend of my mom's, watching me practice my moonwalk over and over, telling me "you know how you feel about michael jackson now? that's how i felt about michael jackson at your age."

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:40 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

um

I never thought I would out live this man ... I grew up with your music!!

^^ this person has a very low opinion of his/her own health and longevity, or what?

yeah it's hard to take in more than anything else. Pretty much the most famous person in the world from I can remmeber until I was about 10, with the obvious childhood imitation and watching Moonwalker (ha) dozens and dozens of times. Hey maybe that's why I fear spiders.

good work BBC guy who didn't recognise Al Sharpton (manyxpost).

RIP Michael Jackson(D)

what's with the um gbx? the guy was famous when he was like 6 years old. by the time thriller cam out it was a whole new generation of fans

(I guess maybe if you were like 5 years older than child-Michael you could "grow up with" his music and always think of him as too much younger than you to be outlived)

jackson 5 - i want you back (z-trip remix)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/pz5plt

upside: probably gonna be tons of MJ-themed parties this weekend, so that'll be fun

xp oh ha i thought it was a typo! like you meant to type "elvis presley" or something, now i get it

By 1987 he was already a laughing stock, so that when "Captain EO" debuted in Disney World it was a packed house full of snickering people. But he was OUR laughing stock! Maybe this is how Beatles fans felt when they saw the Boys in India wearing bad clothes and putting flowers in their hair -- these men have lost their minds, but we still love'em.

yeah i thought it was a typo

RIP, I guess. I don't think he was ever going to make another note of music in concert or on record, and the inside of his head was a snakepit, so it's hard to be really sad.

Steady Mike: I know, next they were like OMG Al Sharpton while I just laughed and wondered if, like the situ post the death of James Brown, we're going to have Cannonballesque hearse warp-speeding across country with Al driving and Bubbles riding shotgun.

^^ this person has a very low opinion of his/her own health and longevity, or what?

it could be that ... or, i think, the fact that a big part of the public's fascination w/ Jacko for the past 2 decades was his inability to deal sanely w/ the fact that he was aging & that he was seemingly willing to turn himself into a living Madam Tussaud's exhibit rather than deal w/ a few wrinkles or gray hairs.

stop calling him Jacko

still bummed that it never worked out with lisa marie, she coulda set him right :(

stop calling him Jacko

yeah let's concentrate on the child abuse jokes

xp I thought gbx's "um" was a child molesting joke ...

tracer this remix is niiiice

Although I was definitely aware of the Jackson 5 growing up in the 70's, I can still remember the exact moment I first heard the song "Off The Wall" in a video arcade. It was like this huge leap forward.

That memory, the spooky quality of the song, is what I will always think of first, before all the next-level soap opera shit his life became.

oh man. i listened to thriller hundreds and hundreds of times when i was a kid. first album i ever got actually. never could learn the moonwalk right. wonder if some news organization will play that performance at the grammys in 84 with the white glove? that was amazing

news coverage is already weird, which seems.. appropriate.

Wacko Jacko?

yeah gbx pretty killer huh?? freaking z-trip, of all people

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Mjtgim.jpg

BBC guy is all 'he will come to be remembered as being as influential on music as Bing Crosby'

Reposting from http://www.showbiz411.com/michael-jackson-rehearsal-staples-cente - can't find any other sources for this other than this sole Hollywood Reporter entry

Michael Jackson Rehearsed at Staples Center The Night Before His Death
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Music / By Roger Friedman

Last night Michael Jackson had the “best show ever”—a rehearsal at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. Sources tell me he was thrilled about the show and very excited about his upcoming London shows.

That should scotch any rumors about Jackson being unable to perform, or depressed or anything else.

weird that the news channel is like MTV all of a sudden playing videos and everything

BET has videos on! "remember the time." past the point where people started to be like.. uh this guy, what? but the song is great.

yeah gbx pretty killer huh?? freaking z-trip, of all people

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:56 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i just want to listen to the opening rhythm guitar part on repeat, it's so joyful

hearing it all separated out like that is pretty sweet

hearing english BBC people talk about this is so o_O

Never has one soared so high and yet dived so low. RIP Michael

jfc

amazed mj made it this far to be honest

yup.

i was afraid of this news when i heard he was rushed to the hospital. i have nothing to add right now but r.i.p. anyway.

Thriller came about precisely at the time when I was becoming aware of popular music as a concept, when I was about five years old. As such, he completely dominated the earliest stages of my lifelong passion for not just music itself, but the art & iconography associated with it. Regardless of his tragic bizarro-world existence & whatever terrible transgressions he may be guilty of, I owe MJ a lot just on that basis. Basically, my sentiments echo those of Nabisco, John D & Cankles simultaneously.

RIP MJ. I hope you didn't hurt those kids, but I fear you did. Along with the rest of the world, I'll be eagerly awaiting whatever sordid details emerge in the wake your hallucinatory, grotesque existence. You had an awesome run in the 70s-80s.

how much is this guy to blame for what michael became?

http://www4.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/29+August+1958+Michael+Jackson+Turns+50+eNFPoLbR5FAl.jpg

gonna go high 90s

What is that -- it looks like it crawled out of my shower floor.

i think the needle's pushing 90 on that one

lol xpost

I really, really want to give him the benefit of the doubt (or back him away notionally from der kiddies through the magic of 'probably a big ole voyeur') but a writer friend of mine told me a story back in 1993: his friends got paid to wax some floors at Neverland and found a big old stash of man/boy love porn. IN THE CLOSET.

More random weirdness: http://franklinavenue.blogspot.com/2009/06/rip-michael-jackson-make-sure-you-mourn.html

R.I.P. Michael Jackson: Make Sure You Mourn The Right Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Sadly, though, you're gonna have to wait a day before you can actually visit the REAL Michael Jackson's star. It's currently covered up by "heavy equipment" -- because of tonight's premiere of "Bruno."

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is suggesting that mourners head to the Jacksons' star instead:

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF- Flowers will be placed on the Walk of Fame star of entertainer Michael Jackson tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard. Due to an event occurring at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre where his star is located, the star for Jackson is covered. Because of heavy equipment near the area and for safety reasons press and fans will not be allowed in the area this evening. Anyone who would like to pay their respect to Michael Jackson can visit The Jacksons star which is located at 1500 Vine Street near Sunset.

The Chamber of Commerce, though, adds that you shouldn't start congregating around the star of the OTHER Michael Jackson:

The star located at 1541 Vine street is NOT the star of recording artist Michael Jackson who passed away today. The star at that address is for Radio Personality Michael Jackson.

The star for The Jacksons IS located at 1500 Vine Street.

Scott, I'd put it at about 97%.

That scary old grampus is who, exactly?

His dad. Asshole.

That remix is AWESOME.

Didn't know that John Waters screen tested for Tropic Thunder.

Is that his dad? xp

http://www.b3tards.com/u/d81a83cf6d5a93144ba7/i_see_dead_people.jpg

http://www4.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/29+August+1958+Michael+Jackson+Turns+50+eNFPoLbR5FAl.jpg

lone, gold hoop earring. nagl~

this is kind of a different topic but does anyone else feel like black people need to be retconned, like they did with the klingons on TNG

a writer friend of mine told me a story back in 1993: his friends got paid to wax some floors at Neverland and found a big old stash of man/boy love porn. IN THE CLOSET.

wow, friends of a friend of somebody on the internet know the real truth

I first heard the story indirectly on a Spanish language radio station, where the DJ presented it as like some weird morbid trivia teaser: Guess which huge music star of the 80s had a cardiac arrest 15 min ago! then I switched to the hip-hop/R&B station where they said that TMZ reported his death.

I was actually shocked, then they played Billie Jean, which I normally think of as just a perfect dance pop song, but given the context it just seemed unbearably sad. This possible suicide thing and all MJ's other problems really do elevate it to the level of a truly effed up Greek tragedy.

The MJ Fanclub president guy on the BBC is even more clueless than Uri Geller.

some classic stuff on the telly with the reporting of this:

Sky news: "Now that Michael Jackson has died, what will happen to his 50 night run at The O2 is unsure."

Hamish McBain of NME: "If you've got the funk, you're into Michael Jackson."

BBC News dude at Glasto: "The shock will be coupled with the need to dance"

wow, abanana, next time I'll ask your fucking permission before I post blind items for people I know better than you do, shall I?

BBC has a live feed reporting all Michael, all the time:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8119993.stm

i like the live 24 hour news reporting of a thing like this. Like he's dead. There are no really interesting developments to come. Just waffle.

Jackson has three children -- sons Prince Michael 7, and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, and daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11.

Yeah, they're going nuts, what with scraping bottom of barrel for music journos that aren't asleep/drunk/etc to appear live at 2am, winging it...

the total domination of the newscycle and how much its going to suuuuuuuck for like a week was actually my first thought

The verdict is universal: they're in a state of shock.

srsly if i was iranian i'd be like f u michael, now no one cares anymore

(mental picture of Marjane Satrapi in her Michael Jackson outfit in Persepolis; Iranian kids have taken beatings to listen to him for sure)

than nme guy on sky acted a bit strange..

WTF that BBC page lists "Earth Song" on a list of his Biggest Hits.

This is really quite sad.

Ebert on MJ

WTF that BBC page lists "Earth Song" on a list of his Biggest Hits.

it is in the UK. he had more #1 hits in the 90s than any time before :(

earth song was christmas number 1.

The Fanclub guy on the BBC is scaring me now. He was all like "We should all be humbled to be able to say we were part of the generation that grew up listening to Michael Jackson."

http://imomus.livejournal.com/467872.html

earth song was christmas number 1.

Shit, really? Wow, I think I heard it on the radio like once but obviously I didn't live in the UK.

Elephants united in grief

extreme daddy issues, sure. But I think MJ was the definitive example of what an unchecked, bottomless combination of wealth, entitlement & psychosis can produce. Yes, his awful family situation gave him the impetus for his dreamworld of child-empowerment via the Peter Pan ideal, but it was his money & the cult of personality afforded him by his fanbase which allowed him to literally transform himself into Peter Pan & erect a detailed vacuum-world for the fantasy to play out within. Meanwhile, as he is lived his waking dream, he very publicly transformed himself into a hideous mutant and did a lot of terrible & fascinating things. You really just couldn't dream up such a story.

The Fanclub guy on the BBC is scaring me now. He was all like "We should all be humbled to be able to say we were part of the generation that grew up listening to Michael Jackson."

Yeah I heard that. That's when I switched to CNN. Then I turned that off, too. But the guy on CNN did call him "The most famous person in the world," which is hard to argue with, I guess.

RIP. I'm really sad he never seemed to get his emotional shit sorted out.

http://bestmessageboardever.com/uploads/monthly_06_2009/post-579-1245973222.jpg

I am going to be glued to the funeral. That's going to be some Ayatollah Khomeini shit.

i just mentioned this on the ilm thread, is this the biggest thing since you know who?

http://www.mtv.co.uk/files/imagecache/gallery_wide/2009/05/27/73850181.jpg

xx-post holy shit

Oh, easily.

RIP. I'm really sad he never seemed to get his emotional shit sorted out.

― ümürgüncü (Curt1s Stephens), Friday, June 26, 2009 8:56 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah this is kinda what bums me out the most, I was always hoping for him to somehow pull everything together and, I dunno, do something redeeming that could make us at least forget and maybe forgive what he's done to himself.

canks

22 compilation albums (!) in the seven and a half years since his last proper album.

Andrew Sullivan's site links to this old story/commentary:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=8745d384-a492-4c42-bb81-898e443c2556

Pretty interesting take, back then. Curious, even scary implication that MJ may never have received a basic education. One really does wonder whether the guy even knew how to read and write. Certainly would explain some things ...

My God CNN is bad. Stop reading Twitter posts. Right now.

my favorite michael jackson anecdote was one time i heard an interview with david gest where he claimed that MJ's little boy voice is fake and in private he just talks like a normal dude

canks I heard someone else say that but I can't remember who it was.

yeah i believe that 100%

Woah, I've never heard that before.

Wow, Entertainment Tonight has pictures of the guy lying dying on a stretcher already.

"My God CNN is bad. Stop reading Twitter posts. Right now."

i'm sticking with mtv. at least you get video action and telephone calls from members of fall out boy.

al sharpton live on mtv right now.

Ok, gotta fess up. This made me a little misty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzYhacSjWEU

al sharpton got so skinny!

xpost that performance is amazing--the dancing at the end!

Gambaccini on BBC said that Jackson didn't talk as high-pitched as you'd hear him on TV but it doesn't seem like the difference was that big. There was a lot of talk by numerous people that Jackson would play to the crowd (or at least media) more than you might have expected tho (wearing the bandana masks just because it's weird etc.).

rev. al remembers marching on sony records with michael and sez: "i think that was the only march he was ever in." hahahahahaha!

Here's the stuff about the fake voice:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10164492/

I've only got Network... is there anything better going on than this NBC sub-par Behind the Music thing?

The ABC one has a lot of great old interviews, but otoh Martin Bashir.

this has taken me totally by surprise. r.i.p.

i also, stupidly, was surprised to hear he was 50.

Couldn't resist.

http://www.bordersmedia.com/motown/galleries/ss_images/MichaelJacksonMillen_sm.jpg

^^^ dope

For some reason I wasnt suprised by this at all, really. He's been "rushed to hospital" several times in recent years hasnt he? And lots of covering it up and denying anythings amiss with his health. I suspect he'd been quite ill (at least in some underlying manner) for many years.

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/1/6/2/2/22722261-22722263-large.jpg

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/9/6/2/2/22722269-22722271-large.jpg

Janet Jackson was adorable.

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/6/5/2/2/22722256-22722258-large.jpg

http://www.platypuscomix.net/websurfin/sonic_jackson.jpg

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=EB&Date=20090625&Category=PEOPLE&ArtNo=906259982&Ref=V3&MaxW=415&title=1

This is pretty impressive: http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X

damn

74. fara fossett

wtf is this jeff goldblum shit

Just that

jeff goldblum?

95. phara faucet

wait is he dead too

Don't make people King. Just leads to trouble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqoRpYQZIYE&feature=related

goldblum's career is alive and well

o_O

"Jeff Goldblum rumors
There are rumors that Jeff Goldblum has passed as well, but some say it is an internet prank. We do, sadly, now know that Michael has also passed as has Farrah."

Spacey's on it:
Jeff Goldblum is alive and well. I just spoke to his manager. Stop these stupid rumors.
about 2 hours ago from web

Its a "he fell off a cliff in NZ" rumour that's been applied to about half a dozen slebs in the last 5 years.

"LOS ANGELES, Calif. --
Jeff Goldblum is alive and well.

Moments after the tragic news broke on Thursday afternoon that Michael Jackson had died, erroneous reports surfaced that Goldblum had passed away too.

The fake report about Goldblum, which surfaced on the Internet, claimed that the new “Law & Order” star died in New Zealand.

Shortly after the Goldblum rumor hit the net, his rep released a statement confirming the actor is “fine.”

“Reports that Jeff Goldblum has passed away are completely untrue. He is fine and in Los Angeles,” the rep told Access Hollywood."

tbf even if jeff goldblum did die I wdn't be googling him the day michael jackson died

he's on L&O???

“Reports that Jeff Goldblum has passed away are completely untrue. He is fine and hiking the Appalachian trail,” the rep told Access Hollywood."

so far this is the list of celebrities who have been forced to release statements refuting their deaths due to twitter rumors:

1. dj khaled
2. jeff goldblum

lovely pix - Jackson as boy, Jackson with huge children's character, Jackson with ET

Awww, my prof/friend:

For those of you who think MJ was great that is one thing...but for kids likeme who grewup living in crack houses and gang infested schools...and with families that were less that loving and pointed at as the weird one or the Black Sheep...MJ was the ultimate escape from the hell that is life...he had his own hell faSho... but those *nappy headed kids* like me though...could escape from our hell and walk on the moon

I had to dial around, but of course I found a radio station that's playing nothing but Michael all night. Right now: a live version of "Who's Loving You". :) :) :)

That's Terrence Trent D'Arby brah

heh. Funny guy.

(btw, it's 102.7 in Chicago, if you want to listen along.)

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2007/archive/covers/87/10_12_87_300x400.jpg
also elayne boosler lol

(It's the Irish in me, K. Will do.)

He writes the jokes, I just see them. From Facebook:

"Joey Evans is in shock....This tends to happens when you don't have t.v. anymore and walk into the coffee shop to hear people discussing Ed M., Farrah and now, MJ, passing away....I almost feel like we are closing out an era as my kids will never get to experience so many of these talents..."

http://i41.tinypic.com/2i135n9.jpg

it comes up by "ho"

i haven't heard much about his kids since this happened. i think a lot of people kinda wanted to forget that he even had kids. just as long as they don't have to go stay at aunt latoya's house....

honestly don't know what to think.

what shit news to wake up to. RIP MJ.

bummed that I can't play a tribute since all my records are in a box on a boat somewhere, being shipped home. :(

I wonder when will the conspiracy rumours about Jackson being alive and well somewhere among a lost tribe in south america will start

i haven't heard much about his kids since this happened.

Gotta think they'll go back to the mom?

I'm getting increasingly sad about this as it sinks in.

Gotta think they'll go back to the mom?

twice, with increasing wonder, I read this as:

Gotta think they'll go back to the moon?

I was under the impression the mom had no role in their lives, so maybe they'll live with jermajesty

twice, with increasing wonder, I read this as:

Gotta think they'll go back to the moon?

hahaha me too

I wish I could post the "Bloom County" strips in which Opus is confused for MJ.

I'm getting increasingly sad about this as it sinks in.

Same here, especially as I realize how UNsurprising his death is. He had to have been very sick. He's looked like he was physically disintegrating for years. Lord knows how many pills he was on at any given time, whether for various forms of legitimate physical pain, or just for the same reason the Elvis's doctors let him have those giant-size pharmacy bottles -- he was rich, petulant, and crazy.

Opus: "Give my best to your brothers Randy Marlon, Jackie, Geranium, and Frito!"

MJ: "Take off!"

I wish I could post the "Bloom County" strips in which Opus is confused for MJ.

Was thinking about those myself. Mentioned 'em briefly in my mutterings.

Good Ta-Nehisi Coates thoughts here:

http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/06/remembering_the_time.php

My own thoughts.

twice, with increasing wonder, I read this as:

Gotta think they'll go back to the moon?

Now I kinda wish I had actually said that.

http://lonelymachines.org/images/poochie.jpg

Alfred, you've been tweeted.

Nice work, Alfred & Ned.

uh oh

Gotta say, Al Sharpton makes a lot of nice points here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da4S3AvgjUc

Meantime a look at the business side in the wake of this.

http://www.ibabuzz.com/bottomsup/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/michael-jackson-in-heaven1.jpg

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/7/4/1/2/28852147-28852148-large.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f273/Cristian619/Misc%202/michaeljackson-3a1.jpg

King of Popping his clogs

actually that caruso thing is dumb -- his heart couldn't beat IT? that doesn't make sense.

YEAAAAHH

Theory for fellow Australians: Malcolm Turnbull had something to do with this.

Sassy mama at Williamsburg gay bar said it best:

"Michael Jackson died seventeen years ago. I don't know who that f***ing monster they found today is."

(my original post was going to be along the lines of how amazing I found him on The Flip Wilson Show in 1971, and burn in hell you fucking child molester)

http://cache0.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/picture-107-630x392.png

http://cache0.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/16-630x359.png

Lol at Guardian et al reporting "David Miliband"'s tribute to MJ. It's a fake Twitter, you morons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/26/twitter-michael-jackson-dead

Today programme just played out with 'I Want You Back' and that was it...bawling here.

Don't understand the angst. Not meaning to be offesnsive, just don't get it.

Or effensive.

FUCK IT! Offensive.

My evening has been 60% Michael Jackson and 40% whiskey.

are these guerrilla tribute things popping up elsewhere like they are in sf? some guy set up turntables in alamo square and i guess there was a little mj-rip party goin on

That sounds amazing, I'm jealous.

I am sad for him: what a dreadful way to end a life that was so fucked up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSqo17o2a1w

He touched people of every generation.

tee hee

Apart from the matter of his alleged sex life, the thing that puts MJ in the Rogues Gallery for me is that 'Thriller' marked the beginning of the end, in that it confirmed the primacy of the smart-arse wanky film clip and put music firmly on the slippery slide to MTV.

are these guerrilla tribute things popping up elsewhere like they are in sf? some guy set up turntables in alamo square and i guess there was a little mj-rip party goin on

when was this? I walked by alamo square this evening and didn't notice anything.

my favorite michael jackson anecdote was one time i heard an interview with david gest where he claimed that MJ's little boy voice is fake and in private he just talks like a normal dude

lisa marie once said this too, said in private he liked to kick back with a drink, kind of bro down to whatever extent that is possible with michael jackson; she always urged him to be like that in public but he couldn't, he would always just turn the weird up to 11

gambaccini said that too. and someone else last night said that when they were with him one time and he was putting on his surgical mask before going out in front of the public, they asked him about it and he said it was just a bit of "razzle dazzle".

http://picturesforsadchildren.com/blog/famous.png

do not feed the droll

There's a pic, taken during the "We are the world" session, where Bruce and MJ are hanging, one has a can of bud. Not Bruce.

i haven't heard much about his kids since this happened. i think a lot of people kinda wanted to forget that he even had kids. just as long as they don't have to go stay at aunt latoya's house....

maybe madonna will adopt them

i think she has the american part of the set already collected, though?

You bought the Elephants Mans bones and sent a statue of yourself round the world. RIP you amazingly talented loonball

A client came in and kept repeating "Michael. Michael. I have every record of Michael."
My husband didn't know how to react.

sent a statue of yourself round the world

I must have slept through that whole thing. Wasn't this was it?

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_0dxfVsgc8SA/R4rnZzfIQ4I/AAAAAAAAAIw/h2-Byz3mPPk/Koons-Jackson-Bubbles-1988.jpg

The allegations always seemed too easy to me, like by the time that stuff came out in the 90s it was universally accepted that MJ was freaky and SO much money was to be made from everyone involved that it seems like shooting fish in a barrel. The scandals helped to sell trillions of tabloids, resulted in scores of lawyer fees, and supported the careers of hack comics who could rely on Michael Jackson's name to get them chuckles every day in the 1990s. Right now whenever I read a MJ joke I can't help thinking of Jay Leno's 90s career.

Original accuser Evan Chandler was tape-recorded saying amongst other things, "If I go through with this, I win big-time. There's no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever...Michael's career will be over"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_jackson#cite_ref-tara_477-478_79-0

I loved a lot of his music. I pitied a lot of his personal life.

RIP

If he was guilty of molesting children, then I hope he's in Hell. If he was innocent, then he's free from the hell he was living in.

Apart from the matter of his alleged sex life, the thing that puts MJ in the Rogues Gallery for me is that 'Thriller' marked the beginning of the end, in that it confirmed the primacy of the smart-arse wanky film clip and put music firmly on the slippery slide to MTV

Life's been hard for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F706lyoo_f0

yeah "Sonic in Moscow", always loved that.

xpost LOL

I just find it hard to believe that he was anything but completely asexual, but then maybe that's his public persona talking rather than anything real. But if we're going to make bad Michael Jackson jokes, how can we forget the classic - Q. what's the difference between Neil Armstrong and Michael Jackson? A. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, Michael Jackson fucked kids.

but actually I'm moving from shocked to being pretty bummed about this, which is surprising me.

autopsy report in: split cause btwn boogie, sunshine & moonlight

i've seen 9484383 iterations of those jokes already today and they weren't funny then either. if you're gonna be tasteless be FUNNY. (this means not just tossing out lazy lazy paedo references)

funniest thing i've read all day is the notion of preserving some form of good taste when discussing former person michael jackson, but yeah w/e.

Not a huge fan of MJ's music, but I just listened to the 1978 demo of Don't Stop Til You Get Enough and it is incredible.

"Yeeee haaaaa"

also love billie jean

my own feelings about mj are incredibly neutral. he wasn't a part of my childhood, i enjoy but don't love his music, and prefer not to act like i could understand or judge his personal life. BUT i'm staying w/my friend zoe this weekend. she and michael shared a birthday, and her mom famously induced labor when pregnant with her because she had mj tickets for two days later. she's a big fan. so it was a rough afternoon around here yesterday. he was a legend no doubt, rip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upbbz_Eyq4Q

Jarvis' finest hour.

Classic

christ i fucking hated jarvis cocker - just as smug and egotistic as what he thought he was taking a brave stance against, and a lot more small-minded

and such an artistic pygmy in comparison

BUT i'm staying w/my friend zoe this weekend. she and michael shared a birthday, and her mom famously induced labor when pregnant with her because she had mj tickets for two days later.

For a while my mind was trying to figure out how this is possible, until I realized they probably don't share the same year of birth.

and such an artistic pygmy in comparison

BAHahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Give me Pulp records -- such as they are -- over the slick, antiseptic, banal and slavishly overhyped product of Michael Jackson *EVERY* time.

xp yes just the date--sorry it's early and that was a tough sentence to get together.

pulp sucks btw

Jarvis Cocker's intervention - seemed cool at the time (Jackson was an easy target) but, with hindsight, doesn't look too clever.

well, not the day after the dude dies, admittedly

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i've seen 9484383 iterations of those jokes already today and they weren't funny then either. if you're gonna be tasteless be FUNNY. (this means not just tossing out lazy lazy paedo references)

― lex pretend, Friday, June 26, 2009 8:18 AM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark

re: salman rushdie ---

i tend to say in public that the fatwa is outrageous but secretly i would cheer inside if someone assassinated him.

well done padma, bleed him dry!

-- lex pretend, Tuesday, July 3, 2007 5:33 AM

"I am shocked. I am overwhelmed by this tragedy. Michael Jackson has been an idol for me all my life. He was not only a talented person but he was unique - a genius. It's such a loss. It feels like when Kennedy died" - Celine Dion, born in 1968, five years after JFK was shot

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xp

She probably made a frigging comparison. Christ. I loathe her horsy face and dreadful elevator muzak, but come on...

Lex, I can understand your dislike, but you can't deny Michael Jackson turned into a pretty fucked up weirdo. Yes, "thanks" to his entourage/family but a freak nonetheless. He made some classic singles and records, but his life was just a freakshow in the end.

xp in celine's defense she looks really old

well, not the day after the dude dies, admittedly

Yes, but more than that. It just looks childish

haha sonderangebot

Alex, so how did you like James Chance's cover of the MJ song? Don't Stop Till You Get Enough was it, no?

slick, antiseptic, banal

Oh, Alex. MJ's best records are anything but antiseptic -- sometimes they're septic. So much genuine crazy in there. I still have a couple versions of this mix around: Michael Jackson's most paranoid songs

BAHahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Give me Pulp records -- such as they are -- over the slick, antiseptic, banal and slavishly overhyped product of Michael Jackson *EVERY* time.

punk's not dead

You won't win: for Alex's generation "slick" and "antiseptic" denote Unspeakable Things.

who cares what alex thinks, he's a middle-aged man who still thinks it's hilarious to taunt genuinely upset people on the internet while constantly parading his predictable, bland musical tastes

lol i don't even remember my fatwa post from TWO YEARS AGO - i'm glad there are people doing this for me. here can you carry these suitcases for me?

Best joke at work today: "Ohmigod, did you hear Michael Jackson died?...apparently, he choked on twelve year old nuts!"

um

um

"best" "joke"

well, not the day after the dude dies, admittedly

Yes, but more than that. It just looks childish

Very true. I thought it was cool when I first heard about it, but when I read about the incident a few years later, it didn't seem that cool anymore, as it was mostly a juvenile prank and MJ was too easy a target.

Actually, I wouldn't at all mind reading an intelligent contrarian take on MJ's music, but coming from a guy who's said he loves poor old slick, antiseptic, banal Luther Vandross and David Bowie, he's got some explaining to do.

lol did u guys know that michael jackson totally loved LITTLE BOYS

who cares what alex thinks, he's a middle-aged man who still thinks it's hilarious to taunt genuinely upset people on the internet while constantly parading his predictable, bland musical tastes

If you're "genuinely upset" about MJ's passing, you need to get your priorities in order.

And a MJ fan calling contrarian tastes "bland" is pretty rich.

Or maybe you need to stop being a dick.

KBP, shamon you.

hoo boy (xp)

I mean seriously. People obviously aren't in the mood for it and no one is appreciating your just-as-predictable bullshit, so what's so wrong with giving it a rest for a few days?

I'm not genuinely upset, but I have something called "empathy" for people who are. Stay classy, fucknuts.

It's called balance.

he choked on twelve year old nuts

I don't get the joke. If someone dies from choking on nuts, where does the age of the nuts come into it? Choking is a problem with a physical obstruction, unrelated to the particulars of the object causing the obstruction, other than its size.

that's the joke

??

It's called balance.

Fair and balanced. Like Glenn Beck.

It's called being a dick for no reason other than a pretty pitiful superiority complex, actually.

kbp r.i.sb

Fine, mourn your child molester.

The joke actually was:

Did you know Michael Jackson died of food poisoning?

What?

Well, I heard he died with twelve year old nuts in his mouth!

Also I do not condone this, or any joke, since the guy is dead and had some redeemable, if completely creepy, qualities.

That makes more sense as a joke, but still isn't funny

"Rock With You" was the first record I ever bought, at age five. (I guess my parents must have helped me.) In sixth grade, I spent hours at the school playground practicing the "Thriller" dance. One of the few African American boys at our school was the leader, and a group of about 20 of us formed about 3 lines behind him and shadowed his moves. Not sure why we were rehearsing--we had no plans of performing in public. I didn't expect to be saddened this, but I really was. It's the first death of a public figure that has actually effected me in any way.

kbp r.i.sb

Fair play, I'm only reporting on what the people out on the street are saying. It's not like I'm being a middle aged punk troll!

I'm not mourning. I'm thinking you are a dick with no social skills.

Fine with me. Maybe I just don't share your perspective.

STICK IT TO THE MAN, ALEX

I am happily middle-aged, by the way. And so was MJ.

The mooning was one of the more remarkable things to happen on my birthday. No surprise that I felt Jarvis did the right thing in the context of the times; the moon was the result of the unnecessary layers of goon-imposed hierarchy ('no looking directly, or speaking to, the King of Pop, who must be called the King of Pop by everyone; FAILURE TO COMPLY will result in ruined Brits and hissy fits') aka diva bullshit behind the scenes at that particular ceremony. This was, of course, long ago, before unsuitable performers were Tased at the behest of angry corporate sponsors, but people could see the BUY ME years coming. Also if I remember correctly Jarv's entourage that night was Miss Brandy Alexander and Mr Dom Perignon. It showed.

hey we made it a whole like 15 hours or something before this thread devolved.

Jesus, Alex. Have you had your coffee yet?

I didn't say you weren't happy. Obviously you are pretty pleased with yourself, otherwise you'd stop trolling.

Alex, if you want to write about what made Jackson's music overrated I'd love to read it, especially after a few of us have tried to define what made it so special; but just don't hurl the bullshit adjectives I've read here from you since 2001.

There's A Place In
Your Heart
And I Know That It Is Love
And This Place Could
Be Much
Brighter Than Tomorrow
And If You Really Try
You'll Find There's No Need
To Cry
In This Place You'll Feel
There's No Hurt Or Sorrow

Look, fair enough: In all sincerity, while I don't share your tastes in terms of appreciating MJ's music, I'm in no position to decry. You like what you like, I like what I like. In that instance, I should retract my nastier comments and show some empathy.

That all said, I don't think MJ was exactly a saint. Thus, don't ask me to feel bad for him. I feel bad for his victims and their parents. But I apologize for acting like a dick, as that's indeed what I've been doing.

haters sound like nancy motherfuckin grace right about now, the monster is dead now get back to work heaving manure with your pitchforks

By the way, I've been on this forum since 2001. I'm not a troll.

Michael Jackson is the target which put Oswald on the avant map: at the heart of Jacko’s vast Mad Ludwig II fairycastle, circled as it is with grim yokel villagers bearing flaming torches (and that’s just his FANS haha), might not Michael, this very weird, monstrously gifted fellow — ruinous faults and all — nevertheless actually be sculpting message-in-a-bottle sound art, hidden in the plainest sight, that’s better, deeper, stronger or stranger than ANYTHING in Boom? If even the risk that he might be is a priori ruled out — if Gorguts and Cryptopsy are by definition as disbarred from the Hayward as — oh, I don’t know — So Solid Crew and Eminem, then what exactly does the inclusion of Oswald achieve, except bad faith?

I stand by Cocker's stunt - award shows needs this sort of thing plus it was a protest at Jackson's dreadful exhibition, which many (not just Jarvis, he had sympathy and support from numerous other artists there) thought trite, corny, over-earnest, embarrassing...and frankly it was. I don't downright hate 'Earth Song' but mid 90s MJ pretty much sucks (irrespective of his earlier riches).

I don't like Michael Jackson's 1990s music either but I could have done without Cocker's stunt as well, although I'll concede I approved of it at the time.

I'll stand by Jarvis' stunt but I hope someone does that to him next time he performs his latest middling tunes.

how about everyone stop for a moment and remember how awesome the Thriller video was the first time you watched it

fuck

Oh please, Jarvis was just trying to take the wind out of MJ's messianic complex. I doubt Michael even noticed.

yeah when you've made something as awesome as the video for Thriller, who cares about some dumbass ponce British guy

real talk from mr que (xp)

"I'm not like other guys..."

Well, technically, John Landis made the "Thriller" video.

the video for Aphex Twin 'On' is pretty awesome

I think of MJ kind of like John Landis -- of a whole other time, with other rules. Hard to imagine Jackson having listened to this decade's music.

IIRC Jarvis's stunt made me start paying attention to Pulp, so it's not like I totally condemn it or him.

Is it obnoxious and impolite to storm a stage and cause a fuss while someone else is performing? Absolutely. Thus, was Jarvis out of bounds for doing so? Absolutely. Still, I think he should be freakin' knighted for daring to point out what a bloated, ridiculous spectacle it all was.

"bloated, ridiculous", you say?

Watch it again.

yes let's have a bloated ridiculous spectacle like a knighthood to celebrate his taking and powning of a bloated riduclous spectacle

In the "daring" stakes it ranks up there with pointing out to a bunch of people at the beach that the ocean is wet, is the thing.

lol que

yes let's have a bloated ridiculous spectacle like a knighthood to celebrate his taking and powning of a bloated riduclous spectacle

ha! Touche!

In the "daring" stakes it ranks up there with pointing out to a bunch of people at the beach that the ocean is wet, is the thing

yeah but why tolerate that wetness you know...

Beknight that daring man, for he has stripped the scales from our eyes

basically MJ = global warming

I think you're giving MJ's army of acolytes too much credit.

knights and now acolytes, cool

can we get bishops and templars too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEHVR9Hj_b0&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/tina.cupplesmacauley%3Fref%3Dnf&feature=player_embedded

In sixth grade, I spent hours at the school playground practicing the "Thriller" dance.

This reminded me of working out a dance routine to PYT with some other girls during gym class.

Michael Jackson did a pretty decent job of getting us down the road to the ultimate destruction of music. "Thriller" was amazing, a genuine real good record, michael's very own glowing dangly headpiece like a female anglerfish in the black depths, something nobody sane could resist. Then he came out with Bad. I mean he even named his record Bad, people. And everybody went crazy for it, because they had wondered the last five years if anybody could make a record better than Thriller, and Jacko came out with a new one and there's this stampede to be the first idiot to say "it's BETTER than THRILLER!" Meanwhile the entire Jackson family cackled to themselves in their underground lair that they share with Ringo and Paul, because Bad was actually an awful record full of secret music-destroying cocktails like Smooth Criminal, and every album sold was another kid who would grow up and think that shit that sounded like Smooth Criminal was acceptable. Even though Jacko's devil madness overtook him in the following decade, he still could put out the song equivalent of a hungover yoga fart ("Scream") and move 20 million copies. Fortunately, he stuck around long enough to see his efforts come nearly to full fruition; justin timberlake became actually famous and a bunch of white idiots from southern cal covered nothing less than "smooth criminal" itself and got on MTV for it. 8/10, only because "Invincible" can't even be compared to "Let It Be" in the shit canon of pop.

(crossposted from e-mail)

(by request)

that's just the George Lucas argument with some words changed

lowing dangly headpiece like a female anglerfish in the black depths

And I'm getting shit for using the word acolyte??

Is anyone else getting the feeling like they accidentally walked into a room with a bunch of 50-year-old white who are bitching about how much they hate rap?

white guys, should say

At least Tombot brings the pain with panache.

To catch a doctor

my piece

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2009/06/i-got-ants-in-my-pants-and-i-need-to-dance/

"ultimate destruction of music"

in progress, of course

like the destruction of the Taliban.

Bad on 7" was the first record I owned.

Best Jackson joke = what's the difference between MJ and Alex Ferguson? Ferguson will still be playing Giggs in August. Because it's a pun, and puns are funny. And it's not malicious.

I'm not sad or surprised that MJ the weird freakazoid of the last 15 years is dead. No one can be that fucked up emotionally and physically and last long.

I am sad that Michael Jackson, the world's most famous pop star ever and maker of some genuinely fucking outstanding and amazing and freakish and otherworldly music, is dead. When I was a kid, he seemed immortal. Come on; he turned into a giant robot!

I like Pulp a little less than I like MJ, but only a little. I'd hope that Jarvis is big enough to do a Jacko cover at Glasto.

There's lots of hypocrisy everywhere; being shocked at hypocrisy on the internet is like being shocked by nipples on a nudist beach.

Several Xs.

Bad's a wicked record - killer amount of singles; Off The Wall's better than Thriller - No McCartney.

That yelp at the end of I Want You Back does not compute as coming from the guy who dangled his baby out of a hotel window.

Pulp is still a band?

That all said, I don't think MJ was exactly a saint. Thus, don't ask me to feel bad for him.

http://itodyaso.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/burningman1.jpg

or, wait, does he just make solo records or something. i haven't thought of that guy in years.

Pulp is not still a band, no.

Pulp is still a band?

Well, no, and MJ isn't a living human either, but I still like both.

this thread is like bile bile bile poignant memory bile bile bile poignant memory bile bile etc

But yes, JC does do solo stuff.

it is kinda strange on these kinds of threads when people go out of their way to say things like: I'M NOT SAD YOU KNOW. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SAD ABOUT THIS! IN FACT, I FEEL NOTHING. NOTHING, I TELL YOU!! as if someone were twisting their arm...

right, solo stuff. pulp only really made a dent with the common people thing here and then they went away forever.

imo the ultimate destruction of music is a laudable goal if that helps some of you numbnuts out with the comprende

Best MJ song post-Thriller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6JhmgVFETE

wrote this last night, after getting a call from my sister.

xp I think we can file that under "bile"

(by Michael Jackson, credited to W. A. Mozart, due to contractual obligations)

Oh, I know.

the record was called "bad" DO YOU SEE???

i think he meant bad in the black way, like good.

but don't quote me on that.

bahahahaha

i've had "in the closet" in my head nonstop

there's something abouuuut you baby

Not bile as much as a wistful yearning for an alternate universe where 1986 didn't some how screw up Jackson and Eddie Murphy, not just artistically but the rest.

it is kinda strange on these kinds of threads when people go out of their way to say things like: I'M NOT SAD YOU KNOW. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SAD ABOUT THIS! IN FACT, I FEEL NOTHING. NOTHING, I TELL YOU!! as if someone were twisting their arm...

The technical term for this condition is shakeymolitis.

he still could put out the song equivalent of a hungover yoga fart ("Scream")

scream is fantastic imo

at least none of eddie murphy's transexual hookers have sued him for anything. he's got that going for him.

x-post

xpost Mine, too. And Dangerous is a very, very good record. It really is -- I hate to say it -- under appreciated.

I was always hoping for him to somehow pull everything together and, I dunno, do something redeeming

after '92, this would've taken a NASA-Apollo-type effort.

Hard to imagine Jackson having listened to this decade's music.

Yeah, he still had that in his favor.

i LOVE scream

Guy meant nothing to me during his life, so his death means nothing to me. Though his appearance and his strange predeliction for young boys really skeeved me out.

see that's what i mean. he must have meant SOMETHING to bill magill cuz here he is!

Off The Wall's better than Thriller - No McCartney.

Wrong - he provided the shittiest moment on both albums.

Allright I take it back: he meant something to me, something very negative, because his appearance and strange prediliction for young boys really skeeved me out. Never a fan of the music.

your predilection for prozzers skeeves me out, bill.

michael jackson meant nothing to me, wtf is the big deal about "fun" and "dancing" anyway

I listened to Bad for what I think is the first time ever earlier, of my own will. It was never a record owned in my house as a kid and yet I knew it all too well. Even album tracks I could not tell you the name of. Cannot tell you where I heard them or how they became so recognisable to me. He only released 2 albums in my life and I was too young to remember 1 and the whole world seemed indifferent to the last one. And yet just through ubiquity, MJ seemed part of my life, even if I have made no conscious effort to interact with his career (bar OTW/Thriller). In that respect, he had to mean something to me and pop music listeners, whether they are massive fans, haters or anywhere in the middle. Other than possibly Britney, I can't think of a single artist this will happen with again.

Oh fuck yeah, Girlfriend. It's never registered in my head as being Macca.

wtf is the big deal about "dancing" by civilians INDEED.

i've had "in the closet" in my head nonstop

i heard this earlier today (on one of the many MJ video marathons on tv) and it struck me that the extended bit from the video sounded like early neptunes. great track.

morbs i don't know if you missed the sarcasm but wtf are you talking about civilians

i heard this earlier today (on one of the many MJ video marathons on tv) and it struck me that the extended bit from the video sounded like early neptunes. great track.

― Roz, Friday, 26 June 2009 15:28 (12 minutes ago) Permalink

right!?

hot video

"I am going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth. I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I think all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That's all. That's the real truth. I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved. I said I know I have an ability. Maybe if I sharpened my craft, maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved because I think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love them and to look in their eyes and say it."

Ouch. Sad.

elmo, I can enjoy watching performers dance. I won't dance, don't ask me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

classic

that was ruined for me by seeing a documentary about it. They made them train like 22 hours a day or some shit. The governor was a grade A cunt as well.

I was explaining that to a colleague earlier, meant to show it him. Anyone who doubts MJ's cultural significance just needs to see that.

Who killed Michael Jackson?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCR92UGtZd8

i keep thinking of that scene from three kings, too.

BREAKING

Prominent members of Montreal’s music and entertainment scene said they’re saddened by the news of Michael Jackson’s untimely death on Thursday.

michael jackson meant nothing to me, wtf is the big deal about "fun" and "dancing" anyway

― giovanni & ribsy (elmo argonaut), Friday, June 26, 2009 11:16 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah, i forgot that Jackson had a monopoly on both of those things.

x-post -- Can't wait for Godspeed's 40-minute eulogy entitled "Statue of King Revoked"

haha

i got a promo cd from some montreal bad yesterday, if only theyd had time to include their tribute to michael jackson

some montreal bad

une montreal "mal"

KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic opens w/ 'I Wonder Who’s Loving You?'.

http://i44.tinypic.com/2u5glz7.png

gtfo taylor swift

she died

xpost lol

http://www.forartist.com/forensic/modification/mj/mjage70.jpg

This guy's been RIP for awhile now.

What happened? I'm confused.

you know, one of the sad things about this is that i think we all kinda knew it was going to go down like this eventually... it was just a matter of when. it's shocking but completely unsurprising know what i mean?

are these guerrilla tribute things popping up elsewhere like they are in sf? some guy set up turntables in alamo square and i guess there was a little mj-rip party goin on

last night while I was walking up Divis to the corner store, this big troop of people rode by on bikes. one guy had this huge amplifier mounted on the back of his blasting Jackson 5. people were beeping and cheering at them and a few people walking down the sidewalk did little dances. it was pretty cool.

really, clips of him singing as a kid is the only shit that has made me feel sadness in this whole thing. it's not so much his death, but the fact that the tragedy of his life is now closed which is causing some to reflect. i am with Dave Chappelle up there about whether or not he did what he is accused of to those kids, and i think people who are 100% sure that he did or didn't are reactionary idiots, but i just generally don't give much of a shit about celebrities in the end. selfishly, MJ's best work is long behind, so i won't mourn what could have been if he had lived, either.

fwiw, i am definitely one of those kids who grew up loving his music and trying to do his dances. Billie Jean was one of the first songs i ever taped when my parents gave me my first tape recorder. i wore MJ buttons on my jacket, and remember being upset when i found out i had to go to Disneyland to see Captain Eo.

i think we all kinda knew it was going to go down like this eventually

FWIW, this caught me totally offguard. He was only 50, in my mind's eye he was a lot younger, and I had no idea he was on painkillers or in bad physical health. I hadn't been keeping up with news on him for the past couple of years, I guess.

EPCOT should break out captain EO.

When the stats on his driver's license were put out and it listed him as being 5'10", 120 lbs, I figured he was not doing well healthwise.

120 might be generous based on how he was looking

interesting jackson/culkin anecdote:

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/2009-6-25-michael-jackson-is-gone

Working in Los Angeles for the last 19 years, I've had a variety of different jobs. One of the ones I enjoyed the most was at a place called Dave's Video in Sherman Oaks. It was a laserdisc only store, and I started there in 1991, when laserdisc was a niche market, mainly for wealthy film nerds and industry folks.

I met a lot of people in the business when I was working at that store, but one in particular stood out. Michael Jackson would call us before we closed and tell us he was coming in just after closing. We would wait for a few minutes after we locked up and, sure enough, Michael would pull up in his van and come in. We'd relock the doors and then just let him shop for as long as he wanted. He would typically take an hour or two and browse the racks, buying $1000 or more worth of discs each time.

The first time he came in, it struck me as surreal for it to just be the four employees who were closing and Michael. He was soft spoken, as you'd imagine, and seemed to be buying movies at random, just pulling anything that caught his interest. He came in a lot, though, so we got used to it. My favorite evening he visited, he called like normal and said he'd be in after close. Our manager at the time was in no mood for it, but Michael spent enough money that we had standing orders to let him in when he came by. This was the week that "Home Alone" had just been released on laserdisc, and so we'd been playing the movie on an endless loop at the store, over and over and over, and we were all sick of it at that point.

That's important because when Michael showed up, he had a guest with him. Macaulay Culkin.

My manager had his back to the door, standing at the front counter, when I opened up and let Michael and Macaulay into the store. He was on the phone with a friend, talking about the past week at work, and as Michael went to look around and shop, Macaulay stopped, listening to Anthony as he ranted.

"... and if I have to watch that movie again, I'm going to stab my own eyes out. Seriously. That kid... it's like he's haunting me. I go home, and all I can hear when I'm trying to go to sleep is him taunting Pesci and Stern, and I wish there was a cut of the film where they caught him. That's what I'd watch."

By that point, it was obvious what he was talking about, so Macaulay settled in to wait for Anthony to turn around. Michael noticed what was going on. We all did, actually, except for Anthony, who just kept going, picking up steam as he talked.

"I just hate him. I know he's a kid, but jesus... that face he makes on the cover of the movie... that's not funny. It just makes me furious. It's such a stupid movie, and everyone comes in here wanting to buy a copy and I have to pretend I like it so that we can move the 10,000 copies of the damn thing that Dave bought. Miserable."

Finally, Anthony turned around, and there was Macaulay, right behind him, hands on his face just like on the "Home Alone" cover, and as all of us, Michael included, burst into laughter, Anthony turned about 47 shades of crimson and ran for the back office, where he stayed locked in until well after Michael and Macaulay finished their shopping and left. That moment, watching Michael trying not to laugh as we all waited for Anthony to figure out what was going on, was the least guarded thing I saw from him. It's always the little strange details about someone that super-famous that stick out, like when I helped him carry all the discs out to his mini-van after each shopping trip, and I'd see that the mini-van was essentially buried in McDonald's cheeseburger and Big Mac wrappers. Seriously. Like he lived off of them. Or when he'd come in wearing a surgical mask and we could see fresh work underneath as he'd talk to us. It made Michael seem real, and not just like some character on TV, and more than anything, he seemed to me to be a guy who was acutely uncomfortable with basic social contact, unsure of how to engage with people, always wary of what they might expect in return.

Michael eventually stopped coming into the store after an incident where he rented our Japanese import laserdisc for "Song Of The South," asking first if he could buy it from us. Dave had a firm policy of not selling the rentals, though, particularly if they were hard to come by, and he told Michael no. Oddly, Michael "lost" the rental and told us a few weeks later that he'd be happy to just pay for it instead. Dave flipped out and banned Michael from ever renting from us again, and he blasted Michael's business manager on the phone one afternoon, furious and accusatory. That was it. I never saw Michael come into the store again.