_MICHAEL JACKSON – 1958-2009

i’ll be perfectly honest.

when TMZ ran reports yesterday that michael jackson had suffered cardiac arrest and died in LA, i was moderately shocked, but largely unmoved. i can’t really put a finger on why, but i’m inclined to believe that so much of my recent experience and familiarity with the man had next to nothing to do with his music; he had been rendered a mere caricature of the iconic figure he once was: largely due to his own raging indiscretion, but ushered along to the stratospherically farcical display it had become by an abnormally intrusive media, even by Hollywood standards.

as i watched CNN for confirmation, my immediate recollection of him was that of a suspected (assumed) child molester, a man who’d possessed at least 5 of the most famous faces in the world- the most recent face being so far removed from the handsome young man who exploded into the world’s consciousness 35 years ago so as to be nearly unrecognizable; in short, a total mockery of the legacy he’d created over the years. it was easy to dismiss his death as the final chapter in a long, sordid story. i was taken aback by how unaffected i was.

then i started listening to his music.

and wiki’ing the incomprehensible breadth and scope of his career. and listening some more.

it finally started to hit me. michael jackson had died.

not just the michael jackson fumbling through interviews, saying all the wrong things in attempts to defend himself, or the michael jackson who couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around the disconnect the rest of the world was having with his questionable dalliances with children, or the michael jackson who butchered his face into oblivion.

this was also the michael jackson who was a brilliant singer, one of the most talented vocalists of our time- with a fantastic range, precision vibrato and inimitable emotive skill. the michael jackson whose ability to take a stage and perform has gone unrivaled to this day. the michael jackson inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame TWICE, possibly one of the most important figures in the entire span of the ART FORM, surely vying for the most important in popular music, undisputed in a laundry-list of categories and creator of the musical backdrop for 100s of millions of people spanning nearly 4 decades. feats so awe inspiring, it makes the news of his untimely passing that much more criminal.

i spent about 20 minutes looking for a good image to attach with this entry. i won’t even touch on some of the things i saw, it just doesn’t seem right in this light. not trying to come off as above it; i spent my fair share of my time gawking and laughing at his expense (i even wanted him to go to jail) but the difficulty of the search quickly encapsulated what this man had to endure. i suspect even the most steely, detatched individual would struggle under the tremendous weight of an entire planet being obsessed with your every move. michael jackson was nothing of the sort, from all indication. to assume the attention- coupled with an unfortunate childhood- took its toll on his mind and body in ways we can only speculate on isn’t much of a reach.

in retrospect, everybody who had any contact with michael- whether it be directly, or just thru his music- is fortunate to have experienced his presence here. he had a rare energy he could synthesize and output to the world so that anybody in earshot could understand and enjoy it thoroughly.  music outlets built their empires on his back. tabloids kept themselves in business at his expense. and now, we’re left finally to absorb the deafening impact of a genius silenced far too early.

words can’t express.

j smooth of illdoctrine tweeted a video he captured of what i imagine to be an impromptu sidewalk mini tribute to MJ last night:

pretty much.

RIP.