Thursday, June 25, 2009

Oh, Michael.

He was born in Gary, Indiana, 21 months before me. I’m from Gary, too. We kids were all so proud of the child singer. He gave us a dream. His voice cheered me through the dark summer of 1970 after my mother died in January. His summer hit turned out to be my favorite 1970 song.

I will always remember him as the singer of the following songs.

Sorry for the hiatus. Back Saturday.

Jackson 5, ABC

Jackson 5, The Love You Save

Jackson 5, I'll Be There

9 comments:

caithiseach said...

I moderate comments on this blog because I have seen many blogs fill up with "comments" that are porn spam, and I want to protect my readers from that phenomenon.

I have otherwise accepted all comments on my writing and on the artists I mention in my posts. Today I am withholding approval of an anonymous comment about Michael Jackson.

My post talks about the way I remember Michael Jackson, as an enormously talented pre-teen. The commenter says that Michael's activities as an adult make all of his work invalid.

I do not condone improper sexual relationships between children and adults. I do not condone the use of wealth and influence to escape justice in our legal system.

I have been imposed upon by wealthy people who could work the legal system, and I was molested in a minor way by a 6th-grader at my school when I was 10. I say that to give authority to my next words.

Jonathan King and Gary Glitter are child molesters. Michael Jackson is an accused child molester. I am not nitpicking here: I believe we are all innocent until proven guilty. Without that pillar, we have no justice in our legal system.

I believe Michael Jackson acted improperly in the company of children. I believe we are all entitled to our opinion about what that activity does to his legacy.

And I believe that anyone who wants his or her accusations to be heard should write back to me here with a signed comment. No anonymous comments about child-molestation issues will go up here. If you don't have an account that will allow you to identify yourself here, write to me directly, and I'll get your post and your name up.

Thank you.

Unknown said...

Have something to say, but don't want your REAL name known, for fear of backlash? Stating something you wouldn't want your mother, or boss to read?

Then, say nothing.

If one finds themselves proud enough of their opinions and/or thoughts to post them anywhere, at any time, on the world wide web for all to see, they should also be willing to not hide behind the absolute hypocrisy and cowardice of "anonymous".

whiteray said...

I got one of the same comments at my place and I published it. (From your description, I have a hunch it was the same anonymous commenter.) I was thinking of addressing it tomorrow. Your response was a better and braver choice.

jb said...

Well said, both by you and by your commenter Stephanie. The only comments apart from obvious spam I have ever deleted from my blog are of this sort--the anonymous, drive-by rip on someone or something I've written about, or on me personally.

I got a couple of phone calls at the radio station in the wake of Jackson's death that seemed pleased that he finally got what he deserved by dying. But if we're going to judge the totality of another person's life by the worst moments of it, we've got to be prepared to accept that judgment for ourselves--and we're almost certainly not.

Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas said...

I think you perfectly (and amazingly succintly) expressed why music means so much to so many of us.

No matter what Michael Jackson - or any artist - may or may not have done during his life, there's no denying the power of a song to help us through our darkest moments or connect us forever to better times.

Anonymous said...

Saturday has come and gone........

I think the British journalist Simon Price addressed the paedophilia thing very sensibly in his altogether very good article on MJ.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/michael-jackson-the-ultimate-song-and-dance-man-1722260.html

caithiseach said...

Dude, thanks for the link to a great article. And as for last Saturday, I decided my MJ post was getting enough traffic that I should leave it in the top spot for a few more days. Now it's time to get back to work, finally.

Maia said...

Nicely said, Caithiseach! We were in NYC the day after MJ died and all Hanna wanted to do was watch the E network about him! The big jumbotron in Times Square flashed his dancing. It was a sad time. Not a good time for stock buying, unfortunately...but I'll keep FD's in mind if it works in the future! haha!

1verycoolguy said...

Ha ha, I remember playing my records on different speeds. I thought it was pretty cool and I did it a lot. Even played a lot of them backwords. I still have my turntable that has a neutral slot on it. You can use your finger and turn the record backwards. I also have about 6000 records, 45's and lp's.