Michael Jackson was the greatest entertainer of our generation! I went to see "This Is It" last night. Holy shit, that guy was a genius. I didn't really know what to expect. I kinda thought it would just be footage of him performing his songs and it was that partly. But it was more than that too. It was him choosing the best dancers, musicians, and technicians from all over the world. Then they showed the rehearsals of everybody together. I don't know where he found the woman who was on lead guitar but she was sick! He was fine tuning the dancers, the balance of instruments, the stage movements. He really knew music and choreography; actually just showmanship in general. The whole thing was going to be amazing. And here's the weirdest part for me: watching him dance and sing and work his magic, I completely forgot to look at his face and I completely stopped thinking of him as a ghoul. He became human and a damn talented one, maybe the most talented man I've ever seen.
This is all nostalgic for me too. When I was in the 4th grade, Mr. Scott's class, I saved up my money to buy my first album, "Thriller." I remember that it was $12.99. MTV had just started and every fourth video was "Beat It." I played that record until it wore out. Do you remember that the album cover folded open? I actually took an old record from my parents and started keeping "Thriller" in that cover so that I could hang the centerfold of MJ and the baby tiger up on my wall! And then my teacher, who was the first black man I ever knew, told me about The Jackson 5 and "Off the Wall." After that, forget it, I was gone. I was devoted to his music for the next 25 years.
Anyway, the theater was giving out laminated tickets on lanyards, y'know, like backstage passes. So now I have my last MJ souvenir.
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