6/26/2009

Michael Jackson

Man. What a sad day. I thought for my little tribute to Michael Jackson I would just share a couple of stories because that is what I think is so special about him. He impacted practically everybody on the planet in some way. Even if it is just a song that reminds us of something.

I vividly remember my first Michael Jackson experience. I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico and I was in the 6th grade. I was babysitting in a big beautiful house. I was on the bottom floor and the whole back wall was glass windows. The house was on the golf course and on the other side of the golf course was desert as far as the eye could see. It was pitch black, dark and freaky. So what did I do? I turned on the tv. And what was on? The Thriller video. I was so enthralled and scared at the same time I didn’t know what to do, but it was so awesome I couldn’t make myself turn it off. The most fascinating thing about it was the fact that I didn’t know what the hell it was. Was it a show? A movie? A commercial? Then these zombies started dancing. What!? And singing! It was the greatest thing ever.

Shortly after that - or at least this is how it goes in my memory - my aunts, uncles and grandparents all got these cool roller skates. They were those sneakers that had wheels on them and they were the hot thing at the beach in California. They all wanted to get them so they could skate around together. Well, lucky for me – and not so lucky for my grandma – the first time she tried them on she fell and broke her arm. So guess her got her awesome super expensive skates? Me! And what did I do with them? I spent the whole summer skating on my perfectly flat driveway to Michael Jackson songs. I thought I was so cool. And in my mind I was practically a professional. If my driveway could have only been ice I could have been in the Olympics! I would skate backwards in little figure 8’s with my hair blowing in the breeze. I would make little jumps and land gracefully. It was so awesome and I was so cool! I would give my right arm to see a video of that today! Can you imagine what I looked like? What a nerd! And now come to think about it… I HOPE I wasn’t in 6th grade then! That would be sad. Maybe I was in 4th. That would still be sad – but not nearly as bad. It’s a miracle I turned out normal.

Ok. Now on to 1986. I remember my dad getting us Jackson 5 tickets to see them at Dodger Stadium. It was so cool. We got there and found our seats and we were way to the side so we were almost even with the stage. I remember being bummed until I discovered that we were so far on the edge of the seats that I could see over the side of the stadium and backstage. So I spent most of the time watching what was going on backstage. Including watching Michael Jackson standing around, doing costume changes and then walking on stage when it was his turn. It was so great.

I remember having all of his albums. My stereo and turntable in my room where on the floor and when Mallory was a baby she would crawl in my room and get them all out of their sleeves. Naughty stinker!

Michael Jackson has touched all people and all generations. Today as I was watching the news the kids were asking who he was so I played them some songs, that ironically I had just bought on iTunes a couple of weeks ago and they knew them. Demi’s favorite is ABC.
What a sad day. He will definitely be missed by me.

My top 10 favorite Michael Jackson songs:

-Will You Be There
-Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’
-The Way You Make Me Feel
-Black or White
-The Girl is Mine
-Dirty Diana
-Heal the World
-Human Nature
-In the Closet
-Remember the Time


3 comments:

grams said said...

Such a nice tribute Hil. Love the music you chose also. Once again you are on top of things. Thank you.

Unknown said...

Great post Hil! I knew you would do Michael proud.

mallory said...

i wish i could remember seeing jackson 5! that is awesome!