Post by Fish on Jul 7, 2009 18:58:53 GMT -5
I said in my Cbox post from June 30th that I would expound on my contention that the week of June 21st - 27th sucked. I held off on my explanation due to a couple of important reasons. Not the least of which was MIB's "Crossroads" post. My post seemed rather trivial after having read that...............so I waited...........until now.
I'm 45 years old. That particular week marked the passing of 3 of my icons, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Micheal Jackson, respectively.
Ed McMahon
At the young and impressionable age of 10 I was given a 12" black and white television (it was cool at the time) for Christmas. I'd always known of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but having a TV in my own bedroom after hours afforded me the night owl opportunity of watching his show without a parent telling me to go to bed. I was already in bed..........watching Johnny.
I became a quick fan of both Johnny and Ed. In those days the Tonight Show was on for an hour and a half and I would watch it until my eyelids finally gave out. I attribute MUCH of my sense of humor to the lessons taught me by Johnny and Ed.
Ed McMahon was as graceful as they came. He took Johnny's repeated punches while knowing when to offer his own occasional jab. He was utter class and if it's true that clothes make the man, then Ed McMahon was a suit finely tailored to the form that was Johnny Carson. A true class act.
Farrah Fawcett
I was 12 years old when the infamous red one-piece visage of Farrah Fawcett first graced my adolescent psyche along with my wall. I had watched her and fallen in love (pubescent lust?) with her on Charlie's Angels, but the poster put me - as well as every other adolescent - over the top. And it sure didn't hurt that she was married (her name at that time was Farrah Fawcett Majors) to Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man! He was the ultimate in cool to me and she was the ultimate in adolescent fantasy. Farrah was GORGEOUS!!! She remained that way until....well....Farrah is gorgeous and she'll ALWAYS remain my favorite pin-up girl! Case closed.
Michael Jackson
I have mixed emotions about MJ. I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, the home of Motown. I've been listening to Michael for as long as I can remember. I've even walked in his footsteps by visiting Hitsville USA. That's the building where the Motown sound was born and nurtured. Artists such as The Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and The Four Tops recorded some (most) of their greatest hits in that studio. That building is Motown's Mecca.
For me there are two different Michael Jacksons. There's the cute kid who grew as a singer and artist and there's the person who distorted his looks as well as the truth. I'll say right now that I'm more a fan of the former.
During the coverage of MJ's death over the past 2 weeks. I was most affected by comments that were made by, of ALL people, Al Sharpton. As MIB will likely attest, I am NO fan of Al Sharpton's. I feel that he is a rider of coattails and a teller of lies. I don't like the man, but he made me come to the realization of my own naiveté, innocent and unexpected as it was.
Al Sharpton made the assertion that Michael Jackson had torn down color barriers with his music and videos. When I first heard this my first thought was "what are you talking about?!?!"....but then I began to think on a deeper level.
As previously stated, I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, the shadows of Motown. I think this fact may have left me at a bit of of a disadvantage where Mr. Sharpton's comment is concerned.
As a child I listened to the radio more frequently than I listened to my parents. And when you listened to Detroit radio, you listened to Motown. More specifically, you listened to BLACK music. Something that I've taken for granted for my entire life.
I've always been of the belief that if you have the talent, you deserve the rewards that come along with it and it (forgive the MJ reference) never mattered to me if you were black or white. Having grown up listening to (though not exclusively) black music (MOtown), it never surprised me for one second that people were listening to Michael Jackson. For crying out loud, if you have the talent and ability, then who's to stop you?!?!? And why would they? Talent is talent.
But then I began to listen to what Mr. Sharpton was saying. MTV in its early days was playing (almost exclusively) rock and roll. As much as I loved it myself, the truth was that there was no black music being played.............until MJ's Thriller. That changed EVERYTHING and what I'd been taking for granted was now in a spot light all its own. Michael Jackson had TRULY arrived and Al Sharpton (curse the air) was right.
As previously stated, I'm a bigger fan of Michael in his earlier days. Idyllically (and aesthetically), I like him more from his Thriller days. He was young, sure footed and his potential was as boundless as the bass line from Billie Jean. In the years that followed he became so odd and disconnected from what I saw as reality that I came to see him as a completely different person than the one that I'd grown up listening to. He just seemed so/too bizarre and I could no longer relate to him.
I won't get deeply into the issues that beleaguered him in his later life. I will say, however, that I believe that where there is smoke there is fire and MJ had been enveloped in swirling smoke over the past decade and a half of his life.
With that said, I'll add that I'm saddened at his passing. His star is more brilliant than any we've known before and is likely to remain more brilliant than any to follow. No one danced like Michael and no one expressed themselves as adeptly through song and dance.
As a shear talent I'll miss him tremendously.
I'm 45 years old. That particular week marked the passing of 3 of my icons, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Micheal Jackson, respectively.
Ed McMahon
At the young and impressionable age of 10 I was given a 12" black and white television (it was cool at the time) for Christmas. I'd always known of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but having a TV in my own bedroom after hours afforded me the night owl opportunity of watching his show without a parent telling me to go to bed. I was already in bed..........watching Johnny.
I became a quick fan of both Johnny and Ed. In those days the Tonight Show was on for an hour and a half and I would watch it until my eyelids finally gave out. I attribute MUCH of my sense of humor to the lessons taught me by Johnny and Ed.
Ed McMahon was as graceful as they came. He took Johnny's repeated punches while knowing when to offer his own occasional jab. He was utter class and if it's true that clothes make the man, then Ed McMahon was a suit finely tailored to the form that was Johnny Carson. A true class act.
Farrah Fawcett
I was 12 years old when the infamous red one-piece visage of Farrah Fawcett first graced my adolescent psyche along with my wall. I had watched her and fallen in love (pubescent lust?) with her on Charlie's Angels, but the poster put me - as well as every other adolescent - over the top. And it sure didn't hurt that she was married (her name at that time was Farrah Fawcett Majors) to Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man! He was the ultimate in cool to me and she was the ultimate in adolescent fantasy. Farrah was GORGEOUS!!! She remained that way until....well....Farrah is gorgeous and she'll ALWAYS remain my favorite pin-up girl! Case closed.
Michael Jackson
I have mixed emotions about MJ. I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, the home of Motown. I've been listening to Michael for as long as I can remember. I've even walked in his footsteps by visiting Hitsville USA. That's the building where the Motown sound was born and nurtured. Artists such as The Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and The Four Tops recorded some (most) of their greatest hits in that studio. That building is Motown's Mecca.
For me there are two different Michael Jacksons. There's the cute kid who grew as a singer and artist and there's the person who distorted his looks as well as the truth. I'll say right now that I'm more a fan of the former.
During the coverage of MJ's death over the past 2 weeks. I was most affected by comments that were made by, of ALL people, Al Sharpton. As MIB will likely attest, I am NO fan of Al Sharpton's. I feel that he is a rider of coattails and a teller of lies. I don't like the man, but he made me come to the realization of my own naiveté, innocent and unexpected as it was.
Al Sharpton made the assertion that Michael Jackson had torn down color barriers with his music and videos. When I first heard this my first thought was "what are you talking about?!?!"....but then I began to think on a deeper level.
As previously stated, I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, the shadows of Motown. I think this fact may have left me at a bit of of a disadvantage where Mr. Sharpton's comment is concerned.
As a child I listened to the radio more frequently than I listened to my parents. And when you listened to Detroit radio, you listened to Motown. More specifically, you listened to BLACK music. Something that I've taken for granted for my entire life.
I've always been of the belief that if you have the talent, you deserve the rewards that come along with it and it (forgive the MJ reference) never mattered to me if you were black or white. Having grown up listening to (though not exclusively) black music (MOtown), it never surprised me for one second that people were listening to Michael Jackson. For crying out loud, if you have the talent and ability, then who's to stop you?!?!? And why would they? Talent is talent.
But then I began to listen to what Mr. Sharpton was saying. MTV in its early days was playing (almost exclusively) rock and roll. As much as I loved it myself, the truth was that there was no black music being played.............until MJ's Thriller. That changed EVERYTHING and what I'd been taking for granted was now in a spot light all its own. Michael Jackson had TRULY arrived and Al Sharpton (curse the air) was right.
As previously stated, I'm a bigger fan of Michael in his earlier days. Idyllically (and aesthetically), I like him more from his Thriller days. He was young, sure footed and his potential was as boundless as the bass line from Billie Jean. In the years that followed he became so odd and disconnected from what I saw as reality that I came to see him as a completely different person than the one that I'd grown up listening to. He just seemed so/too bizarre and I could no longer relate to him.
I won't get deeply into the issues that beleaguered him in his later life. I will say, however, that I believe that where there is smoke there is fire and MJ had been enveloped in swirling smoke over the past decade and a half of his life.
With that said, I'll add that I'm saddened at his passing. His star is more brilliant than any we've known before and is likely to remain more brilliant than any to follow. No one danced like Michael and no one expressed themselves as adeptly through song and dance.
As a shear talent I'll miss him tremendously.
.
