I rented "This Is It" today, at the behest of my 13 yr old son. I'll be honest with you...I wanted to see it, too. Let me just start by saying that if the man was still alive, and that show had been allowed to make it past rehearsals (which is as far as it got), it would've been an extraordinary spectacle to which I'd have been honored to have had the good fortune to witness.
As a little girl, I was a big Jackson 5 fan......music, tv specials, the cartoon.......all of it. As I got older, and Michael went on his own way, sans brothers, I really got to love his talent and music. When Off The Wall came out, my friend, Dawn, who lived a few doors down, had gotten the album first. I spent many afternoons over at her place listening to it, dancing stupidly to it. Then came Thriller . Having been awake and alive to watch MTV's original launching (yes, kids, there was a time before MTV), I remember the video that accompanied that song. It was the biggest video production to date...costing more than most people spent producing and promoting an album, let alone a song. It was fantastic to watch. Yet to be outdone, IMHO.
Then came the accusations. Now, I know there's folks out there (let's call them 'shitheads') that believe Michael was nothing more than a pedophile scumbag, thereby rendering all his talent moot. I'd like to invite these people to switch the channel away from Fox News for a moment. I've read many books about Michael's life....by people for AND against him. The only thing I've come away with, aside from the fact that nobody's been able to prove anything, is that everybody wanted something from him. I'd like you to take a moment and answer these questions: Have you ever been accused of something you didn't do? Were you ever in the position where it was your word against someone else? Has there ever been a cause you've had or a passion that people misunderstood, or even found to be questionable? I doubt you can say no to either one. Add to that having enormous amounts of wealth, making you extremely vulnerable to extortion. Now, shut up and go do something constructive. Or, as Michael would put it, 'Leave Me Alone'.
