Michael Jackson

MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON: KING of POP, ROCK & SOUL || 29 AUGUST 1958 - 25 JUNE 2009

never can say goodbye...

I am despondent over the death of a music legend/icon I truly adored. A genius in all senses of the word, Michael Jackson supplied art that has intrigued me all my life. I loved Michael Jackson and anxiously awaited every aspect of his artistic output. My fascination began at age seven when I saw Thriller on MTV. Complex dance moves, awesome choreography, stunningly beautiful music and lyrics - there's so much to say about this man's still-yet-to-be understood contribution to the world.

I sympathized with him - I felt that this man who was so well known by the world was actually quite misunderstood. The paradox here is that the man with so much access to all earthly venues was forced to become one of the most isolated persons on the planet. He was the ringleader at the circus. He was the ultimate and penultimate victim of the massive maelstrom of fame that accompanied the exponential rise of his genius. Truly, the final or last victims might just be the children he left behind: the babies who were not born in time to witness the apex of his career, which rose like a unique, breathtaking lotus from the working class community of Gary, Indiana, and who will not get the opportunity to witness his comeback, which most certainly would have been a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Michael was a lover of the innocent and pure because, as the front man of the Jackson 5, he was afforded no childhood. The artistic expression of the true beauty of his soul had no limits. While I thought the circumstances of his life were sad, I did also recognize that few, if any, people receive the type of opportunities afforded him. He was lucky. Tragic as the ending of his life may have been, it's downright joyful that we received and enjoyed so much from him, and that his immense catalogue of music will live forever. He was a musical raconteur who was equalled by none.

Dubbed by Dame Elizabeth Taylor as the KING of POP, Michael Jackson was and always will be one of those few transcendent artists who was a lover, a fighter, a social commentator, and an incomparable artistic genius. No one genre or socioeconomic group can lay claim to his gifts because he was one for the ages and a gift for all the world.

Andy Warhol once commented that he loved Coke because it was accessible to all people - that whether you're rich or poor, black or white, that smooth sugary flavor was available for a price anyone could afford to pay. To that extent, his work in the arena of pop art was all about highlighting people who were and things that were accessible to the broad spectrum of humanity. The life of Michael Jackson was like a Rorschach test that even the late great Andy Warhol would never have been sufficiently able to express on canvas or on any other medium for that matter (although it must certainly be said that when Andy Warhol did paint Jackson, the result was nothing short of beautiful).

On that note, Michael Jackson was a delicious singer whose lyrics and music mean an infinite number of things...infinitely.

God bless Michael Jackson as he journeys into the infinite majesties of the universe - I/WE will listen forever.