Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Thursday, 25 June 2009 | 18:06

Emotional and psychological disturbances aside, when it came to pop music and dance, the guy knew his stuff.

This clip is from a television special aired in 1971 on ABC, Goin’ Back to Indiana. In this excerpt we see Bill Cosby in the role of roving reporter (love that hair!) and Tommy Smothers (of The Smothers Brothers) sneaking into the “closed” rehersal.

On a day where Farah Fawcett died, and coming a day after Ed McMahon passed away, these past 48 hours have constituted a bit of a dark period for the American entertainment world. Ed McMahon was an older gentleman; and it was well-known that Farah Fawcett was suffering from terminal cancer. But Michael Jackson was young and reportedly healthy – he would have celebrated his 51st birthday this August (on the same day as me)… Mr. McMahon and Ms. Fawcett found their fame before my time but were always present in the popular culture, and I danced along with the so-called King of Pop as he rose to (solo) fame as I grew up. None of these three were particularly important figures in my life, personally, yet it’s somehow a bit of a shock. It’s like a neighbourhood tree that you’ve never really stopped to look at, suddenly being cut down: something that was just kind of part of the background is no longer there.

Categories
Music box

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2 Responses to “Michael Jackson (1958-2009)”

  1. Ely says:
    Monday, 10 August 2009 at 6:26

    L.O Larissa
    Glad to be back on your blog. Actually , it was my practice to tune in every evening prior to retiring, until Idecided on not opening my computer late in the evening . My mid-day perusal then became cluttered with catching up on mail and FB or Couchsurfing, leaving no time for a more cultural entertainement. Culture I do find here and beauty too, so here I am :-)

    “It’s like a neighbourhood tree that you’ve never really stopped to look at, suddenly being cut down: something that was just kind of part of the background is no longer there.”
    Yes indeed. Well put. :-) )
    See you soon
    Ps: by the way Remy has completed the French version of our website. He’s including your blog in our friends list.

  2. Vince Batchellor says:
    Sunday, 20 June 2010 at 9:24

    Omg.. i just love Michael Jackson.. I’m still sad he died..