It was another one of those 'where were you when you heard the news...' moments this afternoon, reading - first - that Michael Jackson had been rushed to an LA hospital for 'cardiac arrest'.
'This can't end well', I thought, as I did two years go when similarly sketchy reports were being made about Anna Nicole Smith being rushed to the hospital.
An hour later, there were conflicting reports circulating the Internet of just what was going on; nothing official, but certainly a sense through comments made by paramedics and behavior of Jackson's family that things were 'going badly', he was 'in a coma', he was 'not breathing' when he arrived.
Then, not fifteen minutes ago, confirmation from an anonymous source that Michael Jackson was dead at the age of 50.
Interesting, it will be, to see the media spin on this in the next several weeks. There will of course be a firestorm of coverage - a la Anna Nicole; a la Princess Di - a non-stop series of analysis about his life, his legacy and his demise in the last fifteen years that will go on for the next several weeks and likely reach noxiously overkill levels.
But I wonder just what the flavor of his legacy will be now that he's gone.
I predict all the ridicule and personal attacks will cease. I predict he will, in time, be lionized posthumously, reaching a greater level of stardom than ever during his life - a la Elvis.
Michael Jackson is our generation's (our times') Elvis Presley. The similarities between the two men are truly startling when one really sits down to think about it. Both were innovative, talented performers who shot to super stardom at a young age, raising the bar in pop music and culture and leaving an indelible impression. Both stars faded fairly quickly (ensuing 'comeback' attempts never quite hitting their marks). Both had demons they could not shake; demons leading them into a slow-cooked demise that reached depths that were impossible to rise out of in the final years of their lives. Both led strange (or at least mysterious) personal lives, both had children who were of tremendous interest to the media, and both sequestered themselves in indulgent, custom-made estates that at different times have been amusement park-caliber destination points for hundreds of thousands of people. UPDATE: Now it is being said that a toxic mix of potent prescription drugs was the likely cause of Jackson's cardiac arrest...just like Elvis.
Elvis held a series of comeback concerts in the summer of 1977, weeks before his death. Jackson, too, was just planning a comeback this summer - his This is It tour that was to kick off with a string of shows in London.
Sadly, Jackson never had a chance at any final glorious performances as Elvis did in the summer of '77 (where his voice never failed him, even though his body had).
I never failed to recognize Jackson's talent, even at the worst of his PR nightmare - which has been going on for twenty years now, and run the gamut. From sleeping in oxygen tanks to pet chimps to child molestation to Elephant Man bones to child endangerment to plastic surgery addiction, there's nothing that hasn't been said about him. And, in fairness, much of it seemed to be stuff he brought on himself through undeniably bizarre behavior.
But kooky though he may have been, Michael Jackson was good at what he did. Damn good. Anybody who appreciates and understands music, as opposed to the mere high fashion of sound, will attest to this. He wrote most of his music himself, excelling at both song construction (tunes like The Way You Make Me Feel, Thriller and especially Billie Jean were rhythmically and vocally tight) and, every once in a while, getting a message across that left little need for much else to be said (Man in the Mirror, Black or White, We Are the World, which he co-wrote with Lionel Ritchie). He was a hell of performer as well, sustaining the global reach of his stardom (until recently, of course) through exhaustive stage shows. All of this he did living in a fishbowl, pretty much from age eight on.
If there's anyone in the celebrity world who deserves to finally rest in peace, it's him.
God rest his soul.
Or maybe not: The celebrity website TMZ, in posting news of his death, had this to say: "Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II."
'Blanket'?...Seriously?
Jackson might roll over in his grave about what is said about him in death.
Also, a la Elvis.
