Friday, July 17, 2009

ODE TO MICHAEL!

As the broadcast sounded across the world….my heart beat through my chest…and then…stopped! Though I was aware of the gasps, and oh no’s from others in the room, there was no sound. I was under water and my ears were clogged…nothing but the faint sound of nautical bells in the far distance. I was stuck and horrified. Michael Jackson Dead! I think those are the most surreal words I had ever seen in my life. No! What are they saying? What do they mean? No! No! No! I couldn’t catch my breath.

The first real attachment that I had to Mike was 1984—Thriller---days before my birthday. I recall begging my Mom for that Album. “Mom please, I promise I’ll never ask for anything else again, you only have to buy me one gift, just this one I swear” (not the several I usually received)”. I think Mike was the same to me as he was most-- a connection to many either small or monumental events in our lives. “I remember Lady in My Life hitting the waves the week I got married”, Hey, your mother and I danced to Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough on our first date. There may have been some gut-wrenching weepy-eye MJ song that made you cry the day you buried a friend or family member, the one you played ragged when your heart was broken for the first time.

I can’t imagine the world without Michael Jackson. “The death of music”, I’ve heard some say…. perhaps. Despite how he may have perplexed others, nothing about MJ has ever been especially odd to me. I mean, on the surface-- maybe. I think the problem is that most people viewed only the surface and were either too lazy or unwilling to give his actions or thought processes any real consideration. Maybe for some, it was just easier or more entertaining to take shots. Maybe the weirder Mike seemed to others the more normal they felt. I don’t know, but there is nothing about him that shocked me when I considered from where he had come. I think you can guess what I mean. I have no desire to regurgitate redundant stories about his father, Joe, his missed childhood, or whatever. We all have knowledge of those generalized stories, but I think an extremely robust, knowing, and feeling imagination would have to come into play in order for us to really “get it”. I’ve tried to do that…..I’ve done that.

Thank you Michael! Thanks for the times that I was able to rely on your music; your messages, to comfort me in times of sadness and uncertainty. Thanks for the humanitarian efforts you made to ease the pain of those who suffered helplessly. Thanks for the songs that brought out the human in all of us. I imagine that through your music you moved many to action. Some of us may have given to charity, or donated our time because your words compelled us to do so. You are our brother, you’re family to us, and we’ll miss you as such. You were not perfect, but a beautiful human being, I understand that, and so does God. That’s why you’re there with him now. He wanted you to suffer no more. I imagine you there with our Father and he appreciates and is proud of you in a way that your earthly brothers and sisters were incapable. Thanks for your words and their ability to inspire, give hope, and make way for dreams.

I know that I will see you again, and I believe that in the few weeks that you have been gone you have enjoyed more peace than you had in your entire time on earth. You are a friend to the world and though I’ll miss you I try to console myself by believing that your peace is more important than my desire to have you here. Love is unselfishness. And I love you so. Again, thanks Michael…and see you later.


---Chyna

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A Special Sound Off: Michael Jackson

ADMIN NOTE: Hey, folks. For the past few weeks, my sister (Chyna) and I have been struggling for the right words to express our feelings toward the sad news of Michael's Passing. It took us a while, but we finally achieve it...at least to the best of our ability. We decided to each write a tribute in the voice of one sister who is a part of the MJ generation and in the voice of another who isn't, yet was still affected by him. Hopefully our words will resonate. Below is my tribute to Michael Joseph Jackson. My sister should follow up with hers soon.

RIP, Mike. (1958-2009)

-- Cheekie






Upon first hearing the news of Michael Jackson's death, I was in a state of shock. My eyes scanned the headline over and over as I desperately tried to convince myself that it was all a horrible nightmare. I just never thought that I'd have to read the phrase: Michael Jackson Died. It was all so surreal. In a way, it still is.


Amongst the multitude of thoughts and emotions swimming in my head, one particular thought stood out: What MJ Meant to Me. It took me a while to put the below into words that I felt would do him justice...would do my feelings justice, and the following is the best I could do. I had to get it out in some form:


I grew up with Michael Jackson. Now, when I say that, I don't necessarily mean in the purest sense of the phrase. The possibility of my existence was barely thought of when he entered the famed world and he was already at the height of his fame when I was finally born. Still, I did grow up with him. Thing is, while MJ might not have been a part of my generation, the impact of his death was just as intense. This is what made MJ so powerful. His ability to encapsulate the very adjective that other entertainers covet: timeless. MJ was timeless.


When I hear his music, no matter how many times I've heard it before or how many years it has been since it had been recorded, it felt new to me. I would bump his CD like it just came out that day. Even my younger cousin...even, my niece would jam to his tracks and folks would wonder why we got so excited about "old" music. Or why my cousins and I obsessively practiced every choreographed move from every popular MJ music video while watching his HIStory DVD. It's because it wasn't old at all. His music had the ability to live beyond time, beyond generations, beyond age, beyond race, beyond gender, beyond anything.


I've wrote and said a lot about Michael Jackson over the years, but I think the below comment I wrote over at the Very Smart Brothas blog perfectly captures what MJ meant and still means to me:


"Crotch grabbing, crotch thrusts, biting over the lower lip, diagonal shoulder bumps, gliding across the floor, upward head thrusts, ill-fated moonwalks, tragic Smooth Criminal leans, wetting my hair so I can pull down a curl over my forehead, Thriller claps, the MJ leg-kick, fedora tilts, etc have been etch-a-sketched into my soul."


And that about sums it up. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, the image, the entertainer, the child prodigy, the humanitarian, the legend, the father, the brother, the son, the uncle, the inspiration, the dancer, the icon, the man...will live on forever...through us.

Love ya like Mike loved to walk on the moon,

Cheekie