Sunny Liquid Dreams

June 26, 2009

I meant to keep this blog solely for the purposes of recording this trip to Ireland, but I will deviate from that purpose a bit.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, passed away in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. Normally, I don't bother mentioning world events in this blog because they do not relate to my experience here in Ireland. However, the death of Michael Jackson was so monumental, that the very life of people, not only in Ireland, but across the world, altered a bit for one day.

Perhaps everything that can be said about his death and his life has already been said. People all over the world are trying to get the last words in about his life, his eccentricies, his financial troubles, his family, etc. Personally, I never paid much attention to his personal life. Sure, like any other fan of music, I was a bit perplexed by his "odd behavior", but it had little impact on my enjoyment of his music. The Michael Jackson that I was familiar with, was the one in the music videos, wearing ridiculous costumes that just fit, and dancing as if he was compelled by the beat. And indeed, he was the one of the first artist I remembering hearing. Beat It had been my absolute favorite (probably because it had two words that I could sing along to, even if I didn't get the rest of the lyrics).

I had no idea that he had planned a comeback, that 50 concerts in London's O2 arena had sold out in 2 hours. Even if these concerts were his curtain call, he died very young. He was considered a genius, blessed with talent that could be heard in his music and seen in his dancing. We won't ever know if these last concerts would have rekindled some of that genius, but even so, I miss him.

The effect must have been much larger in America, but radio stations played his songs all day on Friday. As I walked home through Grafton Street (the shopping street on the south side of Dublin), I could hear his music being blasted from the stores. One the stores, dedicated to music and movies, had speakers set up at the door that played Thriller as I walked by. My office was abuzz with talk of Michael, anecdotes and opinions of his life being shared.

Perhaps this was one time that I wish I had been home, in order to be with people who cared as much as I did. I haven't been able to stop listening to his music since and one of the first things I do when I reach home, will be to watch his music videos on the big screen.

And so, I'll end with one of my favorite videos of Michael Jackson. This is the live performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25 celebration. This was the first time he used the moonwalk and since then, it became his signature move (alongside the sparkly jacket, white glove, and fedora).

As one fan said, thanks Michael, for the music, memories, and moonwalk.