The Steel Guitar Forum Store 

Post new topic Michael Jackson, RIP
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  Michael Jackson, RIP
Marc Jenkins


From:
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Post  Posted 26 Jun 2009 8:40 pm    
Reply with quote

Don McLellan graciously attempted to pay tribute to Michael Jackson in another thread, but it quickly deteriorated. Please let's keep this one free of disrespect.

Don's post:

Michael Jackson, one of the greatest entertainers of all time, has died. He had heart problems. R.I.P.
Michael Jackson was a victim of our extremely corrupt main stream media. He was used as a "distraction story" to keep the American public focused on unimportant things and not interested in, or even aware of, the important things we need to know. Just like Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears, Barry Bonds, O J Simpson, etc. The list goes on and on. But none of them were as badly abused by our government's media as Michael Jackson was. He was not a child molester. That's just another bold faced, media fabrication.
With all the truth available on the internet (about many things) how could anyone still listen to and believe the disgusting and pathetic main stream news?
He had his troubles but he never deserved to be so badly raped by our "media".
Thanks, Don McClellan


A couple of nice articles:
Roger Ebert's tribute
FourFour's tribute
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Donna Dodd


From:
Acworth, Georgia, USA
Post  Posted 27 Jun 2009 7:21 am    
Reply with quote

Marc,
I especially enjoyed the piece by Roger Ebert. Thanks for the link!!

Quote:
The boy who never grew up:
Michael Jackson, 1958-2009
June 25, 2009
by Roger Ebert

Michael Jackson was so gifted, so lonely, so confused, so sad. He lost happiness somewhere in his childhood, and spent his life trying to go back there and find it. When he played the Scarecrow in "The Wiz" (1978), I think that is how he felt, and Oz was where he wanted to live. It was his most truly autobiographical role. He could understand a character who felt stuffed with straw, but could wonderfully sing and dance, and could cheer up the little girl Dorothy.
We have all spent years in the morbid psychoanalysis of this strange man-child. Now that he has died we will hear it all repeated again: The great fame from an early age, the gold records, the world tours, the needy friendships, the painful childhood, Neverland, the eccentric behavior, plastic surgery, charges of child molestation, the fortunes won and lost, the generosity, the secrecy, the inexplicable marriage to Elvis's daughter, the disguises, the puzzling sexuality, the jokes, and on and on.

I never met him. My wife Chaz did, a long time ago when she was part of a dance troupe that opened some shows for the Jackson Five. What she remembers is that he was -- a kid. Talented, hard-working, but not like other kids. That's what he was, and that's what he remained. His father Joseph was known even then as a hard-driving taskmaster, and was later described by family members as physically and mentally abusive, beating the child, once holding him by a leg and banging his head on the floor. Michael confided to Oprah that sometimes he would vomit at the sight of the man.

Families are important to everyone, and to African-Americans they are the center of the universe. A census is maintained that radiates out to great-nieces and nephews, distant cousins, former spouses, honorary relatives, all the generations. Communication is maintained, birthdays remembered, occasions celebrated. Important above all are parents and grandparents. Family was a support system from a time when slave-owning America refused to recognize black families. Family was the rock.
Michael Jackson doesn't seem to have had that rock. His father seems to have driven him to create an alternate universe for himself, in which somewhere, over the rainbow, he could have another childhood. He named his ranch Neverland, after the magical land where Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, enacted his fantasies with the Lost Boys. I wonder if we ever really understood how central that vision was to Jackson, or how literally he tried to create it.

I have no idea whether Michael abused the children he "adopted." It is possible those relationships were without sex; he seemed frozen at a time before puberty. Whether he touched them criminally or not, it is easy to see what he sought: To create, with and for these Lost Boys, a Neverland where they could imagine together the childhood he never had.

Mixed with that was perhaps a lifelong feeling of inadequacy, burned in by the cruelty of his father. That might help explain the compulsive plastic surgery, the relentless rehearsal, the exhausting tours, the purchase of expensive toys, the giving of gifts.

The scene everyone remembers from "The Wiz" is Dorothy and the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion dancing and singing down the Yellow Brick Road. They were off to see the Wizard, and a wonderful Wizard he was, because of the wonderful things he does.

In the story, the Wizard is a lonely little man hiding behind a curtain, using his power to create a wonderland. Now Michael Jackson will never be able to tell us what he was hiding behind his curtain. But because of his music, we danced and sang.




_________________
Donna Dodd
Georgia Steel Guitar Association (GaSGA) Board Member & Website Administrator
"Every person is a new door to a different world."
- from movie Six Degrees of Separation

Come visit my steel guitar store on CafePress! http://www.cafepress.com/zoomwithaview
Webmaster, http://www.georgiasteelguitar.com
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Don McClellan

 

From:
California/Thailand
Post  Posted 27 Jun 2009 7:47 am    
Reply with quote

Aside from all the things we know (or think we know) about Michael Jackson one thing is for sure. His music was fantastic! I am the right age to remember the disco era well. I was young, single, had lots of hair and loved disco dancing. Michael Jackson's music was of such high quality for that genre that he was the undisputed king of dance music all over the world. And at that time disco was the biggest thing happening. I loved it! I have great memories of those days. I have always loved the artistry of Michael Jackson.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Mark Eaton


From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
Post  Posted 27 Jun 2009 8:44 am    
Reply with quote

I guess the late Michael Jackson is a bigger deal here than I thought. He seems to have inspired more individual Steel Guitar Forum threads started in the past couple of days than Robert Randolph and Jerry Garcia in the last year combined! Winking
_________________
Mark
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Don McClellan

 

From:
California/Thailand
Post  Posted 27 Jun 2009 3:16 pm    
Reply with quote

Marc Jenkins, thanks for posting the link to FourFour's piece. Reading the comments about this very well written tribute, I'm very pleased to see how many other people never believed any of the shameless nonsense the media relentlessly spewed out about Michael Jackson. Don
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Ken Lang


From:
Simi Valley, Ca
Post  Posted 27 Jun 2009 6:37 pm    
Reply with quote

A writer in the LA Times who had spent time with him from age 11 painted him a a magically gifted musician, but a lost little boy all his life.
RIP.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Ned McIntosh


From:
New South Wales, Australia
Post  Posted 27 Jun 2009 11:52 pm    
Reply with quote

A fascinating human being;
so talented yet seemingly so deeply flawed,
able to reach out to millions yet reclusive in private life,
creator of his own reality and yet apparently unable to connect to it,
childlike, fragile yet enduring,
perhaps he embodies the dictum that great talents are often accompanied by greater weaknesses.

I have no strong feelings for or against him as a person, but in the history of American popular music in the 20th and early 21st centuries the late Michael Jackson stands as a giant; iconic, entertaining, awe-inspiring. This is a fact whether you like, feel indifferent to, or dislike his music.

The body of his work will stand imperishable long after the physical body his spirit occupied has returned to the star-stuff of which we - and everything else in the Universe - are made.
_________________
The steel guitar is a hard mistress. She will obsess you, bemuse and bewitch you. She will dash your hopes on what seems to be whim, only to tease you into renewing the relationship once more so she can do it to you all over again...and yet, if you somehow manage to touch her in that certain magic way, she will yield up a sound which has so much soul, raw emotion and heartfelt depth to it that she will pierce you to the very core of your being.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Don McClellan

 

From:
California/Thailand
Post  Posted 28 Jun 2009 6:23 am    
Reply with quote

Ned, Wonderful post. Very well said. Thanks, Don
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 28 Jun 2009 10:10 am    
Reply with quote

Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson. Thanks Don, Ned, Donna, and others for this respectful post.
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

LJ Eiffert

 

From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 28 Jun 2009 10:46 am    
Reply with quote

I know that most if not all on this Forum didn't know that Michael Jackson loved Country Music Too!.Yes,there are a few of us on here who knew he did.RIP Michael Jackson,your on the side line friend from the Academy Of Country Music & Dick Clark Productions Security who has great a time with you and your people at the Hilton in Studio City,California many moons ago. Leo J.Eiffert,Jr.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 28 Jun 2009 11:35 am    
Reply with quote

Yes,rest in peace and thanks for all of that great music. Crying or Very sad
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Duncan Hodge


From:
DeLand, FL USA
Post  Posted 28 Jun 2009 12:03 pm    
Reply with quote

Hell, I'm a "deeply flawed" human being and have a full time job trying to keep myself within the bounds of "acceptable behavior". I never really cared for his music, but it did provide the soundtrack for a part of my life. Seems strange that he is dead, what with him being younger than me and all.
Duncan
_________________
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Henry Nagle

 

From:
Santa Rosa, California
Post  Posted 28 Jun 2009 10:10 pm    
Reply with quote

He was a great, great musician and performer. I wouldn't trust the celebrity media to tell me what day it is, so I will blissfully continue to not concern myself with things that are not my business. Suffice to say: Michael Jackson made a great contribution to popular music. He was an actual human being. Don't forget that!
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 29 Jun 2009 7:13 pm    
Reply with quote

In spite of what he was, he was not exempt from his "appointment" to meet and account to his maker.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

George Kovolenko


From:
Estero, Florida, USA
Post  Posted 30 Jun 2009 5:24 am    
Reply with quote

Well said Bill. By the tone of some of the posts on this board, it seems many here think that they were his maker.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Henry Nagle

 

From:
Santa Rosa, California
Post  Posted 30 Jun 2009 6:11 pm    
Reply with quote

Actually, we were just paying tribute to an artist that we appreciate, as people do here often.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Henry Nagle

 

From:
Santa Rosa, California
Post  Posted 30 Jun 2009 6:13 pm    
Reply with quote

I hope that you both are impressed by the remarkable restraint that I just showed.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Marc Jenkins


From:
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Post  Posted 30 Jun 2009 9:47 pm    
Reply with quote

Henry Nagle wrote:
I hope that you both are impressed by the remarkable restraint that I just showed.
Well I am, Henry!
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Katie Smith

 

From:
Alabama, USA
Post  Posted 2 Jul 2009 6:31 pm    
Reply with quote

I also have enjoyed Michael Jackson's music. Think I'LL BE THERE is one of my favorites. Regardless of how you felt about him,the fact is he was, and will continue to be, one of the world's most notable music icons. RIP MICHAEL
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Jeff Strouse


From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Post  Posted 4 Jul 2009 5:15 am    
Reply with quote

What a loss to world of pop music. I grew up in the 80's...I remember how hot Thriller was! He had a lot of classic songs in that era, as well as his classics as a kid. I wonder if he would have made the comeback, as he had hoped to...

It seems to me that he lived a troubled and lonely life. I felt sorry for him these last 20 years or so as he withdrew into solitude & eccentricness. I never believed those awful accusations of him, and I'm glad he was found innocent. He never got to live a "normal" life...as a kid, or an adult. I'm sure the inner turmoil he felt was massive. But, now, he's finally at peace. RIP, Michael.


Last edited by Jeff Strouse on 10 Jul 2009 3:58 am; edited 1 time in total
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Don Sulesky


From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
Post  Posted 6 Jul 2009 12:30 pm    
Reply with quote

What a great talent and troubled soul all rolled up in one person.
May he rest in peace.
Don
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Donna Dodd


From:
Acworth, Georgia, USA
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2009 2:10 am    
Reply with quote

VERY NICE, John!! BEN has always been one of my favorites by Michael Jackson!!
_________________
Donna Dodd
Georgia Steel Guitar Association (GaSGA) Board Member & Website Administrator
"Every person is a new door to a different world."
- from movie Six Degrees of Separation

Come visit my steel guitar store on CafePress! http://www.cafepress.com/zoomwithaview
Webmaster, http://www.georgiasteelguitar.com
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Earnest Bovine


From:
Los Angeles CA USA
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2009 11:28 am    
Reply with quote

Donna Dodd wrote:
VERY NICE, John!! BEN has always been one of my favorites by Michael Jackson!!
Me too. I love rat songs and I played Ben at my first steel show 2 years ago. Maybe I should resurrect it in homage to the King of Pop, or as I learned yesterday, the greatest figure in all of human history.
View user's profile Send private message

Chris LeDrew


From:
Canada
Post  Posted 16 Jul 2009 7:35 pm    
Reply with quote

When anyone dies, it's a tragedy. Michael Jackson's death is no more or less tragic than anyone over in "Gone Home". It's totally valid to mourn him, but it's important to keep your own life in perspective, and not to forget those who die alone in nursing homes every day, those on the battlefield, etc. If a lesson can be learned from MJ's death, it is to pay closer attention to your loved ones, and reach out to the lonely and elderly in your community.
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com
View user's profile Send private message

Rick Campbell


From:
Sneedville, TN, USA
Post  Posted 17 Jul 2009 11:00 am    
Reply with quote

Chris LeDrew wrote:
When anyone dies, it's a tragedy. Michael Jackson's death is no more or less tragic than anyone over in "Gone Home". It's totally valid to mourn him, but it's important to keep your own life in perspective, and not to forget those who die alone in nursing homes every day, those on the battlefield, etc. If a lesson can be learned from MJ's death, it is to pay closer attention to your loved ones, and reach out to the lonely and elderly in your community.


This makes more sense that anything I've heard about MJ, or anything else on the forum. Great advice. We should all strive to do better along those lines. Smile
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail


All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  

Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction,
steel guitars & accessories

www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

Please review our Forum Rules and Policies

Steel Guitar Forum LLC
PO Box 237
Mount Horeb, WI 53572 USA


Click Here to Send a Donation

Email admin@steelguitarforum.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for
Band-in-a-Box

by Jim Baron
HTTP