Posts Tagged ‘Michael Jackson’

Latest piece on Huffpost

“The assumption that our abilities are determined by our make up, and our futures limited by conventional wisdom, has been denied traction by people like Michael Jackson. We are indebted to those who have confronted these limitations and destroyed them, who acknowledged societal expectations and exceeded them.”

Read the rest here.

Also posted on VampedNY.com

Just responded to the Daily Beast piece by Benjamin Sarlin in my latest Global Grind Piece.

“Jackson was the King of Pop, and while his life was comprised of trials and turmoil, his legacy is in his music, and it is there where we saw an awareness that went beyond his celebrity and instead focused on people, on the condition of humanity. While we grieve and reflect on his life, we must remember that we continue. With each day that passes, we might insist that the best way to pay tribute to our fallen icon is by living out his declaration that it us who must heal the world.”

Read the rest here.

I was born in 1987, well after a young man named Michael Jackson broke down the abc’s and 123′s of you and me.

As an artist, and a person, he evolved. Not having known the MJ of the 80s, it was hard to reconcile the fact that the youngest of the Jackson 5 was also the young man from Thriller as well as the grown man who resided at Never land.

Nonetheless, his music was, is, and always will be timeless.

I had a conversation with a friend once on how music should be categorized as a form of public service. It’s obviously different than giving food or clothes or serving in office– but that shouldn’t dismiss the fact that it still has the potential to serve the people. To make people smile, and feel, and yes, to make people dance.

So the media will probably focus on the man behind the music. On the controversies of his career and personal development. I’d rather not go there. I’d rather not pick a part the man but rather reflect on what he achieved.

He lives on through his music, and it’s his music that I intend to celebrate.

I hope he rests in peace and I offer my condolences and thoughts to all who knew him, and all who grieve him.

Long live the king….