Morning Folks!!
Funny, human nature sometimes prevents us from realizing how much impact a person makes in your life until they are gone. I was never a crazy Michael Jackson fan. However I can say several of his songs put me in specific places in my life at specific times. For Michael Jackson it was cruising down Van Nuys Blvd looking for girls when I was in High School and the one single moment I can remember most vividly of that era was listening to the Jackson 5 on that Friday night. Decades ago but I can still touch it with my mind like it was last Friday Night.
This morning I also learned something that we both went to the same high school in Encino. Different years, but I was surprised nonetheless when I heard that this morning.
I guess I look at him and see 3 stages of a life. The first stage was the Jackson 5 and I still remember their appearance on Ed Sullivan. The kid stole the stage and it was so obvious that nobody could compete. Then of course there is the “Thriller” stage that probably secured his place in history and not just here but throughout the world. I am seeing how intense his fan base is. Finally the weird stage in which we have all been a witness to over the last years. The man in the mask. The man with boys. The man that nobody could really define. Shocked by his death but not surprised.
So in the days ahead we will find out how he actually died. It probably won’t a be a pretty picture. I won't post my guess here, but I don't think this will be a great mystery.
This has been a tough week but an interesting thread and lesson to be learned. For me these 3 are of my era. I was around to see all in their big day. All 3 were cultural icons in one way or another of their time. Ed McMahon died of old age. Farrah died of cancer, Michael died too soon. Someone put it like this: Death of the elderly, the sick and the sudden. The 3 faces of death. Which one will we have?
Born to die with a few years of life sandwiched in between and folks waste time with bullshit and crap.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Kevin
What a surreal kind of week it’s been. First Ed McMahon, then Farrah, then MJ. Iconic stars, each one of a kind, legends for all time and unforgettable.
Having lived in Los Angeles fo 16 years you see lots of stars and celebrities in person, and I was fortunate to have seen all 3 of them. Ed McMahon, at a shopping mall. Farrah, was dining with Ryan O’Neal at the table right next to ours at Mr. Chow’s restaurant in Beverly Hills, and Michael I saw driving his red Ferrari on Ventura Blvd near his home in Encino. Up close and off camera, you realize they are just regular human beings like everyone else, doing the same everyday kinds of things we all do shopping, eating and driving.
What really is fascinating is how we all connect to our favorite superstars as if they are a part of our family. Michael especially for most of us, since our generation remembers him as a young lad singing his heart out on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. The minute you saw Michael dance and heard that voice you knew this was a special soul we would know for our whole lives. And we did. From his youth, to his superstardom, to all his hit songs we tie our memories of growing up to, to his periods of trials and tribulations, you felt and had a genuine connection with him. Billions of us. As much of a celeb that Michael was, he was at times also as eccentric, strange, and bizarre as one can be and that made him human with many faults and quirks like we all have each in our own way.
So we lost 3 treasured souls this week. Their memories will live on, but when deaths like this happen, a part of us dies too and we feel defining points set in our lives, old eras passing, and new ones beginning with new celebrities to fill the vacant spots of stardom.
It also reminds us that life is short, usually only 900 months for most of us. Not much time when you put it in a monthly perspective.
Michael’s death especially reminds us you can be here today and gone tomorrow in the blink of an eye and all the medical technology in the world can’t save you when the doorway to the next world, whatever that place is, stands open upon you.
This kind of week teaches us to respect life. Respect it’s brevity and live each day to the fullest and spend your time here productively and doing things filled with goodness and advancing the planet in a positive direction. Help others to grow, learn, and prosper as others have helped you.
Goodbye Ed, Farrah, & Michael. You were each special and thanks for the memories you leave in our hearts forever.
Andy
I would just add that to me there was a 4th”stage” that’s seldom mentioned, and that was the”Off The Wall” album – a masterpiece, from probably the most joyful period of his otherwise tortuous life.
We lost a cultural legend, but his legacy will last for hundreds of years.. perhaps even thousands!
Shamone! now has a meaning to me; life is short, don’t be afraid to dance!!
owen frager
Great posts. I was thinking much the same. These were memories of my era too, an all too present reminder that the clock is ticking faster.
Somehow fame + fortune = drugs + death. Elvis. Joplin. Whitney. Winehouse. Bellushi.
Proving money can’t buy love and happiness. There’s never enough. Even Jackson and McMahon died broke.
And in Farah’s case money and happiness can’t buy you health.
I thank her for leaginv us that documentary.
Fruit for thought.
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/time-wastes-too-fast/
Be
Altaf
We are saddened! We deeply condole the sudden demise of a legend music icon. It will take hundreds of years to fill the vacuum. Certianly there was some touchy matter that made me cry.Otherwise, I was never been his crazy fan,but I liked his simplicity. Though he was stressed with a blame as a bad boy,even he had to leave America and live in exile to escape from his stress. Only we appraise/value of a thing after & when it is lost.Now we see what a great fans he had.
Javier Zaffaroni
Thank you for all you have done for the world Michael. We should look at ourselves and ask.. what have we done?
I will love you forever Michael.
Jim
Rick,
You had to have a picture of Farrah on your wall back in the days:)
By the way, I did not know you grew up in LA. I did as well and now live in San Diego.
D. Anderson
i can hardly believe MJ was 50… i guess time really does fly
Successclick
Hi Rick,
One of your best posts ever. You revealed a side of you that slipped beyond total business and had some poignancy behind your words… and it was obvious.
I grew up near you, and I cruised Van Nuys Blvd too… got a ticket for not having”mud flaps” for my big tires on my Chevy van. This was circa 1970’s… so I know you were there too! Cops loved picking on all the cruisers, and all we were doing was showing off our cars and ourselves to pick up chicks. lol
I never met Ed, nor Farrah, and their passing was sad, especially Farrah’s.
I did get to meet Michael at Debby Reynolds’ Dance Studio (in Van Nuys!) while holding a modeling audition. He had just finished dancing a routine with about 10 other dancers, and was sitting against the wall drinking water. This was circa 1984, just after his Thriller success.
Since I was a client renting out a portion of the dance studio, an assistant took the time to introduce me to him, and he just gave me a small smile, and said”hi”.. nothing else. I didn’t shake his hand, nor say anything other than stand there like a starstruck idiot. I was quickly led away to my section of the dance studio down the hallway.
The thing I remember most about seeing Michael Jackson so close up was that his face (before augments) showed a lonely side, even though he was so huge at the time. It was weird meeting someone at the top of their game that didn’t have the ability to appreciate their success. He started so young and suffered so much that he never learned to understand and grasp his achievements emotionally.
It was a lesson for me.
Peace to them all.
Beautiful blog post… thanks Rick.
Kevin
No wonder Michael died. Here you go folks take a look at his daily drugs menu. Hope they lock this doctor up and throw away the key.
http://urltwit.com//1h
Ozie Jackson
A tough week indeed. Billy Mays also passed away this weekend. One of the greatest marketing/pitchmen ever.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529328,00.html
Jessica
Just this morning I was crying while listening to some of his songs, which are my all-time favorite, like One Day In Your Life, She’s Out My Life, Ben, Music and Me, Happy…Gone Too Soon, etc…
Michael’s gone too soon, but his songs will live with us forever.
There is a void that he left in the music industry and in the hearts of his fans…but he’s a tired man. We got to let him go. He’s done enough…
So rest in peace, Michael…
Thank you for both the sweet and sad melodies.
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The thing I remember most about seeing Michael Jackson so close up was that his face (before augments) showed a lonely side, even though he was so huge at the time. It was weird meeting someone at the top of their game that didn’t have the ability to appreciate their success. He started so young and suffered so much that he never learned to understand and grasp his achievements emotionall