Michael Jackson was a soft-spoken, lonely, gentle, joyful genius who moondanced into our hearts and became the greatest pop icon of our times.  He suffered from cruelty as a child, an evidently abusive father, forced in early childhoodto entertain for a few dollars in strip joints of the sleazist king where both women and men flaunted their sexuality.  The racist and homophopic religious right was eager to destroy him with exaggerated two-faced moral pronouncements.  Parasites and bloodsuckers sued and harrassed him mercilessly.  He wanted to shine onstage again, hoping to do the near-impossible feat of performing 50 concerts as he was to turn 51, frail, addicted to demerol, overworked and shaken by stress.  He was beloved all over the world as the king of pop and will surely be remembered in the same way as such other icons as Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles, and Judy Garland.  He died in the middle of the week of Gay Pride celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.  He battled against the scourge of AIDS along with his beloved friend Elizabeth Taylor.

The first time he came into the world’s largest video store then at 49th and Broadway, he inquired with all innocence about what in the world was the movie CASABLANCA.

Another time, he was elated to have tattooed his eyelids so that he wouldn’t have to endure night after night of painting eye-liner.  He loved make-up, masks, hats, umbrellas, and costumes.  He was creative in his attire, his persona, his art.  He loved to bring children to the video store and buy from me countless cartoons to delight them.  He was the essence of his song "We are the world, we are the children."  He poured over horror films for images that inspired his video for THRILLER.  He was especially delighted that he had personally chosen every photo for the video montage that was one of his triumphs MAN IN THE MIRROR.  He missed Elizabeth Taylor’s 60th birthday party, sullen that she had not wanted him to bring a posse of young kids to the celebration.  In his last visits he was frail and his little nose, so often the subject of surgery, seemed to be primarily made of putty.  He was a great great entertainer, the best American dancer since Fred Astaire.  Fred said so!  His music will go on all over the world for generations. 

The last time I saw the great Michael Jackson was just before the horrors of 9/11 in  2001 when he performed at Madison Square Garden with his brothers.  He sat in a throne with Elizabeth Taylor on one side and MacCauley Culkin on the other.  He was serenaded and praised by Liza Minnelli, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Marlon Brando, Stevie Wonder, his young apostles Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.  His audience was filled with other legends, great ladies like Patricia Neal, Easter Williams, Dionne Warwick, and many more.  He was brilliant, dynamic, at the top of his game - just 8 years ago.

He is moondancing in the sky.  Bigots and homophobes will never understand.  They lack compassion and creativity.

The best memorial would be love.

Michael was a part of my childhood, my sitters played his 45’s and when I grew up, I listened to him, I always related to him on the child abuse he lived through as my mom was very abusive as well. I refused to believe, and always will, that he molested anyone, no amount of money would make me walk away from putting someone in jail had they did that to my children.

I will not judge him for anything he was ever accused of, that is not my place, today I will mourn the man and the loss this world has suffered and send a powerful prayer to the universe for his family and his children, for they are the people who truly have lost.

Michael Jackson’s death, sad as it might be, is only one of MILLIONS of deaths that occurred around the world yesterday. Mothers, Fathers, Sons, Daughters, Husbands, Wives, Friends and others who were loved by someone in this world died, too…but they were not given the headlines and media coverage that one man received. Not that I’m saying they should, instead, I’m saying that dying in and of itself should not be a media spectacle, it should not be a circus. And while we are mourning the death of one, highly talented, albeit, bizarre individual, we should also think about all the men and women who die everyday in the service of our country and put it in some perspective.

MJ wasn’t an artist of my time, but rather my children’s time. My daughter said today something that struck me, and I repeat here: He was a tortured soul. I hope he he has found some peace. 

I don’t think that I ever heard Michael Jackson sing.  I loved the music of the sixties when I was growing up but then never paid much attention, so a lot of "popular culture" passed me by.  However, the outpouring of emotion is extraordinary and reminds me of the emotion that followed the death of Princess Diana.  It’s basically meaningless.  And all the stories about Jackson are driving the real news off the front page. 

As for his death, it seems clear that his doctor (a cardiologist who has been in all kinds of trouble and is now AWOL) gave him one too many injections of demerol.  End of mystery.  But beginning of murder trial?  This should keep the tabloids busy for ever.

Iran, climate change, bombings in Iraq, deaths in Afghanistan, health care, Darfur?  Boring, boring, boring! Old news!  Who cares?