Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough..Enough!

Now that the Michael Jackson memorial is over, can we just go back to the higher end news like Sarah Palin and John and Kate?  Also, I believe we have a president visiting Russia and a G-8 economic summit in the works somewhere in the world.  I know that because sandwiched between Al Sharpton and Joan and Melissa Rivers’ memorial red carpet analysis, there was a ten second real news break.

I don’t negate the fact Michael Jackson was an artist.  I am an MTV baby, August 1, 1981; Video Killed the Radio Star.  A new generation was born, and Michael Jackson capitalized on that generation changing an era of dance and music.  I admit it.  I logged countless hours in my tube socks trying to moonwalk across the carpet, never quite reaching that lunar orbit.  I remember the killer zombie line dance my friends and I performed at parties.  Good times and even better memories. 

America is a society of celebrity addicts, and we always have been.  When Babe Ruth died, a hundred thousand people attended his funeral.  When Elvis died, the throngs were so big, that then President Jimmy Carter had to call out the National Guard to maintain order.   Today, with our 24 hour news cycles to fill, jones-ing bigwig worshipers have an endless supply for their habit prompting benders that go on for days and in this case, weeks. 

Instead of celebrating an individual for their artistry we seem to deify the person in death to a level unmatched in life.  Michael Jackson is no exception.  The final moments of the entertainer’s bodily presence here on earth have become much more of a choreographed fabrication than his well produced life. 

I can only hope that with the final curtain drawn, we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming…a respite only, I’m sure, until the chilly winds of the custody battle begin to blow and the fight over the Blanket begins.