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Courtesy photo

“Just look over your shoulders, honey!”
– Michael Jackson with the Jackson Five, “I’ll Be There”
(1970)

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Lisa Marie Presley

“Years ago Michael and I were having a deep conversation about life in general,” [Lisa Marie] Presley, 41, writes. “He stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, ‘I am afraid that I am going to end up like [Elvis Presley], the way he did.’ I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that.”
– Lisa Marie Presley,
People, 26 June 2009

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When Thriller hit, I was fully in my forties and jumping up and down on my exercise rebounder in the livingroom of the little house I shared with my wife and son. There was no music better for bouncing the body about to stay in shape. Rebounders were all the rage, and so was Jackson. To “Billie Jean” or “Beat It,” I could work up a sweet sweat and take delight in flailing my arms and twisting my body in disco dance postures soon to expire. Out of the corner of my ear and eye I had followed the Jackson Five phenomenon –  the bubble-gum Motown pop hits, the TV cartoon show. Later I would notice the remarkable resurrection of MTV with the airing of Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” I took all this in the way we always register our culture at large; it was all in the wind. Up in the air now  the future of celebrity worship blows.. That consumers (as distinct from citizens) of the United States respect and pay tribute to the alleged achievement of rich, famous individuals reminds us how doggedly we cling to our loneliness and isolation from the rest of the world and one another. But there’s a twist. Throughout most of the world, people celebrate Jackson’s artistry. Here in the land of his birth, it’s a different story.

– Al Young

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Brooks Barnes: A Star Idolized and Haunted, Michael Jackson Dies at 50, New York Times, June 25, 2009

Richard Prince: Michael Jackson Death Dominates the News, Journal-Isms (Maynard Institute), June 26, 2009

Steve Kendall: Neither Black Nor White, Spin, June 26, 2009

David Walsh: Michael Jackson’s death, World Socialist Web Site, June 26, 2009

Carolyn Kellogg: Michael Jackson, the bookworm, Los Angeles Times, June 27, 2009

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© Tempe, AZ Public Library

Courtesy photo

Avid reader Jackson

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Cecil Brown: Social Drama or Feeding Frenzy? The Media Sharks Are Circling Michael Jackson, San Francisco Chronicle, December 7, 2003

Ishmael Reed: The Persecution of Michael Jackson, CounterPunch, June 29, 2009

Esther Iverem: Never Can Say Goodbye, SeeingBlack.com, June 30, 2009

Paris, Moscow, Bucharest and New Delhi celebrate Michael Jackson’s Birthday (slideshow), Examiner.com, August 30, 2009

Jermaine Jackson & World Awards Media present The Tribute In Memory of Michael Jackson | Vienna, Austria, September 26, 2009

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Michael Jackson 25 Years After Thriller | Ebony/NPR (2008)

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I’ll Be There
video mash-up
(Jackson Five)

Billie Jean
video
(Michael Jackson)

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Promo photo for Moonwalker | Apollo moon shot © NASA

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This entry was posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under What's at Stake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.