Genius. Watch This!

Simply, simply genius.

I love this, a combo of Fred Astaire dancing to Smooth Criminal. I can see so many echoes in MJ's video.

Thanks to John Scalzi.



Isn't this great?!

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Remember The Time

The last time I saw him dance, live at Madison Sq.



I'll remember him like this.

Some of my favorite songs by him:

Man In The Mirror
Black or White
Billie Jean
Beat It
Off The Wall
Human Nature
Smooth Criminal
Dirty Diana
Remember The Time

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Post #3: They Bring Back Childhood Memories

Two first-name only icons.

My first highheels. My first flickaway-bangs. Highschool ideas of glamor. Watching TV with my siblings--we all didn't speak English very well but it was fun to check out the clothes.

Rest in peace, Farrah.

Watching my dad dance. One of my first record collection. Watching my first moondance and being mesmerized by his dancing all over again. Giggling at his excuse for his lightening skin. That concert years ago--wow--that concert.

Rest in peace, Michael.

Not taking away Ed McMahon's passing, untimely deaths of icons of our own era remind us of our mortality. Time passes and we're reminded that each day should be lived fully.

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Has It Really Been 30 Years?

Last week, everyone was talking about the American Idol dude, David Cook, and his version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. He rocked it out and everyone was amazed at how it sounded.

Actually, it wasn't Cook who remade Billie Jean into a rocker anthem, but Chris Cornell, who was the lead of some of my favorite earlier bands, AudioSlave and Soundgarten. Chris sang a very rock bluesy version of MJ's Billie Jean and I found an excellent video on You Tube:



I've always liked Cornell's voice and he's debuting this song in his newest album coming out soon. I think I'm going to download it cos I like this version very much. It's angstier and more matured than the original, which I first heard as a young college student with a more pop-py outlook in life.

Still, it doesn't compare to the incredible original take by Michael Jackson himself. His weirdness notwithstanding, I remember going to his concert in the 80s and seeing his awesome magic during performance. The video below is his re-enactment of Billie Jean on its 30th anniversary in Madison Square Garden, another live performance I saw. The young crowd in this show, who was around my age when I first saw this, reacted the same freaked-out way as I and the crowd I was with in the 80s. Not bad for a man who's in his early 40s in 2001. Check out Liz Taylor, Liza Minellie AND McCauley Caulkin (is that how you spell his name) in the front row cheering him on. So weird. But so apt too.

What stood out for me in this video was MJ's story-telling ability, which was prevalent in almost all his songs. Here, he walks on stage, thirty years after Billie Jean's debut, and opens a suitcase. You can feel his surprise and uncertainty as he takes out the old suit and tries it on. The crowd goes crazy because they recognize it (which is funny to me because half of them weren't even borned yet). He pulls out The Hat. And then, The Glove. The built-up is just perfect. He tentatively moves, as if trying to remember, and then, he strikes up The Pose. Pause. The crowd is in a frenzy.

Even now, after all my young pop-py hormones are long gone, he pulled me in with no music and no words, just those two minutes of miming. He might have lost a step or two in speed and didn't perform the whole song and dance at the same time, but the old magic was still there.

As a writer, I hope I can achieve that with my writing. That thirty years from now (argh!), someone will pick up the book and still feel the characters coming alive. But that young crowd in that audience? They were me during a younger, even more exuberant Michael Jackson time. That kind of magic is a gift from the Muse.



Come on, admit it. You tried moonwalking too. ::grin:::

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