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Michael Jackson R.I.P.

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#21
To me, it makes no sense to quibble over whether MJ was or was not "the best". He simply was who he was - and he is who he is: a gifted, natural performer who paid a terrible personal price for his talent, fame and wealth.

Personally, I'm of the camp who has empathy and pity for him - and I cringe at those who make - and have made - cruel, nasty jokes at his expense. :eyebrow:

At the end of the day, none of us can ever truly appreciate the depths of lonely, isolated hell that this man endured. I myself would not go through something like that for 10 times the talent, fame and wealth of Michael Jackson. Not for 100 times it. Not for 1,000 times... :rollno:

MM
 
#22
He had a fantastic voice, was a great dancer, and had tremendous stage presence, so everything else he did was OK by me. Celebrities shouldn't have to follow the rules everyone else should. They are clearly above everything.
 
#24
even though I don't remember thriller, and am too young to have really felt the impact of MJ's music, he's one of the people who I really wished I might one day meet, sit down with, and have a chat over tea about music, not about all the controversy and the issues he spent the rest of his life on. I think being able to just talk to him would be a wonderful thing.
 
#30
Culkin described the relationship Wednesday at Jackson’s trial, adamantly denying that the pop star had ever touched him inappropriately and dismissing the molestation charges against Jackson as “ridiculous.” He acknowledged sleeping in Jackson’s bed several times between the ages of 10 and 14 — sometimes with other boys as well.

(...)

Culkin was the third young man to testify at Jackson’s trial that as boys they slept with Jackson at his Neverland ranch and weren’t molested.

(...)
 
#31
Calling the allegations against Jackson "absolutely ridiculous," Culkin told jurors that staying over at Jackson's Neverland Ranch was "good old fun."

Culkin acknowledged sleeping in Jackson's bed a dozen or more times between the ages of 9 and 14, but insisted nothing of a sexual nature happened between the two. "I've fallen asleep in the same bed with him," Culkin said. "I'd just flop down."

He testified his parents trusted Jackson, were aware that he and Jackson sometimes shared a bed and that Culkin's father would even come into the pop star's bedroom to wake up his son.

"They never really saw it as an issue," Culkin said. "I knew they knew I was in the room."

Culkin's testimony was part of a bid by the defense to dispute earlier prosecution testimony that Jackson had a habit of grooming young boys for seduction. Culkin is one of the males prosecutors allege was singled out by the pop star while they were boys.

Culkin said that during his visits to Neverland, he was almost always accompanied by "some kind of combination" of his parents, brothers and sisters who also were friends with the pop star. He said that Jackson had an "open door" policy, never locked his bedroom door, and that when he slept with Jackson, Culkin said, he wore jeans, socks and a T-shirt.

The 24-year-old star disputed earlier testimony from two former Neverland employees who said they saw Jackson behaving inappropriately with him in the early 1990s, when he was a visitor at the ranch. Culkin said he was troubled that those allegations were "out there, and people were thinking about it."
 
#32
Performing Michael Jackson is not only appropriate, but also expected, at this time.

To quote the 'status' I posted to Facebook...
"All contraversy, accusations, and speculations are to be at rest until further notice. Michael Jackson, I love your impact on music and your impact on my life personally. The world will miss you, my fellow Hoosier. Godspeed, King of Pop!!!!"


And I mean every syllable. I don't care how much of a freak I thought he was, and I do think for whatever reason, he was a mental case...be it his abusive childhood, or whatever...you can't deny his talent or his stage presence...or his impact. And yes i'm a child of the 80's.
 
#33
He said he first learned of the testimony when a friend called to tell him, "You better check out CNN. They're saying something about you."

"I couldn't believe it," he said.

"I've never seen him do anything improper with anybody," Culkin told jurors.
Culkin during cross-examination

During cross-examination, prosecutor Ron Zonen pressed Culkin on whether Jackson might have molested him when he was asleep -- a scenario similar to the accusations in the current indictment against Jackson.

"As far as I know, he's never molested me," Culkin said. "I find that unlikely. I think I'd realize if something like that would be happening."

A former maid, Adrian McManus, also testified she once saw Jackson put his hand on Culkin's leg and buttocks and kiss him on the cheek while they were sitting together in Neverland's library.

A grand jury indicted Jackson last year on charges of molesting a then-13-year-old boy, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive in 2003. Jackson pleaded not guilty to the charges.
'We had this understanding'

Culkin, who was born in 1980, became friends with Jackson in the early 1990s, after he rocketed to fame in "Home Alone" and other movies. He told jurors that the two of them bonded because they were part of a "unique group" of people forced to deal with the complications of fame at an early age.

"We had a really close relationship," Culkin said. "We had this understanding of one another."

He told jurors Wednesday that Jackson had a childlike quality, playing arcade games with the children who were staying with him at the ranch.

"Although, he wasn't as good as us," Culkin said, as he looked in Jackson's direction.

Pressed by Zonen about the propriety of a 35-year-old man having such a close friendship with a 10- or 11-year-old boy, he replied, "I wasn't friends with a lot of 35-year-old men who understood me."

CNN
 
#34
xgator4u said:
Yeah, I read they are waiting on the autopsy to figure out for sure what killed him. I heard he choked on some 10 year old nuts.
Click to expand...

While i guess this is your attempt at humor . A little respect for a true legend of music He had a sad life outside his music - but man did he do that right . I wonder if that life comes with the genius - it seems that most of the real genius's have had hard times with what we call a normal life -
Painters - Musicians - Comedians really talented people seem to not be able to survive in a so called normal society - or maybe its the other way around maybe we that hold back to conform are not letting our self's use our potential so that we fit in better
all the people i have known that were very bright -were also out there.....
My condolences to the Jackson family - May he find rest and peace---GBNF
 
#35
If pop singer Michael Jackson’s friend David Gest is to be believed, the horrific accident that the former ‘King of pop’ met with on the set of a Pepsi commercial in 1984 made him unbalanced.

He believes that the accident, which resulted in Jackson’s hair catching fire, changed the singer’s personality forever.

"Michael was in so much pain after that, he became unbalanced. The trauma, and the pills (painkillers), changed him," WENN quoted him as saying.

Gest, the estranged husband of Liza Minnelli, has been a friend of Jackson since he was 18, and the singer even served as best man at his wedding in 2002 in New York City.

He says that though the accident did not put any adverse impact on their friendship, it did make Jackson a different person.

"Before then, he had a tight hold of his career. The accident didn't make Michael moody or more distant towards me, but he did become a different person," he said.

Gest says that the allegations of child abuse might have reduced Jackson’s trustworthiness, but he is now seriously considering his comeback to the music industry.

"Now that those child abuse allegations are behind him, Michael is also less trusting and feels wounded. But his career vision is back and he's planning a spectacular comeback," he said. (ANI)
 
#37
VIENNA, Feb 15: The father of pop star Michael Jackson has told an Austrian newspaper that he believes there would be less crime if parents regularly spanked their children.

Nov. 19, 2002 - Michael Jackson holds infant over railing of 4th floor balcony of a Berlin hotel to display him to fans.

"There wouldn't be so much crime these days if parents were prepared to punish their kids a little and take care that they stay on the right track," Joseph Jackson, 73, said in the German-language daily News today. A father of 9, Jackson said this method had made his son Michael, 41, "one of the best artists in the world", ahead of his younger sibling Janet.

Joseph Jackson was in Vienna to launch a new firm called Royal Distribution, which will sell CD vending machines.
 
#38
REAPER52 said:
While i guess this is your attempt at humor . A little respect for a true legend of music He had a sad life outside his music - but man did he do that right . I wonder if that life comes with the genius - it seems that most of the real genius's have had hard times with what we call a normal life -
Painters - Musicians - Comedians really talented people seem to not be able to survive in a so called normal society - or maybe its the other way around maybe we that hold back to conform are not letting our self's use our potential so that we fit in better
all the people i have known that were very bright -were also out there.....
My condolences to the Jackson family - May he find rest and peace---GBNF
Click to expand...

Artistry often, nay ALWAYS comes from mental instability. If Vincent Van Gogh, Syd Barret, Jaco Pastorious weren't an example of that before, now we have Michael Jackson. Even my own mother was the one that told me, at age 16, that Artistry comes from pain. And it's the truth, whether I care to admit it or not.
 
#39
Before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists.

Well, you don't get to do things that other children get to do, having friends and slumber parties and buddies. There were none of that for me. I didn't have friends when I was little. My brothers were my friends.

I'm a visionary and a creative person. God blessed me with certain talents. I hate to use an analogy, but Walt Disney was creative but not good with business.

There were times when I had great times with my brothers, pillow fights and things, but I was, used to always cry from loneliness.

When I see children, I see the face of God. That's why I love them so much. That's what I see.

And I remember going to the record studio and there was a park across the street and I'd see all the children playing and I would cry because it would make me sad that I would have to work instead.

Because I wanted to have a place that I could create everything that I that I never had as a child. So, you see rides. You see animals. There's a movie theater.

Everything that I love is behind those gates. We have elephants, and giraffes, and crocodiles, and every kind of tigers and lions. And - and we have bus loads of kids, who don't get to see those things. They come up sick children, and enjoy it.

Everyone who knows me will know the truth, which is that my children come first in my life and that I would never harm any child.

I was a veteran, before I was a teenager.

I'm just like anyone. I cut and I bleed. And I embarass easily.

I'm never pleased with anything, I'm a perfectionist, it's part of who I am.

Well, especially now I come to realize - and then - I would do my schooling which was three hours with a tutor and right after that I would go to the recording studio and record, and I'd record for hours and hours until it's time to go to sleep.

MJ.
 
#40
skidrawk said:
We have "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" on our setlist for this weekend's "Wedding Singer" gig. Is it appropriate to pay tribute to him by playing the songs or removing them?

~skid
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I would say just play them. I wouldn't even bother to mention anything even. People know him and what he has done for music and what his life was like so I don't even think anything needs to be said.
 
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