So long Jacko...

I have to admit I was saddened by the news of Michael Jackson's death yesterday.  For all of his weirdness, I was a huge fan.  I saw the Jackson 5 live a couple of times and loved them.  Had all of his albums...can we still call them albums???  I was the guy, in the 70's, in my very white group of friends, who  was the 'go to' guy for party dance music.  In a house full of siblings that loved everything from the Beatles to Deep Purple...I somehow discovered R + B, funk and even, God bless it, Disco.  I grew up dancing to Michael Jackson. I was, I think, the first guy to do the 'robot' at my highschool dances.  Oh yeah...all that was missing was the 'fro and the glove for me.
He was a huge talent.  There's no denying that.  Troubled?  No question.  But a musical genius and a consummate entertainer.  Watch him in early videos...back when he was actually black, and you'll see what I' talking about.  Even as a ten year old, this guy was unbelievably fun to watch.  And he loved doing it.  I think it was the rest of his life that perhaps wasn't so much fun.  And that's very sad.  I couldn't get too busted up about Ed McMahons death, on the other hand.   I always thought Ed McMahon was sort of like Luba Goy.  A questionable talent who waltzed into one of the best and longest free rides in entertainment history.  As for number three...Farah Fawcett...well...there must be millions of boys who hit puberty in the 70's who had that poster of her up on their bedroom wall.  That alone, and the attendant adolescent fantasies, is worth a moment of silence. Thanks for the memories folks.