After the cold analysis, by which I mean the truth-telling - the necessary valedictory dream. Only in sleep will you get it.
Just watched the Michael Jackson memorial show in LA, as fantastical and as surreal a spectacle as anything I have ever dreamt: old Motown speaking and singing to MJ's gold coffin resting on the wheeled trolley before them, preachers invoking the loving God and eternity above them, a politician reminding us of MJ's presumed innocence and the implied damnation that awaits his accusers below them. Some men wore red roses, others yellow; the Jackson brothers, all in shades, wore yellow ties and one white spangled glove each in memory: Usher wore a Men In Black suit and wept as he closed his song at MJ's casket. The Jackson matriarch wore the reddest lipstick.
High above the boxed body we saw the pink hatted 10-year-old MJ singing on the Ed Sullivan Show and glimpses of the later MJ doing all the things we were told had changed the world - the moonwalking, the twirls, the hiccup ughs, all the familiar brilliance, but not the video zombies. The Rev Al Sharpton rewrote history and told us MJ's Heal The World came before Live Aid (it didn't) and Brooke Shields shared MJ's favourite song, Charlie Chaplin's Smile. Magic Johnson did Kentucky Fried Chicken a great favour: one of MJ's fave foods despite a chef on the payroll. Smokey Robinson promised MJ two eternities: one on earth in our hearts and one in the next world, "forever and forever and forever" as the politician had said.
The religious, gospelly tone flavoured the dream, emboldened the limitlessness of credible claim: indeed the word "dream" was used over and over again: MJ had allowed no-one to trammel his dreams; the Martin Luther King duo recalled how black America once had a dream: MJ had fulfilled that dream of racial harmony, of bridged divides. Tiger Woods and Obama owed it to MJ. Annoyingly, a rainbow appeared outside my window as all this happened: even the sky here in Blighty, 6,000 miles away, was intent on a creating a schmaltzy dream-like mise-en-scene of oneness through Michael. No wonder stories of signs get written down.
The manner of MJ's final posthumous show (with him present that is) was truly in keeping with his life as he lived it once he became a solo star: lavish, tender, bold in sentiment, beautiful, presentational, heart-stirring, thrilling, dreamy. Showbizzy. Untrue.
If someone could just book all the star acts that appeared tonight and get this show on the global road, someone (MJ's estate) would make a mighty fortune (again).
20 comments:
It was an epitaph for the Pepsi Generation!
The most horrible thing. Like a Nuremberg Rally made out of sugar.
I expected MJ to pop out of the casket.
Not your usual bitter twisted diatribe, Madame. Only the other day you were ranting on about Jackson's cuntycockedness or whatever. Now you seem to have softened. How many of you are there?
Another lovely blog, Madame Arcati, and with none of your usual sarcasm, for a change. :)
Oh, sweetheart. You sure that's not conjunctivitis? x
Better than the Caitlin Moran piece in the Times and that's not bad at all.
What a nauseating love-in these posts are. I'm choking on pink chiffon.
All true, darling MA; all true. Nothing but an ugly reflection of our times.
Regardless of what he really could have been like - Satan or Messiah, who cares anymore? - he has suffered the faith of the ultra-famous: encourage them to reach up there, to be idolized like lesser gods; do everything possible to bring them down and show they're only human with all their terrible flaws; and, if they don't survive the torment and die before it is expected, proclaim to the four winds they were truly angels all along.
I wish for Madonna that she lives a happy life beyond 100, but I can predict already one of the certain headlines when the time comes: "Forever a Virgin".
Garbo had it all figured out - smart woman.
ox
well said Madame and one of the best comments to date on the Jacko Circus.
Anyone with a bad word to say about MJ today-after seeing that beautiful girl talk about her daddy, is a real ratbag.
There's always tomorrow though. One aspect seemingly missed by all-if MJ was what they say he was (and I don't judge) where are the other 'victims' ?.
Yup, the last line says it all. Surreal and grotesque, the whole charade. I also think John Niven summed up the global cover up very well in his article "Michael Jackson: Bad! And very dangerous" in The Independent on Saturday.
What a surreal show...
I'm worrying about the children though.
Was the girl shoved in front of the mic to hammer home the point that it was in fact the Messiah who died and not just a 50-year-old paedophile?
And should Debbie Rowe be allowed to claim them? Seeing as she effectively sold them, no she shoudl not.
Anyway, now it's Saint Michael all the way, just like it was Saint Linda McCartney when she died, even though everyone had been utterly horrid about her for years and years.
People are such hypocrites, but you don't need me to tell you that, Madame.
Oh you're a Gemini, Five Centres. I don't get on with fellow Geminis as a rule. I always end up having to punish them.
Yes, MJ was a paedo and a global superstar.
Your review appears benign but you've put in some sly barbs. I think you're gently taking the pee.
Paris was not pushed into anything! That little girl loved her father and I sat there weeping, after her tribute to her "Daddy"; call me a softie, but MJ's kids loved their Dad...and their little scuplted faces were genuinely sad.. can't be put in words..his memorial was tasteful and I rather enjoyed watching the whole three hour "surreal" event..time flew by.
It was a genuine touching tribute, and I felt moved... I never realized that the Rowe "womb" made Michael shield and mask the children's faces as part of her "deal"....that was a great surprise to me..
the only complaint I had was Brooke Shields words....she stunk..she never knew how to act! Just wish Elizabeth Taylor had shown up, but she felt that he would not have wanted that...
What was up with the yellow ties though?...did it represent a "bright star"?? did I miss something?
s~ x
from what I hear, with the record sales that MJ's death is producing are enough to pay for that coffin by the time i get done writing this comment
I'm not sure how anyone can conclude Jackson was a pedophile unless they were in the bedroom with him. 2 cases-both rather dodgy and large amounts of cash involved. Obesessional about kids yes, but was it sexual?. Proof please.
And I say again..where are the other victims ?.
Not one has come forward even in death and there is an estate to sue now.
The evidence against MJ was substantial, from the detailed accounts of at least two boys to testimonies under oath by former MJ employees. We can argue about motives and inducements, but having read just about everything on this case there's no question in my mind that Jackson was guilty. And, yes, I think he was one of the greatest entertainers ever. Perhaps the best. The two issues are separate. Wagner, too, was a cunt.
OK dear-eye-witness evidence does mean something although in the US it can be compromised .
The book by Victor M Gutierrez that Jackson managed to get banned in the US makes compelling reading, particularly the tales allegedly from Chandler about little Macauley Culkin and incidents in a bathtub, yet Culkin gave evidence in Jackson's defense. (I sold my copy on ebay for £230).
I bet the whole Jackson story gets very dark over the coming months.
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