I'm having media overload...our SC governor was caught in a scandal yesterday and I need to go ignore all this and read a book.

Associated Press says he has died. How sad.

bumble, yeah, I have been following that story. Before I even heard what had really happened I knew it was a woman. What decent man disappears and does not even talk to his 4 sons on Father's Day and tells people he is going hiking? He may lose his job because of this. I bet he would have kept carrying on with this Argentina woman who he has known for 8 years if the press had not caught on to the fact he was missing. Some newspaper got a hold of his "love" emails. I wonder if he was dumb enough to send them from his office? Idiot. I feel bad for his wife.

I feel old with the passing off all these entertainers from my youth :(

Same here, goldgirl. It's really unsettling, isn't it?

I honestly did not expect to hear that Michael Jackson died. I've been dreading hearing the word that Mick Jagger goes, but MJ??? Not even on my radar.

The man was a brilliant performer. May he finally find peace.

My grandmother always said death comes in 3's. What a sad day!

Pesky, I hear you about dreading when our icon's pass away. If anything ever happens to Jon Bon Jovi, I will be one of those grieving fans who throw themselves on the headstone. But since we are close to the same age, I'm hoping we go at the same time.

(sorry for the morbid conversation)

It is possible he overdosed - rumors have been flying. He was on pain pills for back pain. The autopsy, if they do one, should tell the truth.

I guess he was 5'10" and 120 lbs or less.

Yes auntjen, it is. I feel very weird right now.

Whatever one things of Jackson based on the personal drama, no one can deny that he was immensely talented, with a gift that few seem to have today.

peskey, I agree, especially about Mick ;) And, I also hope he finds peace.

I'm in shock. What a tragedy. Yes, rest peacefully, now, Michael.

oof, I just heard, and I can't believe it. His children are so young.

His music will live on.

The "Thriller" video marked a unique era in music.

I always have heard that deaths come in three's too, lindybarts. Seems to always happen with me personally, too. You hear of one, then the next, and think "who is the third?" Not a good feeling.

Very sad day.

I agree - may he finally be at peace. I have that Thriller album packed away.

Lindybarts - do NOT even think about Jon Bon Jovi and bad news. The nice thing is - he really is one of the good guys (seems to be I should say).

tina

His 'Thriller' album was in constant play at our house when DD was a teen. He was like many very talented artists whose life was a mess. (Janis Joplin et. all.)
Health-wise, he's looked bad for years. (Well, his plastic surgeries didn't help much either.)

I feel sad for the kids and hope someone takes them in who is stable. I know 'Beat It' was his most popular song but I loved 'Billie Jean'.

Crap. A fire bomber just flew over my house. Good old California fire season has returned. :(

It is 3.. Ed McMahon.

I don't think Swayze has long by looking at his last photo.
Unfortunately, I know that look.

Stunned about Michael but Farrah gets to me more.
I'm sad that she can't be gone for more then a few hours and then Michael hits the news. They gave him more air time then her. I hate when the media does that. They are all important, why do they single out one?

I also wonder if he OD'd or something.
I also wonder if there will be a custody fight and then a DNA test to see if he's even the father of any of them.

He's so thin, I've been wondering if maybe it took a toll on his heart (remembering Karen Carpenter).

I swear he's a bit older than 50.

I always loved Michael and I pray that he may rest in peace.

The date of his birth is listed as Aug 29, 1958. It's probably a combination of things, drugs, low weight, strange lifestyle, stress, etc. that did him in.

Farrah died 5 hours before Michael at a location 5 miles away from him. wow.

I had a friend who was murdered in 1990 - strangled to death in her car at age 21. They never caught the killer. She was the 49th murder victim of that year found dead on the 4900 north block of 49th street. I still think about her all these years later. I talked to her on that Saturday on the phone and she was killed that night.

How sad...He had it all and at the same time he was lacking something in his life...a tragic life for a brilliant musician.

I am just beside myself and don't know what to do. I don't want to believe it and certainly don't want to face it either. Farrah I so remember in high school. I watched the show faithfully and always chuckled to myself when I went to school. Every girl had her hairstyle. Those that didn't had Dorothy Hamill's(sp?). Now this report about Michael. Talk about facing your own mortality and suddenly in a sense being in your parents shoes. I remember when my parents friends and entertainers of their generation started dying one at a time and how they reacted to it.
Now I feel like this is my generation and happening to me too. I will never forget when the Jackson Fiver first came out and those boys were my first real crush. They were also someone who I could immediately identify with. I stuck with him and his brothers and sister through all the years and I have struggled for years with the "did he or didn't he" with respect to the molestation rumors. I remember my DS as a little boy being fascinated with him and Janet, particularly because he thought they were the same person. No matter how many times we showed him pictures of her and then him, he still thought they were the same person. I had a cassette tape of one of Michael's albums when my son was young and he would ask me to play Smooth Criminal over and over and over. Sometimes he would be eating in the car on the way home from school, singing the song and would literally fall asleep mid-lyric.

I didn't know either of these people but for some reason I am having a really, really bad reaction to this. What a waste for both Michael and Farrah.

Everyone on Facebook is passing around videos. I know he had some real 'issues' but I choose to remember him this way.

Here is a link that might be useful: I'll Be There...

Had to go back and watch this classic performance. I remember watching it on TV and being totally captivated. Nowadays, this dancing is old hat, but back then, it was cutting edge.

Here is a link that might be useful: Billie Jean - Motown 25

Jermaine, Michael's brother, spoke just moments ago. Very touching. There will be an autopsy. There will also be a police and coroner's investigation looking into the death.

goldgirl, thanks for the link.

This is a sad day indeed. For many of you, it must seem like it did to me when John Lennon got killed.

Actually golddust, that's what I really remember. Standing in an elevator in my college dorm after hearing the news. I was devastated. This is sad as well, but for me, not on the same level as Lennon's death.

Oh, glad I'm not the old fart here, still mourning Frank Senatra's death. I was in a motel room in Salt Lake City with Max, who was 7 and scheduled for an important Dr's appointment the next day. I watched TV all night, remembering listening to him when I was a kid.

But 'The Beatles' represented and helped define me. John was my favorite and I followed his music until the end. He had a better social interest, while Michael Jackson seemed rather self absorbed (not to mention his penchant for young boys).

Michael ended up just plain weird to me. Still, I appreciate his early work. Who couldn't? It's refreshing the family,, etc., appears to be forthright about the prescription drugs. He couldn't have been a very present father if drugs turns out to be the case.

I heard it said today that he was an adult as a child and a child as an adult. Maybe that is true. I just hope his kids are going to be better off. If it was drugs, he couldn't have been a great dad. Time and tests will reveal all, I suspect. References to Anna Nichole Smith have already surfaced.

Singing 'It's a mad world'.

Definitely not the only old fart. While my friends has posters of Bobby Sherman and other typical teen items on their walls, I had the photo of John (and the other Beatles) from the White Album on mine ;)

I'm probably very much in the minority here but I have felt for a long time that Michael Jackson was a vile, dangerous predator whose fame and wealth allowed him to damage people for decades unchecked.

Of course the talent was there, and reading the responses I sense a mourning for the Thriller Michael Jackson, for his music as a touchstone of youthful memories for so many people.

However, once the hits stopped coming his life was tragic in ways more often than not self-inflicted. And his jaw-dropping public expressions of belief in sleeping with young boys while proclaiming it to be simply an expression innocence and joy...it makes me shudder. Frankly I have long been sick at heart thinking of him raising young children, especially young boys.

This is not even to venture into his efforts to sculpt himself into a physical figure that eventually was almost a bizarre imitation of a department store mannequin. Complete with a nose literally disintegrating off his face.

Perhaps the tragedy is that his life was seemingly lived without anyone in the inner circle to provide some kind of moral and emotional center or gyroscope. Maybe if he had been able to connect with someone, anyone to let him know how very dangerously disconnected his life was becoming, the last decades of his life would have been, if not normal, at least not dangerous to others.

And that's all I will say.

Ann

MJ at The Sun says he took a shot of Demerol

Bobby Sherman.. I still have the record that was on the back of Post cereal.

This was indeed shocking news. I grew up hearing the J5, but was not particularly a fan of them or the Osmonds. (Rather I daydreamed over Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy and had a crush on every Monkee at some point. ;)

Anyway, MSNBC just interviewed Stacy Brown in the past hour, who wrote Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask, and the author said there were multiple interventions done by the family in recent years. He cited one (in 2001 I believe he said), where MJ was in NYC and J family flew in to meet him and did the intervention. Jermaine, who was present at intervention, relayed to Stacy Brown that Michael refused, saying 'why, I'll be dead in a year anyway'.

MSNBC has also been saying more will come out about the drug use, Demerol & Morphine mentioned, and injections by doctor(s), and heavy extent of use was well known among those close to him.

Was he a monster who preyed on boys in an environment of yes-men, or was he himself a victim of people doing whatever it took to extort money from a then-cash-cow? I don't think anyone will ever know the truth and reality was probably somewhere in the middle. He was obviously one very screwed up individual, who at the very least showed unbelievably bad judgment.

What makes me sad is seeing the photos of him when he just just a child, full of promise.

Ann, those thoughts have been running through my mind as well. On a news program this morning, I heard several people refer to Jackson as "a hero." A pop icon, certainly, but a hero? Personally, I wouldn't put him in that camp. His death is a shock - he was so young - but at the same time, it wasn't entirely, unexpectedly unthinkable. He was indeed a disturbed individual, and my hope at this point is that somehow his soul will find rest.

All the hype on Jacko will at least give Farrah Faucett's family time to grieve without scads of media in their faces. There will still be media but imagine if MJax didn't die the same day. They'd be all over Farrah's family.

Forgive me! I spelled Fawcett's name wrong!

Apparently, the mother of his 2 oldest kids does still have parental rights, they were never terminated People.com story. I do hope the kids are not split up. I would love to see Janet have custody.

Ann, those thoughts have been running through my mind as well. On a news program this morning, I heard several people refer to Jackson as "a hero." A pop icon, certainly, but a hero? Personally, I wouldn't put him in that camp. His death is a shock - he was so young - but at the same time, it wasn't entirely, unexpectedly unthinkable. He was indeed a disturbed individual, and my hope at this point is that somehow his soul will find rest.

You wouldn't believe some of the posts at other places; all putting him on a pedestal. He was very talented back in the day; but the accusations of child molestation are still pretty fresh in my mind. I didn't closely follow it and wish I did.

He's left about $400 million in debt; I've read that there are hundreds of unreleased tracks that could bail his estate out.

All the hype on Jacko will at least give Farrah Faucett's family time to grieve without scads of media in their faces. There will still be media but imagine if MJax didn't die the same day. They'd be all over Farrah's family.

I never thought of it like that but will now.
She deserves some peace.

There's just no way to look at this, and not ask yourself ...

Here is a link that might be useful: Why?????

Someone in another forum posted this blog entry from Lisa Marie Presley regarding his death and their marriage. Very interesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Presley interview

I just pitied him. He was sinking into some serious weirdness and his records weren't doing all that well by the time he was 30, but no one around him told him to back off and settle down to as normal a life a celebrity can have instead of constantly chasing the insane adulation he had around the "Thriller" period (and, well, repeatedly humiliating himself in the process). No one ever kicked him in the butt to invest his money in something stable and not spend everything he had, so he's been in and out of hideous debt for twenty years. It doesn't seem that he ever really tried that hard to get him psychological help for the self-mutilation behaviors (the plastic surgery, excessive dieting, etc.) or addictions to drugs and spending money (and I'm not sure anyone around him except for his mostly-alienated family would have sat him down and told him some hard truths, because his nutjob behavior benefitted too many of his "entourage"), and that's just really sad to me.

I wore out three "Thriller" cassettes and one of "Off The Wall" as a teenager, but after that he just got too bizarre for me and IMO his music suffered because of it especially when he started doing it all in that weirdly high-pitched, whispery, childlike voice. His natural voice was quite nice "back in the day".

On the other hand, he was a grown man, and thus responsible and accountable for his own decisions and actions, be they good or bad.

But I know what you mean. The way that he lived his life generates in me alternate feelings of pity and something close to revulsion.

After 24 hours I'm still struggling, part of me wanting to believe that it is not true and parts of me hoping that there is some kind of peace now. To me he is a fallen hero. One who succumbed to the pressures of fame, self-hatred and a disease(Vitiligo) that began a long process of self alteration. He was a person who truly never got to live HIS life and then adopted to the one he was given. He truly was a musical genius and he and his brothers became the public face of a generation who never before had people who looked like them and came from the same humble background. They were role models and had to live up to unbelievable standard merely because of who and what they were. In many ways they never had the opportunity to be children and by the time he was an adult, professionally he hit his stride and then indeed had the entourage and people so taken by him that I truly believe that no one would dare say no. He in many ways became a victim of his own fame. However, in the end he was an adult and as such we all have to take responsibilities for our own actions.

I think at times he bought into the whole Wacko Jacko thing and the more he did, the more outrageous it became.

In the end, I truly think he lost it and I so wanted to believe that the allegations were not true but from the very first minute they were publized there was always a seed of doubt, a seed that continued literally up until the day he died.

I wanted him to come back and I wanted the magic bullet/pill whatever that would somehow erupt one day with absolute proof that the molestation allegations were not true.

In the end and since the last trial I mainly prayed for him that at some point that he would get the help he needed. That someone with some sense would come into his life and truly counsel him and get him back into a relatively normal life.

The circus has begun and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Me, I pray for his children. I pray that they somehow manage to get what he never had, a normal life.

deb, I always believed he was innocent, and a victim of extortion but he placed himself in situations where the seed of doubt would always be there. Just his physique was enough for people to judge him harshly.

I wish someone would come forward and explain MJ to us; Elizabeth Taylor was a friend, I'd like to hear her impressions of him, as a person, who was he ?

Mitch, I totally agree with you and I do hope that happens now that he is gone. I know that he was really good friends with people like Chris Tucker and Eddie Murphy and it would be great if they or someone like Elizabeth came forward. I think it would answer so many many questions.

Anything is possible, but I really don't believe he is guilty, either. I think it is more that he had no real childhood. So, he lived his childhood while an adult. I also believe that he wanted to make sure other children had the same fun and type of childhood he had missed when he was young. It's like he just didn't really grow up. An escape for him. So sad that it all had to be so twisted for him, so he still could not just enjoy his life as he saw it.

His self-mutilation is scarey. Part of it, I think, is just a really baaad plastic surgeon. His nose was just falling in, which can happen.

The people who know him say he is a beautiful, gentle, loving person. He certainly seems that way, so that's what I believe.

Extreme celebrity is something none of us can even begin to imagine. I've read about Elvis and my opinion of him is waay less than that of the King he's been made out to be. The same with MJ.

Leeches of the human kind breed off cash cows like MJ, Elvis, and other tragic figures. The celeb is utterly unlike regular, or even wealthy people, because they live in this alternative universe. Nothing is off limits to them, their every whim indulged, and in MJ's case, it came at such a young age he had no idea of a 'normal' life or what would be considered acceptable behavior.

As a grown (tho young) man, he palled around with a chimp. His entourage and the fans encouraged this. Come on...that is just NOT normal behavior for an adult, yet for him, his legions of fans & people who sucked off his $$ told him it was ok.

Same with Elvis...the people who put him in an early grave were just hangers on and users. No responsible physician is going to continue to cause knowing harm to another...but these people (and the plastic surgeons who worked on MJ) didn't want to turn down the lucrative amounts they'd receive by doing what their wealthy, and not-in-their-right-minds celebrity clients wanted.

I'm not saying MJ was a hero...I am saying he was a terrifically talented person who was never shown consequences. I'm very sorry his tremendous talent has been shot down so soon.

If I land anywhere on the did he/didn't he it is on the side of him being an adult child who just never grew up. I guess my thoughts are similar to Squirrel in that he lived his childhood once he became an adult. I mean how many of us think or react to things based on something that happened to us as teens and children. I know sometimes I do. Something will happen and I realize that the inner child is the one reacting not the adult. For me and I think most of us, we have people around us and our own internal monitors that allow us to realize what we are doing. I just don't think he had that.

"Extreme celebrity is something none of us can even begin to imagine."
The closest experience I had to this is when I traveled to China in March. Black folk are definitely not the norm and everytime me and my son went out (either alone or together) people would stare, sometimes laugh as well as trying to take our picture. If I stopped even for a minute a crowd would soon gather around me and ask questions and/or ask if they could take pictures. I must say midway through my trip there were times I would seriously think about whether I wanted to go out because of it. Many times people would ask my DS if they could take his picture and if he said yes, suddenly there would be a line a mile long of people who wanted to take his picture with him. Others would take pictures of the people taking pictures of him. In the beginning when they asked me I said yes but after awhile I began to say no because once you said yes you could be there sometimes up to 30 minutes or more taking pictures. After awhile I just felt uncomfortable and said no.

That experience gave me just a small glimpse into what it must be like to be a famous celebrity. Towards the end I would sometimes think twice about going out because of it mainly because it was relentless and it did get tiring. Of course I totally understood why, we were not the norm. I guess what I'm saying is if my experience caused me to react this way, imagine living your life like that everyday. Maybe you just want to go for a walk but you can't because the minute you step outside you become an instant attraction.

Just another POV.

Deborah, that is nothing less than bizarre. I feel so bad for you, it's unimaginable, but it seems like you understand it in some way.

Maybe DS was mistaken for one of the supermodels and other people thought they were getting a picture of someone famous with their mother! : )

I was wondering last night what it's like in other countries with regards to racial issues around African descent. Currently we're seeing how extremely popular and loved MJ is around the world; as is Obama, in this country and around the world. That says quite a lot, I think.

So, your story really shocks me.

Hey Squirrel, my DS actually warned me before I made the trip. The fact is that African-Americans in China or anyone of African descent is a rarity in China. Other than TV, movies and the like, the population of the country is mainly Chinese. Even white people/Europeans are treated the same way. They are just curious and in the end really harmless but like I said it does get bothersome after awhile.

As you saw in the pictures my son is tall with long hair/braids and they were much more captivated with him at times than me. They also at times thought he was a ball player and several people stopped him and asked if he was Obama's son!!

I've traveled to other places such as Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Berlin and Paris. I experienced somewhat of the same thing in Budapest, Viena and Prague but not to the same degree as in China. Paris was cool and people kept mistaking me for the rapper Missy Eliot in Berlin. LOL!

When I went to Brussels last year, I really needed to get my hair done so I did some research on the net and found an African community and sure enough found someone to do my hair. Now that was an experience. They spoke only French and I don't speak it well but managed to communicate enough to get my hair done. Beautiful hair is a universal language!

Unfortunately not many African-Americans travel outside of North America and the Caribbean which in my opinion is a shame. I want to travel the world and see everything. I don't understand why they do not but they should. I have never had any problems traveling outside of the US. If anything, most are more likely to think I am from Africa and not the US. When they do find out I'm from the US, I usually get bombarded with questions. I don't ever feel any racial tension though.

Deborah, thanks for enlightening me about China. What an interesting story!

Does anyone watch Geraldo at Large on Fox, it's on Saturday and Sunday nights. He convinced me that MJ was set up on all those charges and the reason he settled with the one boy and his family years ago was because he was "just sick of it and wanted it to go away." Apparently, that and the trial is what did him in emotionally.

Yes, he was a man child, but it never bothered me. He gave zillions to charity & everyone who knew him (including Geraldo) said MJ was THE nicest person they ever met, and he was an outstanding father.

I feel sorry that he didn't feel the love from the vast public that he's getting now after death. I think he'd still be alive if he did. :(

Deborah, my husband had the same type of experience when in China for a business trip - he's a white male in his 50's with WHITE (grey) hair. The people in the cities he visited would point, laugh, and want to take pictures with him and themselves or with their kids! It's funny but as was explained - grey hair is very uncommon in china - most dye their hair.

I too feel a sadness in MJ's passing and hope he is in peace. It has always intrigued me in how he morphed into an androgynous being. When you stop and think about how much talent he had and how difficult to have grown up the way he did. I will continue to think of him as a wonderful soul contained in a stunted human form for a very short time on this earth.

I've done a lot of reading, watched his biography a few days ago. My opinion on the molestation charges is that he probably did not do it. I saw on one site that the 1st accuser said it was his father doing it to make money, but I haven't seen this on a reputable site such as the AP news site.

Issues With Jane Valez Mitchell has been a great show the last few days, she's had on various people in the justice system as well as people that used to work for Jackson.

I'm sure everyone has heard there will be something at the Staples center on Tuesday, Jackson's body will not be there; according to what I've seen, the family will have buried him by then. They are offering free tickets through a lottery system, it ends today if anyone is interested.

If anyone gets a chance you might want to watch an 8 part Youtube series called "Living with Michael Jackson, Take Two." I was very sad about Michael Jackson, but when I saw this, I was a blubbering fool and have been on and off for days. It is MJ's video of an interview he did with Martin Bashir. MJ had his own camera running and you will see all the pertinent things that Martin Bashir conveniently left out of his broadcast.

As a high schooler in the 80's and on the dance line (we called it Pom). Paula Abdul was our "trainer" at cheer camp in Santa Barbara. This was several years before she was famous. Every year, she taught us some awesome dances to MJ's songs. Those are some of my fondest memories, which is probably why I am so broken up about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Living with MJ, Take Two