I want to share my dad's blog entry about the King of Pop,
its emo-ish... I remember shedding (some) tears while watching "This is it". While Daddy's like, Wailing with pain at all. I know how much he loves his Idol. The movie is a legendary tribute, as Dad's shirt says, 'I still love Wacko"
This is it!
by Sandro San Gabriel
Once again, Michael Jackson made me cry. I cried hard when I heard about his death, I poured shameful tears and let out scandalous sobs when I saw a tribute in honor of him on tv and I bled my eyes dry and suffocated my groans to silence while watching him sing and dance on his last movie, This is It.
OA, yes, I told myself I was but I couldn't help it. The tears just kept coming and my sobs came out uncontrollably like heartbeat. I would die if I forced them stop.
While in the middle of my lamentation I tried to rationalize 'why does he do me that way' and these are the following reasons why I did:
The first song that ever made an impact on me was One Day in Your Life.
It was 1975. It was all over the radio and I was in Grade I. It was the first pop song that I memorized and fully understood. Every time I heard the song my childhood memories came rushing in -- the smell of grass at Lola's garden in Laoag, the soft humming of the crickets that I listened to at bedtime which became louder when I pressed my ears on my pillow imagining the vast lands in the hacienda and the pretty daughters of Papa's workers., Michael Jackson singing that sad song. I had good memories of my childhood but most of them were sad made even sadder by the song
My teenage years were not only defined by New Wave. It was equally defined by Michael Jackson's Billy Jean, Beat It and Thriller. I wore gloves on one hand, I cut my long pants ankle high, I danced the moon walk, I touched my crouch while getting lost in the tune of Billy Jean and I wore red to do the Thriller at the Laoag Plaza
In 1985, I was Third Year High School. During the entire year, I raised my hand and imitated all the different voices in We are the World the World.
And so on and so forth. My point is, Michael Jackson provided the soundtrack of my life whether I liked it or not.
There came a point in my life, especially when my musical inclination turned towards the heavy metal, and later, alternative ( Nope, I never got into Emo ), when I denied his influence in me. There were times, though, when I caught myself humming I just Can’t Stop Loving You, Heal the World and Smooth Criminal. Eventually, I had to mellow down and recently just before his death, I had come to accept the influence that he had in me.
Despite the negative publicities, I was able to separate his artistry from the moral controversies that he got himself into. With that I was able to conclude that he was and still is a great artist.
Another thing that caused my uncontrollable sobbing was the realization that a phenomenal artist has just left the world. I consider myself a pop culture scholar-wanna-be and I could not deny the fact that Michael Jackson is truly a master of Music Television. His moves, his voice, his use of his body, space, the stage and all around him are otherworldly. There is a predictable pattern in his choreography but every time he executes it, it is always new. Always entertaining. Still snappy at 50.
And this talent is gone.
I grieve for the loss of a significant portion of my life and I grieve for the loss of a wonderful artist. No wonder why I cried so hard.
Madonna, please don't die that soon.
P.S.: I have a huge crush on the lady guitarist in 'This is It'.
