When somebody famous dies, it almost always makes news. If that person is also deeply flawed, and publicly so, it makes even more news. Michael Jackson left such an impression that my 7 year old said MJ was his favorite star, and I’m not sure he’s ever seen some of those famous music videos.

At any rate, there seems to be two types of news coverage of his death and the fallout. One focuses on the positives of his life - his talent and humanitarian effort chief among them. The other seeks to accentuate the negatives - his alleged (and ever more likely) prescription drug addiction, his alleged molestation of young boys, and many other things which I won’t go into…

Since Michael Jackson died, I have been trying to figure out how I felt about him, as a human being and artist, as well as the coverage and reaction to his death.  When I first heard of his death, I was immediately reminiscent of my childhood. I was 9 years old when Thriller was released and yes, I had a glove.  My videotape of Motown 25 was completely worn out because I had watched his performance of Billie Jean about a thousand times.  Thriller just catapulted him to a stardom not seen since the Beatles.

By the time Bad was released, I was in my teens and more into the hardcore scene but I still made time to watch the premier of the Bad video.  I enjoyed…

Originally posted on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at Mike’s Brain Leak

On Thursday, June 25, 2008, the man who was my biggest childhood icon died a very sudden, yet-somehow-not-unexpected death. Michael Jackson was born a human being on August 29th, 1958. But somehow along his rise to stardom, he graduated from mere mortality and became not only “Bad” and “Dangerous,” but “Invincible.” Yesterday, the man died. But the image, the icon and the legend that is MICHAEL JACKSON will live forever.

I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite and most memorable Michael Jackson moments of my younger days, because it would seem that most of the sadness I feel today is actually a reflection of the part of my…