mama's pearl

alrighty, welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the 8th wonder of the world.

no matter what i say in this, the bottom line will remain this one thing only, "let the man rest now"

i've been back in alabama for a week now and i've been re-acclimated with some familiar sights. but the two greatest things i've been reintroduced to has been the radio, and my grandmother's record player which happens to be in the basement of my parents house. beside the record player are a few records, some of them i haven't seen in a very long time; almost all of them happened to be michael jackson albums.

the list
music & me by michael jackson (c)1973
victory by the jacksons (c)1984
thriller by michael jackson (c)1982
bad by michael jackson (c)1987
futureshock by herbie hancock (c)1983

the herbie hancock album is mine. i left it in the record player before i left, so i was a little surprised to see it not on the turntable.

beside the record player is an older chair that may have came from my grandmother. my grandmother doesn't like to keep things for too too long, and my parents seem to be a bit of the pack rat type. but the chair beside the record player is where i am sure my mother held her own private and quiet tribute. we don't talk about it, but i know my mother and she would like to keep it the way it was quiet and private. my mother is 50, so therefore she did grow up listening to michael. when michael was ten, she was ten...so she knows the full spectrum of jackson's music in a much different way than i will ever know.

we don't really know stars like this anymore. i'm 27 and the one artist that i can think of that's about my age and that's been around for a decent amount of time is lil' wayne, and frankly, i don't wish to be tied with him in the same way my mother and people of her generation feel tied to michael jackson.

since his death, there's been a lot of speculation and a lot of people putting on there own types of tributes. BET had their award show planned for months, then this type of thing happens so they redo their entire program in two days. it was a marvel effort to change a big event over like that, but i figure that the network would want to do something better (BET...doing BETter...that should be their new motto, and they should live up to it). we've seen the music videos and heard all the hits all over again, and people are truly sad.

the most famous person in the world is gone. does anyone know what that means? i mean, i've often dreamed of being famous but not the most famous person in the world. my mind could never (and still can't) fathom that. that's a little more than people asking for autographs while you walk to the store.

i refuse to speak about any of the scandal, but if you want, read an interesting passage entitled "My Hero Ain't Molest Them Bitch Ass Kids: Phonte's teary-eyed tribute to The King" by Phonte of Little Brother

bottom line, like i said earlier...let the man rest.

the memorial was today and it was as nice as a memorial can be. many people shared their stories of michael and even though i can't stand al sharpton most of the time he did say one of the more applause gathering sayings from that day "I want his children to know. [There] wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway."

no matter what you say, that was evident in what the daughter Paris said. Paris put the whole thing in perspective. we all have seen michael as an entertainer...as the "thriller". Paris didn't call him michael, jacko, mj, the gloved one or none of that...simply "daddy" which is what i want my kids (if i had any) to call me.

like all artists, the testament lies in our art. hopefully our art will inspire others to do great things, to believe in something that is worthwhile. michael's testament is in the music and the dance. many people have learned to dance through michael...breakdancers still rock out to the off the wall album, people still try to moonwalk. we all look at ourselves, then we look at the world and wonder how is this mess ever going to get better?

if you haven't been living under a rock for the past twelve days, you should know "man In the mirror" by now.

now let the man rest and let's conquer tomorrow.