Goodbye Michael, and thank you

The paparazzi and prying eyes of the press have lost another target.
Michael Jackson has left the building.
Exit stage left, sneaking out the side entrance into a waiting limousine to take him to some quiet safe place where he's free to be the kid he always wanted to be.
Nobody can deny the immense talent he had.
He had the goods - the voice, the dancing! Oh how he could move. When Thriller was blowing everybody's mind, and Beat It and Bad were in heavy rotation on MTV everybody was trying to moonwalk, and suburban kids were buying sequined gloves at Claire's Boutique. Before Thriller there was Off the Wall. I remember gym class my freshman year of high school - and learning aerobic dance routines set to songs from that album.

The teenagers of the 80s were the kids who grew up on the shining gems produced by Berry Gordy and Motown. The Jackson 5 were really the first boy band, and the songs they made their own are still heard today on oldies stations, covered by other artists, and in the song stylings of the boy bands of today.

With all his talent, all his money, all his fame all the man seemed to want was someone to love him unconditionally without expecting him to perform, "do something" for them, or ask for a cash handout. I would imagine this is why he had the ranch and the crazy collection of pets. Who can ever forget Bubbles the Chimp? This is also likely why he arranged to have children created for him, and why the mother of the children have been nearly invisible from the public eye.

When you have that kind of money and fame, you can make all manner of legal magic happen. It made us feel angry, frustrated, freaked out when he dangled one of his kids out a hotel window. We made fun of him for marrying Lisa Marie. We were furious with him for buying up some of the Beatles song publishing catalog. We made fun of him, pointed and laughed with each new tabloid photo of his plastic surgery, his health problems. We tore him asunder when he was being charged with child molestation. We treated every new shred of tabloid fodder about him as another reason to knock him down. The media frenzy that embraced him in the 80s were in the 90s and beyond, tearing him down and breaking him apart with pickaxes and explosives.

I wonder if all he really trying to do was use his money and fame to desperately fill in the blanks of his wounded, broken psyche. For all that talent, I wonder if he really struggled with the same self-doubt and insecurities that so many of us face.

Like so many other oddball celebrities, he was too fragile a human being to live in the spotlight, and the more he tried to escape it the more tenacious the media jackals became. He had to move to Bahrain to get out of the public eye, and even there he had individuals who took advantage of him.

I feel so sorry and sad for the man, the freaky recluse that he became.
Today I'm wondering if he somehow planned for this as a grand, graceful exit from the crazy circus of his life in the public eye.
He went out on top, or at least on a high note - as he was rehearsing for a comeback tour.

Thanks, Michael.
Thank you for making us sing, and dance, and smile.
Thank you for all the great pop culture memories that will forever be a part of our childhood.
I think you probably were a really good person, with a big heart, who deserved more kindness and privacy than you ever received.
I hope that you've found peace, and the love and comfort you seemed to crave.
The world will not forget you.

Is it strange that I have strong childhood memories of the song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John. It was a fairly popular single for him, and was played all the time on AM radio when I was a kid.

I couldn't decypher the lyrics, the the MELODY of this song is so astonishingly beautiful, and simple, that it wrapped itself around my head like a warm fuzzy hat.

To this day, I still adore this song - and the whole album - which is full of some truly masterful creations by Sir Elton and Bernie Taupin.

An unsung master of tasty hooks

Kevin Barnes is the new master of tasty hooks.

Who the hell is Kevin Barnes, you ask? Have you ever seen a commercial for Outback Steakhouse with the chorus "let's go outback tonight", or the latest commercial from Comcast where some catchy electronic music plays over the Comcast logo?

Both are hooks courtesy of Kevin Barnes, the mastermind behind Athens, GA band Of Montreal. (click the link, you know you want to!)

Their latest contribution to psychedelic, electronic poptasticness is something called Skeletal Lamping.

Would I do the band justice by writing yet another bio? Nah, their site is pretty spiffy.

What would I say in a sales pitch for the band?

Can you boogie? Do you disco? Is there funk in your pajamas?

Have you ever heard the music of David Bowie and enjoyed it?

Do you believe there should be humor in music?

Does psychedelic music excite you, intrigue you?

Are you frightened by harmony or does it make you feel warm and delicious inside.

Do you smile at the sight of a scrawny, nerdly looking fellow in embarassing costuming playing guitar and wearing a bit of makeup

Can you appreciate the humor (and irony) in a song about coping with clinical depression and the annoying side-effects of antidepressants - with a happy, infectious chorus?

Of Montreal is worth a listen.
1 part 80's synthpop, a big scoop of Bowie, a dash of Ray Davies, a few spoonfulls of disco, a dash of 70's pop music, throw it all in the blender and serve extra groovy, with a slice of deliciousness.

Chemicals don't flatten my mind!!



The song that became an earworm television commercial. Incidently, the restaurant chain kind of screwed over the band with the usage rights of the song. It pissed (Kevin) Barnes off so much that the band refused to play this song live for a few years.

Blue Man Group

I had the pleasure of taking in the Boston production of Blue Man Group yesterday and I just wanted to post a few comments on my experience.

1. It is nothing like what I was expecting, yet it was very much what I was expecting from a showmanship standpoint.
   




2. The soundtrack and/or the musicians that are part of this production are our hope for the future of Progressive Rock.
   Drums, guitar (and guitar synths), and Chapman Stick. How can you go wrong?
   I mean seriously.
   I really felt I was listening an opening act for Rush, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, or maybe even Primus. Energy, intensity, and talent.
   




3. The writers have done an outstanding job at bringing together pop culture references, humor, and also a few dark messages about the increasing isolation of humankind because of technology.
   




4. Did I mention the pop culture references?




5. Mime(!).
   Drumming.
   FUN stage makeup.
   Paint.
   ...and burying your audience in a mound of (recycled) paper toweling.
   




6. It's Performance Art for people who are afraid of Performance Artists.
   




7. It's what the Burners (Burning Man) do during the off-season.
   




8. It's a show that Bob and Cyndie Mundane can bring their kids to and have a good time - and the kids might walk away thinking "I want to do THAT when I grow up!"
   




9. I was there with my sweetie, and 2 other couples. One of the other couples are big progrock fans like me and the other couple have only heard the "hits" from bands like Rush or Genesis. They all enjoyed the show on different levels (and they thought it was funny that I was buried in the aforementioned paper toweling but seemed to be having a good time).
   




10. My only meh moment was spent thinking how hopelessly unhip I am by today's standards, and that I found myself wishing I was 15 years younger, with no financial obligations, that I could spend my time working on musical and/or theatrical productions like this.