Don't stop until you get enough...

"I must confess I am not surprised by today's tragic news. Michael has been on an impossibly difficult and often self-destructive journey for years. His talent was unquestionable but so too was his discomfort with the norms of the world. A human simply cannot withstand this level of prolonged stress." — Michael Leaven, a publicist who represented Jackson when the singer was accused of molesting a child in 1993.


While what little I know about Michael Jackson influences how I see him as a person and as a performer, I have great respect for his ability to communicate through his music. The message wasn't always clear and sometimes it was way too obvious...but it was creatively expressed-a talent that so many of today's 'musicians' cannot replicate.

I know Michael Jackson just as the person the media decided to portray...and as a former LA resident, I know that the words are so massaged that facts are hardly that upon being printed. Michael did seem to make some questionable decisions in his personal life...but don't most artists? It's not fair to hold any of this 'fact' against him in the end.

A great musical talent has been lost today...and for that (and his children), I am saddened. I don't, on the other hand, think that his death warrants clutching a pillow with his picture embroidered on it in Times Square in devastation...wondering aloud to myself "Why?!" I think it's pathetic that so many lost souls in this world are desperately seeking something to cling to and it's often the death of a celebrity. Was Michael Jackson REALLY that big of a part of your life? Probably not...and if he was-that might be the actual problem.

Farrah Fawcett died today as well-but no one seems to be as interested in her life in comparison. Tatum O'Neal lost both an ex-boyfriend and a mother figure in one day...that's a lot for one person to handle. I wonder how she's processing it...