Who's Bad?

Since I last blogged people have been dying. Well celebrity people anyway. They usually come in threes but in the past two weeks we have had four go. I think this is the order in which they went. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcette, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays. (On a side note: My son Billy Knows Billy Mays. You should stroll over to Jamie’s Rabbits and see the little guest blog I put up about my son the things people try to sell him on TV. I think he would make a terrific pitch man. I think Billy Mays could sell Oxy-Clean to God don’t you?)

I could not believe that Michael Jackson died. For the past 7 or 8 years Michael Jackson has been a punch line. I had forgotten how bad he was back in the day.

The only vinyl album I ever bought was Thriller. I was able to buy it because I got money for making good grades in the fourth grade (which was the last time I got good grades across the board). To celebrate all A’s on my report card my mom took me to Showbiz Pizza in Midfield. They had the animalatronic band on the stage playing music while you ate pizza. Today Chucky Cheese may be all the rage but for me it will always be Showbiz Pizza. My favorite band member was the big, fat, and blue gorilla that played the piano. Awesome. Any way we left Showbiz and walked a few stores up to the record store and I bought Thriller with my hard earned money. I was convinced that Michael Jackson was the coolest man on the planet. And I was right.

This weekend I have been able to watch a lot of TV and I keep going to VH1. They are showing a lot of tributes to the King of Pop. Kara and I were watching the video to Billy Jean. Kara mentioned the outfit he was wearing. Pink shirt with a pink bow tie and black leather pants and jacket that were too short. She commented how ridiculous that get up was. I agreed and then we both agreed that it was cool. It is still cool.

For the past 7 or 8 years we have forgotten just how talented Michael Jackson was. This past season of American Idol featured songs from the Michael Jackson songbook. Those songs are still awesome.

So here’s to you Michael Jackson.
The age old question has had an answer for some time now.

Who’s bad?
You are Michael Jackson.
You are.