Why am I the only one who will say it? "Billie Jean" was good. Most everything else was awful. I can think of several people who have died in 2009 who were more deserving of my sorrow and who received nary a mention in the press.
To name just a few:
David Carradine, who was smeared by the press and the Thai police.
Koko Taylor, perhaps the one tolerable contemporary Chicago blues singer/musician.
Jay Bennett, former Wilco collaborator.
Karl Vogler, the German actor who played Rommel in "Patton."
Harold Norse, Beat poet (almost an oxymoron) but a close friend of Auden.
Jack Nimitz, the jazz saxophonist.
So kill me (pardon the pun), but Michael Jackson's death, though shocking, barely makes me shrug. It's sad, but not that sad. Get over your grief and plug up your crocodile tears.
Plus, lest we forget, he was an unrepentant PEDOPHILE.
Rick
