Back in 1985, Essence Magazine had some ideas about what Michael Jackson would look like when he was 40 years old (gasp! so old!). Turns out he should have been a little bit distinguished, a little bit like his scary dad and a little bit hanging on to the fashion trends of his heyday waaaaay too much.
Oh, and don't forget the classy Billy D. Williams 'stache. As if you could!
You remember I told you about my mega talented pal, comedian Andrew Johnston? He's the one responsible for Bitch Salad? Anyway, if you knew him, you'd have a lot of reasons to love him too...not the least of which would be that he introduced us to THE BEST THING ON THE INTERNET.
The rubber soles of cheap, worn sneakers dragging across the gravely pavement of my 1980's school yard had a distinct sound. I was in third grade when Thriller was released and EVERYBODY was trying to moonwalk.
That's me in the back row, with the unfortunate bangs and the plaid dress. I didn't have my finger on the pulse of pop culture back then. Like today, my tastes were a little...different. But even I knew what a big deal Michael Jackson was. I remember other kids wearing buttons of Michael Jackson on their fake red leather zipper jackets. I remember that my friends rented top loading VCRs in order to watch his videos. I remember when Tammy Malden's Dad got her Thriller for her birthday and that once she opened that first gift, everything else was forgotten. Her party turned from a "birthday party" into a "listening party", all of us gathered around her Fischer Price Turntable in our party dresses and sweater vests, listening as intently as A&R men or Quincy Jones himself.
Yesterday, while watching the flurry of media coverage over Michael Jackson's death I found this great video on Youtube of The Jackson Five at the peak of their early popularity.
It has the added bonus of Cosby as "Scoop Newsworthy", another icon from my youth. This is the music that really speaks to me now, as an adult. This early, joyful stuff that I wasn't around to experience the first time.
As I was sitting there, bopping to that little kid's brilliant vocals it dawned on me that he was missing a tooth. I mean, he was such a little kid that he was MISSING A TOOTH. And that realization just made me desperately sad. To think he was about the same age then as I was when Thriller changed the landscape of popular music is pretty much unimaginable. To think of what he was put through at the hands of his thug of a father and then what the ravages of mental illness and Dysmorphic Disorder did to this beautiful little guy is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportion. Especially if any of the allegations about his inappropriate relationships with children are true. Regardless, a lot of people were caught in the web of tragedy that surrounded this once promising, unbelievably gifted kid.
There has been a lot said in the last several hours since the news of his death broke about how the media's attention should not be diverted from the human rights crisis that is unfolding in Iran or that his personal troubles somehow erase everything that this man accomplished and all the joy he brought to others. On some level, I understand that sentiment. But our attention spans are wide, we should be able to seek out other news sources if places like CNN have developed MJ OCD and we should be able to look beyond an artist's personal life and appreciate their body of work and how it touched our lives. As Rev. Jesse Jackson said yesterday, "We are out of our joy and he is out of his pain. Several generations have not lived a day without Michael Jackson in their lives..." and that I think, really is the point. The arts don't exist in a vacuum and neither did Michael Jackson, as much as he might have wanted to.
I can't get enough of that Marvin Gaye video I posted earlier (see below). Casting Idea for a biopic: JESSE L MARTIN. Hollywood, steal this idea! Steal it!
It's not just Marvin that makes that video special though. I really admired and connected with the direction and camera work, so I looked up the Director of the film "Save The Children". Here's the cool part - it's not that Stan Lathan's work connected with my aesthetic, it's that he probably had a large role in forming it. His first big gig as a Director before making this movie was working on a new show on PBS show called Sesame Street, so yeah. How cool is that? It kind of blows my mind. His resume after Sesame Street and Save the Children is a laundry list of episodic TV from the era.
Then, In 1989, Lathan and Russell Simmons partnered to create one of the most successful franchises in entertainment: HBO’s Def Comedy Jam series, which started the careers of folks such as Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, Mo'Nique, Mike Epps, and D. L. Hughley.
Crazy.
So I want that Jesse L Martin / Marvin Gaye biopic...and I want Stan Lathan to Direct and Produce it.
Today would have been Marvin Gaye's 70th birthday. I'd suggest celebrating by checking out this nine minute excerpt from the long out-of-circulation 1973 film, "Save The Children". The photography is amazing, Marvin is in perfect form (and a sharp dressed man to boot) and yes, that's James Jamerson on bass.
