AliCat
Proud Member
Yes, Marlon Jackson can still moonwalk.
It may have been little brother Michael who took the steps to iconic status, but it was “Dancing Machine” Marlon who choreographed them, along with much of what the world came to know as the Jackson moves. Come Friday, June 13, on the stage at Soaring Eagle Casino, he’ll be onstage with brothers Jermaine, Tito and Jackie, turning back the clock and turning up the volume.
“We’re up there for two, two and a half hours,” Jackson said. “People expect to see a Jackson show. We’ll do as many of the classics as we can, and some songs from our new album.” As a celebration of their half-century as performers, a multimedia retrospective will give the now-mature Jackson brothers a breather in between numbers. A tribute to late brother Michael, nearly five years after his passing, is also part of the show.
The next-to-youngest brother of the Jackson tribe is 57 now, a longtime dedicated family man with children and grandchildren of his own. But he fondly recalls the time when he and Michael couldn’t keep their childish feet still while waiting to audition for Motown Records mogul Berry Gordy.
“Michael and I were so little, and we just couldn’t keep still,” Jackson said. “Our brothers kept yelling at us to quiet down; ‘Stop it! We’re going to sing for Berry Gordy!’ I remember another time standing around his pool with all the Motown stars watching and listening to us.”
The young men from Gary, Indiana, soon shot past that stellar audience, becoming the Motown darlings who owned the pop world in the 1970s, including Top 40s “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There,” all fronted by Michael Jackson. Michael split from his brothers professionally, but the love remained, and the Jacksons’s determination to go on after his death is an affirmation of that unbreakable family bond.
For Marlon Jackson, that’s meant holding his own family circle together by keeping a lower media profile than some of his other family members. Even so, he’s had to deal with unending interest in all things Jackson, and at times, it’s hurt.
“What the media need to remember is that every story that comes out about us comes back not only to us, but to our wives and children and grandchildren,” Jackson said. “We go to grocery stores, church, playgrounds, schools, and our loved ones have to deal with all that. We’re still grieving the loss of our brother.”
But he’ll be on the stage in spirit, as the Jacksons re-create the moves that had kids (and their parents) up and moving, irrespective of skill level, 40 years ago. Marlon Jackson is proud that he had a small part in keeping kids active way back then. It worries him a little that today, even though the music is still inviting and the choreography joyful, the youth aren’t responding as much.
“They get all their exercise with their thumbs!” he said. “They need to get up off their seats and start moving around. Even if they can’t dance, they can stay in motion. Here’s what you do, kids; get up and make some noise with your feet. Make your parents have to tell you to tone it down.”
http://www.ourmidland.com/accent/mo...cle_57514e07-62b4-5613-8ba3-bce3008391d1.html
It may have been little brother Michael who took the steps to iconic status, but it was “Dancing Machine” Marlon who choreographed them, along with much of what the world came to know as the Jackson moves. Come Friday, June 13, on the stage at Soaring Eagle Casino, he’ll be onstage with brothers Jermaine, Tito and Jackie, turning back the clock and turning up the volume.
“We’re up there for two, two and a half hours,” Jackson said. “People expect to see a Jackson show. We’ll do as many of the classics as we can, and some songs from our new album.” As a celebration of their half-century as performers, a multimedia retrospective will give the now-mature Jackson brothers a breather in between numbers. A tribute to late brother Michael, nearly five years after his passing, is also part of the show.
The next-to-youngest brother of the Jackson tribe is 57 now, a longtime dedicated family man with children and grandchildren of his own. But he fondly recalls the time when he and Michael couldn’t keep their childish feet still while waiting to audition for Motown Records mogul Berry Gordy.
“Michael and I were so little, and we just couldn’t keep still,” Jackson said. “Our brothers kept yelling at us to quiet down; ‘Stop it! We’re going to sing for Berry Gordy!’ I remember another time standing around his pool with all the Motown stars watching and listening to us.”
The young men from Gary, Indiana, soon shot past that stellar audience, becoming the Motown darlings who owned the pop world in the 1970s, including Top 40s “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There,” all fronted by Michael Jackson. Michael split from his brothers professionally, but the love remained, and the Jacksons’s determination to go on after his death is an affirmation of that unbreakable family bond.
For Marlon Jackson, that’s meant holding his own family circle together by keeping a lower media profile than some of his other family members. Even so, he’s had to deal with unending interest in all things Jackson, and at times, it’s hurt.
“What the media need to remember is that every story that comes out about us comes back not only to us, but to our wives and children and grandchildren,” Jackson said. “We go to grocery stores, church, playgrounds, schools, and our loved ones have to deal with all that. We’re still grieving the loss of our brother.”
But he’ll be on the stage in spirit, as the Jacksons re-create the moves that had kids (and their parents) up and moving, irrespective of skill level, 40 years ago. Marlon Jackson is proud that he had a small part in keeping kids active way back then. It worries him a little that today, even though the music is still inviting and the choreography joyful, the youth aren’t responding as much.
“They get all their exercise with their thumbs!” he said. “They need to get up off their seats and start moving around. Even if they can’t dance, they can stay in motion. Here’s what you do, kids; get up and make some noise with your feet. Make your parents have to tell you to tone it down.”
http://www.ourmidland.com/accent/mo...cle_57514e07-62b4-5613-8ba3-bce3008391d1.html