MP, Ape –
HAPPY BIRTHDAY gals, enjoy it – this is your day
unk:
Queenie,if i may call you that (i really like it :cheeky
thanks for letting us all know.
Folks, y'all betta hang on to ur seatbelts, cause this is gonna be one loooong and bumpy ride, i can feel it. Don't say you haven't been duly warned. Read on @ the peril of ur own sanity and patience. I got a feelin' this is gonna be one of them long arse posts of mine that should sufice for quiiiite some time, so by the time i'm through with it there ain't gonna be no beggin' for more, to semi-quote Janet, not in this circumstance anyhows. Btw of my long arse posts, thanks to all who have expressed their appreciation for the last one. Not quite sure you will all feel the same after this one though lol.
I just have to give the props up to
Suz for the all amazing vids she done posting. She never fails to amaze me with all them treasures. God bless you my friend and
THANK YOU.
Now...having the disclaimer (which in and by itself is longer than some people's posts in this or any other thread for that matter lol) outta way, we can get down to bizness. Leaving jokes aside,
i know this past weekend has been terribly tough and painful for all of us to deal with. It certainly has been so for me. My 'grand' plan was to go into the city and witness some of the celebrations organized in different sites, two of which were very close to my office, but i ended up spending the weekend at home mostly listening to an online radio which is dedicated to Michael's music. It had been on for more than a year and i was aware of it, but never until this weekend did i listen to it. I know, sometimes i can be slower than a snail and a turtle put together.
The music truly had a therapeutic effect and it was exactly what i needed at this time, more than seeing people's love for Michael which i know hasn't changed, but only increased. The amazing thing about it is that it proved to be an opportunity to discover some true marvels from Michael's early career. I have to confess that beyond the famous hits and videos such as the Ed Sullivan performance or Can you feel it, i wasn't and still i am not all that familiar with Michael's work as a child and a teenager, both with his brothers and by himself. It was therefore with this occasion that i've heard for the very first ever more than a dozen of J5 and solo songs from back in the '70s. They truly are jewels and i feel very, very guilty about not having listening to them until now. It made me realize how much of Michael's life and craft i have actually missed, but i guess it's never too late to make up for lost time.
Two of the songs which stroke a chord were
In our small way and
People make the world go round. They were further reassurances of my feeling that Michael's core hadn't changed all that much with the passing of time. This kind of songs had always been in him, even when they were written by others and he kept on with them in his adult years, because all of this love and care for the world and people were in his heart his entire life and
that I think is one of the, if not THE most beautiful thing about the man.
Of course that i had to utubing and find some videos for this masterpieces and i found some really awesome pics with irresistible little Michael. I'm sure you will all enjoy them very much.
The great message of this song can be best expressed imho in what i like to call in Italian “
la battaglia per la quotidianità” (the battle for everyday living). I know this is gonna sound strange, but i got this list that i'm building up with words or expressions which sound really, really well in particular languages so much so that they help you visualize the object or the situation and in this particular case, the Italian language seems the most apropriate for this job.
What i mean by battle for everyday living is quite simple really – it is my firm belief that the real challenge in life and in all relationships (family ties, romantic connections, faith issues) is to deal with the aspects of everyday living and doing our most to cherish every day and do our best in any circumstance, because the extraordinary occasions are few and far in between. True heroism i believe is made of consistency of feeling and their affirmation, not taking anyone or anything for granted. It's like our little boy taught later when he grew up
EVERY DAY create your history; he didn't say every month or every year, but every day. I happen to wholeheartedly agree with him and i think most of you as well, there ain't nothin special about what i'm saying. I'm only pointin' out the obvious, i know.
They'd swear you're a hippy if you have long hair
Young politicians fight for poverty
While people still cry for equality
Brilliant, right?
Isn't striking to see how in some of them pictures there is this carefree little boy, just like any other boy his age, nothing letting you guess what he had accomplished by the age when most kids were still tryin' to put their notebooks in order for the next day of school. At the same time, there are certain pictures where the eyes and the facial expression – so lost in thought, in such a pensive mode - are that of a young man who had seen far too much for such a young age and who had the weight of world on his shoulders. And then we have the reversed image in Michael as an adult who tried to recapture that lost childhood and that sense of adventure and ease throughout his life and the sparkle of the young boy in the mature, confident man.
What i just wrote would be worthless without some photographical evidence, especially since pics have been kinda missing in this thread lately, don't y'all agree? I did steal a few from one of the videos before, but they were far too cute not to, i really couldn't help it.
some things neva changed lol
This was the very video i ever saw of Michael back in 1992. I don't know about yall, but he had me at the wink.
Can you believe it that back when he presented the moonwalk and he was basically ruling the world, as he would the following decades as well, but back in the Thriller and Bad days i was 'blissfully' unaware of the man's very existence? :doh:
I dare anyone to tell me that ain't the very same gorgeous human being. I would tell 'em they are either blind or they are using the wrong eyes, cause the man hadn't changed all that much, he remained the same, only the world around him got uglier and nastier, that's the awful, sad truth.
I know that looking at those pictures might cause pain to many of you, i know it is heartbreaking to think of it all. It is not my intention to hurt anyone's feelings. But this question of hurt makes me think of them paralles people make between the state of the weather (nope, not of the nation lol) and the way they feel inside – whether they match or are the complete opposites. It is wonderful to sing in the rain and the sun to be in the heart to chase away the stormy clouds outside, but it is heart wrenching to be surrounded by light and heat and feel empty and cold on the inside. There are even some weather dependent people whose very physiology depends on it, and that is quite serious a condition, but anyways, i disgressed enough.
But just to lighten up the mood a bit and since i was talkin about the weather here are a couple of songs from a great band -
Crowded House, both of which deal beautifully with the issue of weather.
Always Take The Weather With You
And also, from one of Ireland's other great exports outside of my boys from U2, another great musical family –
the Corrs here goes a very sweet song –
would you be happier ?
And now, in the hopefully not totally futile effort to bring this post back on topic, those one, two people that are left reading by this point lol, how about a couple of songs which made me think of Michael and that girl of his in the dark/light and who knows where else,
IF she existed of course.
I wouldn't know, but the helpless, cureless romantic in me is stubborn enough to believe that she does exist and somehow, some way she did manage to bring some sort of happiness into his life and make him feel
every day was his birthday. Ours is a merciful God and i believe He would not have left Michael leave this earth without the fulfillment of true and unconditional love, not after all he had been through and all he had given to the world. Also the glow on his face - that of a man in love, especially during the movie, make me really hopeful that he had finally found her, like
Bryan Adams with the help of the unique
Barbara Streisand sang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK4peuAODtc and maybe he even had to chance to stand by his woman in whatever way he could like
Lenny Kravitz. It is a beautiful and comforting thought, but i guess we'll never know.
Seeing them pictures from the movie it made me think – do you think it is possible Michael might have felt nervous at times during the rehersals knowing that some day she might see that performance and be in audience? I know it's sound a bit strange, but hear me out.
My dad is lawyer, he used to be an army man – NATO and stuff – and he's been pleadin for more than a decade now and i have not seen him 'perform' not even once. I initially believed that if me and mom were in the courtroom we might create further emotions than the ones he was already having, but that must have changed in the decade that has since passed lol. I was told he has a pretty commanding presence and when he talks the hall goes silent and not only because of his loud voice, but because of what and how he says.
But returning to Michael, do you think that maybe he was nervous about the way in which she would view his work, if, as it has been proposed here, his art played such an important part in their connection? I'm pretty sure he didn't need someone who was so in tune with every little thing he had ever done that at some point she might have told him – honey, you kicked the wrong leg here lol. But on the other hand, i would image he wanted and needed someone who could understand his work and what he stood for. Only theories, i know....
And doing a 360 here returning to the pain we are all feeling these days. This is a very difficult time for all of us and i remember that at some point in this thread there was even the question of prefering not to have known Michael at all rather than go through all the pain over all the years, especially this last one, but i am almost sure if anybody around here ever felt that way it was only temporary and they were talking from underneath the crushing weight of the sorrow they felt at that point.
I can only talk for myself, but i know i wouldn't trade for anything the world my experince of knowing and loving Michael. The very few things that are good about me come from the Lord and many of them are due to Michael. At times, it is difficult to see all that clearly where he ends and where i begin, but i can say for sho that i don't owe to him my exquisite taste when it comes to furniture and crafts j/k.
No amount or intensity of pain felt could ever outweigh or even compare to the light, the lessons to love and to give and the love he brought into my life. I know there ain't nothin special in what i'm saying and all of us here and far beyond this little thread and this message board think and feel this same way.
In Our small way video i posted there is a most beautiful comment which made me cry. I think you will all agree with it.
Little did you know dear sweet child when you first sang this song that you would do great things, and you did change the world. You made it a better place, in a big way, in just the little time you were here. You cared enough. Thank You Michael
Now I really should be on my way. I dare anyone to try and quote stuff from this scroll lol. I'm having a vision of Ash re-posting all the pictures right about now, therefore........ Ash, from the bottom of my heart, DON'T repost them lol. I'm only kiddin' my friend, u know that already.
I betta go back into the fog I came from.
So long, farewell, auf wieder sehen....how did the song go?? :cheeky: And everyone... make sure to change the world -
today, in our very small way, each of us. :yes: