my michael memory

Is the death of Michael Jackson consuming the people around you the way it seems to have affected so many I am in contact with? Samantha is right, we are too young to see our childhood idols passing away. My MJ story (as it has become something akin to "where were you when Kennedy was shot?") is that I was on the #2 bus that travels along Sunset Boulevard from downtown L.A. to the ocean. Passing out of Beverly Hills and into Bel Air I noticed that consecutive streets were closed, with lots of cop cars and medical responders present. My exact thought was, "I wonder who died." Is it sad that this is where my mind went? I am not sure.




Arriving at work I was immediately engaged by the "Where were you..." question. Since I had not yet heard and was unfazed by the helicopters that accompanied me into Westwood Village, I was right there in the middle of the box office, listening to Bealene ask festival callers if they had heard the news when I found out. (I later found out Orion learned the news in the post office.) I was momentarily confused because I was also behind on the news of Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon -- (I am behind on the news; it is a film festival, I am trying to wrangle my committee, and pre-occupied about a potential job) -- but then I understood MJ was only blocks away at UCLA medical center and fellow staff were already sending photos of the assembling spectators to Facebook pages.




There were rumors about road closures and questions about the festival being canceled. Thursday night the candles were out in makeshift memorials near the house where he had been staying; the same streets that had been closed when I passed in the morning. I heard there was a memorial at his star on the Walk of Fame that was obstructing the flow of traffic and pedestrians on Hollywood Boulevard. Today the media descended on Amoeba and it is my understanding the Orion is on Japanese tv being interviewed about his own MJ memories.




Yesterday while riding the bus to work the driver made an announcement when we passed the streets (still closed) that marked MJ's last residence. There is still a steady stream of people, like ants, going to leave flowers and signs at both ends of the closed street. I keep thinking about what O said to me when I saw him late Thursday, "Didn't was all say goodbye to the MJ we loved a long time ago?"