Fare Thee Well Michael.....

Michael Jackson died on June 25th 2009, which happened to be my father's 62nd birthday and also what would have been my parents' 21st wedding anniversary. A sad incident that was and it did draw tears from people all over the world. I cried and cried because I grew up listening to Michael's songs and they had always seemed to be an integral part of our music collection as a family.

When Micheal released the Thriller album in 1984 I was in the Middle East and it was crazy at the time with lots of Arab guys wearing one glove, jackets with lots of zippers, white socks, black shoes and wavy hair; it got so bad that the King of Saudi Arabia had to ban the importation of parnaphilia Every time we moved through the shopping centres, people would stare us and "give us a thumbs up sign shouting "Amerikiya, Amerikiya" and we would grin, feeling proud of being black in a rather racist country.

As the years went by, I started becoming detached from his music because I didn't quite appreciate what he had turned into and I guess the media didn't help matters either. When he came out with his Dangerous and History albums, I just figured that it was best to keep away from his music for a while but every time I heard him talk during an interview, I noticed that despite the drastic changes in his physical appearance, he still had the heart of a child and he exuberated such warmth that I couldnt help but love him all over again.

Watching his memorial yesterday, I couldn't help but think about how fragile our lives are; about how we are so powerless over death. He lived his life to the fullest and like Rev Al Sharpton said Michael never gave up; when he was knocked down he came right back. His story is a story of courage, and no doubt his death has probably been the greatest comeback ever in his music career

Rest in Peace..Michael