Michael Jackson - RIP

I've been glued to CNN for the past 24 hours - it's just been non-stop reporting on the death of Michael Jackson. I was on the phone with a friend when my friend screamed to me to turn on CNN - that Michael Jackson had died! I calmly said that I was not surprised.

You see, I've been very skeptical about this whole series of concerts that he was supposedly preparing for in London. The whole thing seemed like a sham to me - for so many reasons. There were reports that he was not attending rehearsals, for example. In fact, there was no real evidence that the shows were really going to happen.

So, I think that these shows started a count-down clock for his demise. But why? Well, I think he was hugely in debt, more so than people realize - and I think that his half of the Sony/ATV catalog was worth less than people thought - in other words, he was technically bankrupt. I gather that poverty was a fate worse than prison or death for him.

I can only surmise that the concert agreement came with an up-front fee that he collected, even though he probably knew he would never perform. But then as the days clicked by, he must have wondered how he was going to get out of the whole thing. A doctor's note would not suffice because he apparently passed a physical required for the shows to be insured. I think quite simply his back was up against the wall. And he probably felt that there was simply no way out.

I never thought Michael would live a long life - I don't think anybody could imagine what he might have looked like at 75 years of age. So, I think everyone, including Michael thought he would not have a long life (in fact, Lisa Marie Presley explains this today on her myspace page). I guess nobody knew when he would exit this life, but with the concert start-date approaching, and in looking back, it's not too hard for me to see the connection between these concerts starting and his exit.

At this moment, the coroner has not yet spoken, and I'm sure he won't have too much to say for weeks yet, but in the end, I'm sure that prescription drugs will be involved and that too much were given or taken.

I think Michael was very misunderstood, but also a master manipulator of the media. I think he might have meant well in life, but allowed the public to think whatever they wished about him. I think there are few people who knew him well - perhaps nobody knew him at all.

He was an enormous talent and it seems to me that he had nobody on his side to protect him. Once he decided to play with plastic surgery, skin bleaching and other forms of mutilation, I think he started down a road of self-destruction that had only one outcome. Nobody protected him from this self-destructive behavior, whether one is talking about what he did to himself physically, or how he spent like a billionaire. He must have felt very lonely despite all these "friends" who tried to help him.

I think this is a story that is not going to go away anytime soon. I think that the results of the coroner are going to be very sad - I think that he knew he was going to die and was reckless with medications and so forth. There will probably be a lot of speculation - and what will be lost is the human spirit of who he really was - something I think no one really ever knew. It's all very sad, but clearly he affected a lot of people, many of whom are devistated by his loss.

I think it's also sad to consider what started his demise - what started the chain of events that led to where we are today. As Rev. Al Sharpton pointed out yesterday, there was a time when MTV would not play Michael Jackson videos. Michael changed music videos and MTV - and perhaps it was around this time that he decided he wanted to look "white," and worse, like Peter Pan. I think the adult mind, the rational man was lost to childish fantasy and there was no "adult" there to protect him. Consider that today Britney Spears' father is her guardian. Where was Michael's guardian? Where was his father Joe? I guess old Joe was paralyzed because in those days it was Michael who was supporting the entire family...

I'm not sure what the lesson is here, but, once a person turns a corner and decides to become self-destructive and under circumstances when there are few real friends and people who can confront and help, then the person ends up on a long road towards the end. In this case, the final straw seems to be, in my mind, these impossible shows that he knew he could not perform for lack of mental, physical or emotional readiness. Yet, everyone claims he was excited and some 100,000 tickets were even marketd and sold as recently as yesterday. A lot of money was made, a lot of people will never get a refund, and a young man is dead.

I saw Michael Jackson at Dodger Stadium on the Victory Tour in the Spring of 1985. It was an amazing show. He was an amazing entertainer. I hope he rests in peace.