Memories

I've been thinking a lot about the death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett and how they were such a big part of periods of my life. When I was in my early twenties I wanted to look like Farrah Fawcett; I wanted her hair, and most of all her teeth and smile. I even tried a couple of shag haircuts but I never got that "look". I was always sad that Farrah never truly became a great actress. I love her in Burning Bed and the other movie were she trapped her rapist. She was fantastic in those movies, but after that she was just more of a Hollywood persona. What seemed to be all over the news was showing up "high" on Letterman or one of the other late night shows. To me, it was just a sign of the times and how everyone seemed to be self medicating to cope with their lives and the world in general.

As for Michael Jackson, I have always loved his music and it was so special to me. During certain difficult times in my life, I always had his music. I loved "Rock With You" and it was such great dancing music. I secretly tried cool dance moves but I never quite mastered any of them. I played the album "Off the Wall" over and over again in 1980. During a very difficult period of my life, in 1984, I met Bruce. We were both struggling, in our early 30's and we were neighbors on Vashon Island, Washington. We had very little money; we were both divorcing and starting over and we had this incredible friendship. Thank God we had humor in our lives because we both had really wacky soon to be ex spouses. We both loved music and since we were short on money we spent a lot of evenings listening to lots and lots of music and drinking wine (of course). He had been a DJ in and after college and had an amazing record collection and one of the things his ex-wife didn't take from him was his sound system. Michael Jackson's Thriller had just come out and we loved it. It was also the beginning of VCR tapes and I think we saw him dance on either a tape or on a tv special. During that time we also loved Cindy Lauper, Madonna, Kenny Loggins, Hall and Oates, Stevey Wonder, Quincy Jones "The Dude" and many, many other great artists of the 60s, 70s and 80's. We also went through a Temps and Tops phase. Today I have all of this music on my IPOD along with the BeGees and my favorite disco artists, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer. A year later, We Are the World came out and we played it on that Sunday morning with everyone else in the world.

Our relationship evolved and in a year or so we moved into Seattle and got real jobs, eventually got married and I guess you could say we became more main stream, but not quite. We have always lived a kind of alternative lifestyle. We lived on a boat and a houseboat, certainly not the norm. Music remained a huge part of our lives and still is today. In fact last night we listened to an amazing DVD of David Gilmore, founder of Pink Floyd doing music with Crosby and Nash.

Back to Michael Jackson, I'm really sad that he's gone and I hope in my heart that he didn't do the things he was accused of with little children. I think he was a product of abuse and it ruined him psychologically. He was a genius and I feel so sad that he couldn't find happiness and I think a lot of people wanted a lot from him. I hope he's in a better place. His music will always be with us in a big way. Rest in Peace Michael.