Arkansas Blog

TMZ is reporting he has died.

Jay Leno must be glad to be off the air today. Olbermann will treat it with contrived solemnity.

Jazzy's right - heart attack.

wow.
same age as my hubby.
very sad on top of FF dying...and yes I wanted her hair when I was young.

I LOVED the Jackson 5 when I was a pre-teen.

I hope someone is stationed outside the house of 70s icon Donny Osmond in case of emergency. This is not a good day for their kind.

What a great way to escape this life............quick.......

unlike the horror DBI and Mag went thru with his much loved mama.

Yeah jazzy....I now know to pick instant death over all other forms of death. Preferably during sex or in your sleep....after sex. My daughter keeps calling from Anaheim breathlessly telling me about another celebrity death. I hope this is all for today. But I am in forever and constant mourning for Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, and Jack Benny. Some deaths you just never get over....

He probably had the best Blue Cross Blue Shield money could buy.. till he missed his last payment.

RIP Michael, you odd musical marvel.... leave your demons here.. we wont know the difference.

Genius. I still listen to his music.

The jokes and snark died today along with Michael Jackson.

40 of his 50 years -- 80% of his days on earth -- were spent delivering electrifying entertainment, breaking worldwide records and leaving, finally, a remarkable legacy from a dedicated talent.

If there's a Heaven, he'll get that childhood he never had, at last.

Here he is at 13, at work.

So long . . . .

Oh, yeah. And Thank You.

But we want the dirt on Michael.

That's to say, the truth, the insight.

Take a look at Bill Wyman's excellent take -- quickly but beautifully written for Salon.

Norma B, thanks for that link. My NYC manager was in on early Motown and used to tell me, "Baby, that kid wasn't brought up right." His talent was pure. He tried so hard to keep it intact in the face of the Beast of Fame, the greed of a music industry that simply doesn't care, coupled with god only knows what sort of childhood abuse he suffered.

Yes, MJ, thank you. Fred Astaire thought you were a genius, and so you were, all that and more.