Thursday afternoon, around noon, I was doing an advance press interview with Modern Painter magazine about the exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll, which opens here at the Brooklyn Museum in October. One of the questions the writer asked me was, “What challenges do you face in designing an exhibition of rock and roll photographs for an art museum?” My immediate responses were: “Since it’s the first major exhibition about rock and roll photographs in America, we are including an encyclopedic 175 works and the challenge will be how I can install so many works, and still give each one its own space.” . . . as well as, “It’s not often that I’m installing images such as Johnny Cash giving the finger, and an equally provocative image of Courtney Love, and how do you present these works, which overtly say rock and roll, but might offensive to some museum patrons?”
Michael Jackson, 1999. (printed 2000). Photograph by Albert Watson.
Well today, it’s a different world in Rock and Roll. Michael Jackson died. We have a huge 8′ x 6′ portrait of Michael Jackson in the show, by the world renown photographer Albert Watson. Before, my mind was on “Where should we put the 8 photographs of Elvis from 1956?” . . . and “Where can we fit the 6 panel lenticular photograph of Jimi Hendricks?” Today. . . my thought is, “In what special place can we put our great American artist Michael Jackson?”
In the last several days, I’ve had dozens of conversations about Michael and his music and dancing. It seems everyone has a story of where they were and what happened when they were listening to his songs. A similar thing happened late in 2007, when Michael Jackson came to the Brooklyn Museum for an Ebony magazine photo shoot to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Thriller. I’ve never seen such giddy, smiley people before . . . all wondering if they were going to catch a glimpse of Michael . . . and all saying how much they just LOVED THRILLER!
What’s your story?
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Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
Well, my “relationship” with Michael might be similar to someone born in the early 90s. Lots of people look at me and say things like , “damn, you weren’t even around for the real Michael!” how can you even relate to him as an artist if he was before your time?
For me, it was about being five years old watching my mother dance to thriller in the kitchen, even though she didn’t know English. It was about my father’s old records stacked neatly in a corner of the living room at our small apartment in the Bronx. I hear Michael and I reminisce on my Childhood because that’s all my parents played, and he was just as much of a presence in my home as my brothers and sisters. My father was a DJ when I was a child, so music was always blasting out the windows. It seemed like growing up I couldn’t escape Michael, not that I wanted to, anyway.
I ran into an elderly woman on the train the other day, who carried a whole bunch of old records with her. I asked if she had any Michael Jackson records and she showed me Off The Wall. I bought it for 5$… and it feels like I bought a piece of time back.
http://twitpic.com/show/thumb/8uthn.jpg
Here’s the correct link so you won’t have to save it to your computer..
http://i42.tinypic.com/xd6v6w.jpg
Enjoy!
That’s a great story, Naiomy… over the weekend I was in Spain staying at a youth hostel and they were playing MJ non-stop. I kind of thought, “wow, everyone in here is like 20, from all different countries and totally rockin’ out to MJ” – it floored me how he had resonated with people of everywhere of all generations. Pretty cool to see that in action just days ago!
I think its just exploding! When I’m commuting home from work, there is usually a group of teens breakdancing to “Don’t Stop til You Get Enough” in my subway station . . . trying to make few bucks. There’s usually a dozen or so people watching . . . well last night, same song, same teens, and there were easily over 100 people watching and cheering . . . Michael’s not going to stop, even in death!
The memory I have of Micheal Jackson’s Rockin Robin song was listening to it in my girl friends basement. We were about 10 years old. We played it over and over again on her record player. Micheal, you are missed!
I was about 13 or 14, living in a small city in Ecuador. There were few TV channels and no cable. One day, I remember being watching some program, when the signal went off. It was not unusual, we had and air antenna and sometimes the wind will knock off the connection. But this time, it was something different. Suddenly, in the screen there were images and music started coming out of the speaker. I watched and watched and could not understand what was happening. It was a man who was dancing and beneath his feet the squares in a road were becoming full of light.
It was of course Billie Jean. After it finished, the screen was again empty and then the normal program returned as if nothing had happened.
Nevertheless, the details of the video remained etched in my mind. I did not know it was a musical video – I had never watched any before – and did not know it was Michael Jackson – never having heard him before. I did not speak English so I could not understand what was the song about. But I could never forget. So many years later, the moment is still with me and its magic remains unchanged.
My memories of Michael are many. In the days since his passing, I’ve had so much time to reflect on how his beautiful presence touched my life in myriad ways- moving me to dance, sing, shout, cry and CHANGE. More than anything, I remember my family and I watching his video premiers with rapt attention, my friends and I having anxiously anticipated the event for weeks. ” As an adult, i saw that same awe on my 6 yr. old god-son’s face the first time i let him watch the “Michael Jackson’s Greatest Hits” DVD. I was always struck by the impact he had on people and now that he’s gone- i see that the love so many have had for him remains. Mine does. And I trust that God took him, at this precise time in history, for a greater reason than I can comprehend. My love to his family, friends and fans who, like me, are celebrating his life in spite of our grief.
For most of my community, the Motown 25th Anniversary was the highlight of my Michael Jackson experience despite having been a fan since coming to the USA in 1978. I cried when I saw him moonwalked on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special and I am still crying for him but this time it’s from a place of joy. Michael is at peace he finally made it to Neverland. May he finally find peace.
Manila Hotel’s former PR officer Gwen Cariño writes about her close encounter with hotel guest Michael Jackson in December 1996:
“When I was a PR officer at Manila Hotel, I was assigned to head the annual Orphan’s Christmas Party where 300 children from different orphanages around Metro Manila were treated to a day of fun and surprises. It was one of the biggest projects on my plate and it was such a challenge to focus on work the day before the big event, knowing Michael Jackson was billeted in the hotel.
Two nights before, I had been fortunate to be part of his welcome line at the hotel lobby together with the rest of the PR and sales staff but was content enough to see him walk by.
The day before, a guy claiming to be Michael Jackson’s aide from Mamarao Productions came to the office. I couldn’t recall his name but he looked for the ‘person in charge’ and said his boss had read the announcement about the event in the Dear Guest flyers we had circulated to all the rooms a week before. Michael wanted to know how he could help. His aide went up to the Penthouse and down to the PR office several times after we gave our suggestions.
Michael offered to fill up the 300 loot bags with goodies and toys, candies and chocolates. But after getting close to 50 sponsors, it was actually a problem for us to dispose of everything.
So I thought hard…how can the King of Pop meaningfully join the affair? I couldn’t possibly have him be with the kids in the palayok game or the pabitin as he might end up being mobbed! And since the annual event was really all about giving, I mustered all my courage and told the Mamarao guy that the best thing I could think of was for Michael to literally be present to help distribute the loot bags, sign autographs and pose with the children for photos. ‘Wow, that may not be easy. You’re talking about handing goodie bags to 300 children and I can just imagine the chaos. We’ll see, Ms. Jacinto. I’ll get back to you,’ he said.
Lunch break came and it was the most hurried one I ever took in my entire life. It wasn’t until after 5 p.m. that Michael‘s aide came back and said, ‘Michael is more than happy to do whatever you suggest. How do we go about it tomorrow?’ I wanted to scream. I had to calm myself and regain composure as the Lizzie Maguire in me said, ‘Get real, get back into focus.’
We agreed that Michael would join after the games, musical program and snacks, and at the last part to give out the loot bags. My colleague Annette Africano and boss Dulce Agnir requested for additional security around the garden and the stage area as this was where we decided to distribute the gifts. We made sure the children would form an orderly line.
Then the moment arrived. It was at the Champagne Gardens on Dec. 7, 1996. I was surprised to see him walking towards us, guided by his aide. Michael came up to me as I had to brief him.
‘Hi, how are you? Thanks so much for letting me in, I know I’m early cause I didn’t want to miss the program.’ I said, ‘Are you kidding? Thanks so much for volunteering! Here’s what Michael, why don’t you just sit here and watch the musical numbers before we get into the gift giving. I will have to tweak the program a bit.’ He replied, ‘Sure, anything you say… (pausing to look at my name tag) Gwen!’ I was stunned at how incredibly sweet and modest he was. And in my mind it was, ‘Oh my God, this is really happening!’
Amazing how he patiently sat through the whole program. Carol Banawa, then an Ang TV mainstay couldn’t believe Michael Jackson was watching her perform. She had her red blouse signed by him right after her number. Then followed Stefano Mori’s dance number. Later, his back up singers and dancers came up on stage followed by select kids from different orphanages who danced to the beat of Billie Jean. Oh, the smile on Michael’s face was just amazing.
Then we announced that Michael will be distributing gifts on stage. I explained to him that there’s a loot bag for the younger kids and another for the older ones and he nodded. The thrill and excitement he gave those children was incredibly touching. It was in between the gift bag distribution that I caught a glimpse of MJ, not as a performer but as a person.
It was one in the afternoon. Santa Claus (David Endriga, a friend of fellow PR officer Francis Capistrano) was with us. The heat was scourging and I was worried that Michael felt so hot with his black long-sleeved signature attire and hat.
‘Are you alright Michael? We can let you take a break,’ I asked. He said, ‘I’m cool Gwen. Just imagine how Santa feels inside his velvet suit and beard. We’ll be fine.’ I never heard him complain or say a word about how hot it was or how long the line was. He had the most beautiful manners. He didn’t even ask for a drink or a towel to wipe his sweat but one of our banquet staff made sure he got a glass of fresh orange juice.
An hour passed and we were halfway through gift-giving when we noticed that the garden was getting filled up. Suddenly, there were people from media, politicians, officials and hotel guests including those in a wedding reception at the nearby Champagne Room who deserted the newly-weds just to get a glimpse of the King of Pop.
‘Oh oh, this isn’t supposed to be, I’m so sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s all right, we’ll get through it,’ Michael said smiling.
As we finished giving out the last loot bag to an 11-year-old orphan, a new line of more kids and adults formed. Michael’s bodyguard, Wayne, said. ‘We can leave now.’
Michael replied calmly, ‘We can’t leave when there are still people in line. It’s Christmas, dude.’ I felt my heart beat faster and the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood up. He wasn’t just the most electrifying performer, but the most generous person.
One of the most memorable moments was when a lady came up to him for an autograph. Laughing and holding his tummy, he said ‘Hey Gwen, you’ve gotta check this out.’ He whispered, ‘It’s a blank check. The lady is making me sign on a blank check.’ We laughed hard and little did we know that it wasn’t even half of the comedy. He later showed me and Wayne other stuff people would use or pick up on the ground when they couldn’t find paper for him to sign on. One lady made him sign at the back of her elegant, designer Filipiniana gown. One teenager came up to him holding a dead leaf and another one, a popped balloon. Imagine how our laughter ballooned as well.
It was an amazing, genuine experience. At one point he asked if I was going to catch his History concert and I said ‘tomorrow night.’ ‘Oh, you’ll have a blast!’ Michael told me. At this point he became concerned about the stage as adults outnumbered the kids. His face had nervousness written all over it but he still didn’t complain. He tapped the wooden floor with his foot several times making sure it was sturdy enough not to fall apart. ‘I’ve experienced the stage collapse and I just want to make sure we’re all safe here,’ he explained.
Half of me wanted the line to finish because we were literally melting and worried about our safety, but half of me didn’t, knowing that once the line ended, Michael will leave.
At some point it did end. I managed to get an autograph for my sisters and me before our general manager, Clem Pablo, requested him to sing Give Love on Christmas Day. Cesar Sarino, one of the hotel’s officials, addressed his thank you note to the King of Pop. Then I saw his guards and aides whisking Michael off stage. I said in my mind, ‘Oh man, I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye.’
Suddenly, I saw Michael return on stage and say, ‘Thanks so much to you and your team, Gwen.. This really means a lot.’
Then he held me beside him and said, ‘I’ll see you at the concert.’
As Michael Jackson is laid to rest and returned to pristine condition in the afterlife, these two incredible acts of the King of Pop — volunteering for charity and unselfishly spending time with the less fortunate, will forever be the way I will remember this man.”
I rember Michael when I saw him in L.A. one time he was in back of a big black car and you could see him looking out he looked sad. I wonder if he cd even drive a car himself. I need a pan firend.
Michael Jackson?
Is he the child star who lived w.a.a.a.y too long? Peaked at 9?
Hmm…..
I remember watching the Motown 25 TV special back in the 80′s. I was a little girl and when I saw Michael Jackson perform the moonwalk I turned to my mother and said ” Mommy he can fly”.
A more recent memory. Last month my husband’s son and his wife visited. I have really been mourning his death and still not over it and from what I tell, apparently, I will never be over it.
My husband had bought me a poster of Michael performing during one of his concerts and I had propped it on a stack of DVDs until I decide where to hang it. The couple brought their 3 children.
The 3 year old sees the picture and starts excitedly exclaiming to his older brother. “Michael Jackson!” “Michael Jackson!”
A 3 year old knows who Michael Jackson is.
Like Michael, I was a child labor since I was 13. Music from radio was so important to me, it accompanied me passing the long boring hours daily in a factory with other adults. After his ABC, Got To Be There, then came Ben, I remembered vividly that I told myself, with this angelic voice he would become a super star later.
I was right! Thank you Michael Jackson be part of my girlhood memories.
When I was 12 I saw Michael’s Moonwalker and I was immediately attracted by his great smile and flashy outfits. I was glad to find a role model who was bold and dynamic as a performer, but also sweet and gentle. I liked that he wore make up and strayed far from the standards our rigid society deems normal. I learned from Michael that you didn’t have to grow to become a typical macho man, but sensitive and nurturing with a childlike wonderment and imagination. I looked up to Michael since then and followed his career closely. I was never turned off by his “eccentricities” because they made him exciting and unique. I knew in my heart that the molestations were false accusations. Michael was a beacon of light in my life and his music and persona helped me through the tough years growing up. I will always LOVE Michael Jackson.