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Like many fans, those devoted, new and even estranged, I feel compelled to write something in response to some of the less than flattering media coverage of the death of the great Michael Jackson.  First, a confession.  Until Michael’s death yesterday, it had been a long time since I really thought about this man whose music was literally the soundtrack to many of our lives, whose drive and success inspired me and so many of my friends in so many ways, whose voice comforted us when we have felt broken beyond repair, whose dancing and music literally set the world on fire, and whose experience with the range of life’s emotions is yet to be fully matched, expressed, packaged and understood and might never be.

The House of Representatives impressed me this morning with their moment of silence and even the Obama White House was clearly rattled, not knowing whether or not to make an official pronouncement.  I don’t fault them, the news swept the world, and rightly so.  We have lost a wonderful individual, not just a prodigy or what some in the media and the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s department tried to paint as a sideshow.  We lost a person who embodied unhinged sincerity, core friendship, lost innocence, regained humanity and yet whose life was not spared the brutalities of everyday commonality, unholy rumors, power hungry district attorneys and the worst kind of trailer park opportunists.

If anything, all of the photo montages of this genius as a “freak” are ironically easy to digest and it’s exactly what we should all expect from marketing majors.  Yet, for their benefit and for my own catharsis, I’d like to explain the truth behind why the passing of Michael Jackson is such a significant event, and why so many of us will remember exactly where we were when we got the call that Michael was gone.  I for one, have not been able to leave my apartment for more than errands.

When an artist like Michael Joseph Jackson dies, all artists and old souls, those on top of the world, those struggling, and those of us stuck in the middle, sit down and feel a little part of themselves die.  We do this because we know that the most important and rewarding ingredients and gifts that life give us have run their course in a once perfect recipe, and so we are left hungry, heartbroken, angry, in denial and at peace all at once.  It’s a genuine emotion that is free to all and which we can all claim as our own, with one tear or many.

True artists like Michael Joseph Jackson don’t just live and perform for themselves, they actually, and I know it’s hard to believe nowadays,  do it to to make the world a better place.  If that sounds too naive to you I suggest you take a look at the content and context that went into Michael Jackson’s body of work.

While not as profitable, most significantly, Michael wrote and produced songs like “We Are The World”, “Man In The Mirror”, “Black & White” and an endless stream of human conscious driven jewels that we will be listening to the rest of our lives.  What kind of person puts together a body of work like this?  A weirdo?  Sure, if that’s what you want to call it.  In that case, I happen to love “weirdo’s”

Michael may have been the undisputed King of Pop, but his music wasn’t about “being popular”, it didn’t rely on cheap lyrics, tried and tired melodies and agent-driven publicity schemes.  Michael was hungry for eyes and ears, but one thing can’t be denied… he built his own image, he did things his own way, and even in death, he did what he did through his music, put us into a state of shock.

I was lucky to see Michael Jackson in person a number of times, all of which are burned into my memory.  God, am I dating myself already?  Well, I’m not ashamed to admit I had the Michael Jackson doll, mimicked his dancing at the family thanksgiving, and danced with my sister to entire records all night long.  One of my fondest childhood memories was when “Thriller” first came out (and it scared the you know what out of me) and my sister would force me to watch it with her on MTV.  She did it to both torture me and entertain herself.

Let’s face it, we were all fans, big fans at one point, at least everybody in my family.  Of all the concerts I’ve been to, the 1984 Victory tour was perhaps the most entertaining spectacle I’d ever been to and I’ve seen everybody from Sinatra to Stevie Wonder.  I don’t think even one person in Dodger Stadium sat down the entire time.  They weren’t just standing so they could see above the shoulders of the people in front of them… they were all dancing.   It felt like ever single person in LA was there.  A couple years later I saw him at the Beverly Hills Hotel because my family lived across the street.  It was surreal.  I may have ran into him a couple times after that.  I grew up in Beverly Hills and have never been star struck, but with Michael Jackson, it was like… wow that guy is like Quincy Jones… but he can dance!

Interestingly enough, my sister, who has a very selective musical taste, limited to pretty much Jimmy Buffet and Michael, has a birthday today.  She’s in Costa Rica and I haven’t been able to get in touch.  I’m hoping she’ll read this because it’s partly for her.  When Laurie was younger she went to school with Michael and felt first hand the feeling so many of us had when we first saw him.  Michael was electric, electric and real, troubled and talented, and most of all a real person.  A genuine person that you liked the moment you saw him.

As to the accusations and innuendo of child molestation, I’ll admit that during the last trial, I did think the worst of Michael.  When such heavy charges are leveled against any individual, it’s almost impossible to survive the fallout, even if you’re 100% innocent.  As a person who has been close to those who have suffered abuse, I can’t take this lightly, but after giving it a lot of thought, I’m inclined to think that these charges were likely entirely false and I’ll tell you exactly why.  In Kern County in the 1980’s, a pig headed D.A. named Ed Jangles put dozens of innocent people in jail for many years, almost all of whom have had their convictions thrown out.  Having lived in Central California for four or five years, I’m not entirely surprised by overzealous, power hungry D.A.’s and law enforcement.  As progressive as we are, in many communities between L.A. and San Francisco, we still suffer from a less than sufficiently educated leadership as incapable of fostering and executing justice  as some of our Southern States.  The fact is that Michael was exonerated, found not guilty, and that should be the end of it.  I’m not shaken by the fact that he paid millions of dollars out in civil litigation, it’s almost a given that the only people you can sue for money, are people who have money.

Michael Jackson wasn’t just a pillar, a captain or king of popular culture.  Michael Jackson WAS pop culture.  But Michael Jackson was pop culture before pop culture was a vehicle for empty materialism.  Michael was the kind of guy you wanted as your brother, if you were a girl, your boyfriend, or well, for my gay friends, that too.  To people like my Mother he was like a son, and to Lisa Marie and Debbie Rowe, a husband.

Before I put this all behind me and begin to let go, I’d like to make an observation inspired by the title of this blog posting which is derived from a proverb in the Bible.  It warns those living in glass houses to not cast stones.  Many people around the world criticized Michael Joseph Jackson because of his behavior, his relationships with women who we do not know, about whose relationships we do not know anything about, and his unconventional lifestyle and family choices.  I just want to know where anybody, living, dead, or soon to be dead like Mike and every single one us, gets off calling a man who devoted his life to bringing people together anything but a brother, a friend, a hero, a genius, or an example of excellence and the abilities of mankind.

I have yet to see one reporter, one talking head, one newspaper columnist or one paparazzi who made this man’s life hell to give any recognizable fraction of the contribution that Michael did to the world.  The least they can do now is recognize that without him, they would be less than the nothing they are now.

So to CNN, FOX NEWS, MSNBC and EXTRA I say, in Michael’s words did…

-Rafael Moscatel