He's out of our lives....

On my recent trip to London, en route to the 02, I was discussing the forthcoming Michael Jackson tour dates with the driver. Both of us were under the impression that there was no possible way that they were going to happen, after all the man had seemed so fragile during his infrequent appearances over the past ten years, how could he possibly manage to perform fifty tour dates at the venue?

Last night it became apparent he would never perform those dates, nor any other. The world had lost the 'King of Pop' to cardiac arrest, at the relatively young age of fifty. All of a sudden tributes from the great and the good started to flood in, people who as the Rev. Al Sharpton pointed out so wisely had little or nothing to do with Michael in recent years.

Michael Jackson, like Diana before him, was an icon for our age. We have grown up listening to his music, watching his amazing dancing and hearing lurid tales of his private exploits reported in the media. Obviously the tabloids will be full of stories now for months, even years to come. I'm sure all sorts of 'confidantes' will come flooding out of the woodwork now with their tales to tell. Michael Jackson was as much a best-selling brand as an entertainer and you could guarantee that when a story broke about him sales of magazines reporting such stories would sky-rocket, as I'm sure they are doing right now. In an age of media sleaze I wonder how long it will be before someone takes photos of his body and they are leaked to the press? Believe me, I hope that nothing so abhorrent happens, but in these celebrity driven times I have no doubt that someone will make an attempt to do just that.

If recent reports are to be believed Michael was in dire financial difficulties, hence the tour dates. Now that he has died and every radio station and TV network will be paying tribute to him the royalties will come flooding in; how ironic that these will probably ease the debts that he was alleged to have accumulated during his life.

Brace yourselves for a media onslaught of Michael, special commemorative magazine and newspaper editions, all sorts of statues and mass-produced tat that gets promoted at such times (Where's the Franklin Mint when you need them?) We'll be bombarded with books telling the story of the 'real' Michael Jackson. Leeches and parasites who want to cash-in will be touting their tales around all sorts of media corporations ( I'm sure that's already started too) and I will put money on someone purchasing Neverland and turning it into the Graceland for our age. It wouldn't surprise me if like Elvis, Micheal is laid to rest at his home...but that's just pure speculation on my part.

My own feelings about Michael? I think he was wiser and more media savvy than his appearance would suggest...he certainly knew how to play the game, and play it well. But his behaviour tended toward the eccentric which is of course putting it mildly, and let's not forget the many plastic surgeries and his chameleon-like ability to change his natural skin colour.

I was never an ardent fan of 'the man,the myth, the legend' but how could you not love his music? For me, 'Thriller' and 'Bad' were part of the soundtrack to my youth..he was a musical genius, a consummate entertainer, and it's such a shame that his talents were often over-looked in favour of salacious story-telling. Whatever you thought of him, he has left his mark upon popular culture and that will never fade away..his influence has permeated every music video and dance routine in recent years, and what's a wedding reception without some drunken uncle trying, and usually failing miserably, to perform a moonwalk across the dancefloor?

I'd like to think that in death Micheal will finally find the peace he could never achieve in real-life; but that would be a foolish assumption. He will always be an object of curiosity, even more so now that he has died. Get ready for conspiracy theories galore, some saying that he's not even dead and that it was all a ruse to get him out of the spotlight. Well, the spotlight has never shone so bright as it is shining now.

Let's not forget that Michael was father to three children, and it is their welfare that needs to be considered now. However you felt about him, his children have lost the centerpiece to their lives and will need time, privacy and media sympathy to rebuild them. Perhaps now they will be given the opportunity now to experience a 'real' childhood, not one that means wearing masks at every public outing. (Whatever the good intentions that lay behind that particular manoeuvre it's fair to say that most people would agree it was a parenting tactic too far)

I never thought that my prediction of his not performing at the 02 would come to pass in such an extreme way, and I'm sorry for his legion of fans and for his family who are evidently devastated, like anyone would be, by this loss. As I write this Sky News is in full reporting frenzy upon screen and I'm being lambasted by shots of the young Michael, Motown 25 Michael, Moonwalk Michael, and finally the ghost-like caricature that he became in recent years.

But the saddest shot of all is his slender body being loaded onto the helicopter to be taken for post-mortem; covered by a blanket and strapped tightly to the gurney....a body that was once so vibrant and full of life now ended.

I would finish this by saying RIP Michael, but I'm afraid that like in life, peace will sadly evade him....so with that thought in mind, I'll switch to remembering him in the way I like best...and in my minds eye I can see him now, singing 'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller' and blowing us all away by what he did best.