Remembering Michael Jackson: by making sweet, sweet money
OK, so hopefully everybody’s got the “too soon” out of their systems, because boy oh, after having to read a week and a half’s worth of news stories in which some local politician once met Michael Jackson this one time and the Jackson 5 on the muzak in every store and sincere testimonies about how it’s just like a friend dying, I just want to kick everyone’s ass around me and then kick my own ass.
I was born in 1984, the year Jackson won eight Grammys. I know in an intellectual sense that he was enormous, the biggest star ever, all that, but I just can’t muster the same feeling that seems to be affecting people. By the time I knew who Jackson was, he was already in the fourth-rhinoplasty, pet-chimp-having, Neverland-building stage, and soon to enter the accusations-of-pedophilia stage. My memories of him as a kid were mostly kind of sad, along the lines of “Something terrible happened to that guy when he was little.”
I think it’s pretty obvious, at least from the images people have chosen to put on T-shirts and the songs people scream for at dance parties, that everyone wants to remember Jackson as the cute kid from the Jackson 5 or as a young man circa Thriller and Billie Jean.
So people, I guess about 28 and under, who don’t remember Jackson from the Jackson 5 or Thriller because they weren’t alive: If all your nostalgia-type memories of Jackson are of him in his sad, crazy stage, where’s this personal identification coming from? I’m curious! Tell me!
But anyway, let’s get to the awful merch!
So let’s start locally! We’ve got the original Print Liberation shirt, which they were able to put out the day after Jackson’s death:
And then the hideous, hideous replacement shirt, because they evidently got in trouble with Sony for… well, yeah, clearly just taking the cover of Thriller and putting words on it:
Side note: How weird must it be to be the guys at Sony whose job it is to track down unauthorized Jackson memorial T-shirts?
September 11, 2001, I was in high school English class in northern Virginia, in a burb where a looooot of people who work at the Pentagon go to sleep. Therefore, I have seen shirts, posters and all sorts of other merch with an eagle crying, the Statue of Liberty crying, George Washington crying, the figure of Justice crying… I have seen tears poorly photoshopped onto just about every piece of Americana imaginable. And now:
I do not quite understand why this next designer did not realize that this looks as if young MJ has just fellated Papa Smurf, or if he or she did, why this shirt exists. Well, the etsy shop selling this is located in Thailand; maybe they don’t have Smurfs there.
And here we are in Rittenhouse, which is clearly a great place to buy quality art, meeting Perry Milou’s painting “the Elvis Jackson.” Oh god oh god oh god.
Hi, sorry, I just have to show you the accompanying text with this video, which is on the official Perry Milou youtube account:
A CONTEMPORARY YET VISIONARY MASTERWORK BY THE EMERGING POP ARTIST PERRY MILOU DEPICTS A PORTRIAT FUSION OF AMERICAN ICONS ELVIS PRESELY AND MICHAEL JACKSON.
PAINTING IN 1995 AFTER THE MARRIAGE OF JACKSON TO LISA MARIE PRESLEY , MILOU EASILY RECOGNIZED THE INSPIRATION OF PRESLEY LIFE ON HIS OWN.
STATES THE ARTIST; ‘ELVIS GRAB HIS CROTCH FIRST AND GRINDED HIS PELVIS, HIS COSTUMES AND FLARE TRANSCENDING JACKSON IN MANY WAYS, AND JACKSONS TRAGIC DEATH ALMOST SEEMS DESTINED TO LINK HIM TO PRESLEY ALONG WITH MONROE AND DEAN.THE NOW FOUR ICONS COMPLETE AN AMERICAN RUSHMORE TO LIVE ON FOREVER!
OL ON CANVAS 48/ 48 INCHES
Well, I’m actually fairly confident that in the next few years MJ will become a cultural thing like Elvis, with reported sightings in Burger Kings across the land. But I can think of no better way to end this post than “OL ON CANVAS” and this video:
What a Drag
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This past weekend, Gay Pride took over NYC. Marking the 40th anniversary of the riots at Stonewall, where police beat up a group of gay men at bar without a liquor license. The event took place on the same day as Judy Garland’s funeral – a woman who into addition to following the yellow brick road, had a huge gay following.
One of the men, dressed in drag fought back, marking one of the first times that gays resfused to be seen as submissive, but rather chose to fight back. The celebrations this past weekend were a world away from police brutality. The police lined the street on horseback to ensure that no one bothered the gay population that dominated Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood this weekend – more than usual, and the drag queens look gorgeous.
Also this past weekend, BET hosted it’s awards show. A bunch of stars came out for the night, and many paid tribute to Michael jackson. The O’Jays performed a tribute in addition to Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx and Maxwell. I’m glad they performed – even Maxwell who got bad reviews. They put in a better effort than my spin instructor this past weekend who wouldn’t play ANY Michael Jackson. It was just really upsetting. In addition, those on the red carpet at the BET awards looked amazing, including Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Kanye West’s on again off again girlfriend, Amber Rose.
Lastly, this writer at Glamour magazine needs help picking a floppy hat. I got one this past weekend for the beach. I’m super excited to wear it. Apparently picking a hat isn’t usually as easy as my experience.