Every summer since 2009, Michael has been celebrated twice: on the day that he passed on and on the day that he was born. June 25th is a day of remembrance of what Michael was about and stood for. August 29th is a day that we celebrate his life and his achievements. When I started this blog in September 2011, I wanted to make this blog more of a tribute to Michael and not about exposing Michael. This blog entry will be different because it will not deal with my opinions about the Estate/Sony BMG, his family or what happened to Michael. This entry will be about celebrating his life. I will post pictures, videos, stories and articles about Michael. I will do this every August until I have no interest in doing this blog anymore. I hope that this entry reminds the public that Michael lived his life to the fullest.
Michael in Pictures
Michael has always taken wonderful pictures and for the most part he was very photogenic. I love pictures of Michael and I love the ones that he did with his family and true friends. I am going to post a series of pictures from my personal harddrive that includes Michael with his parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, children, cousins and friends.
Michael with his parents -
Michael was a lot like his mother and father, Joe and Katherine. We all know Michael's issues with his father but he realized that his father was only trying to make sure that he and his siblings have a better life. In an special that Michael did in 2003, he called his father a "genius". At times, we have to accept the fact that Michael loved his father and when he was in trouble, he called his father for his help and he father came there to help his son. There are no other words other than wonderful is how I describe Michael's relationship with his mother, Katherine. After all of the ups and downs that Katherine had with Michael, she did everything she could for her son. The fact that Michael, regardless of any valid or invalid will out there, wanted his mother to take care of his three children tells me that he had so much love and respect for his mother.
Michael and his siblings -
Michael in Pictures
Michael has always taken wonderful pictures and for the most part he was very photogenic. I love pictures of Michael and I love the ones that he did with his family and true friends. I am going to post a series of pictures from my personal harddrive that includes Michael with his parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, children, cousins and friends.
Michael with his parents -
Pictures of Michael with his parents in 1992.
Michael was a lot like his mother and father, Joe and Katherine. We all know Michael's issues with his father but he realized that his father was only trying to make sure that he and his siblings have a better life. In an special that Michael did in 2003, he called his father a "genius". At times, we have to accept the fact that Michael loved his father and when he was in trouble, he called his father for his help and he father came there to help his son. There are no other words other than wonderful is how I describe Michael's relationship with his mother, Katherine. After all of the ups and downs that Katherine had with Michael, she did everything she could for her son. The fact that Michael, regardless of any valid or invalid will out there, wanted his mother to take care of his three children tells me that he had so much love and respect for his mother.
Michael and his siblings -
Various pictures of Michael with his siblings.
Michael had a bond with his siblings that many people would not understand. There have been times that his siblings have hurt him or betrayed him. Even right now, when the chaos occurred in regards to the validity of the will came into question, the siblings seemed to be at odds with one another. The Jacksons have been dealing with their drama with the public not because they wanted to but because they are a public family. In the mist of the insanity, the siblings do have love for one another. Each relative had their own special relationship with Michael but to me, Michael had an special bond with Randy and Janet. He was their older sibling and they looked up to him. Unlike Jermaine, who Michael idolized, he betrayed him by writing and singing the dissed song "Word to the Badd" and LaToya, who hurt him when she stated on a live press conference and on the Today show in 1993 that her brother abused children, Randy and Janet stood by Michael. I know about what Janet stated to Oprah in 2009 in regards to Michael's drug use and Randy supposedly stealing from Michael, which he later denied. I feel that those mishaps do not diminished their true loyalty towards their brother. It was proven in July when Randy and Janet, along with Rebbie, stood by their true claim that Michael's will was invalid. The fact that Randy had to endure the bashing from fans, groupies and Estate executor mouthpieces and Janet nearly risking her successful music career and harassment from tmz.com along with Paris' disrespectful comments about her, they both stood by their commitment to their brother that he did not die in vain. In the future, I hope the rest of his siblings start to take a risk or a few risks and give back to their brother who gave them so much.
Michael and his nieces and nephews -
Various pictures of Michael with his nieces and nephews.
Before Michael had children, he had a lot of nieces and nephews who he loved as his own. Most of them are grown and doing their own thing. For the most part, none of them of betrayed him like their parents/aunts and uncles have. In recent years, his nieces and nephews have had more exposure thanks to social networking sites like facebook, twitter, youtube, ustream and tumblr. I will do a blog post on his nieces, nephews and his children in a more in depth approach. In recent events, it seems that TJ, the son of Tito, felt that disobeying his grandmother by becoming co-guardian to his cousins, Prince, Paris and Blanket after he was told not to as a way to help the children. However, this post is not about TJ's mishaps, rather this post is about his beloved uncle. I hope a year from now, TJ obeys the orders that his grandmother and his other elders gave him.
Michael and his children -
Michael with his children.
Oh, the days when they were innocent, loving and respected their elders. Michael's children, his pride and joy. I remembered when Michael became a father and I was so happy for him. I never knew that three years after his death that his children have turned into spoiled children who had no issue bashing their elders on twitter and to the ever nasty #MJFam clique. However, this post will not be about what Michael's children have become. This is a tribute to their amazing father who raised his children to treat others with respect and kindness. I hope a year from now, the children have apologize to their elders and vow to never act a fool on twitter ever again.
Michael and his cousins -
Various pictures of Michael with his cousins.
Not only did Michael had a bond with his siblings, he also had a bond with his cousins, some of whom he raised. At one point, Michael's younger cousins worked for him from 2003-2005. Not much is known about Michael's relationship with his cousins, but his cousins have made it known that they had a very good relationship with Michael. There is one cousin of Michael's that is currently causing problems in the family. His name is Trent and I have mentioned him a few times on this blog. I am not a fan of Trent and because he is Michael's family and this is a tribute post to Michael, I am not going to throw shade at him. I will state that I hope that a year from now, Trent gets a real job and let Michael's other relatives with a brain (I hope) handle Katherine and the children. I will do an in depth blog on his cousins in the near future.
Michael and his (real) friends -
Various pictures of Michael with his (real) friends.
It is obvious that I did not include the public "friends" of Michael's like the late Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross, Quincy Jones and etc. I have various reasons why I did not include them. I discussed my opinions about Quincy and Diana on my previous posts. I will do an post on Michael's friendships with Elizabeth and Liza in the near future. As for the ones that I added on here, I like their friendship that they had with Michael. They did not use him for their own gain or manipulate him to get him away from his family.
Michael in Film/Video
Michael loved the camera and the camera loved Michael. It was a match made in heaven. Michael was an avid recorder and would record videos and audios of people that meant the world to him. Michael also used video to show case his music for the world to see. These videos were known as short films. Film, television and video played a huge part in Michael's career. There was not a time that Michael was not on television and thanks to youtube.com all of the video about Michael's life and career are just a click of a mouse or a tab on a Ipad, tablet, Iphone or Andriod. Here are a list of a few of the many videos of the greatest entertainer of all time.
Video of Michael talking about his father.
In 2003, I remember watching the special on Michael called Private Home Movies in which Michael showed the world his personal videos. I loved this special because this was something that Michael should have been doing throughout his career. I was a bit surprise that Michael talked about celebrating a day for his father. We know the stories about Michael's relationship with his father but we forget sometimes that Michael loved his father very much. This video proves that Michael had a lot of respect and love for his father.
Michael beatboxing in 1995.
That is amazing. Everytime I see this video, I am in total awe. To actually see Michael beatbox and do it so well is amazing. Not a lot of musicians can do that and do it well. Beatboxing is usually done in hip hop/rap music and usually pop artists do not do beatbox. Michael truly was an artist that was not limited to just one genre.
Michael back in Gary, Indiana in 2003.
Two years ago, footage was posted on youtube of Michael in his hometown of Gary, Indiana being honored with the key to the city, visiting the home he grew up in and going to a high school to get an honorary high school diploma. The footage shows a rare look into how Michael operates as well as how funny and charming Michael was with his staff and relatives.
Michael and Janet at the 1993 Grammys.
I remember watching this and thinking that this was the first time I have ever seen Michael and Janet together in the same room. I love this video because it really showed the close relationship that Michael had with his sister. Also, the best person to honor Michael is a relative that truly cared about him. Michael's children honored him 17 years later in the 2010 Grammy when the Grammys decided to give Michael an Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.
Michael tribute in the 2010 Grammy Awards.
The tributes from his family were sweet, loving and reminded all of us that Michael left an amazing impact in their lives. Hopefully, his children did not forget the impact because in recent weeks, they seemed to act like they were not raised by him but that is a different subject altogether.
Michael meets one of his fans.
No matter how much I do not like the MJ fan community, Michael loved his fans like they were his own family. That could be a good thing or a horrible thing to state that your fans are also your family. In Michael's case, his fans are loyal but for the most part, are insane, disturbed and have no limits. However, people tend to forget that his fans are devoted to him and will do practically anything for him. I was not lucky to have met Michael and I will never get over that but I like the fact that Michael has met fans who were respectful towards him. When I saw this footage, I thought it was funny because of the reaction of the fan. That is what Michael does to his fans. He makes them feel like they are important and that they are worth something in this world.
A collection of Michael's dance moves. He was the best.
If you ever wanted to watch a collection of dance moves by Michael, you would have to go on youtube and search. Michael is the best dancer that I have ever seen in my life. I have never seen someone dance the way Michael danced. His dancing was everything and some good chicken wings! Go ahead, Michael.
Michael in the American Music Award in 1989.
This video is funny because Michael asked Eddie Murphy to adjust his microphone and Eddie joked stated that "he telling me to do this like I was working for him". That is so funny. Michael did not do a lot of award show appearances in his career but the ones that he did do are always memorable.
Video of Michael with his children.
This is a video of Michael with his children Prince and Paris when they were sweet and innocent. Things are very different now. I will leave it at that.
Michael rehearses for his Dangerous tour in 1992.
If you ever wanted to know what it is like to work with Michael on tour, watching the This is It movie and rehearsals of his previous tours is the best way to know. Even the greats have to prepare for their shows.
Michael in Articles
Michael did not do a lot of interviews in his career because of his issues with the ever pathetic media. However, there have been loads of articles, stories and items done of Michael over the years. A lot of the articles done on Michael were negative, defaming and nasty. After Michael's death, the media, most of them, have been somewhat reasonable on Michael. There have been a few media publications that have been fair to Michael and one of those publications was Ebony magazine. I will be posting a series of articles on Michael that I personally scanned that I thought would give the reader an idea of who Michael really was.
Images of stories/articles about Michael.
In closing, I hope that this post reminds the fans and the public of the greatness of Michael and the huge loss that is felt during this time of the year. As a fan, even though August 29th is more of a uplifting day, it is still a day that hurts because Michael is not here anymore. Michael did not celebrate birthdays but I do believe that he saw birthdays as a blessing that God gives someone for making it for one more day. When it comes to the fans, the fans should love Michael more than loving the people behind the artist. At times, we get so emotionally attached to what we believe in that we forget the bigger picture: Michael. What matters is what he stated an not some person who did his make up, runs his Estate or claiming to be a friend states. When fans all over the world celebrate Michael's birthday, I hope they remember that Michael also supported the truth and that no matter what we do in our lives, the truth will always be there and it will never go away.
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References:
References:
Videos:
All videos came from youtube.com
Pictures:
The pictures of Michael and others and the scanning of the articles came from my personal harddrive.
