Don’t stop ‘til you get enough

As more than a few people have said in the last few days, we’re starting to enter the realm of Michael Jackson information overload …

And yet I can’t. stop. reading.

And watching.

I’ve probably driven Kates crazy with all the Michael Jackson tributes, documentaries and video specials I’ve loaded on our DVR the last few days …

The latest material to fascinate me is the sudden and gargantuan draw to his music. Not that there wasn’t a huge draw to his music already, but to see him grab top-spots on Billboard years after those records were released is huge. … Yesterday my cohort Joe mentioned he got a tweet from the local library reminding the public that they can get Michael Jackson music there for free. Yeah, with the run on his music, most people won’t be able to get their fingers on those library copies for months.

Here’s some more of the stuff I’ve enjoyed reading over the last several days …

From the Washington Post: A Man Whose Talents Far Outweighed His Eccentricities ...

A funny sort of thing happened Thursday when word of Michael Jackson's death started to sink into our cultural psyche: We weren't sure how to react … is it possible to honor one while continuing to back away from the other? To reconcile the very real disdain for the man while at the same time recognizing his music as every bit worthy of praise?

And by admitting that we appreciate the art of someone we find morally objectionable, are we selling out our own ethics?

A tribute from The New York Times …

Michael Jackson made the sweetness of that high voice guttural and demanding. He showed that it was rooted in his feet and hips and hands. He re-sexualized it in a way that you could never really mistake — then — as androgynous.

From The New York Times: His Moves Expressed as Much as His Music ...

Michael Jackson will be remembered as a great and widely imitated mover. Other things about him will be remembered too, but it is amazing how many of them are apparent in his dancing. … But to watch “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” (1979) is to be amazed at just how much charm the 20-year-old Mr. Jackson had, and the charm gets more infectious as the dancing proceeds.

From the Washington Post: The Dancing: That Precision, Grace -- and a Wicked Groove ...

The dance style that Jackson honed into a corporeal autograph is one not of physical or emotional release -- it's not flashy or overblown. It's a statement of fierce, obsessive control, and in the way only the best of the best can do it, he made it look supremely easy.

From the Washington Post: The Man in Our Mirror ...

He was Elvis with an androgynous tenor, Sinatra with a moonwalk and killer pop instincts, Prince with more mass appeal, John, Paul, George and Ringo with high-water pants, white socks and a single, sequined glove.

From the Boston Globe: A persona that floated above reality ...

As Jackson’s fame reached stratospheric levels, all the grit, the abrasions, and the dragging weight we associate with real life seemed flushed out of him, and he attained a kind of hovering, artificial aura that chimed with his much-invoked Peter Pan syndrome, his stupendous revenues, and the impression he gave of levitating even above the law.

From the Washington Post: Thread of pain ran through Jackson's career ...

It was the last day of shooting for a Pepsi commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1984, and the only hiccup had been an argument between Michael Jackson and an ad executive over whether the young superstar would take off his sunglasses.

"Then," as the executive later wrote, "we set his hair on fire."

From the Boston Globe: Even when the hits stopped, his influence remained ...

In the days since Jackson’s death, music fans have debated his relevance. While it’s true that it’d been nearly a decade since he threatened the top 10, and even longer since a song of his was justified in being there, Jackson’s sound has never left the charts.

Finally, Paste resurrected its terrific tribute to Jackson from last year: What I Miss About Michael Jackson. It’s so good I couldn’t come up with a few lines to pull out.

Cagle's, of course, also has some excellent tributory cartoons. The first one you see is arguably my fave.