How we honored Michael Jackson…
Flashdance, a monthly dance-party-in-public-places, here in San Francisco, decided to hold an honorary dance in memory of Michael Jackson the day after his passing. Deep Jawa, Flashdance's founder and host is a major fan.
As evening fell, he set up shop at the south end of Justin Herman Plaza , twittered his coordinates and started the music playing.
I showed a little after 9 in my best approximation of a Michael Jackson outfit.
Unexpectedly ran into my friend Heather. Wherein we danced. Because what else can one do to remember a wing-footed wonder like Michael Jackson?
It seems, at least in this country, that white folk mourn the dead with blinked-back tears and bitten lips, black folk mourn and are mourned through singing, dancing, outpourings equal in joy and sorrow. I'm reminded of the New Orleans tradition of Jazz funerals and the "second line" where the deceased are played to on their way home to G-d by trumpets and drums, in beauty as well as sadness.
Indeed that is precisely what New Orleans did for Michael Jackson…
The woman who opens that video just breaks my heart. She reminds me that all that die no matter how outsized their accomplishments leave behind someone who will miss them.
On my way to the car at the end of the evening, I heard the strains of Man in the Mirror and ran back to the party. A few hundred dancers, swayed and hollered along. Many, including me, cried. I turned to two women, who I had chatted with during the party and hugged them both.
I never got their names.
I then called my fiancee to tell her that "Man in the Mirror", her favorite Michael Jackson song, was playing. I told her how much I loved her, how lucky I felt that we found each other and that I'd be home soon.
The day Michael Jackson died, my fiancee remarked "I hope he has found a better life for himself. Starting today."
May we all find our own. Hopefully sooner than that.