Goodbye Michael

The death of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, at age 50 will probably be the biggest celebrity news for this year. News about the details of his death has brought several Internet sites to a crawl. This just goes to show the profound impact his music and personality has brought to the world. Nobody could have lived through the 80's without being influenced by him somehow.

I wouldn't consider myself his biggest fan, but I definitely loved his music. I also watched his concert at Paranaque when he came to perform back in 1996. I think all Filipinos feel the sadness of his passing somehow. (Is Moonwalk Subdivision in Paranaque named after his patented backward strut?)

One of the very strange stories that has appeared related with the news of his death is the statement of his ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley in her blog. It seems that Michael foresaw that he will somehow die this way -- similar to the way Rock and Roll legend (and Lisa's dad) Elvis Presley died, which is via cardiac arrest (most likely induced by taking of drugs).

Its no secret that "Wacko Jacko" has been undergoing medication and has been having financial difficulties. In fact, his upcoming comeback (and final) concert in O2 Arena, UK in 17 days was sold out with Ticketmaster claiming it was record -- they were selling 11 tickets per second for the first 10 shows. There was supposed to be a total of 50 shows, which would have fetched Jackson USD50M. But now with the concert cancelled, ticketholders are clamoring for refunds and the show's promoter, AEG Live, is facing a potential loss of GBP300M! I hope they got good insurance.

The news of Michael's death has completely overshadowed other news like the recent civil unrest in Iran due to their elections. On almost the same day, original Charlie's Angel star, Farrah Fawcett, also passed away after her long battle with anal cancer. I wasn't a Charlie's Angel fan either, but which adolescent boy could not have known Farrah and her famous pose.