Two of my Favourite Entertainers,Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson pass away…They Live on !

It’s a doubly sad day for me today…I’m in Mourning …..Two of my favourite entertainers died yesterday…Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson…..both American…and both falling prey to the dreaded ‘Cs’…the former to Cancer and the latter to Cardiac Arrest

I grew up on both….From School to College,when I was 15, on the then 28 year old, vivacious , voluptous and sensual American Actress and ‘Charlie’s Angels’, Farrah Fawcett with her trademark Blond Tousled Hair and her Fantastic Smile…and from College to later on the ‘Moonwalker’ ,King of Pop and ‘Thriller’,Michael Jackson

62 year Old Farrah Fawcett lost her famous Blonde Hair to Chemotherapy and yesterday her battle with Cancer.She became famous in the 1970s TV Series Charlies Angels in which she played one of the three Detective Angels…the character of Jill Munroe

I remember I was in transition between school and college and so besotted by Farrah Fawcett that I had pinned up her famous Red Swimsuit Poster (It had sold Millions)…out of respect to my parents and my grandfather,I had pinned it on the inside of my cupboard door…my Dad was cool but everytime my Grandfather saw it he would grimace a bit…”Come On Pappaji!” I used to tell him…” it’s just an infatuation and a part of growing up ! “…uncannily,quite often when I opened the cupboard,my ‘Pappaji’ used to appear from nowhere ! Wonder Why !? 

And Michael Jackson ! What an entertainer ! I grew up on him ! An era has ended ! We had one ending with the death of ‘Elvis Presly’,another with the breaking up of the ‘Beatles’ and now with this untimely demise of Michael Jackson…Apparently he had a fatal cardiac arrest last afternoon

He became a celebrity when he was a child….It cost him a normal  childhood and the pangs of loneliness grew with him into adulthood…he faced serious headline Legal issues  of Child Molestation and Financial Woes….His famous NeverLand Ranch,were he had housed some exotic animals from all over the world, too was put up for sale…he suffered taunts of ‘Whacko Jacko”

I read sometime ago that he had found solace in Islam and had even gone to settle down in Bahrain,a small island country in the Middle East…I have spend three years in the 1980s on this lovely island of Bahrain and I was happy for him that finally maybe he would find peace and contentment…Apparently he moved back to Los Angeles and was planning and rehearsing for his Comeback Tour

I had the great fortune to attend his live concert in Mumbai in the late 1990s at the Andheri Sports Complex…..What a Mesmerising,Magnetic and Memorable performance ! haven’t seen anything like this ever since !

We were a group of 15 right up near the stage with hundreds and thousands beating down on us trying the break the barricades behinds us…There was Great Expectation as to how he would come on stage…some said by helicopter…so we were scanning the skies…A few insipid acts by other groups preceded his Entry

And what happened was this…the left side of the Stage simply appeared to blow up in smoke…Through smoke we saw a transperant rocket like capsule emerging in a slant position from below the erupted stage and in it was a very still Michael Jackson in a dynamic pose with his back to us…Phew ! Dramatic Indeed !…simply blew us all away

What followed was a medley of all his hits..”Beat It” ,”We are the World”,”Bad”,”Billie Jean”…We were simply Breathless with the Pace at which he changed outfits for each song and his movements on stage…. In one moment he was on stage on the last line of one song and in the next split second he appeared on the top of a platform on top of a huge mechanical crane that stretched into the crowds belting out another number !…How did he do it !?.Controlled Pyrotechics and a huge Wall of Lights and Support Performers at different levels on that wall was a stunning backdrop…His Entourage included his own team of Security Personnel,Support Dancers and Technicians and Tonnes of Equipment…all flown into Mumbai in a chartered Boeing

He was extremely secretive and a cordon of security was always around him…when GV Films,a listed company on BSE,tried to serve a Notice and even a Warrant on him at his suite at Oberoi Hotel (Now Trident) in Mumbai,his security guys just tore it up….GV Films had earlier tied up for concerts in India and had spend a lot of money too,but Michael Jackson had withdrawn as he took ill.If I remember correctly,the concert in Mumbai was organised a few years later by the then fledgling ‘Wizcraft’ team of three partners with some political patronage and blessings from Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray…with active support from the now rebel MNS Founder nephew,Raj Thackeray…This was the launching pad into the big league for ‘Wizcraft’…Tickets were Rs 5000 and Rs 15000 and even more and a host of top Diamond Entities were involved in their distribution…there was suspicion and an investigation too had follwed for unaccounted sales of tickets.   

But the concert was worth it ! Mumbai had not seen anything like it and never since too !

When Michael Jackson rendered, with intense emotion, this classic “We are the World ” (Lyrics below) ,he had children and flowers and would you believe it ! even a Tank coming on stage ! to support…what choreography !…we begged and begged for more and more and were screaming  for an encore 

 

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it’s time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can’t go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God’s great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they’ll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

When you’re down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There’s no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

 

 

 

Sing this out loud with emotion and passion today and you’ll sense why Michael Jackson will always be eternally alive…..his ‘Thriller’ Album with the hits ‘Beat It’,’Billie Jean’ and ‘Thriller’ remains the largest selling album of all time,having sold over 100 million copies 

 

 

 

 

Sadly,my wife had refused to come for the concert as she had and yet holds  intense misgivings about him after he was accused for Child Molestation….She says, what has a great ring of truth too,that you have to first and above all be a good Human being…everything else is secondary….even being a good or great performer……Michael Jackson settled some of these issues and was acquitted of others…but till his untimely death at 50 yesterday he was facing bankruptcy and prosecution for Financial Troubles…he had delayed his comeback tour but was to initiate it in London on July 13,2009…Sadly he “Beat It” before his comeback

Today, I’m humming instictively “…the day the Music Died” from Don Maclean’s classic ‘American Pie’

May Both their Souls Rest in Peace

…and Michael,may you ‘Moonwalk’ in Heaven too !…we are mere Mortals..You are Immortal !