BEAT IT!

Well, we're now into week two of damn near non-stop saturation of all things Jackson. Tuesday is to be the big send-off for one of the creepiest entertainers of all time. Maybe after the festivities at L.A.'s Staples Center they will finally plant this clown and all the TV, radio and newspaper sycophants can move on to the next train wreck personality. (By the way, who pays for security and traffic control for this circus?)

ENOUGH!

I was in New York when the news of Michael Jackson's death came and the television coverage was frenetic. The local stations converged on Harlem and the Apollo Theater to interview the grieving multitudes. My favorite sound bite came from a woman who blubbered at length about "all Michael has done for humanity". Really?? Please explain. Of course the TV reporter, being equally as vapid as the person she was interviewing, saw no need for a follow up query.

Nope, as near as I can tell, this was just another case of "death by entourage". Jackson was one more, albeit skinnier, Elvis surrounded by "friends" willing to provide and tolerate any kind of substance and behavior their boss desired just as long as he kept them on the gravy train. "Whatever you need Michael." "You the man!"

Jackson's posse was so incapable of linear thought that it took almost half and hour for anyone to think of calling 911 for a guy who wasn't breathing. Geniuses! That almost, but not quite, tops Elvis catching the BIG Bus with his pants around his ankles while dropping a deuce in the throne room at Graceland.

There is something wrong with a society that shows this kind of adoration for a self mutilating, drugged out freak who likes sleeping with little boys. The guy had some talent and, thanks to the genius of Quincy Jones, produced some very successful hit records, but--come on. There are lots of talented entertainers who don't sport his kind of baggage. (Some of them actually have children made from their very own genes; not purchased from a surrogate.)

It wasn't that long ago that this country shed real tears and expressed great admiration for humanitarians like Dr. Tom Dooley who was his own personal Peace Corp before President Kennedy created the real thing. (If you're too young to know who Dr. Dooley was, Google him.) He was an American who defined what this country is all about.

Dr. Tom Dooley with a couple of boys whose lives he saved. He wasn't interested in grooming them for a "sleepover at Neverland."

I don't know about you, but after Tuesday I want to hear some cop say: "Show's over folks...time to move along."