The day Pop music lost it's king

It is with great sorrow that I accept the passing of a very personal icon. While the death of Michael Jackson does not compare with the death of a family member, it no less ceases to imprint on my thoughts throughout the day.

A whole day has passed since I heard the news...I hear his songs all day...I see his photos on every webpage...I even sing "Music and me" to myself.

I will no doubt go back and forth forgetting that he's gone. His music lives on and I would like nothing more than to pay tribute someday by including his genius in my videogames (as I originally intended to). Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson...each begetting the next.

When I was only a year old, my uncle natal would joke about getting me a Michael Jackson thriller doll - he was so popular back then that I never forgot his name. Much later I made "Beat it" my favorite song even before I became an M.C. Hammer fan. Rap was kind of the in thing in the early nineties. Michael Jackson came back in force with his "Dangerous" Album and set a new standard for the rest of the decade.
I moved to Mexico in mid 1993 - of the few things that got me out of the depression of moving to another country was MJ's music. I bought all of his music and even rebought the albums. I got a copy, one way or the other, of all his movies and his greatest moments. I know the story of the Jackson 5 by heart (almost) and I've seen the MJ ScareCrow (The Wiz I think it was called) a couple of times.

Funny as my spotlight moments (got graduated and got a job) are marked by the death of Kwai Chang Caine, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Live and let die. I guess it means that it's my turn now to provide a light to those who, like me 16 years ago, are just coming to this world and need a hand.

Thanks Michael, God bless you.

-Juan Pablo Reyes Altamirano