Last Thursday, news that MJ died spread quickly to me. At first I thought it was solely a rumor. I checked the web a couple of times and if I didn’t see it on the New York Times I discounted all news until they verified it. The first to text me was Ari then Noel then X then Y then Z and so on. Every 15 minutes or so, I checked my Google Reader to see if any reputable news sources confirmed MJ’s death. I was at work when his death was finally confirmed. I’m pretty sure I let out a very loud ‘NO!!!’ and gasped. The rest of the day was weird at work. I’m not a huge MJ fan per se. I don’t even bring his records out to dj because I hate being that trite. But I braced myself for that evening’s Life/Style because you had to know people would ONLY WANT TO HEAR MJ SONGS ALL NIGHT.
(I had no idea what kind of effect MJ’s death would have on me. Needless to say I was emotional. Like many folks, one of the first records I owned was ‘Thriller’. I listened to ‘Off the Wall’ non-stop on my Walkman. My dad gave me the Jackson 5’s greatest hits on vinyl. ETC. Around ‘Bad’ I kind of lost interest as I got more and more into b-boy stuff, new wave, and post punk especially.)
Last Thursday’s Life/Style started innocently enough. I dj’d first b/c Raul was playing sax with Still Flyin’ at the Independent earlier in the evening. Paul (Happy Birthday!) and Ari rolled through with their crew, and Ari played a short set of 45’s. At some point she was handing me records, and then I would mix them. I felt like we were a part of the happiest assembly line ever. During her set, some people started yelling, screaming, and chanting for MJ. She accommodated them a little but for the most part played whatever she wanted to. Raul was up next and the crowd was rabid to hear anything Michael.
MJ! MJ! MJ! MJ! MJ! MJ! MJ! MJ! MJ! MJ!
Greg and I kind of felt bad for Raul but also found the situation highly amusing. Raul didn’t bring much MJ. (I brought everything up to BAD). He played tracks of my records whenever the crowd chanted for more MJ. They sounded like they were at a World Cup match. Just MAD FOR IT! Exhausted, he finally gave way to me. The crowd wanted to hear more and more MJ. Instead of playing a track for them immediately, I turned the music down then off. I would start clapping with my hands in the air and lead even more chanting. Eventually the yelling would peak then subside. Then I would play MJ. Workin’ Day and Night, PYT, ABC, Never Can Goodbye (I shed a couple of tears), etc. Niko would occasionally get on the mike and stoke the fire: MAKE SOME NOIZE IF YOU LOVE MICHAEL JACKSON!!!
MJ RIP
xo, Ts
foto of Roll & Ts stolen from MK
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