In what is shaping up to be a milestone week for mentally ill rock legends, Michael Jackson has succeeded in removing his vast collection of mind-boggling bric-a-brac from the auction block.
The collection of hundreds of items was seized during the foreclosure of Neverland but had never been authorized for sale. Now that Jacko has sold out a million shows at London's O2 arena, he apparently has some of his financial clout back as well.
Like everyone else, I was a fan and admirer of Jacko's in the 70s and 80s, but completely wrote him off for obvious, disturbing reasons in the 90s. My respect for the gloved one came flooding back the other other day, however, when the New York Times published a photo of this work of insane genius from the Jacko collection:
The concept of taking real and imagined icons (something tells me MJ thinks they're all real), putting them in Thriller drag then hiring a portrait artist to paint it... the list of people who could think that up and keep a straight face is very short indeed.
This portrait begs many questions. Would Abe Lincoln have been able to assemble his Team of Rivals had he been wearing dark shades and a glitter glove? Despite inventing the theory of relativity, did Einstein secretly yearn to Moonwalk? When E.T. phoned home, did it ring at Neverland?
Anyway, many years ago, Michael Jackson was a prodigiously gifted all-around entertainer. For all his success, I don't think he ever topped the work he did with the Jackson 5. And if you're wondering what too much success at an early age can do to a person, well now you know.
Here's the Jackson 5 doing "I Want You Back," introduced by a certain Jello pudding-loving comedian. Plus a couple slightly lesser-known faves by the bruthas Jackson.
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