Originally Posted by ThePhanastasio

Thinking Michael Jackson was just a puppet or whatever is almost silly. Actually, it is silly. The man was a perfectionist to the extreme, working on his tracks obsessively, his live performances just as much or even more excessively.

He was a consummate performer, who (I know this isn't the point of the thread) never really got to experience a childhood.

He had immense talent, and total dedication to his craft. If you'd ever looked at one of his tour rehearsal videos, or an interview when they asked him about tour rehearsal, you'd know that the man lived it and breathed it. He never wanted to disappoint, and was always looking to perfect whatever he was doing.

Very talented soul, cut short far too soon.

As an unrelated aside, he died the day my theatre company's all-white production of "The Wiz" had opening night.

We had non-white cast members, but they either left to do different shows, or left because they thought they didn't get the part they deserved. I was heading to opening night, and my mom texted me and is all, "Michael Jackson is in critical condition..."

And I still believe to this day that, albeit inadvertently, my cast killed Michael Jackson.

I still feel bad that I was hella stoned, and said that Michael Jackson's Thriller zombie was going to come out of the woods to stop the show. Most people laughed at it, but they were stoned, too. The Wiz was a very marijuana-hazed show.