And the Circus Came to Town

God I am so glad that that is over! A veritable freak show. Even the circus came to town with the appearance of a troop of Asian Elephants being led into STAPLES CENTER in the pre-dawn hours prior to the funeral of MICHAEL JACKSON.

I mean, really? Was the music great? Yea it was..20 years ago. And many of those songs can still move some of our tired butts onto a dance floor. But the rest of the burlesque show? Nuts! And I am so sorry to disagree with the REV. AL SHARPTON but I think there was “somethin’ strange” about “Daddy!”

I ask you, after almost a half century of self mutilation (the bleaching, the surgeries, the makeup, the oxygen chambers ) could anyone really look at Michael Jackson & not be just a little creeped out; if not down right repulsed? With the dyed arched brows, the pale skin heightened with kabuki makeup, the drawn on lips & the ever disappearing nose; the only thing that ever came to my mind when seeing him of late was: He’s MINNIE MOUSE with a Mask!

Yes, I know he was abused. He had a substance abuse problem, he was lonely & isolated. Whatever. He also had a fortune which he made & remade dozens of times in his life; from which to pay for real, constructive, therapies that would have enriched & healed him in other ways. He might also have attempted to repay (or simply PAY!) the hundreds of people to whom he owed money, many of whom were not large corporations but simple hourly or weekly workers sometimes summarily dismissed! What is the estate debt? 400 MILLION???? And the City of Los Angeles; nearly bankrupt, is expected to pay for all the thousands in extra monies required to host today’s dog & pony show!

So often in this country we celebrate the wrong people even for the right reason (Gender Equality? Good Thing! SARAH PALIN? Not so much!)

Today’s orgy of grief wasn’t even as bad, I suppose as it could have been. The LAPD were relieved & even withdrew some of the extra forces around Staples Center before the ceremony. All in all, I’d say, the funeral was a bust! NO LIZ! NO LIZA! NO QUINCY! Even the nominated children’s guardian; DIANA ROSS, chose to “be silent”. MARIAH’S musical tribute was over-wrought (duh!) And none of the musical numbers were particularly powerful. The clothes (costumes?) were lovely, with LATOYA JACKSON doing her best KEIRA KNIGHTLEY in “The Duchess” impersonation & JANET JACKSON channeling SIMONE SIGNORET. I read that DONATELLA VERSACE designed the outfits ,which wouldn’t surprise me.
I feel sorry for MRS. JACKSON who has had, I wager, a trying life. And now she’s going to have to raise three kids who not only do not look like anyone in her family, but in fact, may not be biologically related to her at all! I feel sympathy for the kids. And of course choked up a little at his daughter PARIS JACKSON’s speech; but then stopped abruptly when I realized; hell she could be the AMERICAN BINDI IRWIN by next summer! God Save Us!

The conspiracy theorists have now begun their work in ernest, so we will never be completely rid of this story. Today in Los Angeles I heard a rather distinguished looking older gentleman say the following: “ Well of course his body was not in that coffin that left FOREST LAWN, this morning! “He’d already been buried!” “I’m just sick about it! I cried all morning!” When I think of the hundreds of reasons for tears in our daily lives, whether Michael Jackson's body was in his coffin at his funeral or not; does not even make my top 40 reasons to weep

I don’t know…maybe the kids have a shot at some kind of normal life now!? And the rest of us can do what we’ve been doing for over a decade: listening to & loving (and now BUYING AGAIN!) the music and watching as the elephants lead the circus out of town once again, grateful that its someone else’s job to clean up the poop!

BTW My mother, MRS.TRAINER, just called to tell me she’s “furious” over all the Michael Jackson hoopla. “Why? Mom.” “well, because 3, 6 & 10 (which is how she refers to network television; by the local channel numbers) did nothing but cover that God damn funeral & I missed all my soaps!” Yet another outrage!