Friday 26 June 2009

The King is Dead

They always say that when people of your own generation start dying around you, it reminds you of your own mortality. I know my Mum seemed to get some pleasure out of knowing she had outlived her contemporaries, even if the last 6 years of her life were spend stuck in a bed. The truth is, no one knows when, or for what reason, the Grim Reaper is going to come knocking. This week, two, well-known, people, sort of my generation, have died. Farrah Fawcett and, yesterday,Micheal Jackson. He earned the name King of Pop, though for me, his eternal youthfulness always seemed to make the title Prince more appropriate.

I have to say that, although I am a Soul Music afficianado, he was never one of my favourite singers. Partly, that is because the title King of Pop is appropriate, his music always was Pop Music rather than Soul Music, though the roots of it were always there. For the same reason, I always preferred the earlier music with the Jackson Five, rather than the later stuff, even though that was technically superior. In part that's probably also that you naturally tend to favour the music you grew up with, but mostly its due to being more concerned with the actual sound that is produced by the singer and the musicians, than how some technician can enhance it. But, no one can dispute that Michael Jackson was a huge influence on music and entertainment. Its only right to pay some kind of tribute.

Like many people of my generation, most specifically those like myself that were into dancing, and the all-pervasive Motown and Soul music that dominated every dance hall in the land at the time, I remember hearing Michael Jackson first when I was still at school. We had our own Fourth and Fifth Form Common Room in the school, with a record player, from where, everyday, the sounds of the Temptations, Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, Gladys Knight, Junior Walker and Smokey Robinson, and occasionally the Stones, would issue forth. Yet, the first time I heard, "I Want You Back", although the tradition was obvious, there was something different, something novel about the sound. It was I think, the sound produced by Michael Jackson, who, at the time, must have been soemthing like an 11 year old kid, but who was singing this song about adult things, as though he was himself a mature adult!




In fact, a couple of years later, in 1972, I was sitting in the Wagon & Horses with my girlfriend - now my wife - trying to stretch out a couple of drinks as long as possible, because we had no money, and it was cold outside. You never knew when everywhere was going to go pitch black, because the 1972 Miners Strike was on, and every so often there would be a power cut. As we sat there, possibly gazing into the others eyes! - the sound of Michael singing "I'll Be There", came on what I think must have been the radio, because I don't think they had a Juke Box. I remember we talked about how you couldn't imagine the other young singing sensation of the time, Jimmy Osmond, singing that song, I was going to say, or at least not with anything like the same effect, but no, you just can't imagine it.



I suppose the next period I associate with Michael Jackson is some years later around the late 70's and early 80's. I remember, particularly when my oldest son was just born, and I was lecturing part-time, I used to spend alot of time with him, and we'd dance around the living room, if the beat was right and the mood took me, I'd probably also do a bit of diving over arm-chairs and so on. My son must have imbibed some of the music, because he still likes music from that time now. It was a time where the old soul music of the 60's and 70's had given way to its younger sibling Disco, along with a plethora of films like Saturday Night Fever and so on.



I think I'm right in saying it was the last record Michael made with his brothers, before going solo. And within a couple of years he had become a superstar. It was a far different world in 1984, when the Miners were once again on strike, this time not for more money, but trying to protect jobs and communities, compared to 1972. And now also, the Michael Jackson who produced a string of huge hits was not the same Michael Jackson, the kid who sang "I'll Be There." Nor was the production that went into "I Want You Back" apparently even in the same century as that which went into the production of "Thriller", which broke ground not just as a song, but in being essentially a mini-film attached to the music. There's not much music I can remember let alone want to remember from the 80's, but I can still remember vividly driving from one Miners Picket line to another during that period with "Thriller" playing on the tape in the car.



I suppose the final piece of music I can relate to is "Smooth Criminal", because it coincided with my youngest son, being at the stage of dancing about to music, and he's always been interested in music and video and films, which I suppose is why he works in media now. I remember going to a cousin's wedding, and he was dressed up in a waistcoat and bow tie, and I joined him on the dance floor, for a bit of moonwalking. In that regard, as a bit of hoofer, I suppose I should also end by saying soemthing about Michael Jackson and the dancing. Apparently, Fred Astaire was a big fan, and said he watched in awe the first time he saw Michael Moonwalk. In fact, Moonwalking was only an adaptation of something we used to do back in the late late 60's, except then you basically remained in one spot, with your feet sliding forward. It was something, mostly skinheads used to do, as I recall wearing white butcher's trousers that glared under the ultra violet lights, dancing to what we used to call Reggae back then, but what would probably be called Ska today.

Like many other black performers, Michael says that he picked up most of his moves from earlier singers who also danced energetically on stage, in particular, Jackie Wilson, and James Brown. James Brown in particularly well known for his slides. But, as you would see if you saw the "Stax" film on TV a few months ago, if you watched Sam Moore, of Sam & Dave fame, you would see many of the moves, including those we developed as Northern Soul Dancers, like the Backdrop. In fact, nearly all the Northern Soul dancing can be traced back to people like Sam & Dave, Jackie Wilson, and further back to people like the Clarke Brothers, as well as to all those unnamed Jitterbuggers who came across with the US armed forces, and strutted their stuff in dancehalls across Britain during the 1940's and 50's.

There was nothing new in the spins and feet movement, we'd done it all before, after hours of training, but Michael Jackson as with his music brought a degree of technical excellence and polish to it.



Dance On Michael

11 comments:

The Sentinel said...

Very sad.

But I suppose there will be no more bed sharing with little boys and $20M dollar pay outs for him now.

Montreal said...

Sentinel, another towering contribution, a veritable Mount Everest of wit, intelligence and perception. You’re like the Dalai Lama mixed with Nietzsche.

You haven’t given us the crime stats for Paedophiles by race.

To help us please put the % against the categories below:

Whites
Blacks
Asians (Pakistani looking ones)
Asians (Indian looking ones)
Asians (Japanese looking ones)
Asians (Mongol looking ones)
Eastern European (dark ones like Romanians)
Eastern European (Light ones like Poles)
Gypsies
Jews
Eskimos
Native Americans
Aborigines

(Sorry if I missed any)

The Sentinel said...

Arthur, you have been caught out with your sock puppet 'Montreal' - why don't you just post under you ID?

So, I see you are attempting a typically bizarre defence of the indefensible!

Tell me Arthur, do you think it is normal for a grown man to sleep with little boy's? And then for a grown man to pay a huge sum of cash to a little boy he has slept with who then accuses him of molesting him? Do you think it is normal for a grown man to lure children to his home with a fun fair - the wealthy equivalent of puppies and sweeties?

Is that what you think is normal behaviour Arthur?

Is that what you mean by "dance on Michael?"

Boffy said...

Sentinel,

You are a moron. You continue this delusion of me being Montreal. Go ahead in your delusion, but I have no intention of joining you in it. Why on Earth do you think I would reply to your pathetic posts here using some alias rather than my own name???? For what advantage?

For someone, who does not have the balls to use their own name in the first place, once again your hypocrisy shines through in glorious technicolour.

The Sentinel said...

"Why on Earth do you think I would reply to your pathetic posts here using some alias rather than my own name???? For what advantage?"


Because, as you well know, it lends your sock puppet some air of credibility when you use it.

And you have been told before, publishing you name next to a blog post in not bravery; in fact we know you are a whimpering coward because you were to scared to serve your country; your "bravery" is shared by millions of prostitutes, porn stars and ego-centric.

You say your name is Arthur Bough but in reality you could Arthrur or Martha or anyone else.

And I've told you before, you can call me John Noble.

So after that little distraction, answer the question:

Do you think it is normal for a grown man to sleep with little boy's? And then for a grown man to pay a huge sum of cash to a little boy he has slept with who then accuses him of molesting him? Do you think it is normal for a grown man to lure children to his home with a fun fair - the wealthy equivalent of puppies and sweeties?

Boffy said...

Why would I want to lend credibility to a sock puppet? Surely, any manouvre in that regard would be the other way around. But, if that were the case why then have the majority of Montreal's posts from the beginning been hardly sycophantic? On the contrary, many of his posts have been critical.

And if I were to engage in such a manouvre, why just use one alias. Surely, one other person criticising your posts makes no significant difference. I could have easily created numerous aliases. In reality I created none because I really can't be bothered to respond to the crap you write at all in my own name let alone someone elses.

The reality is that you have a narcissistic overestimation of your own significance, typical of sad, single, middle aged men of your type. So you think there is some kind of conspiracy against your "superiorit" intellect. In fact, all your posts show that intellectually you are a minnow.

This paranoia even led you to accuse Charlie of being another sock puppet until he pointed out to you his own long established blog!!!!

And not only do I use my own name, but others who know me can confirm it, as Phil did some months ago. So, as I said you don't even have the balls to use your real name.

My guess is that the rest of your claims are just as false. I think that probably the closest you have come to an army uniform is in your wet dreams, or parading in a German helmet with your Nazi buddies. You claim to be some kind of IT specialist, but I have to say you wouldn't know it from the quality of your website! You claim to have a business in the Canaries, but don't even know that they are part of the African continent!

So even were Noble your name, it certainly isn't your description.

As for sleeping with young boys and so on. I don't condone paedophile behaviour, but my understanding is that he was not found guilty of those charges. As for paying out large sums of money, there have been lots of rich people that have done that to avoid Court proceedings.

But, then your organisation itself has had members accused of paedophilia too hasn't it. It has certainly had prominent members found guilty of wife beating and gang rape. I'm still waiting for your commitment for any such people to be thrown out of your party.

Boffy said...

See the following:

NW Nationalist

libcom

News of the World

digital spy

stopthe haters

Lancaster Unity

Harrys Place

And there's many more refernces just to BNP Paedophiles, before we get on to the wife beaters, the gang rapists and other assorted thugs. Nice group you hang out with!

The Sentinel said...

Here's one you tried to supress:

"But, if that were the case why then have the majority of Montreal's posts from the beginning been hardly sycophantic? On the contrary, many of his posts have been critical."

Exactly the whole point of building your sock puppets credibility, as you well know.



"And if I were to engage in such a manouvre, why just use one alias."

Because you're not very bright and quite lazy.


"typical of sad, single, middle aged men of your type."

Again, a baseless lie.

Every time you open your mouth or touch a keyboard you lie. Lying is in your blood. And you are not even good at it. Everyone can see what a liar you are, and that is one reason no one visits your blog. The other reasons include that it is long winded, boring and full of fantasy.

You couldn't possibly know my age, martial status or happiness factor - you are, as I have said repeatedly, a bold faced liar.


"And not only do I use my own name, but others who know me can confirm it, as Phil did some months ago."

That would be Phil BC would it!!!!! His real name???!!! And how would he know what your real name was anyway? Because you told him???!!!


"So, as I said you don't even have the balls to use your real name"

Like I said, you can call me John Noble.


"My guess is that the rest of your claims are just as false. I think that probably the closest you have come to an army uniform is in your wet dreams"

Like I have said elsewhere, you are a little late in this latest piece of argumentum ad honimen - why didn't you think of this slur sooner? Because you ae getting increasingly desperate at my ability to expose your lies and you as a liar I guess!!- but I suppose if I was a whimpering, pathetic duty shy coward like you it might make me feel better to try and insult brave men who did step forward to do the duty despite the risks.

I suppose pathetic cowards like you that use the freedoms provided to them by brave men like me need something to comfort themselves with.


"You claim to be some kind of IT specialist, but I have to say you wouldn't know it from the quality of your website!"

I don't have a "website" you stupid, ignorant little man.


"As for sleeping with young boys and so on. I don't condone paedophile behaviour"

Really? "Dance on Michael"

But you don't condemn it wither do you?


"but my understanding is that he was not found guilty of those charges"

The ones in which he didn't pay off the little boys he molested to keep them quiet but used his millions to buy rich mans justice.

Didn't they find OJ simpson not guilty as well? Then didn't admit he was guilty?

"As for paying out large sums of money, there have been lots of rich people that have done that to avoid Court proceedings."

Yes, lots of rich guilty people.


"But, then your organisation itself has had members accused of paedophilia too hasn't it. It has certainly had prominent members found guilty of wife beating and gang rape."

And so has yours. Including a serial killer of at least 15 gay men.

Parties are organisations defined by policies voted on by members, not individual people and thier actions.


"I'm still waiting for your commitment for any such people to be thrown out of your party."

And I'm still waiting for you to admit that black people commit the worst crimes in this country, and that non-whites commit the worst crimes in Northern Europe.

PS: Those sites are all extreme left wing rags whose writers lie as often as they breathe.

Boffy said...

“Exactly the whole point of building your sock puppets credibility, as you well know.”

Er, so nearly a year ago, I created Montreal, and had him post all these critical posts so that several months later he could be used to respond to your posts!!!! Bloody hell, you really are a narcissistic little twerp aren’t you. You should really see someone for that paranoia.

“Because you're not very bright and quite lazy.”

Yet, according to you, obviously bright enough and insufficiently lazy to have created Montreal as a sock puppet, several months ago, knowing in advance that he would be needed to respond to your oh so, intelligent comments!!!!!

“Again, a baseless lie.”

Possibly, but if you are going to rely on a method of spamming on people’s blogs that involves yourself simply spewing out lies about them, involves making accusations against them that you can’t substantiate and so on, you should expect to get back what you dish out in spades. I have the advantage of being a real person, and with the balls to use my real name, so the ridiculous things you say about me are easily disproved, because everyone who knows me knows that what you claim is ridiculous. You don’t have the balls to post under your real name, or to use your real name on your blog. I’m not surprised because given that you also claim to be an IT specialist its hardly an advertisement for your IT skills, especially for someone who claims to be an international businessman, employing people in Africa and other parts of the world, in hypocritical contrast to his claim to be in favour of British Jobs for British Workers.

“Every time you open your mouth or touch a keyboard you lie. Lying is in your blood. And you are not even good at it. Everyone can see what a liar you are, and that is one reason no one visits your blog. The other reasons include that it is long winded, boring and full of fantasy.”...

Really? Yet I am the one who dares to put my real name to what I write, whereas you use the name of some fantasy character. You are the one who has made endless allegations, but has provided not one single piece of evidence to back it up. You are the one whose hypocrisy has been set out in the way you claim to be a patriot but spend most of the year overseas; you claim to be in favour of BJ4BW yet, you establish your business in Africa and other parts of the world exploiting foreign workers; you claim to support he Ghurkhas yet, your and your Party are committed to treating them as second class citizens, and encouraging them to go back home, and you wouldn’t even let them join your Party; you condemn the British State for its “fascist” (to use your term) invasion of Iraq and Iran and elsewhere, and yet you volunteer to make yourself the active agent of that State in carrying out those actions; you condemn a tiny fractional percentage of the black population for being involved in sex crimes, yet you refuse to condemn let alone call for the expulsion of that much bigger percentage of the BNP that have been convicted of Gang Rape, Wife Beating and paedophilia.

Boffy said...

As for lying you use in your post the following ”The other reasons include that it is long winded, boring” the same words that you used of course, when you were pretending to be Montreal!!!! And, why would you use Montreal’s name, if you really did believe he was me???? Once again your own stupidity catches you out.

“You couldn't possibly know my age, martial status or happiness factor - you are, as I have said repeatedly, a bold faced liar.”..

Any more than your accusations against me have anything to do with the truth as all the people who actually know me can verify!!!!

“That would be Phil BC would it!!!!! His real name???!!! And how would he know what your real name was anyway? Because you told him???!!!”...

His name and initials actually! He knows my name because if you were not so stupid and so lazy, you might have read some of my previous blogs, and his and realise that I am actually well-known in the area!!!!

“Like I have said elsewhere, you are a little late in this latest piece of argumentum ad honimen - why didn't you think of this slur sooner? Because you are getting increasingly desperate at my ability to expose your lies and you as a liar I guess!!”

Hardly, my dog could easily reply to your level of intellect. Actually I just got fed up of you provoking me from day one with crap such as..

“but I suppose if I was a whimpering, pathetic duty shy coward like you…”,

which as you have yourself said elsewhere are the words of an Internet hardman that would get you as a pudgy little gobshite a bitch slapping otherwise.

“I don't have a "website" you stupid, ignorant little man.”

As I’ve said before the fact that you as a supposed International Man of Mystery, sorry business do not defend your professional reputation as an IT specialist, but instead resort to your usual semantics tells us everything we need to know about that particularly piece of fantasy you try to portray. Given your reluctance to use your eal name on your blog and elsewhere, my guess is that your other claims of military service are just as bogus.

"As for sleeping with young boys and so on. I don't condone paedophile behaviour"

“Really? "Dance on Michael"

What the fuck does the comment “Dance On Michael”, written in connection with a section of my blog talking about his dancing, and its roots have to do with paedophilia, you sick, demented moron???

“But you don't condemn it wither do you?”….

Yes, of course I condemn it you idiot. I condemn it if Michael Jackson was guilty of it, just as I condemn the BNP members found guilty of it. We are still waiting for you to condemn all those BNP members found guilty of Paedophilia, Gang Rape, Violent Crimes as long as your arm, attacks on ethnic minorities, attacks on Trade Unionists and so on. You won’t, you can’t demand they be expelled from the BNP because you know full well the BNP would have no members left!!!!

Boffy said...

“The ones in which he didn't pay off the little boys he molested to keep them quiet but used his millions to buy rich mans justice.”

Possibly so, but as I have condemned it it doesn’t matter does it. What we are waiting for is for you to condemn and call for the expulsion of all those BNP members found guilty of paedophilia, gang rape, and violent crime!

“Yes, lots of rich guilty people.”

Almost certainly, true, but that is the Capitalist system you and your Party defend, and I am the one who seeks to replace it!!!! Once again your hypocrisy is astounding.

“And so has yours. Including a serial killer of at least 15 gay men.”...

He’s not a member of any organisation I belong to!!!! And if he were I would call for his expulsion immediately. Why can you not demand the expulsion of such people from the BNP? Oh that’s right, because there are so many people in the BNP who have been convicted of serious criminal offences that it would have nobody left!!!

“Parties are organisations defined by policies voted on by members, not individual people and thier actions.”

True, but why does the BNP have such a high percentage of people who have been convicted of serious criminal offences. Could it have something to do with the fact that as a fascist Party it actively seeks out people of that kind because as your Fuhrer says you will rely on “boots” and “fists” not on rationality. After all that is what all other fascist parties have done in the past, and the BNP leaders are worshippers of those former fascist parties. And if its just a matter of individuals the party could easily remedy that – boot them all out. But, then many of its leading cadre would be thrown out, and most of the rank and file.

“And I'm still waiting for you to admit that black people commit the worst crimes in this country, and that non-whites commit the worst crimes in Northern Europe.”...

You haven’t provided any evidence to back that up. I don’t know that the worst crime is that has been committed and who committed it. Nor do you from the evidence you have provided. We do know the names of all those BNP members who have been found guilty of violent crime such as Gang Rape, and of Paedophilia and so on, so that is not a matter of debate, so there is no reason why you can’t simply demand their expulsion is there. After all, if its only a matter of individuals and not the party I’d have thought that as a Party member you would not want your Party associated with such people. I’ll tell you what I’ll make you a deal. I will accept your iffy statistics on the number of black people involved in violent crimes for the purposes of debate IF you will call publicly and prominently on your blog for all BNP members convicted of violent crimes to be immediately expelled from the party, and never to be readmitted.

“PS: Those sites are all extreme left wing rags whose writers lie as often as they breathe.”...

I included links to the Guardian and the BBC to avoid that charge. But in any case, the links you provide are to extreme, right-wing rags to whom the same argument could be applied, so in that case your evidence is just as bogus. In fact more so, because those sources only quote statistics that can be manipulated, they do not cite individuals who might sue them if the information was incorrect. All of those links I provided including the BBC, the Guardian etc, as well as the statements by David Cameron and others quoted the actual names of people who had been to Court and been convicted. If those charges by those politicians, those well-known newspapers and by the BBC were false then why do not the individuals concerned sue the BBC, the Guardian, Cameron and so on?
So come on, what about it, why don’t you call for the expulsion of all the thugs and scum from the BNP?