MJ Flashback: BET Awards 2003

(Listening to The Bad Tour from Wembley--MJ)

Hey Y'all!

I am constantly trying to come up with different series that will help to keep my blog interesting and you my readers entertaining.
And I got thinking, I have been an MJ fan for 17 years. The last nearly 2 decades of my life, I have been following Michael and seeing his appearances and stuff and why NOT share them? So I am.

JUNE 24, 2003

The 2003 BET Awards stands out to me as a watershed moment in musical history because had not only Michael Jackson on a stage but he was with his own childhood idol, James Brown:



Michael presented James with the Lifetime Achievement Award--I think. I'm not really sure, I usually only pay attention when Michael is the one recieving an award...
But my memory of it is, in 2003, I was a senior in high school(well switiching to it over summer break)  and for weeks, online in the MJ community--as I stayed so up on Michael's activities, that if he sneezed, I could have sent him a Kleenex.
The comminuty had been buzzing with rumors of Michael making an appearance at the BET Awards that year. As I do NOT watch BET at all--I know alert the media a Black person who does not watch BET--I was only going by what the clubs said. And I was fairly excited.
Anytime Michael went anywhere inportant like an awards show, I always wondered what he was going to wear and how the papers would treat him.
Lately, in public Michael had been wearing nothing but black and I expected himt o really wear some variant of his "Billie Jean" ensemble.
I was exteremly agitated while watching the BET awards. I'm not a huge fan of rap music--and rap music live just sounds like loud screaming to even louder thumps.
If it wasn't for Michael, I'd have changed the channel.
Eventually, James Brown came on, and my entire how was watching it, me, Mom, Dad--because we appreciate REAL music in my  house.
And my heart was popping out my chest because I knew if JB was onstage, Michael Jackson was somewhere close by.
That's when the music broke and out walked...Michael.


Even James looks surpised.

It was bedlam. Everyone went crazy. The folks in the audience. I was leaping up and down on my bed. shouting at Michael. It was great.
And even greater was how amazing Michael looked.
I mean come on, Michael was wearing the hell out of those bespangled jeans. Only he could work something like that. (And I heard that belt cost over a million dollars. Only MJ would put that kind of dough on his HIPS!)
It was even cooler when Michael bewgan dancing with James...it was just a completely abstract, unrehearsed, candid moment in television.


Michael rocking James' Cape.


Shaking that Pancake Ass God Father of Soul Style!

And after allt he dancing and going on, Michael got tearful making a speech praising James as a genius, a claim I don't dispute. JB was a true genius, and contributed to much to the music world. Everyone cites MJ, but before MJ, there WAS James Brown.

For your viewing pleasure--the video!

80's Friday: Make Up!!!

Hey Y'all!

You knew it was only a matter of time before I got to talking about make up from the 1980s!
I strongly love the make up the 80s because it was basically like anything went. You could wear a rainbow of shadow on your eyes lips and cheeks, draw anything on your face...your face was your own canvas on which to execute art.
As a child, as i wrote about before, my first real 80s influence was Prince's Purple Rain where I dreamed of one day doing my face up like Apollonia.


She really is what I wanted to look like when I was a kid. Glamorous, sexy with a hint of sweet. She looks like the kind of woman you could be best friend with and still have to guard your man anyway. LOL. I wanted to emulate that.. Occasionally when I wear red, and have an extra hour on my hands, I do wear my "Apple Face" as I've dubbed it. And I haven't heard a complaint yet.
But besides Apple, what appealed to me was even more wild and daring looks.

Singer Cyndi Lauper

Strop drooling boys, this ain't a sexy fashion model. It's Kulture Klub front MAN, Boy George!

I didn't know YELLOW shadow even existed before I started exploring the 80s.

And Joan Cusack is the bravest woman I know to walk around looking like THAT, damn it! And that was her characters, AT WORK face!

And I cannot forget lips. All I knew of the 80s was the word "FROSTED".
Everything was frosted, mostly pinks. Black for the punks and goths.
I even owned a red frosted lipstick before the shade was discontinued.


Every so often I dare a frosted lip. Every so often. Not like that, since I'm Black and a shade that light will look like I've done something I shouldn't have!

Tragic model Gia with a frosted lip. Scary thing is, I've copied her eye make up more than I'd like to admit.

And last but not least, a VIDEO of yours truly sporting an 80s look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu7gnTpknVA&feature=youtu.be

Attending a TCM/Fathom Events Screening

(Listening to Enjoy Yourself by The Jacksons)

Hey Y'all!

As most of you know, I am a classical film enthusiast and love all old films.
So you know when I heard that TCM was teaming with Fathom Events to screen classic movies every month, I had to jump in on it.
And I was so lucky that for the month of October, at a local theatre in my town, they were showing thw great films
Frankenstein from 1931


And

Bride of Frankenstein from 1935


Both starring Boris Karloff as the monster.

It was an extra special treat for me in that even though I had seen Frankenstein many many times since I was maybe three years old, I had never seen Bride of Frankenstein before.
At the same time I was with my friend Ebonie who had never seen either picture and couldn't understand how I could be so excited over films that were in black and white as she put it.
We made a day of it. Going out to eat a nice restaurant across from the theatre, and running over to the theatre.
It was kind of a poor turn out--only about 10 people for a 2'o clock matinee, but more came for the 7 pm showing.
Any way, before the film began, Robert Osbourne, the IT man for Turner Classic Movies appeared in a short interview in which he spoke to Bela Lugosi's son (Dracula in 1931), Boris Karloff's daughter, and master make up artist Rick Baker. (best known for turning Michael Jackson into a werecat in "Thriller)

Lugosi as Dracula

A young Rick Baker working on a young (sexy) Michael Jackson.

Any way, we settled in with our popcorn and drinks--I noticed we were the only Black people there--and enjoyed the films.
I can't even start to describe what it felt like to see a classic film I grew up on, only seeing it on TV my entire life and then seeing it on the big screen.
It was really kind of like being transported back to the 1930s for me. Back when films were films and none of this CGI, fake mess was generated.
I really do appreciate the amount of work that went into making these sorts of creatures.
It took Karloff 8 hours to be made into the Frankenstein's monster. And there were no computers to make the costumes or creatures or anything. It had to be done by hand, by it's self.
And I appreciate things like that. It really was a wonder and spell binding to me.
Another thing that was so good about those two films were, they were creey and you didn't see a single drop of blood spilled anywhere.
Sure people got murdered, but it wasn't a rip roaring gore fest either.
I know I must sound like an old person and if I do, I don't care. I know what i'm talking about when it comes to things like this.
I appreciate people who go the extra mile.
That's what seperates good actors, like those kids in the Twilight movies, from GREATS like Karloff and Lugosi and Peter Cushing and the whole lot of fellows like that.
Walking out of the film, Ebonie stressed to me how much she liked the films and how good they really were.
And we've already made plans to go see Mr. Gregory Peck in "To Kill A Mockingbird" next month.

As long as they keep putting up good old films to see, I'm going to see them!

That’s Nerve!

I am so fucking mad my head is about to blow off of my shoulders in a shower of sparks. I am so angry, I don’t know what to do with myself. I am literally beside myself with anger.

I want to projectile vomit like I’m in the “Exorcist”.

There’s a lot of things in the world I don’t care about: Who’s running for President, how the debates went, who’s banging whom in Hollywood.

But is there is one thing, one person whom I feel passionately about and get a fire lit under my ass every time I see something bad going on in relation to him, it’s Michael Jackson.

And the thing that made me so mad is the last thing I expected to.

Law and Order: SVU

For the last few months, I’ve been raving about this show to everyone with ears because I liked the drama of it. And I know I’ve seen dozens of episodes, often watching their marathons on USA for hours at a time.

Today, I’m lying in bed, still completely wiped from dialysis, when they haul in a little boy. Long story short, it came out the boy had been molested.

Even shorter what caught my attention was he spoke of the man who messed with him as having a “Treasure Room” in his house and paying off the boy’s parents so that they were all rich.

My ears began ringing:

Did they? Did they really? They couldn’t have!

In my mind, I was fighting myself saying, no, they wouldn’t actually parody Michael Jackson and the whole mess he went through with the gross and discusting accusations that he was a pedophile.

No. Not the people on SVU.

How fucking wrong was I?

The minute they hit the door of the abusers house, what the hell do I see? Wild, exotic animals running here and yonder, little mannequins in costumes.

Even Stevie Wonder could see it was an attempt to remake Neverland in a brownstone.

Up in the bedroom, it was made to look like something out of pirates of the Caribbean.

Made to look like a big treasure hut.

At this point in time in in cold sweats, I’m so blitzed. Really? Really? They low-balled like that? Seriously?

What ate my ass up even more, was they started hauling the guy out of his company--he owned a toy company, how convenient, I guess it was too much to name him Michael and throw a spangled jacket on his ass.

And he looked like Michael Jackson:

Tall, skinny, pale. He acted like Michael. Soft spoken, a bit childish..

HE WAS WEARING EYELINER AND LIP GLOSS LIKE MICHAEL!

I mean you’d have to be a fool not to see what the hell was going on.

I mean they were parodying Michael Jackson.

And it’s the most evil fucking thing I ever saw.

Michael’s been dead for three years!

It’s been stated over and over--unfortunately after the goddamned FACT--that there was NO WRONG DOING ON MICHAEL JACKSON’S PART IN ANY WAY!

All I can think about, is not me. Not me at all.

Is his kids.

I’m, sure they watch TV. What if they ran up on this?

Saw someone dragging their father’s name through the mud?

Haven’t they suffered enough?

Didn’t Michael suffer enough in his life?

Everyone I know with eyeballs watched the trial.

Saw how traumatized Michael was.

Damn Gavin Arviso--Michael was the one hurting.

Near a nervous breakdown, paranoid, fearful of his life, not eating.

Wasting away, growing thinner and thinner as the weeks passed.

He went through hell.

Fearful of going to jail, losing his children. Losing everything.

And that’s made light for the sake of a few pissy Nielsen Rating? Like am I being fucked right now? Am I being punked?

Where is Ashton or whoever in the hell is running that show now?

It’s too late for April Fools!

It just makes me want to yell out loud and jump up and down.

I respect Michael so much and to see his good name being besmirched in such a fashion.

God, I feel like I want to vomit.

It’s not fair. It’s just not fair.

I don’t care if that program aired within Michael’s lifetime, or what.

Once the man went to heaven, it should have been taken from airplay.

Out of respect damn it.

You have to respect the dead, damn it. You just have to.

It’s not fair.

It makes me physically ill.

Michael Jackson was a real person. With real feelings.

Even if he was a…a public persona, a performer, he was still human.

A real human with real feelings damn it.

People forget that.

Michael Jackson was a person.

80's Friday: Thriller Video

(Listening to PYT Demo by Michael Jackson)

Like, Oh My Gawd, y’all!



You knew it was only a matter of time before I made my way around to Michael Jackson’s Thriller short film. I mean, we all knew it was coming. Especially with Halloween just around the corner.

Now the first time I saw Michael’s Thriller video was about twenty years ago, in 1992, when I was six years old. And it was indeed around Halloween because I remember one of my cousin put orange false nails on me that little black cats decorating the tips. I hated them because they were too small for my nails and hurt.

Anyway, we were sitting on the living room floor of her house and this video came on TV, and everyone was getting up and dancing and enjoying it. At the time I didn’t know who Michael Jackson was--I very vaguely at six years of age knew who he was.

You know I didn’t get the enormity of his star.

I just knew the music sounded nice and we were having fun.

Fast forward six years later. I was 12 years old and in the middle of what I call my Thriller Period. Picasso had his Blue Period, Tiffeny had her Thriller one.

I ran my poor mother raggedy buying me the Thriller album because to my young mind, you weren’t worth shit if you didn’t have a copy of the Thriller album. Like you weren’t doing Michael Jackson if you didn’t have it.



And I was so enchanted by the album, I played it incessantly until the damn cassette broke.

In the mean time, I had blow ups of his Thriller era pictures put on the wall, and I watched the Thriller part of “Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues” until I could practically speak right along with the announcer.

Summer of ‘98, my ambition became to see the Thriller video in its entirety. I very loosely remembered it from when I was six, but I wanted to see it again for myself.

I didn’t have to wait too long.

At the video rental store, I struck gold:

There on the shelf was The Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and I immediately snatched it up.

The video actually opens with the 14 minute short mini-horror movie.

I was captivated, spellbound and tongue-tied watching the spectacle unfold before me.

It was genius, sheer genius that Michael had the movie part where he becomes the were-cat. (It ain’t a wolf because if you look at the monster he becomes, it’s a much more feline than canine sort of look he had.) And he’s smacking down trees and making his girlfriend shriek and piss herself running in the forest.



I was amazed. And had an overwhelming craving for popcorn once I saw Michael munching it, now in his iconic red and black triangle yoke jacket.

He was so gorgeous. I audibly went “OH!” when I saw how cute he was. Seriously, if I was Ola, I wouldn’t have been asking Michael to leave cause I was scared.

It’d be to get him out his jacket…but that’s another blog.

Then there was the singing and dancing and all the ghouls coming to life--which did frighten me a bit. Especially when Michael became a zombie himself, all pea-green with sunken eyes.


Never Seen a Happy Zombie Before...

It blew my mind. I had never seen anything like that in my life.

Not in a music video. Not with a real plot and choreography.

No half dressed bitches disrespecting themselves shaking their big asses all over the place.

Michael was too classy to have any of that in a video, and I loved that. He kept it clean and entertaining.

Then it was nice once the video ended, with that surprise at the end to boot!--to get the insight and look into Michael’s mind and all the work he did to produce his product.

He wasn’t just sitting on his pancake booty, he was actively participating and working.

It makes me so proud, even then, to see what all he did and how it paid off with making him take over the pop music world.

The world in general.

I do believe that if Michael had been a political type of man and had run for president, HE would have been the first Black President instead of Obama.

(Though I do believe Bill Clinton is high-yellow and won’t tell anyone LMAO!)

I mean if you can put an actor like Ronald Reagan into the White House, why not a singer/dancer/damn genius like Michael Jackson?


If Michael doesn't look like HE'S the Commander in Chief, I don't know who the hell does!


But that video really made me angry. I was angry with my mother for a few months because it really upset me that I missed being born earlier and completely missed the Thriller phenomena.

It really did kill me that I missed the boat by only three years man.

Ideally I would have been born in 1969, when my mom graduated high school. So I would have been about 13 or 14 when Thriller blew up.

(Then I realized my mother was married to her first husband--my daddy was her third,--and he was an absolute dog. I wouldn’t not have been as cute as I am now had her first husband been my father! LOL! )

That really bothered me for a while. Sometimes it still does.

But I just wanted to share that, and more is coming…in the next installment of 80s Friday, next week!

Here's a BONUS:

I did a "Thriller" inspired, but pretty, 80s type of make up job on my face. I hope you like it. I used shades of red and black!


Pardon the robe, I'm sick today...



Close-up of the eyeshadow

80s Friday: Purple Rain

Hey Y'all!

I've decided to start doing something to liven up my blog. Every Friday will be known as 80s Friday--as I am so obsessed with everything to do with the 1980s--and I will be sharing something that I love from the decade, be it clothes, make up, music or in this case, one of my favorite films.



PURPLE RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I talk myself to near hoarseness at times about Michael Jackson, but beleive it or not, I actually do listen to and like other artists.
And Prince is one of them.
I first saw Purple Rain in 1998, when I was about 12 years old. At the time, I knew who Prince was and had kind of heard some of his music, but had never seen this particular movie. And I had always kind of wanted to.
So one day I got up the nerve, and the three dollars for the five day rental, and got the movie. (Which I still don't get how I was able to rent it, since it's rater "R" and I was only TWELVE!)

And at my age, I thought I knew what the 80s were about, running around behimd MJ and looking at him. When I popped PR in the VCR, it was a totally different vibe.
The people were wilder, it was a real club scene--not a mock up like in "Smooth Criminal"--and I really really loved the way the people dressed and looked, from the punks sucking on cigarettes to the New Romantic look Prince was sporting on his little ass.
And the way the women were dressed....it was the way I had wanted to dress. All wild and loud with the vibrant make up. It really struck a chord with me in the fashion alone.

I wanted to be Apollonia. (or at least look like her.)


I thought she was gorgeous. I would have killed for that hair. And on occasion I do wear my make up like that.

Then there was the music. Prince was so slick so smooth. I didn't really pay attention to the plotline of a struggling musician who came from an abusive home.

Nah, I was too busy enjoying Prince leaping around the damn stage too much.

Are you effing kidding me? That's HOT!

PR is another one of those movies I know word for word because I've seen it so much. When I'm in an 80s mood: I automatically pop this in.
(A-U-T-O-matic....)

It really has impacted me from a real pop cultural and fashionable standpoint. And I really love it and am glad Prince made this film.

Its awesome and I wish I could have been there in 84 to see it when it had come out.

More 80s, next Friday!

New Make Up Kit!

Hey Y'all!

If there's one thing I love, is doing my make up. I know some people think of taking the time to make up thier face as a cumbersome task, but I love it. I really honestly do. Depending on my mood and/or outfit, I can literally become any one with the sweep of eyeshadow or lipstick.

One of my favorite things to buy and take advantage of is a makeup pallette, that has tons of shadows--since I love accentuating my eyes the most--and lip sticks. The only thing I don't change is my blush. I am married to my Red Vino blush from Milani.


I recently bought this wonderful set from Ulta called the Day Night and Play collection.

Collection includes:

• 54 eyeshadows
• 9 lipcolors
• 6 cheekcolors
• 2 fullsize lipsticks
• 2 mini lipglosses
• 2 dual ended liners
• 1 eyeshadow quad

Can you beleive I got all that from ONLY 25 dollars? It was like I had died and gone to Heaven. Truly, my corner of Heaven would have a cheesecake factory, Michael Jackson doing ballet stretches in a Speedo, and an Ulta store.
The top shelf of the box is the "Day" with neutral shades, the second is "Night" with deeper sexier colors like purples and plums, and the third shelf is "Play" with brighter, wilder, 80s colors. There's even a yellow shadow.
The last shekf--not shown in the picture, is the blushes, and an eyeshadow quad with mopre nuetral shades. I've never been big on natural make up.
And since I'm brown, brown shadow usually gets lost on my face.

I am really looking forward to using this stuff up, and I am trying to go for a more 80s look. Fashion seems to be leaning towards it and I'll run with it so long as I can. LOL. I missed the 80s the first time around as I was only three when it ended, I want to enjoy its revival now.

Now if only I could find a cute, skinny boyfriend.


Something on that order will do, except for the pink shirt. Only I should wear pink...I'd snatch it off my man.