Milestones - Michael's Gone

I know exactly where I was when John F. Kennedy died. I remember the Moon Landing, John Lennon's death, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Apartheid, the introduction of the first personal computer, the cell phone, the internet - and many other events that have had an impact on all of our lives, one way or another.

Michael Jackson's death yesterday marks another milestone. I have neither the expertise nor enough personal knowledge to comment on his life, but I liked him, love his music, and had followed him since the beginning. This extraordinary talent was central to our days, whether we cared for him or not. He was there. He could not be ignored.

I'm saddened that he didn't have the opportunity to renew himself with the planned 2010 Tour. They are saying now that preparations for this perhaps contributed to his death. His public life was too much for one man, his private life too tortured.

I remember his dear little face when he first came on the music scene. That's how I'd like to remember him.