My Michael Jackson weekend

Hi Jennifer & Friends: As I mentioned earlier I have a friend and her husband staying with me for the weekend. I had several things planned for daytime fun as well as evening entertainment. However, with the death of Michael Jackson LA has become a zoo, so to speak.

People are out and they are EVERYWHERE. Traffic is especially bad, nightclubs are packed and it seems Michael Jackson is enjoying his day (and upcoming years) of popularity even in death. When you finally get into a restaurant or bar this is all you hear or want to talk about. It's fascinating and my friends are having a memorable trip because of all this, even though we haven't done one thing I had planned. It's ". . . and hey, we were in LA when Michael Jackson died. . . . !"

One topic of conversation I listened to was how Michael Jackson will trump Elvis Presley in life after death fame with tours, auctions and museums, etc. The parallels between the two entertainers is rather spooky and you can get into some interesting discussions with die hard Elvis fans about this. I can see their point to the contrary. Elvis was in the army and he wasn't a "suspected" child molester and he wasn't, . . .well, "weird" like Jackson but they were both larger then life figures. My friends husband said that to try and draw a complete and accurate comparison would be impossible as they're from two different periods of time. It's like trying to determine the greatest baseball player of all time. You can't do it. But it makes for interesting conversation.

My friends are having a great deal of fun being part of this "extravaganza" that always seems to involve Los Angeles when it comes to scandals, murders and deaths of celebrities. But this is the biggest of them all. We tried to come up with a celebrity who's death would be bigger and the names of Paul McCartney, Madonna, or Mick Jagger come to mind but none of us could agree on any one person, but we did agree on this one thing: the three challengers are pretty normal people and they're only half as interesting. So it was determined that weird trumps normal for celebrity.

So super stardom is one thing but eccentric and more then a little bizarre, it seems, is what puts you over the top. But you have to be talented to get to this level and Michael Jackson was all of that and then some. You also have to have staying power to keep doing fantastic things and when you change the world you have now reached a level that very few people can achieve. You must also keep in mind that being weird and crazy talented allows for a great deal of forgiveness. We as the public look at that and think you can't be that good and not be a little weird. It just goes with the territory.

Elvis, in his day, changed the world, so did the Beatles. Michael Jackson? Yep! He changed the world of entertainment. I don't think anyone can argue that point, and yes, he's more then a little weird too, but who cares.

Here's one last confirming point that Michael Jackson is as popular as Elvis and will forever be that popular above all the other notables: there are Elvis impersonators all over the place. Many people impersonate Michael Jackson, too. (Danny Gans in Las Vegas) Have you ever heard of anyone impersonating Paul McCartney, Madonna or Mick Jagger, or anyone else? Nope!

Sleep well my little pretties!

Lynn Los Angeles, CA