Fairwell My Summer Love

I was just getting ready for bed last night when Harvey got a text to say that Michael Jackson had died. Neither of us believed it so we turned on Sky News and there it was.

I said to Harvey that it was another Princess Diana moment - it was he who woke me up that day to tell me she had died. He's a bit of a harbinger of death is my son.
Then, as now, we both watched the tv in disbelief.

My first thoughts were of the practicalities: the concerts at the O2 - what would happen? Would people get their money back? Who would have to refund them?

I thought back to Diana and the ridiculous public grieving that followed, I can imagine that there'll be similar scenes for Jackson - in L.A at least - weeping fans clutching flowers and tributes.

He seemed too young to die, but he was 50 and it's not uncommon for a man of that age to suffer from a cardiac arrest. That scared me, I'm not man but I will be 50 by the end of next year. I'm getting my cholesterol checked next week.

Working from home today (due to an errant prawn in Wednesday's salad lunch turning my stomach into a working model of Vesuvius), I'm listening to Radio 2 who are playing lots of his songs and I have to say that I felt quite choked when I heard 'Ben'. Despite his weird behaviour and fuck ups, there was something special about him.

His songs were the backing track to a lot of my life: his poster from Jackie magazine on my bedroom wall; miming to 'I Want You Back' when I got my first record player; dancing to 'Off The Wall' with the girls from Nat West Bank on a night out in Margate; watching the first showing of the 'Thriller' video in a bar on holiday in Kitzbuhel; seeing him live at Wembley stadium in '84; wearing a promo T-shirt on the day of the 'Dangerous' album release when I worked at HMV and lots more.

I guess you can forgive him the facial surgery, the skin lightening etc for the great music.

I remember the day Elvis died, I was only 17 and working with a lot of older women. They were all shocked and spent the day discussing him. At the time I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, now I do.

Michael Jackson was the Elvis of our generation. RIP