Working for Michael Jackson

I've been away for a while because I've been doing thre different shows.  One is American Idol, one is a skechers commercial, the other was a project for Michael Jackson.

For most of my work I have to be cautious about what I say, but with the current circumstances I was given the okay to share some thoughts as long as I didn't show anything from the project.

A month ago I was given the opportunity to create one small section of Michael Jackson's upcoming London concert tour.  It was a lot of work, but for my team, he was such an icon of pop culture and entertainment, it was really an honor to be working on it.

Last night he watched the video in full for the first time and "love it."  We were working feverishly to finalize it for the show all through the night up into this morning until I received the sad news via text "MJ died."

It's not often you find authentic pop icons whose presence is exotic, yet authentic.  While there is always a bit of manufacturing involved in creating stars - you can't ever manufacture  the authenticness of the artist and in the long run, that is what keeps people interested.  This is where the act and the person are intimately related.  The act could not be performed by anyone else and be the same.  Remove the performer for the act, and  the act loses it's magic.

It's a difficult thing to do though for many artists because you have face yourself honestly - and that can be difficult and even haunting. 

When it happens though - it's magic.

Despite the tragic ending, it still was an honor to have worked for him and I'm glad that he liked what we created.  Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought it would be one of the last things he'd watch.

I'm posting a video here of what was a paradigm shift moment in pop culture, not unlike when the Beatles played for the first time on American TV.  It was a moment where despite having been around since he was a child, he was suddenly reborn in people's eyes as a whole new star and in total ownership of his instrument.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15SxqqwF63U I hope this blog is legible, I'm a bit tired and living in a state of surreality at the moment.