Words to live by…

“If you think “Party in the USA” is ironically awesome, go home. If you think it’s authentically awesome, let’s dance.”

-John Mayer

This is the last thing I’ll say about this but…

The Guardian has an excellent and very complete live blog of Michael Jackson’s funeral, but I thought that Talib Kweli’s Twitter feed provided a thoughtful, if brief, insight to the service’s proceedings. 

There is debate as to the media circus surrounding his death, as well as the controversy surrounding his life, and I don’t know that I stand on one side or the other of the argument. The facts as I see them, though, are that, whether or not you liked him, Mr. Jackson was a talented figure with tremendous public influence. The huge attention being paid to his passing is just a reflection of the mark that his life has left in modern musical history. He’s spent 50 years in the public eye… I guess it’s only fair he should go out with a bang.

That said, I will leave you with an excerpt from the piece that musician John Mayer wrote for Time magazine, which i thought was eloquently-put: 

“Michael Jackson proves, in a really sort of perverse way, that maybe we’re not as offended by behavior as we are entranced by music. And think about that. Think about what level of quality you must have to attain to have somebody say, “I know that you’re accused of having molested children, but I can’t hate you for that as much as I love you for your music.” I’m not saying that’s right or wrong; I’m saying that it’s fascinating. That somebody could be that great. That somebody could have that much of a marriage with your emotions just through music.There’s just one Michael Jackson now. We don’t have to reconcile the Michael Jackson we love with another Michael Jackson. In a way, he has returned to pristine condition in death. We can be free now for the rest of our lives to love the Michael Jackson we used to love.”

Mr. Mayer’s musical contribution to the memorial was ultra classy– beautifully subdued and respectful. Here’s the video.