Michael J. Jackson: A Pop Legend

He didn’t bring sexy back but pioneering one of the largest musical genres of…well…ever isn’t something to take lightly. Michael Jackson expired today (for those that didn’t know) at the age of 50 after suffering a cardiac arrest in his Los Angeles home. He was rushed to UCLA Medical Centre, his place of death, after police responded to a 911 call at around 12:21 PM (PST) where all the entrances to the Emergency Room were blockaded with only a few doctors allowed to help. Hospital staffers were even refused entry.

Jackson in 1979. Photo courtesy 'The Chicago Tribune'.

Albeit, some of his more…’well known’ practices were a little on the iffy side, I challenge you to have any amount of disrespect for this man in the face of what he has overcome & accomplished. Jackson was a Motown legend at the age of 14 (1972) when the song Ben hit No. 1. Before that, whilst touring with the Jackson 5, Michael & the gang’s singles I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, & I’ll Be There hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts. No other pop group had accomplished that before.

Growing up & becoming a pop legend in the time when racial prejudice was at its peak (disregarding the Civil War) could not have been easy. Yet Jackson & his four other siblings kept on going…right into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson himself was inducted twice in to the R&R Hall of Fame. The first in the aforementioned statement, the second in 2001, this time as a solo artist. He was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002, has multiple Guinness World Records, eight of which he obtained in 2006, thirteen Grammy Awards…the list goes on.

Jackson in 2000. Photo courtesy 'The Chicago Tribune'.

Whatever your feelings about Mr. Jackson, you cannot argue that he has not been an influence to musicians everywhere. Rather than concentrate on what he has done in his personal life, let’s honour the death of MJ & the accomplishments he achieved both musically & racially. Jackson’s music brought people together & created a genre of music now more prevalent than any other in the states. Hats off to you, Mr. Jackson. And rest in peace.

Because This Is Detroit: Pt. I

Friday’s loss of the Cup was altogether disappointing & humiliating for Detroit. Whether it be the shot by Kronwall off of the Pens crossbar or just simply being defeated by one minute point, it ended badly for us. I myself was disheartened for Detroit Friday night as I watched Sidney Crosby & his chums skate around with our Cup on our ice in our city. Hockeytown. But the Wings tried. They were in the finals, for the fifth consecutive instance. But this time, lacking the Cup.

It's a sea of red & white.

But we will be back next year. And with a vengeance at that. Because this is Detroit & we always pull through. Be the good times or the rough times, incompetent mayors or citizens who remain hopeful for the Motor City, we will always survive. We have heart & perseverance. That’s why we haven’t failed yet. I’ll admit, we’re on a sinking slump – the economy isn’t the best & crime could be dealt with – but we still have the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade, hosted by the great anchors at WDIV. We still have the Woodward Dream Cruise every summer & the city wide firework show. We may be down, but we are certainly not ‘out’.

Hot town, summer in the city....

And the Chronically Insane Get More Powerful…

Well, usually it’s “the rich get richer” but having just learned today that Obama has signed a bill requiring auto makers to have a cumulative MPG of 35 by the year 2020, I think this title is more suiting. You never know, it may catch on. This is yet another example of how we’re becoming a government run establishment. Next thing you know, Obama will tax exhalation or start handing out masks to filter breathing so we humans dump less CO2 into the air. Whatever.

He looks like Santa...his ideas can't be THAT bad, right?

Now, don’t get me wrong, the more MPGs the better. I’m not against progress, I’m against big government, which is what is happening before us, whether we want it or not. But apparently we did want it. Nothing against Mr. Obama (aside from contentious qualifications), but seriously, what did we expect to happen? And the two seven billion dollar loans to ‘bailout’ the economy (Washington doesn’t seem to know the difference between ‘economy’ & ‘banks’ in this situation), yeah, where did that go? What happened to 1.6 trillion dollars?! Actually, it’s more around 3.5 trillion now…more than the cost of World War II (after adjusting for inflation). I’ve heard banks aren’t giving out loans & if they do, lucky you. How is that possible when only a fraction of that money went to the auto industry & the rest went to banks? Where did our money go? Wherever it went, enough wasn’t given to the companies that deserved it. By that, I mean the American auto industry.

Yeah, you & the rest of the United States, too.

Now, I don’t mean that a company shouldn’t be allowed to go down, but the Big Three sure as hell deserved bailout money before Wall Street. The auto industry here in the States is a staple of the American Dream. Without it, jobs fail, the economy fails (even more) & morale fails. I don’t normally have any ideas of government conspiracy but I can’t help feeling like the whole GM business wasn’t a plan of Obama’s or at least some branch of government. And the fact that now Obama essentially owns it now is rather disconcerting. I don’t want to end up like Soviet Russia.

I also don’t want to end up getting taxed to drive a 12 MPG classic car. I don’t know if this bill that was signed has anything to do with previously manufactured automobiles or if they are protected by some sort of ‘Grandfather Clause’, which would be great. Either way, other individuals should NOT be taxed on something like that. This country is getting more & more ridiculous as the weeks pass.

In lighter news, I have a job interview Tuesday, 16th June at 10AM. So…splendid. All right, that’s all. This post turned in to a sort of rant (& probably doesn’t make sense) but I’m just sick of the American government the way it is. We needed Ron Paul but clearly that didn’t happen….

The Scrupled Meets the Unethical

For those that aren’t up-to-date with my life much, I was hired this past Tuesday by a company whose name I didn’t know.  However, I expeditiously quit after an odd, happenstance occurrence.  Keep reading for more.

I mentioned I didn’t know the company’s name.  My excuse was simply because it was a new job & I wasn’t quite acquainted with it just yet.  The next day, I would become all too acquainted.

Wednesday: I arrive for orientation / training promptly.  Twenty minutes early.  Orientation starts & Cliff (I believe that was his name) talks us through our job, benefits, salary & perks.  We would be going to the homes of clients who had scheduled an appointment with us & we would show them our product (cleverly called ‘systems’ in the talk).  Salary was…okay.  $1,900 per month & $150 commission per unit.  At the time, the salary plus ‘perks’ was making me smile & thinking, ‘Oh, I could so do this’.  Break time.  During break, Cliff arranges the chairs which had previously been in four neat rows into a ‘U’ shape, with the open portion facing the platform (there was a stage-but-not type setup).  Then while we all found our new seats, he dashed off to a side room to grab one of the ‘systems’ we would be selling.

It was effectively, a vacuum.  But we weren’t supposed to call it that, oh no.  This wasn’t your typical vacuum.  It was a Kirby.  I had never heard of this ‘Kirby’ & while Cliff demonstrated close to everything it did, I must say, I was quite impressed.  But the simple fact that I was one: sitting in on a real-life informercial & two: going to be a ‘vacuum’ salesman, made a slight quantity of bile reach my lower esophagus.

A Kirby. The better of the two.

I left the first day of orientation / training feeling moderately embarrassed that I had let myself get into a situation such as the preceding.  I didn’t think much of it the rest of the day & proceeded to have some R & R with friends.

The following day, Thursday, I woke up early so as to go to the local credit union to apply for a car loan.  Upon reaching the branch, I made my way to the loan department, made my intentions clear & waited for the individual with whom I would be doing business.  She was an early to mid-middle aged woman, very nice & personable.  She asked me where I was employed & I told her I was unsure of the name, as I had only just started working there.  I then gave her a rundown of what I would be doing.  She knew exactly what I was talking about.  Apparently, her sister & sister’s friend had both tried the ‘programme’ together.

Before I continue, a bit of information as to what I would have been doing.  Employees are divided into teams.  One team leader & four ‘dealers’.  That alone should have been proof enough that I was going to be selling something.  Team leaders were supposed to drop off the ‘dealers’ in the neighbourhood where the clients were located & check up on them every hour or so.  This was for about eight hours.

The woman I spoke with (I didn’t catch her name) at the bank said her sister was dropped off in a neighbourhood, had to call to ‘check in’ every twenty minutes & was never checked on.  For eight hours.  She also said, & this is a direct quote, “Yes, it’s kind of a shady operation”.  The sales people were very pushy & subsequently very rude.  It’s not in my nature to be pushy or rude with people, nor is it in my nature to sell vacuums, or anything that looks & is used as such (I have class, thank you).  So, the job hunt continues.  This time for a legitimate, not so shady job.  Maybe I could find something at a nice vintage car restoration garage.  That would be fun.  Oh, below is a link about some customers’ experiences with Kirby.  Another reason for me, someone with scruples, to not work for a company so lacking in them.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/in_home/kirby.htm