Rise and Shine --- Memories

Good Morning and welcome to the weekend!

You know, the death of anybody brings back a flood of memories. Where you were during different times in your life. What you were thinking years ago. Who were your friends.
It's like watching one of those old movie news reels that used to run in theaters (Believe it or not, this was how they used to get the news.). The difference, of course, is the reel runs in your head, not on the screen.
That happened to millions around the world Thursday when, first, it was leaked that Farrah Fawcett had died. Those news reels went into overdrive a few hours later with the announcement that Michael Jackson had died.
For more than a few, Fawcett and Jackson defined an era.
If you grew up in the 1970s, Farrah Fawcett was all over the place. She was on 'Charlies Angels.' She was on commercials. She was on bedroom walls. Heck, she was even married to the 'Six Million Dollar Man.' Only the other biggest star of the day.
Meanwhile, there was the Jackson 5, with Michael Jackson singing in front. Now, as a child, it was neat to see somebody your age performing on television. We watched the cartoon. We sang along. Of course, we didn't know about the behind-the-scenes abuse, but this wasn't the age of all-access.
Much like many quick shooting stars, by the mid-80s, Fawcett was a non-entity. There were other television stars. There were other posters.
That's about the time Michael Jackson broke out of the shadow of the Jackson 5. By the time the album 'Thriller' came out, Jackson was the biggest star in the world. As much as any other singer/group, the emergence of MTV brought Jackson closer to everybody.
I remember rushing home from school in 1983 because MTV was going to have the world debut of Jackson's 'Thriller' video. We watched it, then got on the phone and called our friends to talk about it. Yes, this was way before text messaging. While I didn't personally know anybody who had one of those red zipper jackets or walked around with one glove, Jackson's music still came out of the radio on a daily basis.
I look around now that these two have died and wonder if there are any more stars. A quick poll in our house didn't bring much recognition of Jackson. Forget even mentioning Farrah.


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