I'm sitting here writing this blog while listening to a hit radio station in London, England air a tribute to Michael Jackson. About three hours ago, Jackson died in a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 50. Much too young to go.

But so was Elvis Presley. Presley was only 42 when he was found on a bathroom floor in Graceland in Memphis on August 16, 1977.

It was a typical hot afternoon in Chester the day Elvis died. I was only eight years old the day he passed away. My dad was at work in the Metro East, probably working on Interstate 255 near Columbia. My mom was sitting on the couch sewing a quilt and I was lying on the floor watching cartoons. Suddenly, a news bulletin came across Channel 11 (yup, even remember which TV channel it was) alerting viewing that the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley, was found dead about an hour earlier in Graceland.

I remember sitting up and watching the news bulletin is disbelief. I had a couple of Elvis posters on the walls of my bedroom and my parents had seen him in Carbondale a couple of months prior. She immediately began crying. As country as my mom was, she was a big Elvis fan. When VCR machine finally found their way into our home, Mom would tape every Elvis movie for her personal collection. She had every album he released.

There were a couple of classmates who lived in the neighborhood and I remember jumping on my bike and riding down the street to their houses. I think for the next three days when did nothing but listen to Elvis music. I remember watching the funeral procession on TV.

I was checking out Facebook when a friend posted that Michael Jackson had died, this just hours after Farrah Fawcett had died. At first, I thought he was joking but later found out that he wasn't.

The death of Michael Jackson has effected music fans around the world. I think I still have the Thriller album which I bought at the old Ben Franklin store here in town. If it's anywhere, chances are its in a closet at Dad's house along with the rest of my album collection.

You can sit here and say the guy is a freak because of his personal life outside of the music business but while listening to Capital FM roll one song after another, the bottom line is the guy was that damn talented. Chances are people don't really appreciate the music because of what happened with him and the lawsuits but if you have any Michael Jackson music, load up an mp3 player, put on a good set of headphones, plop your ass down on the couch, close your eyes and just listen. Appreciate the music behind the artist, especially the music from the early solo projects.

Off The Wall

Thriller

Bad

50 is much too soon. Only 10 years older than me and that scares the hell out of me.

Now if you will excuse me, it's time to crank up the volume a little bit and pay tribute to the musical artist Michael Jackson, one of the Greatest of All Time.