The King Is Dead, Long Live the King!
The 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament here in South Afrika has in a way overshadowed the first anniversary of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson's death. The King died last year from what has been claimed by not only conspiracy theorists but also prosecutors to be an overdose of prescription pills. Well, we know by now that his doctor has been charged with 'involuntary' manslaughter - for those in these Southern shores it's something similar to culpable homicide.
Just this week US tabloid magazines claimed that the King died being financially broke. It is interesting how much 'locked' potential people have while they are still alive. I mean, in most cultures, recently in Black culture there is this tendency whereby family members take out policies and have their unwell members as beneficiaries. I'm not that schooled in this but I guess it's similar to the fact that if I die the policy holder reaps massive rewards, which is what happens when the bearer dies as well.
So, you have these family members who live in squalor for the better part of their lives, die broke but enrich those who remain behind. The testimony of money making serious rounds starts showing when the memorial service has a catering company pushing invoices, there is bottled water distributed to mourners and the PAY PER HOUR pastor whose charisma is now called - in hip-hop circles 'swagger'.
Then on the funeral day you will see the dome blue or black casket, the shiny hearse, the black convoy and the expensive procession made up of Gucci suits and Louis Vittone handbags. The graveyard is characterised by Blackberry phones and people Facebooking what is happening to their friends at home.
Then the poor sod is buried and on Monday his/her ID and Death Certificate are a contest. Some relatives who never contributed to the medical bill and the funeral want to have access to the documents to claim their multi-million rand policy payouts. You live poor, die poor at a government hospital but get buried like a king.
Okay, so they say that Michael Jackson made R1 billion in one year of his death. That's bloody $100 million. No one is saying exactly how that happened. Some are claiming sales of his music from his massive catalogue. He owns the Beatles catalogue which he had not exploited by the time of his death. If the King has made a bloody billion before that one wonders how much was the King really worth when he passed away. Is it possible that he was the richest broke cat of all times?
Elvis Presley, another King and Michael's former father-in-law is still coining it decades after he expired. How Elvis manages to be relevant beats me. All I've heard is that the sod only performed once out of the United States of America and his music is as available as water in Saudi Arabia. 'Always on my Mind' is the one most known because it has been sucked to the bone. We know he was the Bobby Brown of the '60s - literally.
But then this post was about remembering the King. And so, the King has been remembered - one year on
