Listener comments!

Sun. 6/28/09 7:03pm From: G

Go for it, M.!

Sun. 6/28/09 7:05pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

OHHHH! Grrrrrl, you're killing me! I'm getting fer klempt with each great Motown tune!

Sun. 6/28/09 7:10pm From: texas scott

Evenin' Monica and friends.
I missed MJ,back when he stopped cranking out soulful hits.Must have been that wrong turn on his path.
Oh well...now he has let go of the oars from paddling upstream for so long , floating downstream .

MICHAEL JACKSON ,rest in peace!

Sun. 6/28/09 7:10pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

Even I have never heard this!!! How did you get this, M?

Sun. 6/28/09 7:12pm From: Irene

Monica! Thank you! This is the tribute I've been waiting for.

Sun. 6/28/09 7:14pm From: monica

Hi Irene, Maggie, G, and Texas Scott~ My pleasure! Any Michael or J5 memories or fave songs?

Sun. 6/28/09 7:18pm From: G

Thanks for throwing in the less well known songs.

Play what you like! But one song I know I haven't heard anyone play since Thursday is his 72 or 73 remake of Rockin Robin, which went top ten, and combines sweet/cute with high energy...

Sun. 6/28/09 7:20pm From: ?

I like that dsecending vocal riff he keeps using in Zip-a-Dee, the one from Sing a Simple Song by Sly...

Sun. 6/28/09 7:20pm From: Peter K.

Thanks for doing this, Monica.

My favorite Jackson 5 memory is actually a non-memory. When I was in college, the black student union booked them to play at a dance. This was before they had signed to Motown, and the name "Jackson 5" on the events calendar meant nothing to me. That same night, the Outsiders ("Time Won't Let Me") were also playing on campus, and that's the band I went to see. They were extremely forgettable. The next day everyone who went to the other dance was raving about the little kid with the incredible dance moves.

So some of my fellow students can say they saw Michael before he was Michael, so to speak, and I can say that I passed up a chance to see him because I wanted to see the goddamn Outsiders. (Luckily, I did get the chance to see Michael, with his brothers, many years later. He was amazing, of course. But I missed out on the thrill of discovery.)

Sun. 6/28/09 7:23pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

Jeez, yes! When I was twelve years old I convinced myself that someday I would marry Jermaine. Then, when I was in my 20s, I was a stagehand for a really great off-Broadway play, and prior to half-hour being called, I as the sound person would play "Thriller" over our sound system - probably the last time I was into MJ - and upstairs from us was Farrah Fawcett in "Extremities". So, my old pals from my stagehand days and I have been chatting a lot the last few days!

Sun. 6/28/09 7:25pm From: Roy Pea

I remember my late wife Mary and I being blown away by the scene in the "Black and White" video when he smashed the car windows because it was such an eloquent depiction of anger at racism. When he was chastised for it, we couldn't believe it. I guess that's what happens when people pigeon hole you.

Sun. 6/28/09 7:27pm From: Irene

Monica, just do what WFMU folks do best-- let the music take you wherever it 'll go, and keep playing the songs hit radio's forgotten about.

Sun. 6/28/09 7:29pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

What Irene said! Hi Irene! God this is so nostalgic for me.

Sun. 6/28/09 7:30pm From: texas scott

hey Mo.Got any duets?

Sun. 6/28/09 7:38pm From: seang

That Chicago accent is sublime! Thanks for the tunes!

Sun. 6/28/09 7:47pm From: monica

Hi SeanG and thanks! Texas Scott, sorry no duets tonight. Thanks Peter, Maggie, Roy Pea, ?, and Irene, and G for the memories and support.

Sun. 6/28/09 7:51pm From: CB1

Hey Mo!

Never paid much attention to MJ - So all these old tunes are refreshing to hear. Thanks!
Too bad he had to grow up. Poor Peter Pan...

Sun. 6/28/09 7:53pm From: seang

I remember seeing Alex Chilton playing an amazing cover of Rock with You--that dude knows a good song regardless of genre

Sun. 6/28/09 8:00pm From: monica

Hi CB1! Someone recently wrote that he was never meant to grow old. SeanG, I hear ya. I came acorss a Jackson ballad that could've been recorded by Sinatra ("She's Out Of My Life").

Sun. 6/28/09 8:05pm From: Rodri

Saludos from Chile! listening your michael tribute!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:07pm From: HotRod

woohoo!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:12pm From: ~L

Nice choices Monica!!!!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:12pm From: monica

Hey HotRod (love ya!) and Rodri!! Thanks so much for checkin' in!!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:26pm From: G

The last three or four days for me have been a weird process of remembering what was great about him, and getting back to before the overlay of weird personal-life stuff from the 90s. But it was really the same person unfolding all along. We're all somewhat weird behind the scenes, let's be honest with ourselves.

Great talent in action, Michael. RIP

Thanks, Monica...

Sun. 6/28/09 8:28pm From: texas scott

hear HERE,G!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:33pm From: G

In 1988 when I was in a weird old restaurant in Paris that has been the cat's meow back in the 1920s, the owner was trying to explain to me how happening the place was back in the 20s. He said "people like [name] would come there to eat", and I couldn't figure out what the name was. After three repeats I realized it was just his very, very, very French pronunciation of "Michael Jackson." That's how a Parisian in 1988 was going to explain top-of-the-world celebrity to an American. Nuff said.

Sun. 6/28/09 8:36pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

Wow! Again, I'm blown away by stuff I have never heard by the J5. Don't care about the recording quality - it's all about what's behind the murk. What an amazing tribute, Mo! Didn't get a chance to listen to HotRod's (hi Hot Rod!) since I was in deadline heck with MJ and FF obit stuff (re-writing photo captions for AP). Gonna go back to archives during this (hopefully) calmer week at work.

Sun. 6/28/09 8:42pm From: texas scott

nice tribute,monica.
I enjoyed it immensely.
xxo

Sun. 6/28/09 8:44pm From: Phil

Once again, you're knocking me off the front stoop tonight Mo'. A better tribute i could not imagine! Thanks SO SO Much!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:46pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

Monica, thank you thank you thank you for a seriously great show tonight!!!!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:51pm From: mr c

John Luongo did an incredible mix of Don't Stop (Til..) if I remember.

Sun. 6/28/09 8:53pm From: Jeff M

Wow, this is interesting. I certainly can't say I've ever counted myself as a Michael Jackson fan -- due to my particular circumstances (some combination of birthdate, only-childness, and just being a bit peculiar) I had very little exposure to or connection with the early MJ. By the time I encountered MTV -- on which I though the absolutely edgiest, coolest thing in the WORLD was Max Headroom -- I enjoyed the New Wave and some RAWK videos... but soon after, whenever a Michael Jackson video came out, they'd promote and play it incessantly. I couldn't stand any of them. They represented, to me, the sad and terribly disappointing truth that MTV wasn't actually fundamentally cool at all. Eww!

But I'm really enjoying this discovery of the earlier work -- odd, but oddly compelling -- which I just wasn't familiar with. As always, thanks!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:53pm From: Paul

Nice job, Mo. Thanks for the other side of the coin.

Sun. 6/28/09 8:54pm From: monica

Hey there Mr. C! Thanks, will check into that w/Brian C. Maggie, thanks so much, lady! Hi Phil!! Great To hear from you and thanks!!You too Texas Scott!! And the mysterious G!! You too ~L! Thanks everybody. To Michael!!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:56pm From: monica

Hey Paul, thanks so much for hangin' !! And Heff M- thank for your open ears and mind!! I know what ya mean.

Sun. 6/28/09 8:56pm From: Mike Sin

This made the drive up the Garden State Parkway fun... a cool tribute with great context.

Sun. 6/28/09 8:56pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

Jeff, I seem to remember that MJ singlehandedly desegregated MTV - they never showed black artists until he made this an issue. Possibly the final frontier of integration!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:57pm From: monica

thanks mike sin!!!

Sun. 6/28/09 8:59pm From: fmuidiot

This was an excelent tribute, but you have have to realize this was an extreemly talented person that had a very dark side. Just because he's gone dousn't make that go away.

Sun. 6/28/09 8:59pm From: texas scott

your mic break music sounds like the... chi-lites?

Sun. 6/28/09 9:00pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

Stylistics, Stoned In Love With You. If they were a football band.

Sun. 6/28/09 9:01pm From: texas scott

thanks maggie!

Sun. 6/28/09 9:01pm From: G

tex -- "stone in love with you" stylistics, about 1973, a high school band version

Sun. 6/28/09 9:02pm From: Maggie in Rock Tavern

Good night all!

Sun. 6/28/09 9:02pm From: texas scott

you,too G!

Thu. 7/2/09 1:38pm From: maria

wow Monica
what a wonderful show. Listening in the archives on Friday. Such a rich treasure trove of classic sounds from the Jackson 5. You really dug deep! thanks for this

Thu. 7/2/09 1:39pm From: ?

oops I meant Thursday! not that it really matters.

Thu. 7/2/09 4:03pm From: listener bryan

like maria, catching up a little late. your opening mic break made me cry. no one else could have pulled off such a great set!

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