November 2001, Michael Jackson, Virgin Times Square
I never made it to Neverland, but after sleeping on the street one cold November’s night back in late ’01, I did make it to the Virgin Megastore. After the nearly 24 hour wait, I was able to have a brief twenty seconds with one of my favorite people on Planet Earth…
Cybergosh: “Uh- Um- I really love Captain EO, it’s my favorite fifteen minutes of film ever made. You have to get them to release it on DVD.”
MJ: “Oh, wow, thanks – I’ll tell Disney!”
Having been told not to take any pictures or get too close to him, I was able to snap these two pics beforehand, and, before stepping away from him I extended my hand for the shake, and received the Micheal Jackson touch! It was that day, when a piece of the magic was downloaded into me by the smear of his palm, that I felt the creative sparks begin to flow once again! Thanks Micheal!
Oh, and while I may not be mourning the passing of MJ because I am convinced he’s still walking among us – I will take this oppurtunity to say R.I.P. Virgin Mega Store. You were always fun to go to on Mondays at midnight when Tuesday was just too long to wait for the new releases.
.
UPDATE = I have just now uncovered the original email I sent out after the events back in November ’01…check the play by play after the jump…
FROM BERGVIEWS EMAIL NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2001…
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(hmmm…which cd color to choose?…..)
Invincible. Hmmm, well…i don’t know about that.
What i do know is this album is extremely mixed up for me.
I’ve listened to it a few times letting it jell,
and a few tracks are the old 80’s MJ that i want 
but then that older new age MJ sneaks in more often then not 🙁
here’s what i think (so far) track by track:
1 – unbreakable – i love it, good intro.
2 – heartbreaker – catches on after a few listens. you’ll sing it to yourself later on when no one is looking.
3 – invincible – cool but not cool enough for title track.
4 – break of dawn – either really catchey or really annoying. Gimme another week to figure this one out.
5 – heaven can wait – first of many ballads and a little janet-ish but in a bad way.
6 – you rock my world – you know this one already. if it hasnt grown on you by now this album is not for you.
7 – butterflies – too laid back. dull.
8 – speechless – nice. if all his ballads were up to this level it would be a lot better. Feels like a broadway musical ballad love song show stopper.
9 – 2000 watts – really cool and sounds like it could be an *Nsync song. (….thats a good thing in these parts)
10 – you are my life – Another love song ballad that’s really not that bad. If this was the only one it would be ok but it’s one of like 8 that sound just like it.
11 – privacy – it’s fine if he wanted to write a song about how annoying the paparazzi are but
A) at least make it catchy, and B) make it like you did already with Leave Me Alone.
12 – don’t walk away – sort of an okay ballad i guess, but see #10.
13 – cry – The 2nd best ballad. Has cool hauntingly melodic hook and HAS HEART. Should be in a broadway musical rather then this cd
(…once again, that’s a good thing.)
14 – the lost children – heal the world -esqe weakness.
15 – whatever happens – Carlos Santana does not a good song make. Heart does. Remember that.
16 – threatened – This might be my favorite song on the whole thing. Sort of a Thriller for the new millenium –
it has rod serling samples and is dedicated to Rick Baker!
Cool stuff.
(…oh, and in case you were wondering, i got the white cover
’cause that’s the color of his face.)
The line for MJ had already begun before midnight on Monday –
Here it is Tuesday night around 8 pm, about half way up 46th st between 7th and 6th avenues –
and here it is when i joined it at around 4 am wed morning –
The store began selling the cd (which you had to buy to get 1 of 500 passes) at 9am –
there were a few seconds where peter and i thought we wouldn’t make it in…..
but with the help of a magical midget,
i knew we’d be ok….
We did it!
….hours later…..gettin’ closer……
…almost there…….
at approximetly 6 pm, i can feel the magic….
(i know these aren’t the greatest pics but keep in mind there was no photography of any kind allowed, so i’m lucky to even have these)
seconds after this was taken my camera was taken away
and my cd was given to him
i approached the large table….
CB: ….The Infamous Captain EO
– he smiled and signed the cd cover
– he gave it back and i reached out my hand
– he sized me up and then shook the BergHand
(well, not so much a shake, he gently glided two fingers across my palm – but i believe this was his secret way of uploading the Magic into me)
– As i was pused away by the security guards…
CB: You gotta release Capt EO on DVD – i miss it!
MJ : I’ll tell Disney
– and then it was over.
I got my camera back and waited for Peter, who also had an interesting interaction….
Peter: So what’s up with the Edgar Allen Poe movie?
MJ: We start shooting in six months!
Overall, a very strange encounter (with it all happening so fast it was hard to study his skin for as long as i would have liked)
Extremely surreal to say the least.
You can see some streaming video of the event at:
http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/nov/mj_live/mjlive_ref.mov
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