I was on Twitter last night when the news broke about Michael Jackson and stayed up late waiting for confirmation of his death when most of the major sites crashed under the strain. The internet never ceases to amaze me when major news stories break and while the big news sites were hesitant to say anything without confirmation, the sad news had already broken out on respected fan sites.

I’ve never been a fan of Michael’s music but I did really appreciate his talent, especially in regard to his dancing which was just amazing. It’s just a shame his image was tarnished so badly with the strange behaviour and the allegations of child abuse. I never believed he touched those kids, I just think he put himself into a lot of inappropriate situations when he really should have known better.

It’s a sad fact of life these days that you have to protect yourself against allegations of untoward behaviour and I’ve experienced that on a professional level. There are some things you just can’t say or do anymore, even down to a simple hug. Hell, you can’t even take pictures of your kids in a bath without being accused of kiddie porn.

One of my abiding memories will be standing in John Menzies when I was a kid and watching the Thriller video being played on a continuous loop. There was never a moment when the monitor wasn’t surrounded by a crowd of spellbound people.