I have another confession to make, my people.I love Janet Jackson.

Yes, I’m not a fairweather fan. To the contrary, I’d even go so far as to say Janet was my first dream girl / girlfriend, even if she’s a decade or so my senior. Her songs always rocked my eardrum during the early years, when my only access to the outside world was MTV and Z100. I couldn’t even own any of her CDs or tapes until I went and got a little bit of money. By then, the first Janet album I ever got (and bought 2 copies of eventually) was Design of a Decade, the greatest greatest-hits album I’ve ever heard. I even had this to say a few years ago on the elder blog:

Songs like “Control” and “Pleasure Principle” make you feel independent, while songs like “Miss You Much” and “Let’s Wait a While” showcase the trials and tribulations of love and its derivatives. It goes from celebratory (”Alright“) to emotional (”Come Back To Me“), from chill (”That’s the Way Love Goes“) to freaky (”Twenty Foreplay“), from angry (”Black Cat” and “Rhythm Nation“) to cute (”When I Think Of You“) all in one album. It’s so sick.

I own every album after that, too, and also got two copies of janet., the best album she’s had to date, with all due respect to The Velvet Rope. I honestly couldn’t help but be enamored by her sweet sensuality, her energy, and her work ethic. Even if she didn’t have the strongest voice, she was going to kick everyone’s butt on stage and on a track. She also grew musically, becoming more mature in content and music, delving into her personal life, and still wearing sexy like no one else can. Despite anyone’s opinions about the plastic surgeries or the marriage issues she had, no one could ever deny that overall, she’s a beautiful lady, and she carries herself gracefully …

… Even in strife. Even as people questioned whether she’d ever get out of her brother Michael Jackson’s shadow (the song and video for “Scream” proved the affirmative). Despite a stellar single in “I Want You”  (produced by Kanye), Damita Jo didn’t do very well due to Boobgate (I’m only 70% over that incident), and 20 Y.O. fell through the cracks, even as her most observant and worshipping fans have become superstars themselves (here’s looking at you, Ciara, Britney, Usher, Chris Brown, etc.). Even with that crazy upbringing that produced Michael, she still managed to come out looking like the normal one.

So what’s a Janet fan to do when he’s waiting for that comeback? CD after CD, he buys, dedicated fully to the artist that provided the soundtrack for so many critical moments in his life through her personal experiences, and while he’s pleased with the product, everyone else calls it a failure. I’m not sure, but I’ll buy that new Janet, not for the new production / direction she’s taken with her music, or the awesome album cover for Discipline. Even naysayers have hope in the effort.

A toast to you, miss. Love would never do without you …

jose, who has no regrets about what he posts on here …

An idol.The biggest of superstars.

A warrior and a man all the same.

That sweet fade-away.

The sweat-drenched NY Knicks jersey, emblazoned with the number 33 in the back.

The custom sneakers.

The Georgetown alum with 2 gold medals, part of the historic Dream Team, 11-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year from 1985-86, sure Hall of Famer, and part of the NBA 50th anniversary’s All-Time Team.

The man who carried the most prominent franchise in one of the grandest stages in the world for over a decade.

No NBA championship rings. Thus, less respect.

Patrick Ewing is probably my favorite player from any sport ever. He symbolized everything the Knicks and NYC were for a decade and a 1/2. My thoughts turned to him after watching how he’s helped Dwight Howard develop into the monster MVP candidate he is. A little greyer and bereft of that signature flat-top with the notch in his hair, and a few pounds overweight, he still had that smile that reminded me why I became a Knicks fan to begin with. At the very least, you knew each night, he’d get up into that court and play his hardest. He helped instill that gritty, hard-nosed, defiant, me-against-the-world mentality many of us had laced into our DNA since child birth. Even in defeat, Knicks fans always felt we would have another run at another great season, and another championship run.

Yet, there are those who believe we shouldn’t be attached to celebrities and sports figures, asserting we don’t need to follow these idols. In many ways, I agree. Does Patrick Ewing care whether or not I follow him or not? Probably not. I still remember times when he would end up on the back pages of the Post (ugh!), the Times, or the Daily News, heckled on his own home floor mercilessly for his reactions to the lack of fan support. While he’s out drinking his high-priced alcohol in a big house with his plethora of stats and awards, I’m somewhere in an apartment writing about how much I love him as a sports figure.
That might be the reason why we idolize them in the first place. Kids from my neighborhood look at these Black and Latino men living their dreams out for millions to see and envision themselves doing likewise. Sports and other competitions for that matter are emblematic of the struggles the common man and woman face in real life. How interesting is it that we latch ourselves onto sports teams and players in the hopes that even as superficial and capitalist these victories seem, we too feel like we won or lost depending on the outcomes. Some of us hook ourselves onto these figures so much that they become part of our lives. Their struggles become ours. Their hardships become ours.

Even without the multimillion dollar price tag strung on these players’ ankles, we still see a little of ourselves in the players we witness so much. That’s why I write about Alex Rodriguez and expectations leveled on him, Patrick Ewing and his greatness contrasted with his shortcomings, or even The Rock’s ability to carry such braggadocio and still be considered the “People’s Champion.”

We can even extend that to the celebrities of today, from Denzel’s refined passion to Morgan Freeman’s mature wisdom. Even the recent death of Heath Ledger reminds people of the shortcomings and tragedies of a bright present and a brighter future. And I hate to say this, but I suspect that people follow Britney Spears as much to see whether she’ll get out of her misery than to witness her downfall. We cheer as much for comebacks as we do the underdog. We oscillate in adulation. People took 7-8 years to realize that Al Gore was the best choice for President (out of the 2-party system we have now), but people hated him for the same reasons they love him now, only he had 7 years to prove to everyone he was right.

The figures that certain populations decide to prop up are accurate representations of the ideas and feelings that society has about themselves. If we look at New York City in 1977, we can sum up NYC’s population with three people: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, and Billy Martin. Reggie represented Blacks’ and Latinos’ dreams of upward mobility (for more, see The Jeffersons circa 1975 - 1985). George Steinbrenner represented the cantankerous bosses NYC became renown for. And Billy Martin represented the working class people in NYC, struggling to keep their jobs in a recessive job market.

Patrick Ewing, thus, represented so much of what I grew up knowing about NYC, but more importantly about myself. I grew emotionally attached to his victories and losses as a kid, and haven’t been quite as passionate about anyone outside my home or classroom in ages. I can still remember how shocked I was to see him traded to the Seattle Sonics, and subsequently came back to beat the Knicks with 18 points and 10 rebounds, but time had already taken a toll on his weak knees and other joints. His run down the court was then a lumpy jog in some stranger’s uni.

While I watch my Knicks go through this miserable stretch, I wonder how they lost that edge that made the rest of the league hate the Knicks and make us love them. The Knicks these days have a few scrappy players (Lee, Balkman, Robinson, Crawford), but in general suit up sleep-inducing and lackluster players who, leadership included, have no common mission. They really look like they’d prefer to be at home than actually representing NYC’s grand basketball history properly. It’s like watching million dollar zombies out there. Then I look at the city the team is now, and I see the same can be said for many of the people who inhabit it now.

Fuck that. Bring back Patrick. Kneepads, missed finger rolls and all. I’d rather be a contender and lose than to have never had the chance.

jose, gave away his authentic Patrick Ewing jersey to my younger cousin after he got too big to fit in it, but definitely has the 15th anniversary Team USA Ewing jersey ready for all occasions …

Yes, I caught that Kanye West video of him crying in front of everyone at the Paris, France show. It was honestly one of the oddest things I’d ever seen in my life. According to sources, he only did the show because he wanted to fulfill contractual obligations, so he showed up. They played “Hey Mama,” in tribute to his recently deceased mother, Dr. Donda West, whose surgery is still under review, and he couldn’t even begin the song. He cried on stage for a full 10 minutes before he left.

While I disagree with his decision to endorse EdIn08, Kanye’s one of the few artists who reveals every part of his personality, and whether we think it’s TMI or not, everyone from the older generation to younger generation listen to Kanye for that brutal honesty about his Black-middle-class-preppie to hip-hop-superstar stories. Not only a brilliant producer, but a very good rapper nowadays, Kanye’s made everyone behind the boards and in the booth step their game up and give a little more than the money, hoes, and clothes lines.

The difficulty in revealing too much about yourself is that, while you become more accessible and your fans remain almost criminally loyal to you, your most tragic and tender moments become susceptible to lovers and haters of your art form alike. The same people who raised him this far inevitably can spin this as a raw and honest moment on his part (positive) or point to how anti-gangster he is, an attribute he’s played off in the past, but has also played with after College Dropout.

Yet, more critically, his appearance on YouTube with that mellifluous instrumental to “Hey Mama” playing in the background, people clapping, screaming, and rooting for him made me think of the Truman Show again. I wonder what the thought process was for those cheering him on: did they cheer for him because he was crying for his moms or because they wanted to make him happy enough so they could get their money’s worth? Do they support him as a person or as the fresh-and-cuddly rapper whose CD they keep on rotation?

In a time when media is instant and opinions come only a second after that transmission, this latest transmission of a pop star in obvious pain really hurt my heart. Because this is exactly the kind of artist that he is, and it’s also the type of people we are …

jose

I recently saw one of the most disturbing videos of the year when I saw Chris Crocker (a.k.a. “Leave Britney Alone” guy) on MySpace, sobbing his eyes out as if he was channeling Spears’ soul himself. It was bananas. The mere fact that someone not even involved with Spears whatsoever can turn his angst and anger against the media in the form of a viral video makes me think what I’ve been thinking all along: fame is merely a reflection of society as a whole.

That’s easy to say, and almost simplistic in its nature, but the same people who notice this will undoubtedly say that famous people get what’s coming to them. Britney Spears should have known Kevin Federline was a sleazeball. Anna Nicole was a trainwreck to begin with so it was expected of her to die the way she did. Kurt Cobain was nothing more than a druggie and the way he died was normal for people like him. Michael Jackson is a weirdo, a child molester, and a White woman in a skeleton’s body. Michael Vick is a cold-blooded football player who thought he could get away from hurting those poor dogs and not get convicted because he’s got a ton of money. OJ Simpson is a cold-blooded murderer and his recent robbery and assault case is nothing short of a serious comeuppance. OK, maybe the last one’s true, but …

The relationship between famous people and not-so-famous people goes two ways. Famous people need others to seek after them, or else they wouldn’t be famous. It’s like they say in Hollywood: “if they’re not talking about you, then that’s a problem.” Justin Timberlake recently said on Oprah that he believes people want to know everything about his life because they don’t have lives of their own. Yet, when he records music or does movies, many of the selling points for that media come from his conspicuous relationships and events surrounding his life. That’s what separates him from a Robin Thicke: people might like his music, but his name wouldn’t be all up on people’s mouths if he didn’t seek it.

Britney Spears showed up at the MTV VMAs not looking up to the task of opening. She came a little thicker (which I liked, but most people didn’t), but not as sharp as we have been accustomed to. Needless to say she was berated to no end, hence prompting the response from Crocker. Yet, if she knew she wasn’t up to it, then why do it? It might have been because MTV finally called her back, after all this time, and she had the biggest of opportunities to reclaim the good side of fame, where she could triumph despite her afflictions. Now, despite the growth of her single “Gimme More,” we’re watching how fame can eat the innards of someone we helped prop up to be so American Apple Pie.

Yet, people would never accept responsibility for their own part in propping up these people. Remember: the general public is responsible for the success of the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson’s ascension into kingdom. The general public is responsible for worshiping Nirvana and by default Kurt Cobain. The general public indulged in Anna Nicole’s body at the height of her popularity and her tribulations later on in her career, contributing to the success of her reality TV show, and the analysis of her personal life. Yes, their privacy was shallow at best, but when we were fed, we wanted more.

In that respect, I think of the Michael Vick case and say to myself, “How many of these protesters are actually vegetarians? How many of them screamed in horror when a dog chomped on a person’s extremities? How many of them cared when someone gets raped or tortured miles away from them?” If you’re against the objectification of dogs, then go against the objectification of all beings.

In a sense, those protesters laid all their anger and insecurities against Michael Vick when Michael Vick is really just a very small fraction of the problem. It’s like we use celebrities as extreme measuring sticks for how well we’re doing for society. Men abuse and revile their spouses all over the world, yet will be quick to tell people at least they never murdered them like OJ. Video models and “models” alike will do certain favors and show a little bit of everything so they can get a spot on some artists’ video or magazine cover, yet they’ll tell the whole world they’re not Katherine Steffans a.k.a. “Oral Fixator to the Stars.” As we know from the recent news about “Marsha and Jan Brady,” not everything baked is truly that wholesome.

And I’m not here telling people what to think, but we as a society might want to realign our views with what characters have more social value. These same individuals need to understand the unwritten contract they sign off on once they become involved with fame. If they can’t handle it, then I need not hear another viral video crock admonishing the rest of us for something some star brought upon herself.

“Leave fame alone! UH huh huh huh huuuh!”

:: rolls eyes::

Blanquito please …

jose, who laughed eventually at that video. no really …