作者：梅莉莎•貝爾（Melissa Bell）
(編譯：Badthriller 來源：MJJCN.com / washingtonpost.com）
左為邁克爾，右為馬龍。
兩年的一個週六下午，那是一個陽光明媚的午後，我走出芝加哥的一家電影院，從朋友那裡收到一條短信：“邁克爾傑克遜（Michael Jackson）死了。”我以為那是一個玩笑的開始。邁克爾•傑克遜在我出生前就是明星了—— 儘管他個人有掙紮、對孩子的行為有問題、私人生活裡有各種糾結—— 而且在我生命中他一輩子都是明星。
沒有了他的才華，這個世界愈加空虛，但那是一個充滿苦難和挑戰的生命的結束。為了紀念他，紀念那個充滿活力的邁克爾傑克遜—— 在外形整容前、戴上面具前、官司不斷前和小報麻煩前的那個他。 1979年6月11日，《華盛頓郵報》（The Washington Post）的賈桂琳•特雷斯科特（Jacqueline Trescott）寫過一篇文章，講述了一個準備好擺脫家庭陰影的20歲邁克爾傑克遜：
邁克爾傑克遜，今年20了，這個可愛纖瘦的加長版兒童10年前打著響指走進了年輕人的心中，他知道接下來的10年自己要什麼。
“做一切我認為該做的。”傑克遜說，他標誌性的高音從未改變。烏黑的雙眸直直地盯著目標，不找任何藉口。 “真的，更多的音樂、電影、一切。我想一直走下去。”微笑的他漸漸咧開嘴，目標正漸漸明晰。他的回答迅速，會像任何一個20歲年輕人無禮地頂嘴，他們的口氣裡帶著已經半輩子站在聚光燈下早就習以為常的俗氣。
穿著褐色寬鬆褲和印花襯衫，灰色的騎兵帽下是任性的圓蓬頭，傑克遜靠在床柱上。他的哥哥， 22歲的馬龍（Marlon）曾是1969年“傑克遜五兄弟”（Jackson Five）最初的成員—— 3年前他們又改名為“傑克遜家族樂隊”（the Jacksons） —— 加入到談話中。 3小時後，這支組合將讓2萬多歌迷對他們頂禮膜拜，當晚據說還有5千人被攔在場外。邁克爾和馬龍現在完全放鬆。事實上，他們像史默思兄弟（Smothers Brothers）那樣在惡作劇。
“什麼！樓下沒有女孩。”馬龍戴著墨鏡，穿著奶黃色運動服開玩笑說。角落旁，一個經紀人白天早些時候通知謝拉頓•蘭納姆汽車旅館（Sheraton Lanham Motor Inn）的大廳裡擠得水洩不通。
“我猜她們以為我們在麗晶飯店（the Regency）或水門飯店（Watergate Hotel）。”邁克爾說（他喜歡用簡稱，比如用'Gate指代“水門飯店”，'tics指代“政治”， 'Town指代“摩城唱片公司”）。
10年前，傑克遜兄弟們都很青澀害羞，所有的聲明都留給父親約瑟夫•傑克遜（Joseph Jackson）。他們提供給樂壇的就是5張沒有瑕疵的面孔、令人心跳的短髮、斜紋棉布褲和配套的運動夾克。出了印第安納州蓋瑞市，他們主打泡泡糖靈魂樂，這帶給他們讚美和財富。但那時，他們講話時害羞靦腆：據那時的解釋是，他們的聲音“是個秘密，太多人可能會看到後模仿。”
現在，隨著他們的青春不再是暢銷的因素—— 最小的蘭迪（Randy）也16歲了—— 傑克遜兄弟們得跟諸如“傑斯”樂隊（O'Jays）和“海軍準將”樂隊（Commodores）這類已經成立的男子組合競爭。 “我們得努力引領潮流，而不是跟隨他們。”邁克爾說。他們在獲得成功，最新專輯《命運》（Destiny）已獲得白金銷量認證，誕生了兩支前10單曲。
10年也帶來了一些改變。斜紋棉布褲被原始感和未來感兼併的合身黃金跛腳禮服替代。喊叫聲也開始遞進層次，曾經牆上掛著傑克遜兄弟海報的歲月漸漸成了不再是泡泡糖的新一代，儘管那是過去時代特有的節奏。成員也有了變化—— 弟弟蘭迪代替了仍然留在摩城的哥哥傑梅恩（Jermaine），新組合轉簽CBS的史詩唱片公司（Epic Records）。
不過始終如一的是邁克爾傑克遜的優勢。他的事業走得更遠，拓展到了電影領域，在《新綠野仙蹤》（The Wiz）中飾演了稻草人一角。八卦新聞說他陪塔圖姆•奧尼爾（Tatum O'Neal）參加社交活動。舞臺上邁克爾的舞蹈是迪斯可與特技、時髦炫目與花樣最好的例子。包裝扼殺了自發性，但是三個昏死的女人在邁克爾獨自表演的週六夜晚被抬出圍欄。
“在夏洛特（Charlotte）有點不真實，因為他們把女孩用擔架抬著穿過舞臺。”邁克爾說。那是週五夜晚，一天后，他有點吃驚。馬龍解釋說他們一直都不習慣於這些尖叫，邁克爾說得更詳細：“每次都感覺很新鮮。”
在賓館房間裡，兩兄弟在解釋巡演是什麼樣的，堅稱傑克遜兄弟間公開場合裡表現出來的友情在旅行和錄音時亦然。在週末剛結束的為期兩個月的巡演的第四周，傑克遜兄弟從飛機轉乘旅行車和拖車住房。 “我更喜歡公車。天氣好的時候才適合坐飛機。”邁克爾說，他在坐車期間看電影，然後在每個主要城市出去逛動物園。 “嘿，他感覺像在家，看著他的親戚。”馬龍說。
“那是說你，對吧？我當然喜歡你。”邁克爾說。 回頭看看，傑克遜兄弟承認他們在歌迷中引發的效應是過去10年裡最令人愉快的。 “事實上，我們賣出6千萬張唱片，把快樂帶給這麼多人。我喜歡為快樂而做，而不是為了鈔票。”邁克爾說，“為英國女王表演過兩次，太榮幸了。我有個關於國王皇后的夢想，她有自己的魔盒，有王冠和珠寶。”馬龍打斷道：“我們接觸所有人，在某些地方也大賣，比如在阿斯托洛圓頂體育場（ Astrodome），在利物浦（Liverpool）打破披頭士（Beatles）的記錄。”
成功帶來榮華富貴。馬龍在聖費爾南多穀（San Fernando Valley）買了房子，那裡有網球場，這樣他就能實現自己的網球高手夢。在加利福尼亞州恩西諾的傑克遜家族大院等待邁克爾傑克遜的，則是好幾部電影。
“首先是電影《歌舞線上》（Chorus Line），我還沒劇本。然後有人在以比爾•羅賓遜（Bill Robinson）的故事為基礎寫劇本，然後是一部關於夏令劇的電影，講述人們是怎麼做的，關於成功的痛苦。”邁克爾說。因為他的事業沒有傷痕，那麼他對奮鬥的故事感興趣嗎？邁克爾立刻回答是。馬龍再次插嘴：“早期在我們全國聞名前，我們一晚上要作7場演出，坐著大眾汽車四處奔走。那可不快樂。”邁克爾糾正道：“也不糟，但我們沒有驚喜。”
內部的嫉妒呢，不和無法避免嗎？ “我們彼此相愛，想法相似，所以問題很少。我們會這麼告訴你。”馬龍邊說邊看著邁克爾，他的眼睛正盯著電視，“我們告訴他最重要的就是姓氏。”見邁克爾面有慍色，馬龍立刻改口道：“我只是開個玩笑。”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/michael-jackson-remembering-the-star-at-20/2011/06/24/AGf8sGjH_blog.html
Michael Jackson: Remembering the star at 20
By Melissa Bell
To the left (in the foreground) is Michael Jackson, and in the background is Marlon Jackson. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post) Saturday afternoon, two years ago, I walked out of a movie theater on sunny afternoon in Chicago and got a text message from a friend: “Michael Jackson died.” I thought it was the start to a joke. Michael Jackson had been a star before I was born and — despite his personal struggles, his questionable behavior to children, his personal life spirals — managed to stay a star all my life.
The world was emptier without his talent, but it was the end to a difficult and challenging life. In memory of his death, here’s a remembrance of Michael Jackson full of life — before the surgeries, before the masks, before the court cases and tabloid troubles. Written by the Post’s Jacqueline Trescott on June 11, 1979, here’s Michael Jackson, a 20-year-old man on the verge of breaking out from his family’s shadow:
Michael Jackson, now 20, an elongated version of the cute, spindly youngster who finger popped into teen hearts 10 years ago, knows what he wants for the next 10.
“To do everything I feel I should do,” says Jackson , his trademark airy pitch unchanged. His dark eyes are direct, making no excuses for that goal. “Really, more music, films, everything. I want to go all the way.” His smile grows into grin, testing the boundaries of a crescent fact that, up close, is small and sand papery. His answers are the quick, flippant retorts of any 20-year-old, their tone mixed with the blase worldliness of someone who has spent half his life in the limelight.
Dressed in brown slacks and print shirt with a gray cavalry hat perched on a wayward afro, Jackson leans back onto the bedpost. His brother, Marlon, 22, one of the original five who started out as the Jackson Five in 1969 and renamed themselves the Jacksons three year ago, joins the conversation. Three hours before the group will bring 20,000-plus fans to their feet, on a night when a reported 5,000 were turned away, Michael and Marlon are totally relaxed. In fact, they are cutting up like the Smothers Brothers.
“What! There aren't any girls downstairs,” mocks Marlon, camouflaged behind sunglasses and a worn cream-colored jogging suit. From the corner, one of the managers announces that the lobby of the Sheraton Lanham Motor Inn was packed earlier in the day.
“Well I guess they'd expect us to be at the Regency, or the ‘Gate,” says Michael (who is given to abbreviations: ‘Gate for Watergate Hotel, ‘tics for politics, ‘Town for Motown Records, their first label).
Ten years ago, the Jacksons were all terribly green, painfully shy, leaving all the declarations to their father, Joseph Jackson. What they offered to the music scene were five blemishfree faces, heart-throbbing in their close-cut hair, chino pants and matching sports jackets. Out of Gary , Ind. , they marketed bubble-gum soul, which brought them adulation and riches. But, even then, when they spoke, they were coy: their sound, explained one back then, “is a secret; too many people might find out and start doing it.”
Now, with their youth no longer a salable part of the act (Randy, the youngest, is 16), the Jacksons have to compete with established male acts like the O'Jays and Commodores. “We have to strive to set trends, instead of following them,” says Michael. They are succeeding. Their latest album, “Destiny” is certified platinum and has birthed two top 10 singles.
Yet 10 years has produced some changes. Chinos have been replaced by coordinated gold lame stitched into a medieval-futuristic combination. The screams have cultivated layers, from those whose years are marked by Jacksons ' pin-ups and from a younger generation that can't be called bubble-gum, though that's its age and beat. In personnel, there have been alterations - one brother, Randy, substituting for another, Jermaine, who remained with Motown when the rest switched to CBS Epic Records.
But what has remained constant is the dominance of Michael Jackson. His career has gone further, expanding to movies with the role of the Scarecrow in “The Wiz,” and joining the gossip mystique, escorting Tatum O'Neal. On stage Michael's dancing is an impeccable sample of disco and acrobatics, stylishly flamboyant and patterned. The packaging has killed the spontaneity but, nevertheless, three women were carried over the rails in dead faints during Michael's solos Saturday night.
“In Charlotte , it was a little unreal because they carried the girls out in stretchers across the stage,” says Michael. That was Friday night, and a day later, he sounded slightly stunned. Marlon explains that they never get used to the screams, and Michael elaborates, “it honestly feels fresh each time.”
In the hotel room the two brothers are explaining what tours are like, insisting the Jackson public camaraderie carries over to travel and record sessions. In the fourth week of the two-month tour that ended over the weekend, the Jacksons switched from airplanes to a caravan of station wagons and mobile homes. “I prefer the bus. Flying is fine in good weather,” says Michael, who watches movies during the long drives and then rushes out to catch the zoo in each major city. “Hey he feels at home, looking at his relatives,” says Marlon.
“Well, that means you, right? Sure I like you,” says Michael.
Looking back, the Jacksons agree that the response they triggered in fans was the most fulfilling aspect of the last decade. “The fact that we have sold 60 million records and brought joy to so many people. I like that for the happiness, not for the money,” says Michael. “And playing for the Queen of England, twice; what an honor. I had a fantasy of kings and queens and there she was in her magic box, with her crown and jewels.” Marlon interrupts. “It's everyone we have touched, and selling out certain places, like the Astrodome and breaking the Beatles record in Liverpool .”
Success has brought certain luxuries. Marlon is buying a house in the San Fernando Valley , equipped with a tennis court, so he can live his fantasy of being a tennis pro. Waiting for Michael at the family's sprawling compound in Encino , Calif. , are several movie offers.
“First there's the movie of ‘Chorus Line,’ but I haven't seen the script yet. Then someone is doing a script on the Bill Robinson story, then a movie about summer stock, about what people do to make it, the pain of success,” says Michael. Is he attracted to stories of struggle because his career has been free of scars? Michael immediately responds yes. Marion again interrupts. “In the early days, before we went national, we did the seven shows a night, traveling in a Volkswagen. That wasn't fun.” Corrects Michael, “It hasn't been bad, but we didn't come out of the blue.”
But what about the internal jealousies, the rifts that must come? “We like one another and think alike, so there are few problems. And we tell this one,” Marlon says, looking at Michael, whose attention has been caught by the television, “We tell him the most important thing is the last name.” Michael scowls. And Marlon amends, “I was only kidding.”
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