I was so blown away by the text message story on Saturday, that I neglected to mention another juicy nugget(it was to me at least) that occurred on that very same day. I was in Best Buy trying to purchase the NBA Live video game for my son. I couldn't remember whether he had a Wii, a Playstation or an Xbox. Then I called is mother, and I found out I was wrong on all counts (he had a PSP. I digress..

On my way into the store, I noticed there was a sizable tv, right in the "lobby" of Best Buy, and Michael Jackson's Beat It was the video playing. Directly in front of the tv, there was an Asian couple, a White couple, and two younger black kids, and they were completely mesmerized by the video. They were oblivious to people coming in and out of the store, they were not considerate of any people behind them who may have been trying to watch the video as well, they were just focused on this 26 year old video. I've seen Beat It millions of times, so I just kept walking to make my video game purchase.

10 minutes later, as I was wandering around trying to find the checkout out counter, I noticed that Thriller was now playing on the giant tv, and there was a different cast of characters (except for White couple) in front of the tv. This group of 5-7 people was just as transfixed as the first group, and again, I was blown away. Even if you never saw an MJ video before he died, once he passed, all his videos were on all the damn time, so you got acquainted with his body of work whether you liked it or not. But these people were watching them like it was breaking news. As I walked out of the store, I noticed this kid who had to be 5 months old or less, directly in front of the tv, watching all the scary Thriller monsters dance around, and he was completely unfazed. 26 years ago as an eight year old, I watched this video with my dad, and I cried like Dick Vermeil at a funeral. Now here this infant was laughing and joking around like its nothing. How soft do I look?

I left the store, realized I bought the wrong game, and went to take it back, and the "Bad" video was now playing. There were like 10 people of all races (that White couple was STILL there) watching Michael Jackson in a borderline S&M outfit, singing "your butt is mine". At this point I said to myself, living or dead, how many artists can keep people who are allegedly shopping, in a catatonic state for over 30 minutes. I can't name many. And even during a time, when you'd think most people are sick of MJ, he still keeps a Best Buy audience in the palm of his hand. This may seem minuscule to you, but as a fervent MJ fan, I was quite pleased.