subscribesubscriber servicescontact usabout ussite mapBuy a Classified
Tue, Feb 09 2010 

Resources

print this story   Print this story
  Post to del.icio.us

Photos


Shelly Blue of Sharon holds an autographed Michael Jackson CD. The Sharon woman met Jackson twice.
Tom Davidson/Herald / -----


Published June 26, 2009 10:45 pm -

Fan mourns Jackson’s death
Twice met ‘King of Pop’ in Miami

By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer

SHARON

Shelly Blue was sitting on her front porch Friday afternoon when a gray minivan pulled up to the stop sign in front of her home with the Jackson 5’s “ABC” blasting out of the open windows.

“See, listen,” the Sharon woman said. “They’re playing Mike.”

“Mike” is Michael Jackson, and Ms. Blue knows his music is being played all over the world to mourn his passing.

“His music is going to hit new heights,” she said. “It’s going to live on. There’s never going to be another Michael Jackson. He was a natural, God-given talent.”

Ms. Blue spent Thursday and Friday crying over Jackson’s death, and remembering meeting him twice, seeing him in concert during the Jacksons’ 1984 “Victory” tour — the last time Jackson toured the United States — and watching the premieres of his new music videos.

“If there was a way to get to Los Angeles for the funeral, I would be there,” she said. “I wouldn’t have to be inside. To be in the vicinity would mean the world to me.”

Ms. Blue, 39, said she was a fan of the Jackson 5, but her attraction to Jackson intensified when he went solo.

“I thought he was so cute,” she said. “His talent, the singing, the dancing. His videos were like little movies. It was just everything about him.”

Her bedroom was wallpapered with pictures of Jackson, and she collected his recordings. She wore Jackson buttons and even adopted his one-glove fashion statement.

Even after all these years, “I can’t go a day without listening to Mike,” she said.

Ms. Blue, a Sharon native who moved back to the city three months ago after 13 years in Miami, was manager of the FYE music store at the upscale Aventura Mall in Aventura, Fla., when she met Jackson the first time. She heard a ruckus coming from an upper floor on May, 1, 2003, and told her employees to mind the store while she went to see what was going on.

She got to the second floor and found “a sea of people,” she said. A security guard friend said Jackson was shopping in one of the stores. She ran downstairs, grabbed a copy of his “Invincible” compact disc, headed back to the second floor, and pushed her way into the store her guard friend said Jackson would go to next. As soon as Jackson entered, the gate was closed on the store.

“I got locked in with him,” she said. “I was panicking — ‘Oh my God. Oh my God, it’s him.’

“He was so nice. He listened to me ramble on. He was so sweet. He was so humble.”

She told him about seeing him on tour and keeping her ticket stubs from the show.



print this story    email this story   




Have a question
for The Herald?
You are only a click away




autoconx
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Premier Guide
Premium Jobs

Tuesday Februaruy 9
A rare opportunity now exists and brings with it a chance to join Clear Channel’s NEWSRADIO 570 WKBN in Youngstown, Ohio...>MORE

See all ads

Premium Deals

See all ads

Premium Homes

Tuesday February 9
1story, 3 bdrm. 3full ba, 3car gar, 1.2acre, 9’ ceilings, 1050 Brandywine Dr.Hermitage $347,500 330-506-9716
View I
...>MORE

See all ads

Premium Work Wanted

See all ads


 

 

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.CNHI Classified Advertising NetworkCNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2009. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
View our Privacy Policy
Advertiser index