Bubba's tired of the 24-hour Michael Jackson channel

A quick stop at the Crawl On Inn found my pal Bubba Gravelhauler slumped over at the bar with one arm propping up his chin as he stared at the television.

I asked what he found so disinteresting.

It took him a few seconds to digest what I had said, then he grinned and replied, "Man, I've had just about all of this Michael Jackson stuff I can stand. The guy's dead. Let it go."

After ordering us a round, I shrugged and said, "Look, you just have to understand that he's the Elvis of the generation right behind us."

He snorted. "Look, I ain't all that jazzed up about hearin' all that Elvis stuff when one of the anniversaries rolls around. And I liked his music. But I reckon I was a bigger fan of Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. And nobody's makin' them to be bigger than life. Of course, they was both pretty ugly, so that may be part of it. But then Michael Jackson was pretty strange-lookin' by the time he got finished with himself."

I wedged in a comment before Bubba could stray even farther afield. "Look, we grew up with Elvis and that's why people our age still adore him. And I guess that's why some folks actually thought he was still alive for years after he died. Well, there are millions of people who grew up with Jackson, from the time he was a cute kid in the Jackson 5 until he ended up somewhere in left field. And besides, looks isn't the deal. Elvis wasn't much to look at in his later days either."

My buddy laughed. "Yeah, but he didn't have his nose removed either. He just porked up a lot. Jackson got weird."

I shook my head. "If you'll remember, Elvis had some odd traits after he got immensely famous, too."
"OK, I'll give you that," he said.

And them I pointed out that Jackson had a little extra in the entertaining department because he could dance, too. "You ever moonwalk?" I asked, just to pull Bubba's chain.

That did get a guffaw from him. "Actually, I got drunk a few times and tried it. My cowboy boots were never slick enough to do the glide that you needed for that move. But that was a sissy dance. Dancin' was knowin' how to do the Gator without hurtin' yourself. And most times when you flung yourself on the floor, you got all dirty and made sure you wasn't ever takin' out that girl again 'cause it made most of my dates so mad they couldn't see straight."

It was time for me to go, so I assured him that he'd just have to tune out the Michael Jackson "news" because we'll be hearing about the custody of the kids and the will and who knows what else. "I suspect this will have O.J. Simpson staying power."

"Oh great," said Bubba, rolling his eyes. "But at least we can be pretty sure Michael's not gonna get
arrested again and put us through another trial."

"See," I said, draining my longneck, "the glass is half full."