Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > July > 07 > Entry
Jackson fans watch service at Alamo Drafthouse
About 80 people watched the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, clapping often during and after performances and singing along during “We Are the World.”
One of the members of the audience, Andre Watson, said he was 19 when he met Jackson as he rehearsed for a show at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center in 1984. Watson was a Disney World dancer at the time and said Jackson ate with the dancers during a rehearsal.
“He’s not like people thought he was,” Watson said. “You could talk to him. I remember he would return after rehearsal and go through the steps again and again.”
Watson said the memorial service was fitting but that it didn’t fully capture Jackson’s 45-year performing career.
Anthony Samiez, a French student studying at the University of Texas, said he had been a fan of Jackson’s since he was 6 years old.
“He was like a parent to me,” Samiez said. “He had some magic inside of him,” Samiez said.
Lucy Westbrook, another member of the audience, said Jackson and his brothers began performing at a time when the country was still in shock over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
“He brought in an innocence and an energy,” she said.
Jackson also helped advance civil rights in the country because he began singing when other African American singers, including Nat King Cole, had to leave their performances from the back door, Westbrook said.
Debra HInde walked out of the memorial service in tears.
“It’s overwhelming,” she said. “He was a big part of my life from when I was a little girl.”
Chevy Vargas said Jackson was her childhood idol.
“I came to watch the memorial service at the theater to be a part of history,” she said.
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Permalink | |
