Reverend Benny & Mister Sid's At Your Service #51

I hate to say it, but I remember the Jackson 5 before Michael joined them.

By Glen Bledsoe

(Salem) - Michael Jackson is gone. Another pop icon now left us. None of us is immortal.

I saw Michael Jackson once in a parade in Gary, Indiana when he was just a bouncy little kid with a fro and a fringe jacket.

He stood on an Oscar Meyer weiner float and threw candy to the bystanders on Broadway. Those were Jackson 5 Days and Michael was just one of the team then. I hate to say it, but I remember the Jackson 5 before Michael joined them.

I remember what was probably the world debut of the Jackson 5 on the Andy Williams Show (where the Osmond Brothers got their start), and unless I'm imagining things I remember seeing Michael's first performance with the Five on the same show.

I wasn't impressed, but I've always been a little slow on the up-take. I thought The Rolling Stones were a satire of the Beatles when I first saw them on Ed Sullivan.

I think I get my skepticism from my mom. I remember after we'd watched the original broadcast of the first Star Trek episode she said she didn't think the series would last because she didn't like the characters.

You have to learn to take what either of us says with a grain of salt.

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