Word of Michael Jackson’s death spread around the city last night right around the time a lot of people were getting off of work. As we left the office and walked through the West Village, we began to notice something — cars were blasting Michael Jackson songs, or even just news reports that spoke about his death, so people on the sidewalk would hear. Others of us, walking in the East Village, noted that nearly every bar and restaurant on First Avenue was blasting MJ. Strangers were talking about it on the subway, on the sidewalk, and in Duane Reade. By the time this morning came around, the news coverage had gotten a bit overwhelming (not to mention the fact that it subsumed everything else on television last night — including coverage of Farrah Fawcett’s death), but late yesterday afternoon it was fresh, bizarre, and confusing news that was on everyone’s lips. In a way, it was one of those rare times where everyone in the city felt like they were talking about, and thinking about, the same thing. Did anybody else find this to be so?
