Elsewhat

Friend of Elsewhat Jay Smooth (and by friend I mean someone I met at a picnic 17 years ago) has a new podcast coming up all about making the myth that is Michael Jackson.

My favorite is the Super Bowl performance in ’93…A few people were like “It’s Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl in 1993 where he came out, stood there like a statue and didn’t say a word for more than a minute while the entire arena exploded in applause.” We learned this incredible fact from people who worked on that Super Bowl halftime show that the people at the football game were actually confused about what was going on and thought there had been a technical malfunction. It had been awkward in the arena, but the way the producers fixed the situation was by pumping in artificial crowd noise to make it seem like the whole arena was going nuts for Michael. For me, that kind of detail just opens the world — it shows you how a legend gets constructed and the reality we all take for granted isn’t always what it seems.

Audible-only to start, but hopefully it should be coming to regular podcast places soon.

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