友人 David Gest 怀念MJ Obituaries 2009: Michael Jackson The TV personality, a childhood neighbour of the Jackson family, remembers his close friend the King of Pop, who died of an overdose on 25 June at the age of 50 David Gest The Observer, Sunday 13 December 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/13/michael-jackson-david-gest-obituary The first time I met Michael he was 11 and already really famous – the Jackson Five were the hottest act in the world. I lived down the block from them in Encino. I became close friends with Tito and Michael after I was introduced to them by my friend Mike Merkow at Walton School in Panorama City. Michael was making a pâpier-maché giraffe when I first met him. We talked about art and he told me how he loved painting and being creative. Right away I knew we had something in common – and it was not painting! 我第一次遇见Michael时他11岁，已经很出名─当时Jackson 5在世界上正火红。 我住在Encino离他们家不远处。经朋友Mike Merkow介绍，我与Tito和Michael变成了 亲密的朋友。我第一次见他时，Michael正在做一个纸模型的长颈鹿。我们谈论艺术， 他告诉我他是如何热爱绘画和成为有创意的人。我立即知道我们是有共同点的─而这一点 并不是绘画！ I started dating his sister, La Toya. It was puppy love, nothing serious. One day she was sick and Michael asked me if I could take him to a memorabilia show in Glendale. I said, "What's memorabilia?" and he said, "You've got to get into it, David, you'll love it." So I drove him to a show where they were selling lots of old rock and soul posters, gold records, Beatles items and signed items by Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and the Doors. Michael loved the Doors and their music. He also loved anything Motown as well as real, heartfelt soul. To both of us, James Brown was a god and Jimi Hendrix was his brilliant pupil. After that, we started hanging out three or four times a week and it turned into a best friendship. We were inseparable for the next six years. 我开始和他的姊姊La Toya约会。少男少女的恋情，没什麽大不了的。一天她病了， Michael问我，是否能带他到Glendale的一个纪念展览。我说︰“什麽纪念展？”， 他说︰“你一定得去，David，你会喜欢它的。”所以我开车载他去，那里卖很多老摇滚 和灵魂乐的海报，金唱片，披头四的东西，Jimi Hendrix、Jim Morrison、the Doors 签名的东西。Michael喜欢the Doors和他们的音乐。他还喜欢Motown以及真正的、发自 内心的灵魂乐。我们都觉得James Brown是神而Jimi Hendrix是他最杰出的徒弟。之後， 我们开始一周出去三或四次，成为莫逆之交。在接下来的六年里，我们几乎分不开。 One night, when he was in his late teens, we went to The Roxy on the Sunset Strip to see the Four Tops. We went backstage with Stevie Wonder, and Michael says to the lead singer of the Four Tops, Levi Stubbs Jr, "I learned everything from you Levi, everything." Stevie picked Michael up, threw him against the wall and went, "Who did you learn everything from? Who's the greatest?" and Michael said, "You, Stevie! Stop! You!" It was so funny. It was also typical of the Michael and David friendship that would last more than four decades. We would take trips together every weekend just to get away from the house, our parents and be on our own. 一天晚上，当时他还不满二十岁，我们去Sunset Strip上的Roxy看Four Tops。我们和 Stevie Wonder一起到後台，Michael对Four Tops的主唱Levi Stubbs Jr,说︰ “Levi，我从你身上学会了好多，好多事情。”Stevie把Michael抓起来，把他甩到墙上， 说：“你从谁身上学会了好多事情？谁最伟大？”Michael说︰“你，Stevie！别这样！ 是你！”这真的太有趣了。这也是典型的Michael和David的友谊，而这友谊持续超过了 四十个年头。我们周末会一起去旅行，只为了离开家里、离开父母，只做我们自己。 We'd get in the car and sing songs together. He used to tell me I was the worst singer he'd ever heard! He always made me laugh. Michael had a great sense of humour which most people never saw. We loved to go antiquing for furniture and paintings as well as memorabilia. Our favourite thing to do was walk into a store and go, "Do you have any John LeCockah paintings?" The antique dealer would respond, "We've just sold the last one for $100,000." I'd say to Michael, "Oh no, he's just sold the last John LeCockah painting." We would plead for him to get another in and he'd respond, "They are just too hard to find." We'd walk out and go, "We'll never buy from that dealer because there's no such painter!" Michael would be laughing so hard. He had a laugh that was like a cackle: Hhk hhk hhk hhk hhk. 我们会在车上一起唱歌。他总是告诉我，我是他所听过的唱得最烂的歌手！他总是让我 发笑。Michael很有幽默感，而大多数人从不知道这一点。我们喜欢去逛古董家俱和 绘画，以及纪念展。我们最喜欢的事是走进一家商店，然後说，“你有John LeCockah 的画吗？”古董画商会回说︰“我们刚卖掉最後一张，卖了10万元。”我会跟Michael说， “哦，不，他刚把最後一张John LeCockah的画卖掉了。“我们会拜托他找另一张，而他 会说，“这真的很难找耶。”我们走出去然後说，“我们以後别跟这个人买画，因为根本 就没有这一个画家！” Michael会笑得很用力。他会咯咯笑得像︰科科科科科。 We'd do very normal things. We went to KFC a lot. Michael believed that if you took off the skin of the chicken, it was organic. I never quite got what that meant. We'd go out for pancakes and French toast and I'd drive his Rolls-Royce. When we stopped for gas, I'd ask him to fill the tank. He'd say, "I'm the star here. I can't believe you're making me put gas in the car." And I'd tell him, "When we're together, there's only one star." That was the reason our friendship was so good. I never treated him like he was a big deal. 我们会做些很普通的事情。我们很常去KFC。Michael相信如果把鸡皮剥下，它就是有机 的。我永远不太了解这是什麽意思。我们也会出去买煎饼和法式吐司，我会开他的劳斯 莱斯。当我们停下来加油时，我会让他出来把油箱加满。他会说，“我是这里的明星耶。 我不敢相信你会要我来帮车子加油。”而我会告诉他，“当我们在一起时，只有一个 明星。”这就是为什麽我们的感情这麽好。我永远不会把他当成一个大明星。 Once, in the 80s, he dressed up as a sheikh and we went to Disneyland to see Captain Eo, this 3D film he was starring in. I watched him doing the Moonwalk, and on the way out I said, "You know, you are really good." He was like, "Are you just figuring it out?" 有一次，80年代时，他扮成一个阿拉伯酋长和我去狄斯奈乐园看 Captain Eo，他主演的 3D 电影。我看着他表演 Moonwalk，出去的时候我说︰“你知道，你真的是太棒了。” 他说，“你现在才知道吗？” He was never one to mince words. In the early days, he ran his own career and was in total control. He'd call up the president of Sony and say, "I want a billboard here. In Chicago. In New York in Times Square." He was on top of everything from the marketing to the promotion of every one of his releases and he was sharp. He wouldn't be one to hold back when he got mad. Also, he never talked in that high-toned voice. He was always very masculine, very much a man. 他这人不是三言两语可以讲完的。早期的时候，他管理他自己的事业，而且掌控全局。 他会打电话给SONY的总裁说︰“我要在芝加哥、纽约、时代广场都要有广告看板。”他 管理一切事情，从市场到行销发行的一切事情，而且他很精明。当他生气的时候，其他人 是拉不住他的。还有，他不会用尖细的声音说话。他总是很阳刚，很男性化。 （以下贴上原文，看有没有人要接力翻译，没空翻全部了，请见谅。） It all changed after the fire incident in 1984. He was doing a commercial for Pepsi and his head caught fire when a stunt went wrong. He was never the same after that. When you have a concussion and are constantly in pain everything in your world changes. Trust me, I know this from personal experience. It's not surprising that he got addicted to pills. I just wish he'd had the right people around him. The truth is that some of the doctors around him were more interested in being his friend than making sure he was OK medically. Michael was also so concerned with looking good. He had great looks to start with and never needed to do anything, but the plastic surgery was an obsession. He took it too far, and I think he realised that later in life. The surgeon should never have done any more after the second nose-job but people wanted to keep him in the fold, and that was one of the big problems in his life. When the trial came up in 1993, I was one of the few people who went on every TV show in the USA and said he was innocent. I knew he was innocent. Was it the smartest thing to have all these children on your bed watching TV? No, and I said that to him. But did he do anything wrong? No. Michael wouldn't harm a fly. He wasn't into that. Michael had a heart of gold. I wish people could know all the kids he helped. Kids who needed prosthetic arms and legs, but whose families couldn't afford them. He paid for hundreds of cancer treatments, but he didn't go around boasting about it. Nobody realised just how wonderful he was until after he died. He was a very strict father. He believed his kids should be highly educated and have respect for adults. He wouldn't put up with any crap, but he also gave them so much love because he'd been very hurt as a child, not by his mother whom he loved very much, but he was never close with Joseph. He was afraid of him. I've never been much of a crier, but I cried when I heard the news about Michael's death. I'll remember Michael as one of the funniest people I've ever met and as someone who looked for the good in everyone. What a great quality to have. He was never one to put anyone down. He always made you feel like a million dollars. I really believe he was the greatest entertainer of all time. I am glad that together we formed a company and I produced the highest rated television music special of all time at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2001, Michael Jackson – 30th Anniversary Celebration. This was our crowning achievement as best friends. They were the two highest-grossing concerts, "non-charity", of all time. His death has brought people together to remember what great music he gave us, what great dancing he gave us and how versatile he was as an artist. He was able to change with every decade and still be contemporary. He could sing anything, but the song I always made him sing in the car was "Man In The Mirror". For me, that was his greatest. Not only could I deeply relate to that song, but also for Michael it was more than a reflection. --

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