I Witnessed the First Moonwalk!

I still remember the day I heard Michael Jackson sing Billie Jean for the first time. My Dad and I were on our way to Wild Mountain (a ski resort) for an excellent day of skiing when his song came on the radio. What was this strange new song and why did it sound like he was hiccupping during it? What did it mean when he said, “The CHAD is not my son”? It was very weird and very intriguing! I admit that I didn’t particularly care for it then, and it still is one of my least favorite songs of his, but that changed when I saw his live performance of it. 

The year was 1983 and it was the Motown Records 25^th Anniversary special. Michael Jackson, who was well known as the lead singer in the band The Jackson Five, came on stage to sing Billie Jean for the first time in public. He wore black pants, leather penny loafers, a black sequined jacket, white sequined socks, shorter black dress pants and a single white rhinestone glove. To begin his performance, Jackson snapped a fedora to his head and struck a pose—his right hand on his hat and his left leg bent. It was already the coolest thing I’d seen all night!  Then he started to dance while he sang and it was so different than anything I’d ever seen before. During the song, Michael glided backwards to perform the moonwalk, before he spun on his heels and landed up on his toes! In the video of that first performance you can hear an audible gasp as the crowd witnessed the first Moonwalk on a stage! It was the beginning of a legend in the making. Everyone was talking about it the next day. He was already a superstar since the age of 5 but he literally soared to the galaxy after this single performance! 

Eventually, I found out that he made videos for MTV and I was obsessed! We didn’t have cable when I was growing up, no matter how much I begged my parents to get it, so how in the world was I supposed to watch MJ on TV if we didn’t have MTV? The answer: My cousin, Dana! I would go over to her house and we would watch Billie Jean, Beat it and Thriller and try to learn the dance moves! It was so cool! It was the first time I had ever seen music videos and they changed my life. I spent hours learning and perfecting the moonwalk and other dance moves I had seen from MJ. I can also do a mean slap-my-knee move from MJ’s Beat It video! Thriller is a 14-minute horror-themed music video and it was voted as the most influential video of all time! No wonder we spent so much time trying to learn it! It has been copied over the years by many famous people and in many movies. My favorite copy is 13 Going on 30! So cute!

Michael Jackson was a babe! He was very talented in singing, dance and style. I know there was a lot of controversy regarding him in later years, but I prefer to see the best in him and not to believe all the hearsay. I am reminded of his songs such as Heal the World and We are the World and his desire to make the world a better place one person at a time. I loved his beautiful performance at the Super Bowl with people in the stands holding up pieces of paper that, from a distance, made it look like a bunch of children of different races, holding hands. I like to remember the version of We are the World he created with Lionel Ritchie and many of the famous musicians of the time. They recorded this song with the hope that they could raise money for Africa. “Since its release, "We Are the World" has raised over $63 million (equivalent to $138 million today) for humanitarian causes.” Source/ Wikipedia. What a beautiful legacy and there is so much more! If you want to read more about him, check out Wikipedia for yourself!

He was iconic.

He was a legend.

He was a global figure for four decades.

He was the greatest entertainer of all time.

He was the King of Pop.

He invented the Moonwalk.

And I was his biggest fan!

Hot Dish or Casserole?

I grew up in the Midwest in a fairly small town. I now live about 5 miles from my childhood home in an area we called "the boonies" back then. It was pure forest, trees and farmland with very little civilization in my mind. I never knew that the world was so large and that there was such a diversity of people and ideas and opinions out there. As far as I knew everyone talked like me, sounded like me and thought just like me.

When I went out West for college, I was told right away that I had an accent! An accent, ME? I did not have an accent, they had an accent! I was told that I said bEg instead of bAAg for the word bag (they sounded like they were gagging!) and pEn instead of pIn (like a pin to hold a baby's diaper!) for the word pen. Even as they said those words to me, trying to correct me, they sounded weird. It was crazy! So I decided that I agree that I have an accent when I am out in the West, but when I am in the Midwest and other people come to visit, they are the ones with the accent!

I was then told that I called things the wrong names. How was that possible? All the sudden the POP that I'd been drinking for years was called SODA, who knew? I didn't realize that this was such an issue for some people since the full word for them according to the cans is SODA POP. And that the one dish dinners my Mom had lovingly made me all these years were called Casseroles and not Hot Dishes! I had no idea that some people took this so seriously!

There are a few Hot Dishes that truly are Hot Dishes and they are the ones that truly come from the Midwest, namely Tater Tot Hot Dish, Wild Rice Hot Dish and Pizza Hot Dish, all the others I will gladly call casseroles. I grew up on all three of these, along with the typical hearty meat and potatoes meals. All I can say is that you can take the girl out of the Midwest but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl! Here are a few of the truly Midwest dishes that I grew up on:

Tater Tot Hot Dish

1 lb. ground beef

1 can cream of chicken soup or cheddar cheese soup

Tater Tots

Lawry’s Seasoning salt

Garlic salt

Fry beef and put in a cake pan and season with Lawry’s Seasoning salt. Spread soup on top and arrange Tater Tots tightly on top. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or better. Can broil for a couple minutes to brown tots, watch carefully.

Wild Rice Hot Dish

1 lb. hamburger, browned

1 c. cooked wild rice, I like to use cans or packets

1 c. celery, finely chopped

1 sm. onion, very finely chopped (optional) or use onion powder

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can milk or water

4 tsp. soy sauce

Brown hamburger with onion and celery. Combine soup, water, and soy sauce. Mix in hamburger mixture and rice and bake for 1/2 hour at 350 degrees. Serve with chow mein noodles.

Pizza Hot Dish 

1 lb. hamburger

1 pkg. Sloppy Joe mix (Richard tries to substitute this for Manwich, but that is just wrong!)

15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 tsp. oregano

2 tubes crescent rolls

1 pkg. cheddar cheese, grated

1 pkg. mozzarella cheese, grated

Brown hamburger, then add Sloppy Joe mix, tomato sauce and oregano. Place 1 package rolls in 9 x 13 pan to cover bottom. Put hamburger mixture on top, then sprinkle with cheeses. Place remaining rolls on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.