I would say we should just kill this thread, except it has a lot educational value.
Zazoo & I get lots of emails from people wanting more information about Michael because we participated in the feature film (rented out parts of costumes/shoes and were extras)and we pop up a lot on searches.
These are ALMOST ALWAYS kids under the age of 20 just discovering ways to express themselves outside of the mainstream alternative circles. (i.e. "Hot Topic" goths)
I've had a 15 year old girl from Louisville, KY email to say that her parents are sending her to therapy because she's bisexual, and is in with her school's alternative crowd. She identifies with the story of being picked on in a small town, and being able to escape to NYC and become whatever she wants. Only one example, but the plot is always the same.
I always patiently explain that there are a ton of other sources of inspiration for this kind of expression, people who made/make even the most jaded take notice such as The Warhol Factory members (esp. Jackie, Holly and Candy) Divine, The Cockettes, Steve Strange, Boy George, Nina Hagen, Leigh Bowery/Trojan, Klaus Nomi, Joey Arias, The Legendary Children of the Balls... people who took what was actually the status quo and turned it on it's head or warped it in such a way that people had to create a new category for it. (The list above is not free from drug adictions, and other self destructive issues, but as far as I've heard none of them killed their friends.)
We also point out that dressing up to party has been around since the first group put feathers in their hair, smeared colored mud on their faces and danced around the fire to celebrate not being killed by a neighboring tribe. (Was anyone here there? I heard it was great)
One of two things happen at about a 50/50 rate #1 They disregard what we have to say out the immature need to be right, and we never hear from them again. #2 They actually go out and do the research and get back to us telling us that they can't wait to get started on their own projects.
Now that The Motherboards are open to spider searches, we have to know that more and more of these kids are going to start finding us, even though there is a lot of anger, we should at least give them the 50/50 chance to open up their eyes to the true legends.
XXXOOO
Satori
PLEASE NOTE: Anyone reading this who is not familiar with the community on The Motherboards, or did not bother to read the thread BEFORE posting, there are people on here that knew both Michael and Angel. (not us) And if you can't understand that people would be upset that you are blindly idolizing someone who killed someone they know, then you are missing a crucial thing called Empathy.