Mesmerizing.....

List in hand, I arrived Thursday to the Rings n Things Bead Tour. Tried to get a good shot of myself outside but seems it's not that easy to take a picture of yourself in front of a sign. I took picture after picture trying to get the sign in but either I was out of the picture or the sign was.

So, since it's my blog, I chose the picture with me in it rather than a great picture of the sign.

A nice "my space" shot isn't it? You're right, I DO need a brush! But who cares about hair when there are beads to be had?!?

I grabbed a tray and made a beeline for the findings, chain and wire tables. I'm a tactile person so I like to touch and see items if I can. If I can't it won't stop me from buying based on good pictures and descriptions but this was a chance to use my sense of touch.

I had chain and navy blue on my list. I loaded up on chain, antique copper, antique brass, rollo, hammered links, plated gold and gunmetal. All just what I'd been looking for.

Next, I sought out navy blue. What's great about The Bead Tour is if you've been to one, you know the floor. The stones are organized by color so I just walked around until I found navy blue. Picked up a few strands of beads trying hard not to look at anything else.

But I had wandering eyes and looked around and before I knew it a pear green colored set of beads caught my eye. I love the combination of pear and chocolate brown. The beads had both colors in one strand of beads. I had to have them.





See - pear and chocolate brown right there! Aren't those beads gorgeous? Ok, so now I decided I had to apply tough love to myself and put my blinders on. I determinedly went straight to the check out line.

But drat!! As I'm moving up in the line, suddenly I'm mesmerized by a sea of....



....RED! Red coral in chunky sizes. I picked up a strand and started to roll the beads around in my hand. I turned first one set then another set in my hand, mesmerized by the organic quality and the color. Red is a mesmerizing color, it will grab your attention and not let it go.

I bought the strand of chunky red coral. The red contrasts nicely with the pear/chocolate stone beads.

When I got home from The Bead Tour, the news reported the death of Michael Jackson. I've written alot about punk, new wave but my musical taste is very eclectic. I love pop music too.

Music highlights your life. A song or video may play in the background and years later you'll hear it and those memories flood back.

I remember vividly one Sunday night when I was in elementary school. I was watching the Ed Sullivan Show with my family and we watched a new group of kids perform. I was mesmerized by all of them and especially the kid who was out front - Michael Jackson.


The Jackson 5 was cool, the music amazing and Michael was a kid like me!

I watched in rapt attention anytime they did a commerical. I watched the cartoon and bought the 45's.

Yep, I wore out "I'll Be There" on the stereo playing it over and over.

I grew up.

Michael grew up.

Then he recorded,"Off the Wall." A perfect album.

Disco, yes.

Perfect, yes.

If you listen now and watch the video to "Don't Stop," yes, it's disco but it's full of energy! Michael's handsome - pre-plastic surgery and you can see the resemblance between he and Janet. Michael was crazy cool.

Don't Stop

The news played the video of the first time he moonwalked - I was watching the actual night he performed, it was electrifying. If you watch the video, the crowd screams because it was so new, so different. There's no other way to express it - ELECTRIFYING.

When things started to go badly for him, I rooted for everything to work out well for all. I rooted for Michael to be better. Afterall, I felt like he was a classmate in a way - the same generation.

When we all move on from this life, I believe each of us prefer to be remembered for the positive energy we put out into the world. "Man in the Mirror" isn't Michael Jackson's highest grossing song yet it's full of hope and heart that we can do good works in the world if we put our mind to it. Like so many of his performances, Michael Jackson is mesmerizing.