"Earth Song"

It was September of 1995 when Michael came to my town of Warwick in New York, to film the “Earth Song” music video. My husband worked for a local tent rental center, and he informed me that they were putting up tents for an upcoming music video to be filmed in Warwick. When he told me who it was for, I screamed and yelled and said “You have to get me in there. I don’t care if you have to bury me on the site I need to see him!” My husband came home with one of those passes you have to wear around your neck. There was more work to be done on the tents so I went with him!
Oh Boy! You have to understand I grew up with Michael Jackson as I am around the same age. In my town where I grew up, all the kids loved Donny Osmond. Not me though, I loved Michael!!!





While we were setting up tents one evening, we were in the tent and someone came in and said, “You have to leave now, Michael is coming!” My eyes went wide, my jaw dropped and who do you think walked in the tent? Michael! I said, “Hi,” and he said, “Hi” back…that’s when I lost it! I walked out of the tent and began crying. The body guard came out of the tent and asked, "What’s the matter sweetheart?” I tried to explain to him while I was crying. “You don’t understand. This is a dream of mine and it is all from God, because how is it that Michael came all the way here to film a video when he could go anywhere in the world?” He just looked at me and smiled. He told me to bring my kids the next day to meet Michael, and because I was able to watch Michael film the video that night, I assumed he meant to bring the kids at night. I was wrong. They never did get to meet him, but I will never forget that experience. I got to watch him film for two nights! It was amazing!
The first night that I was able to watch, I remember that he was walking from the tent onto the set and he waved at me. How exciting it was! I was able to get pretty close to him.
The second night was different. I brought along a friend and also my binoculars. The binoculars were a mistake! The production crew yelled at me to move to a different location several times that night, and they did not like the idea of me using my binoculars. I am sure that they thought they were a camera. I took my chances though, and continued to watch Michael through the binoculars. I was enjoying myself when I spotted one of the crew walking directly toward me. I leaned over to my friend and said, “We are leaving now!” She gave me a confused look; then security told us that we had to leave. They took away my pass, but I was okay with it because I had already gotten to see Michael for quite some time.
I am glad to be able to share my story.
Thanks,
Jeannie