My mom says the first time I discovered music was at a neighborhood block party.  Every summer our neighborhood would hire a DJ to set up in someone’s garage and the neighborhood would get together and hang out and eat.  The first block party I ever went to was when I was two.  The speakers at these things are huge, thus the music is very loud.  My mom said that I walk right next to the blaring speaker and stayed there all night, “dancing.”  She said, “He stood there for two hours doing this,” shaking her head back and forth and bending her knees up and down.  Since then a lot has changed, except for the loud music and the dancing.

As I got older I discovered the music of Michael Jackson and was instantly hooked.
When I was eight my family moved and my grandmother came to help us set up our house.  As we were unpacking things my Michael Jackson poster came out and I told her I wanted it under the top bunk on the wall, next to my bed.  She tried to argue with me to put it on the wall but I wanted it close because he was who I admired most.  I would practice his moves all day long.  I used to just go out into the yard with my Walkman, listen to Michael Jackson and dance for hours.  My mom saw me do this all the time and told me that I should perform in our elementary school talent show.  Of course she had to push and push but I finally got the courage to go and try out.

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