Recently, The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies put out a call for donations. The amount of space we had on our old hosting provider was growing dangerously low and 65+ episodes of Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation later, we had filled the allocated space with dozens (dare I say hundreds) of hours of delicious content relating to the academic appreciation of Michael Jackson. Our next episode, episode 67, will be all about the essay that started it all, a 400-word essay on the various personas of Michael Jackson and the story of a biblical character named Naboth, who refused to sell his inheritance to the King of Samaria, and was stoned to death as a result.
It got me thinking about how much I love Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation. I love its seven-episode seasons; I love its guests like academics Roberta Meek and Lisha McDuff (episodes 8 & 9), Dr Joseph Vogel (episode 10), author Andy Healy (episode 19), Ivana Recmanova (episode 22), sound engineer Dr. Susan Rogers (episode 37), author Brice Najar (episode 46), director Marcos Cabota (episode 57), columnist Kerry Hennigan (episodes 59, 60 and 62), and Geneva S. Thomas and Nina Fonoroff (episode 63).
I find myself listening to Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation regularly, an in-flow of “little and often” means the literary analysis of Dream Lives On flows gently in my ears. I love listening to it while washing dishes and doing laundry; then it blares from my Google Nest Mini and while walking to the supermarket and doing my shopping. I think that Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation is a very uncontroversial podcast because it seeks to base all its analysis on academic works.
Now that I am working on my follow-up to The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic Afterlife, my new book finds me relying heavily on The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies and Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation for study and worksheets. I do look forward to the monthly episodes because I know they will be well-researched and incredibly informative. So, as the journal receives new donations, I am very optimistic about the future of Michael Jackson Studies.
Don’t forget to share, donate, and comment. What are your favourite episodes of Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation and why?
It’s all for love.
Elizabeth Amisu x