Over the weekend singer Teena Marie was found dead in her home by her daughter. The "Ivory Queen of Soul" was 54 years old. Well, that's sad. I wonder how she died? They aren't saying yet. If we're lucky, something really interesting happened to her but she probably just died from a drug overdose or a heart attack. I'm kind of tired of those causes of death among celebrities. Why can't more people die in some freak accident? Like Steve Irwin for example. He died because a sting ray got him in the chest. Not only was it a total coincidence that the sting ray had great aim but Steve died doing something he loved. So now he has a cool story to tell in heaven and he doesn't have to pout because he spent all of that time and energy chasing after things he probably shouldn't have been only to die in his armchair for some boring reason. Lucky bastard.
Have any of you ever noticed that there is a death bandwagon? Let's take Teena Marie for example. Sure, she made history. In 1976 she was the first white act signed by Motown. She had a successful and inspirational career and was often regarded as a pioneer for many of the R & B divas. Although would you want to be regarded as the person who paved the way for the likes of Mariah Carey to parade around acting like spoiled brats? She was the lover of her mentor, Rick James (I know what you're thinking. It's not the right time so don't!). All in all, she was a talented singer and songwriter. However, when is the last time anyone really thought about Teena Marie? She probably hadn't heard from any of her fans and most of her friends and/or family for years. Now she's dead and all of these #1 fans come out of the woodwork and talk about how in love they were with Teena Marie and how she changed their lives with this one song they heard back when they were 16 and having sex in the backseat of their parents car.
It's so frustrating and sad to me that people wait until someone is dead to talk about how great they were and what a difference they made in their lives. We see this most often with celebrities but it isn't just limited to them. Even my beloved Grandfather, who was prone to tangents at the local City Hall and who sat in his yard hollering at passersby because they were driving too fast down our residential road, had a bit of a death bandwagon. People that generally thought he poked his nose where it didn't belong and wouldn't give him the time of day when he was trying to address some issue that was important to him showed up at his funeral and talked about what a good guy he was. Funny how they were all so quick to dismiss him when he was alive but talked about what great things he did (or tried to do) once he was dead.
My favorite is when people who generally bad mouth someone during the course of their life show up at someones funeral and talk about how close they were and how much they liked and/or respected the person. I suppose it's much cooler to be a friend at the funeral then the person the dead guy couldn't stand to be around.
The bottom line? If you love someone, if they made a difference in your life somehow, tell them now before you're the person that's singing the praises at the funeral of someone you haven't talked to for years. And if you didn't like someone? Don't go to their funeral. Everyone will just talk about you behind your back. On second thought... Just go ahead and go. Let them talk about you. Then they'll come to your funeral, too.
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