The news that Michael Jackson died last night put me in a weird and sad mood all day. I guess we’ll never know if he would have made any more great music, but 50 was far too young. My generation was born too late to witness any of his career except the unfortunate later stages, years of stress and bad publicity that must have taken an enormous toll on him, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t listened to and, in fact, become a huge fan of much of his discography.

And as we’re seeing today, so did millions of people all around the world. In Venice today, Michael Jackson’s music is everywhere, being played in all the cafés and bars throughout the city and, as I write this, even here in our own office.

Did the world treat him justly? Today, now that he’s gone, there has been a huge outpouring of support – but nevertheless, our society capitalized on his mistakes and made him an outcast in recent years. Perhaps we’re witnessing an illustration of one of the lessons I’ve learned from Fabio: it is supremely important to give thanks to those who mean a lot to you, because you never know when that chance will be taken away.

I just can’t believe that the King of Pop is gone…

[Update: Below, Il Giornale, the Italian newspaper, calls Michael Jackson the "Obama of Pop" on its front page, a term coined by the UK newspaper The Guardian earlier today:]