Who Was the White Gang Leader In "Beat It"?

On my drive to work yesterday morning, I was doing the usual, hitting the Scan button on the radio, probably out of habit. I stopped it when I heard those familiar notes of "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.  


I usually change the station when MJ comes on.  Not because I don't like him but his stuff has put treads on the airwaves.  Yes, I can indeed get too much of a good thing.


I was transported to being 13 years old, when Mtv still did their damn job and didn't ignore the "v" in their name.  I remember the house we lived in, I remember the kiss up against an elevator wall while skipping school that happened at about this time.  The amazing thing being that I still kiss that guy....and it's just as good.  (Kids can't get away with diddly crap these days like we could back then!  Latchkey Who?)  


What stood out to me the most was that white gang leader who busted out into non-tough guy choreography.  I wasn't sure but I thought he was rather cute back then.  But who was that masked with a five o'clock shadow man!?


Turns out, this man is Vincent Paterson.  He was the man who willingly stuck his wrist out in the "Beat It" video in order to be tied to the the rival gang leader so that they could dance and air stab each other for a couple of rounds.  Vinny, (may I call you Vinny?) also choreographed Michael's "Bad" Tour, along with "Dancer in the Dark" (can you say Bjork?) and Madonna's "Blonde Ambition" Tour.  The last that I see him being a part of currently is a judge on Bravo's Step it up and Dance (which now I want to see of course!  Ah, nostalgia breeds curiosity...). 


What I never knew about this video was that MJ wanted to bring down the rivalry of two Los Angeles gangs, the Crips and Bloods.  He figured if he could get them to do the video together, it might weld a sort of bond.  So he had 80 gang members along with 18 professional dancers and four whole break dancers.  I'm feeling a high score on the Impressed portion of this program.  What an awesome concept!  A tasteful way to do reality tv without actually doing reality tv!


What I'm not clear on is if Vinny choreographed "Beat It".  Was it he who decided the rival gang member would show up via forklift?  Or that one gang member would abruptly leave his bar stool, yank his girlfriend's head back by her hair and kiss her before putting his beer down and following the leader out the door to "this ain't no Truth of Dare"?

How Ripe Can Bananas be for Banana Bread

Another blog of mine that needs the dust blown off of it.  I am ashamed at my neglect!  Therefore, I should eat something!  Ah, here's a nice recipe for vegan banana bread with blueberries in it.  Only too bad the bananas that I have are still yellow.  I'll wait until they turn brown.


5 days later....


Well they're brown all right.  Is that WET that I see on the skin?  Can I still use these?  How ripe is ripe for banana bread?  


I'm calling Google.  


As it turns out, they can be pretty damn brown.  And gross looking. I guess we would draw the line if there were any type of mold on the skin.  So we mashed those babies up and the heavens opened up any jars of "f**king awesome" they had so we could smell the greatness down here on the earth...in my kitchen, when the oven door opened.  


Check out the video to see how gross you can really push the limit to.  THAT'S a pile of ripe bananas.  Don't fear.  Just eat.