Thank You, Mr Jackson

Michael Jackson, the known and respected beer authority, has died. I've just cracked open a Middle Ages Beast Bitter in his honor (and I wasn't going to drink tonight). Here's a link regarding this sad event as well as a last column from the Great Man:

http://www.allaboutbeer.com/

I once met him, not at the Blue Tusk as one might expect, but rather at the martini bar across the alley. I don't recall what brought him to town, but I think I had stopped in alone to the Tusk, and Mike Yorton came in and said "Uncle Drunk" (the kids used to call me Uncle Drunk in those days) "you have to come over to Bistro and meet Michael Jackson". When Mike introduced me, Michael Jackson said "So this is Mr Tom Waits". I guess Mike had told him about me and had mentioned that I liked Tom Waits, and Jackson, not surprisingly, did as well. I felt a little guilty because I knew that my roommate Woody liked Tom Waits more than I did, that I was late to the game and really only knew "Bone Machine" and maybe "Rain Dogs" and "Swordfishtrombones". But I was there and Woodrow wasn't, and I was still honored to be associated with Tom Waits in the mind of a first class beer authority like Michael Jackson. And I'd find out years later that Woody only really liked the earlier Asylum label Tom Waits and not the mad, Brechtian Island stuff that I find far superior, so in retrospect, I don't lose any sleep over it. Anyhow, the meeting was brief, and he seemed much like he did in the TV show (which we had watched a number of times in the Tusk, after hours). After he left, I believe I had the first martini of my life, a dirty one, at the Bistro. I'd have to guess that this was 1996, maybe 1997.

So I didn't know him and I don't own any of his books, but I am sorry to see him go and I thank him for what he has done for beer these many years. Cheers to you, sir.

Todd Mattraw