MJ and their "Army" of Dancers, "Combat" the War on Drugs & Violence

At the SMART-T Jamboree

by Dan Drabik
Grade 9, Grand Island, NY
5/24/01

Only five short weeks later, I am back on a second encounter with MJ! Since I had been here before, I had a better idea of what I would be doing this time. After a hard day at rehearsal, Manny, Joy, and the crew went to sleep only to get up three hours later for an 8:00 a.m. sound check,(that never happened.) They waited back stage for over an hour, witnessed many exciting things and met alot of interesting people. The sound man said that they tested the system enough and that MJ should not be worried, they would sound great.

From the time they scrambled out of the van they were rehearsing until it was their turn for them to perform. (They even rehearsed in the dressing rooms downstairs backstage.) While they were doing that, we were handing out free enhanced cd's called Take a Stand, that featured many famous artists (like the Backstreet Boys, Laurn Hill, Dave Matthews) along with Manny from MJ. (Manny & Joy were both actors on the video movies in the "video game" enhanced portion of this CD.) The kids were running around excited and asking: "Who is MJ?" " ....a free cd, cool!!!"

I was sitting in the arena watching the other acts and it seemed to me that they had some steep competition. After a grand introduction by Mr. Jerome Hamlin, the event producer, and David "Dr. D" Musial, MJ's executive producer, MJ's Army exploded on stage proclaiming "We, Are, Drug, Free!" wearing camouflage army wear, and the kids jumped out of their seats and stampeded to the front of the stage! The crowd could not get close enough! They were reaching up, over the stage too. They were immediately joined by the audience chanting, "We, Are, Drug, Free!

MJ then confused the crowd with "gun shot & police siren" sound effects as they introduced the song "Take A Stand- Stop The Violence", the crowd went wild! (Again.) They ended the show with a short version the amazing "Skate Dance". It is wild to see the crowd react to this. They love it!

After their performance, MJ,along with their choreographer Danilo Sobers, and their dancers Alexander, Gabriella, Kennie, Nelson, Otis, Jean, Carlos, and Terrain (and more) were wandering outside when they were spotted and bombarded with tons of screaming fans wanting autographs! They even asked them to sign their "SMART-T Jam "T" Shirts!

They nearly broke down the "backstage" gate and more security guards had to come out to protect MJ, (in a good way). At the same time, I was interviewing people about what they thought of MJ. I was impressed with the responses. The kids were ecstatic over them!

They were screaming and yelling "MJ rocks!", "I love you MJ, "MJ's the bomb!". "Months of grueling hours practicing were rewarded with the same amount of energy they put into their performance.

Afterwards, MJ & company shot yet another music video in front of this awesome "D.A.R.E." Van. It was brought there by "Don Johnson", who is the same man who saw MJ perform for the annual D.A.R.E. Convention in Atlantic City. He is the man who introduced MJ to this event!

As we were leaving, there was this sense of tranquility. Knowing that the subconscience was on their side and negativity was again evaded, gave us optimism for the future.