I am closing up for the night very late one night at the Caricature stand in Las Vegas on Fremont street experience. The crowd is finally thinned out and it’s probably one in the morning, I’ve been drawing all night, and I’m tired.
I start pulling down the shutters when I hear the hubub of a crowd coming from behind me.
I turn, and there is an entourage of people surrounding someone in the center whom I can’t quite see.
I wait and suddenly I see that it is none other than Michael Jackson, the man in the mirror himself. In the flesh.
I have never in my life expected to see Michael Jackson in person.
I am starstruck. I think my mouth might be open in surprise but IM too stunned to do anything about it.
He walks right up to me, smiles and shakes my hand. As a caricature artist I am pretty good at “reading” people very quickly. I look Into his eyes and I think immediately “he didn’t do it.” This was shortly after the whole scandal at Neverland.
Michael Jackson is so much taller than I expected. He also has a mischievous twinkle in his eye. His face looks almost like there’s plastic over it and I think wow they really did mess him up didn’t they.
But he is so nice to me. He’s so polite, he whispers in that little voice of his “how are you doin’?” and then he’s gone, but before he is, he hands me a card.
I look at it and it says:
MJ the Evolution
He is just as excited and amazed as I am.
But both of us wonder - why was Michael Jackson walking down Fremont street at 1am?
It doesn’t tell me a lot.
So I google the name on the card - MJ the Evolution.
It takes me a minute to figure out that It is a Tribute show.
That was an impersonator!
DUH. This is Vegas. There are impersonators everywhere. But there are also real celebrities too and I’ve met a few like Bary Manilow, Barbara Streisand and even Chumley from
Pawn Stars, so it wasn’t completely crazy to think that was really Michael Jackson.
He was the best impersonator I’ve ever seen in my life, and living in Vegas, I’ve seen my share.
I would hire him in a minute.
As I was reading this story to my teenaged sons, I kept the ending a surprise. They both were saying “You met Michael Jackson! Omg how come you never told us this story?”
Then I came to the end. There were audible groans.
I asked them what they thought. My one son said “I’m mad!”
Yea I fooled them.
Just like the Michael Jackson impersonator fooled me.
Did it fool you?
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My name is Kathy buskett. I have been a professional caricature artist for 25 years.
10 of those years were spent drawing caricatures in Las Vegas at some of the largest events in the world.
I now travel the world drawing caricatures at weddings and corporate events worldwide.
I draw 30+ faces per hour which is twice as fast as most artists. This keeps lines down and your guests happier.
If you have an event you’d like me to come entertain at, you can check to see if I’m available by emailing me at kathybuskett@gmail.com
You can also check out the rest of my website at www.caricaturesbykathy.com
I have to write Michael Jackson man in the mirror for the keywords so here it is 🤣
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