How does a guy who was an NFL star quarterback end up being shot twice in the head and twice in the chest? That is what police in Nashville are trying to figure out. Steve McNair was found shot to death inside a condo he rented. 20-year old Sahel Kazemi was found dead near McNair. She had a gunshot to the head. A semi-automatic pistol was found beneath her body.

We came to Nashville after getting a call from our boss Saturday afternoon. We scrambled from Dallas and prepped for a day of liveshots Sunday. It is hard to overstate the importance of McNair to Nashville. He was the Titans first quarterback and led them to their only Superbowl appearance. McNair had opened a restaurant in Nashville and by Saturday night, local stations were reporting that there was a growing memorial there. Radio stations set up sites online for fans to express their thoughts. In general, it has been shock, shock that this respected member of the community could have met such a violent end.

Police at first called Kazemi a friend but today told us that McNair and Kazemi had been dating for a few months, even though the 36-year old McNair was married and had kids. At a press conference today, correspondent Kris Gutierrez asked if McNair’s wife had known about the affair. It is a question the police spokesman handled delicately. He said that McNair’s wife was upset and that it was a question they would be looking at as the investigation continues. They are talking with friends of both McNair and Kazemi to try to piece together what happened.

Police say toxicology and other lab reports will take a few days to complete. They are not going so far as saying this is a murder-suicide, but they gave no indication that it was anything but.

The last time we were in Mexico for Fox News, correspondent Kris Gutierrez and I were covering the impending landfall of Hurricane Dean. Now we’re back, this time in Cabo San Lucas, where a perfect storm of a different sort has hit Mexico’s tourism industry. There were already poor economic conditions worldwide, which kept many travelers at home. But then in the past few months add to that worries about swine flu and increased drug cartel violence. The people in Cabo like to point out neither the swine flu nor the drug violence is anywhere near here. They add that there are also some pretty good deals on hotels and airfare for anyone willing to make the trip. For example, the hotel where we are staying has rooms as low as $129  a night.

How we get our story on T.V. is tricky. Usually, we have a satellite truck to handle our transmissions, but here we’ve brought our own live capability with us. You may have seen the logo for it on the screen when we do liveshots–we use what’s called a “Streambox.” Basically, we’re going live via a fast internet connection.

The liveshot must look pretty good because we seem to be receiving a lot of emails from our coworkers. I suspect a certain jealousy on their part and I can’t blame them. I can’t imagine a better place for an assignment.

OK, I must admit, I wasn’t the hugest of Michael Jackson fans.   I, like millions of others, own a copy of Thriller (the vinyl edition sits in a box in my father’s basement on Long Island).   And I, like millions of others, danced many a disco night (including at Studio 54) to “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” et. al.

But after the 80s, Jackson, and I, had moved on.

So it was with a little cynicism I took on the assignment of covering the Jackson death in London.  But almost right away I realized how special he was to a lot of people.

Getting my Friday morning coffee at our cafeteria, I chatted with a young woman who was very sad.  She was disappointed that she hadn’t been able to buy one of the 750,000 (!) seats for Jackson’s planned series of concerts in London which were sold out in a matter of hours.

When we were doing man-on-the-street interviews near the Michael Jackson sound-alike show “Thriller” in London’s West End, we ran into, by coincidence, two New York musicians who played with Jackson in 2001.    Their deep, profound and heartfelt regard for his artistry moved me.

done

As did other warm comments from people ranging in age from around 12 to 60+.

By sheer coincidence, this has been a huge Rock weekend in the London area.   The UK’s annual version of Woodstock, the Glastonbury festival, was being staged outside of the city.  That drew artists to gigs in London.

Jackson’s death and these concerts got me thinking about what “Pop” music (remember he was the “King of…”) means to me…and us.

Last Thursday night I saw, for the first time, one of my more modern groups, The Dave Matthews Band.   They usually play huge arenas in the States but as their following is smaller here, they played in a cozy smallish theater.

Friday, a venue in my Chelsea neighborhood hosted Roger McGuinn, founder of the legendary Byrds group. It was a bit forced, but he performed wonderful, absolutely iconic (there I said it), tunes from the Byrds’ catalogue.

Then, the big time.  The Hard Rock Café sponsored a set of concerts at one end of Hyde Park in London getting a crowd of some 50,000 for each day’s set.   The headliner Saturday night was one of my favorites, that old rock warhorse, Neil Young.

Sunday night at Hard Rock Calling, the headliner was none other than New Jersey’s hometown boy, Bruce Springsteen.   He’s arguably been my favorite singer since the first time I heard “Rosalita.”   His music a constant of passion, politics and hard–driving, good-natured rock.  Sunday he didn’t disappoint.

The age of the audiences for all the shows literally spanned decades.   And nearly everyone seemed to know the words to all the songs.  And nearly everyone got into it.

At my relatively advancing age, I’m still belting out  “Born to Run,” “Rockin’ in the Free World”  “My Back Pages” and more.

When I was young, rock’n’roll was the music of youth and rebellion.    You always kind of thought you’d eventually grow out of it and by the time you were thirty you’d be listening to classical music and Frank Sinatra.   But funny, that didn’t happen to me and it didn’t happen to a lot of other people.

One song at the Neil Young concert summed up the generation-spanning emotion-grabbing character of pop music.    These days, Neil Young’s encore tune is an odd choice, the Beatles’ 1967 Sgt Pepper anthem, “A Day in the Life.”

Saturday night it was perfect :

After Young did the first part of the song (the bit Lennon wrote and sang, “I read the news today ‘O boy’…”), out came Paul McCartney from the side of the stage where he’d been watching the concert.  And he sang the bit he wrote and performed  (“Woke up, fell out of bed…”).  They then finished it together including the endless final note, with back up vocals and cheers from EVERYONE in the crowd.

So what does this all have to do with Michael Jackson?

While a few acts at the Glastonbury festival paid tribute to Jackson, funnily enough, Jackson wasn’t mentioned at any of the four concerts I attended.

Disregard?  Emm, not really.

Most of the acts had some link to Jackson.  McCartney performed with him.    Springsteen’s ‘80s albums dueled with Jackson’s. Both Young and Matthews use or have used backings that would not have been not out of place on any funky Jackson album.

No.  I think tribute was paid by all of these performers simply by performing the music he championed, and made even bigger.

And again while “Beat it” might not have been in my pantheon of rock classics, I defy anyone to sit still when the riff  “ABC….It’s easy as 1,2,3….It’s simple as Do-Re-Mi…” blasts out of the radio.

All the best, Michael.

by FNC reporter Alicia Acuna

By Alicia Acuna
Reporter, Denver Bureau

Fox News field producer Faith Mangan and I arrived on scene at the home Michael Jackson about an hour ago. The exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood, located next to Beverly Hills and BelAir, has been taken over by news trucks, tour buses and fans.

The neighbors are not happy. A few second ago, a woman who lives adjacent to Jackson’s rented property snapped at a Los Angeles Police officer, “When are these people going to leave?!?!?!” A tour bus was kicked out, but got stuck in neighborhood traffic, further infuriating the locals. We’ve seen one vehicle go into the Jackson home, but not one leave. There is no family representative here on scene, so we are still awaiting word on what happens next for the Jacksons. The home that Jackson has been renting here, goes for a reported 100,000-dollars a month. More later….