Michael Jackson more than pop star to those in Northwest Indiana

Editor's Note: Michael Puente is a former staff writer for the Daily Herald, covering Palatine and Rolling Meadows from 2004 to 2006. Since 2006, Puente has been a reporter with WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago Public Radio, working primarily out of the station's Northwest Indiana Bureau in Chesterton.

It's not the best way to celebrate a birthday but Andrea Perlinsky couldn't stay away.

She wanted to get as close as possible to the only known connection to Michael Jackson in Northwest Indiana: His boyhood home in Gary.

So, like scores of others, Perlinsky got out of her car and walked up to the porch of the tiny, one-story white frame house at 23rd Avenue and Jackson Street, or officially, 2300 Jackson Street (named after President Andrew Jackson), to place a flower in honor of Michael. The home has now become a shrine of roses, cards, teddy bears and candles.

"I didn't think on my birthday night that I'd be doing this. I had to come," she told me.

The house is in the shadow of the famed Roosevelt High School in Gary where Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson (Bucks, Spurs) once played. The neighborhood where the house sits has seen better days. It's mostly a lower, working class neighborhood.

Perlinsky lived in Gary years ago but now lives in the more affluent suburb of Munster.

She wanted to pay tribute to a man beloved by residents of Northwest Indiana.

"Young people, older people, we loved him so. He transcended a lot of generations. He was just wonderful. He brought a lot to this town. He put us on the map," Perlinsky said.

He sure did.

It's almost unfathomable that someone who walked the streets we walked, who shopped at the same stores, who breathed the same air and dealt with the same problems, could reach the heights of stardom only a handful of people could ever hope to achieve.

Neighbors who lived close to the house, like Mable Moore, reminisced about what life was like when Michael still lived in the neighborhood as a kid.

"He went to school, he practiced. And he played with the rest of the children," Moore said. "They used to practice right there in the house. You could hear them at night."

Those stories are common throughout Northwest Indiana, not just Gary.

To this day, Michael and his family have relatives in the area.

My own father, Jesus Puente, who passed away six years ago, used to work at Inland Steel Co., in East Chicago, Ind., with Michael's father, Joe. He used to share stories with me about Joe, all positive and nothing like the reports of abuse that have surfaced over the years.

And for years, Michael's grandparents lived in East Chicago. Michael's younger and famous sister, Janet, it was said, would often visit her grandparents, but unannounced and without fanfare.

A longtime friend of mine from East Chicago, Renee "Jake" Rodriguez, is now in the music producing business in Minneapolis. Rodriguez told me on Friday of a time in 1995 when he got a chance to meet and work with Michael. He had worked with Janet in the past on several occasions.

Rodriguez said he set up mics for Michael and got him fruit. During a break, Michael sat next to him on a couch at the recording studio and said "Hi."

"I said the same back. Then I stretched out my hand and introduced my self, 'Mr. Jackson, my name is Jake, is there anything else you need? No, he said, I'm good, but please call me Michael. Janet tells me you're from East Chicago (Janet and I talked about EC and Gary all the time). Have you been there recently?" "Naw, I just go there to see my family on holidays." Janet then entered the conversation, "Michael, Jake is just like us..."

And, that's why we in Northwest Indiana, an area that isn't quite Chicago and too far to be part of Indianapolis, love Michael Jackson so much. He was like us, and we wanted to be like him.

"Da Region," as it's called, especially Gary, is crushed by Michael's unexpected passing. Gary residents were hoping for a repeat visit by Michael, who last visited in 2003.

That's never going to happen now, but his memory and the fleeting time he called Gary home, will always be with us.

As a reporter, it's a big story to cover. But I'm covering this one with very heavy heart, as a great fan of his music.

No, he wasn't perfect. He had issues and we all are well aware of them.

My buddy Jake Rodriguez may have said it best.

"They say there's a fine line between genius and insanity; I believe Michael walked that line on a daily basis."

The oddities that became Michael Jackson no longer matter. What will live on is his music and his memory.