There’s no mention of Michael Jackson’s death in This Is It — not even dates under his photo in the closing-credits dedication. But even if director Kenny Ortega had chosen to acknowledge the King of Pop’s passing, it’d still be easy to forget the fact while watching this extraordinary and eye-opening cobble of footage shot during rehearsals for Jackson’s fatefully named tour.

The last decade or so has framed Michael as an alleged pedophile and frail freak, the butt of jokes and scorn whose decision to perform 50 shows in London this year seemed a desperate attempt to dig himself out of bankruptcy. The truth of his past, however, feels irrelevant in light of the truth shown in this film: By the time the tour was gelling, the Weird One had left the building.

Ortega, who was also the show’s director, generously filled the nearly two-hour This Is It with mostly performance footage. Of course, there are snippets of interviews with Jackson’s dancers, musicians, and other crew, all of whom gush (and occasionally tear up, even before his death) about the opportunity.

And even viewers whose fandom has grown latent will quickly see why. Jackson looks thin but hardly feeble. His feet were still fluid, his voice still silky. The precision of his choreography is astounding. (When asked how he’ll be able to respond to a visual cue if his back is turned, he hardly waits a beat before saying, “I gotta feel it. I’ll feel it.” You believe him.) And when anything was off, he’d try it again and again, never hesitating to hammer out details that would seem minuscule to us commoners.

The film’s arguably more impressive achievement, though, is showing a Jackson who’s human — and likable. He was often funny and unfailingly kind, whether correcting someone or coaxing his 24-year-old lead guitarist, “It’s your time to shine.” This is the oxygen-tank-sleeping chimp lover?

With the tour’s debut only a couple of weeks away when Jackson died, this footage also showcases the show’s elaborate set pieces, including a 3D film and floating ghost-brides and -grooms to accompany “Thriller” and an alternately amusing and action-packed backdrop to introduce “Smooth Criminal,” in which Jackson’s inserted into the 1946 Rita Hayworth movie, Gilda. (He catches a glove she tosses to the audience after a performance.) It all points to a concert that would have been spectacular, and a talent who was rightfully adored.

Former Black and White Jacksons guitarist Tim George formed Dizzy Spells with Kelela Mizanekristos, and the group’s songs can be ethereal and deeply felt or playful and jagged. The band describes itself as “Rock/Americana/Neo-Soul,” which is pretty apt, but it ignores the woozy trip-hop sound that’s all over “Laser Light.” You can stream that song and others at Dizzy Spells’ MySpace page. The District-based group, now a four-piece, performs tonight at 9 p.m. at the Velvet Lounge. Tickets are $8.

More soulful, minimalistic indie bands after the jump: gothy bawlers, Brits lip-syncing to R&B, and a poorly timed Michael Jackson cover!

Zola Jesus (2006-present): Twenty-year-old Wisconsin native Nika Roza Danilova has a large voice and some really scuzzy-sounding synths—not a bad set of circumstances, since she can wail like Aretha Franklin and mope like Michael Gira, whose band Swans took gothy ’80s post-punk and made it arty and iconoclastic. Which perhaps explains how Danilova hooked up with another purveyor of emotive, rough-around-the edges spookiness—Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart—for her newest project, Former Ghosts.

The xx (2005–present): This restrained London four-piece, whose music is very hushed and extremely slow, is one of 2009’s buzzier acts—at least partially because of its blog-pleasing covers of Aaliyah’s “Hot Like Fire” and Kyla’s “Do You Mind?” So it’s a comforting thought that a band responsible for such thoughtful, self-serious music clearly spent its teenage years bawling along to American R&B in front of a bedroom mirror. The xx performs at DC9 on Nov. 15.

Discovery (2005–present): This dreamy, genre-hopping side project featuring members of Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend isn’t quite appropriative, but it’s clearly a plate for the semiguilty musical tastes—and apparent affinity for high hat—they’re willing to only partially absorb into their day bands. The duo’s debut album dropped 12 days after Michael Jackson died, so its cover of “I Want You Back” felt pretty poorly timed—but still well-meaning, and certainly audacious.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums (2006–present): This Swedish husband-and-wife duo makes erratic songs with nothing but percussion instruments and steamy vocals, yet it comes away with a sound that’s full-bodied, exciting, and utterly singular.

Michael Jackson: “This Is It”
The title track from Michael Jackson’s upcoming concert film, This Is It, basically gives fans what they wanted most of all: the Jackson of 20 years ago. Rumored to be a demo recorded during the sessions for either Off The Wall or Dangerous, the song has been posthumously polished a la “Free As A Bird”—adding syrupy strings, and maybe even a few extra Jackson bros to make it fully closing-credits-worthy.

On Fillmore: “Master Moon”
Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and Dazzling Killmen bassist Darin Gray—working together under the name On Fillmore—conjure up the ghosts of Martin Denny and Les Baxter on this exotica-tinged tune from the duo’s upcoming record, Extended Vacation. If Disneyland is looking for a fresh tune to blast through the Haunted Mansion’s PA, they may want to consider licensing this.

Lightning Bolt: “Flooded Chamber”
Lightning Bolt’s upcoming record Earthly Delights will be the duo’s first new release in four years. What have they been up to in the interim? “Flooded Chamber,” a track leaked from the album, suggests that drummer Brian Gibson and bassist Brian Chippendale were actually cryogenically frozen for most of that time, along with their zeal for repetition, blast beats, and distorted howls. In other words, not a lot has changed.

Today, soothing WAMU radio host Kojo Nnamdi prefaced a call-in hour by going off on all things Michael Jackson. He sorta boasted to listeners that his show had been a Michael Jackson Free Zone this past week. He then explained his confusion as to why African American leaders and African American Professor types would debase themselves on cable chat shows extolling the King of Pop’s Black Power credentials and deep ties to the African-American community. He said that anyone under 30 would have only known Jackson as Wacko—an alleged child molesting freak with a damaged nose. For a generation, Jackson’s talents were seen only in montage clips.

The man didn’t want to look like me, Nnamdi argued. And he went out of his way to not look like me. One of several callers took the bait and argued on MJ’s behalf citing psychological and biological trauma as the cause of the singer’s skin whitening and plastic surgery obsession. Nnamdi just argued back: “I can’t embrace him.”

When another caller chimed to bash WMATA on its failed safety proceedures and the metro crash, Nnamdi admitted to having no expertise on the subject. The metro crash was a mystery to him. Jackson was another matter.

*photo courtesy of WAMU.

And by buying Thriller off iTunes last week, I am! I so am!

It will be sadder next paycheck when I buy Off the Wall and hope my wife doesn’t notice. But for now, success! Blanket, this one is for you.

Here’s Saxon and the Seeds doing their best-known song, “Pushin’ Too Hard.” He’s on bass and singing.

And here’s how things ended up.

CNN, Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Times have confirmed that Michael Jackson has died. He was 50 years old. Damn.

Considering the team Jackson’s assembled, $20 mill seems a conservative estimate. Along with the requisite army of pelvic-thrusting backup dancers and purported 22 set changes, Jackson chose High School Musical director and choreographer Kenny Ortega to direct this epic comeback effort. According to the Guardian:

“My answer without a beat was nothing could keep me away,” Ortega said in a statement. He has chosen a slew of new and established choreographers, including Travis Payne, who worked on Dancing with the Stars, and Rich and Tone Talauega, who collaborated with another controversial star, Chris Brown.

According to Ortega, Jackson is working on a new dance move to unveil at the show, but when pressed by the Guardian he refused to elaborate: “I’m sworn to secrecy.” Moonwalk 2.0?!

All that preparation, recruiting and creating is with good reason; “This Is It” will be Jackson’s first live performance in 12 years, and all 50 dates—costing concertgoers £50.00 – £75.00 a ticket—are sold out. As the L.A. Times conjectures, “The ambitious schedule of 50 sold-out shows could turn out to be the final, sad chapter of Jackson’s storied career—or one of pop music’s all-time greatest comeback stories.”

Here’s hoping for the latter.