JACKSONS GATHER FOR HONOR AT BMI AWARDS CEREMONY, BUT GROUP'S BASS PLAYER AND GLOVED ONE PLAYED HOOKY AGAIN

Last night, BMI Urban had honored The Jacksons with Icon award in Beverly Hills, and while brothers Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Randy were on hand to accept their long-overdue honor, brothers Jermaine and Michael didn't attend the festivities, despite reports that the former would be in attendance.
This isn't the first time the group's famous lead singers played hooky from family events; during their 1984 "Victory" tour, both didn't appear in the videos for their hits "Torture" (which both sang lead on) and "Body" which was featured on their 1984, the first and only album to feature all six brothers.
I know that Michael is working on a new album and has been spending time all around the world, but it would have been nice had he attended, because this is the first time that the industry has honored the group in both it's reincarnations. don't know," Marlon told The Associated Press when asked about his younger brother's whereabouts. "I think he's in Egypt riding a camel or something."
It would have been nice had Jermaine been there too, since he's the one took it upon himself to be the spokesperson for the family, and been pushing a reunion for years. I think he's still feeling guilty about opting to stay with Motown, while his brothers move to Epic and had greater success them he did. (He did leave Motown and signed with Arista and scored with "Dymanite," "Do What You Do" and the top charting ballad "Don't Take It Personal", before moving to LaFace and fucking up his career by dissing Michael with the single "Word To The Badd!!" in the original version he sang about Michael's physical appearance and not spending time with the family).
The group's journey began 29 years ago when Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael singed to Motown as The Jackson 5 and made history by becoming the first group to score four back to back hits with "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There." They also scored with "Never Can Say Goodbye," "Mama's Pearl," "Maybe Tomorrow" and "Dancin' Machine" but by the mid 1970's the group success started to fade, due to Motown refusal to allow them to write and produce their own material, so they decided to leave and sign with Epic, while Jermaine decided to stay with the label until 1982. In addition to being forced to replace Jermaine with brother Randy, they were forced to rename themselves The Jacksons, and they scored with their platnium albums "Destiny" and "Triumph" and hits "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)" "Lovely One" "Heartbreak Hotel," and "Can You Feel It" which has been sampled by many of today's singers and Rappers including Shaggy, Charli Baltimore, BLACKStreet, Heavy D, and Madonna. In 1984, all six brothers reunited for their Victory album and tour, but after the tour wrapped Michael and Marlon decided to leave and focus on solo careers.
"It's a great honor to know your music influenced a generation," said Tito as he accepted his honor. "We're very proud of this moment."
In 1997, The original Jackson 5 were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of fame, where all five brothers showed up to accept their award, but it would have been much nicer had Jermaine and Michael attended this event since all six brothers were honored.
The tribute featured a dance troop performing a routine for their hit "Dancing Machine," while Mario performed the group's classic "Heartbreak Hotel" JoJo and Llyod performed "I'll Be There" while the latter linked up with Mario, Bobby Valentino, and Ray J. for the group's classic "Never Can Say Goodbye" which was nice, but would have been better had more of the group's post Motown hits were performed including "Enjoy Yourself," "Show You The Way To Go," "Can You Feel It" and "Shake Your Body" which were some of the group's biggest hits. Making the tribute sweet was sister Janet presenting her big brothers their award and saying she was proud to do so. The Jacksons didn't perform (it would have made sense since their main two lead vocalist were not there) but they were grateful for being honored and they posed for photographs with their parents Katherine and Joseph and sisters Janet, Rebbie and La-Toya.
What is it goin to take for The Jacksons to reunite? A petition? A protest? They were the first band boy to break into the industry, and they paved the way for New Edition, [See New Edition's Never Ending Legacy and Impact] who's celebrating their 25 anniversary and still tours with all members though Bobby makes guest appeances due to his battle with bipolar), New Kids on The Block, BoyzIIMen, B2K, B-5 and Final Draft to have the opportunites to pursue careers in music, and if Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph and Johnny who had more career professional setbacks, then there is no damn reason (except for famliy illness) why Jermaine and Michael wasn't at the award to accept their awardl
Don't get me wrong, I love The Jacksons; their music contiues to be the soundtrack of my life and helps him when I'm happy and going through my bouts of depression, but it would mean alot to me and the fans to see them together like they did at Michael's 30th anniversary special seven years ago.
Katherine, it's time for you to call a family meeting to have your sons reunite and soon, because it's time for them to bring that magic back to the airwaves and stage. Even if it's for a limited number of dates.