LV太阳报的某报道

巴哥派 · 发表于 2008-6-25 01:16:37

Is Pahrump pop king’s refuge?
After The Wall Street Journal reports that Michael Jackson is there, rumors are flying and the local populace is, for the most part … laughing

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Is Michael Jackson in Pahrump? Has it, at long last, come to this?Has the Howard Hughes of Pop moved to the great weird magnet in thedesert?
Who knows? Officially, no one.
So we went to Pahrump to look for ourselves.
As it turns out, there are two basic types of people in Pahrump:People who have not heard the Jackson rumor (and laugh and laugh) andpeople who have heard the rumor (and laugh and laugh). And yet, in alarger sense, there is only one type of Pahrumpian: People who hopeit’s not true. After the brothels, Heidi Fleiss’ gigolo dreams and coinlaundry and the leopards, Pahrump is worried Michael Jackson wouldlower the town’s tone.
Usually it’s hard to say where a rumor starts. In this case, we’repretty sure it started in The Wall Street Journal on June 13, in anarticle by Ethan Smith, an article headlined “Michael Jackson: The NextElvis?” Smith reported investors are hoping to lure the Weird One backonstage and that Jackson is living in Pahrump, “holed up” in a “ruralNevada compound.”
Then the rumor went streaking down the news wires, all the way home,straight to the heart of Pahrump, between the town’s two stoplights,into the big shopping center with the Wal-Mart, into Pepper’s HomeStore, which is where we started asking questions Wednesday.
“It’s true,” said Merry Pepper, laughing.
What?
“It’s a rumor on the news,” Merry said.
Plus, she saw a big black limousine the other day. Maybe it was his.
Her husband, Tom Pepper, was more skeptical.
“He hasn’t been in here shopping,” Tom said. “We’ve got some pretty upscale stuff, but probably not to his taste.”
Yes, Merry said, “We’ve got wooden elephants, but not the Elephant Man’s bones.”
Ah, well. Know a good place to get lunch?
“Mom’s,” Merry said.
Mom’s Family Diner is a kind of old-fashioned joint with simple values, like taking payment in cash only.
We asked our waitress, Suzy Dobson, about Jackson. She laughed.“First I’ve heard of it,” she said. “And I bar tend, too, so I wouldhave heard.”
Then she got thoughtful. Give her a call in a couple of days, she said. She’d see what she could find out.
Down at the Bookworm Haven, a used book shop that occupies a coupleof trailers and a probably few parallel dimensions to accommodate theoverflow, we talked Jackson with the clerk, a kind woman who refused togive her name.
“Michael Jackson — oh my God, that’s all Pahrump needs,” she said. “We’ve got a bad enough reputation already.”
But, she said, you never know.
“There’s a lot of secrets here,” she said. “We’re not just a dusty little town.”
She suggested we stop by the chamber of commerce.
Where they laughed. They’d heard the rumor but didn’t know anything and don’t put their names in the paper.
But, you know, they said, if he were going to live anywhere, maybeit’d be that real nice house for sale on Homestead Road. So down wewent to Homestead Road, to the only house that didn’t arrive on theback of a flatbed. It was empty.
We wandered lost, turning on Manse Road, hoping the name was accurate. It is not.
Inside the Bernina sewing shop, we asked about Jackson.
“Ah-ha-ha-hahaha-ha,” went Nancy Lawrence, a clerk.
“We’re just lucky we got the Home Depot,” said Rosemary Wiesner, Nancy’s mother.
“Hey, maybe if Michael Jackson moved here, we’d would get some more stuff,” Nancy said.
Trudy Gossage, the owner, called people to see whether they knewanything. Nope. We should go ask her sister Merry. She knows everything.
As it happened, Merry King had heard the Jackson rumor and was looking into it herself. No luck so far.
Just as we were leaving, Merry ran out waving a telephone. It wasTrudy. She was out at dinner and the hostess had heard about Jackson.He’s living down on Basin Road.
Down Basin Road we went. And let us just say that unless MichaelJackson has given up his security guards and taken an interest in lawnauto repair, he does not live on Basin Road.
Now, past the end of Basin Road, that could be a different story.
Out in the large desert lots, a home can breathe, can be a“compound,” with a long gravel driveway, a barbed wire fence and signsthat read, “Trespassers Will Be Shot!”
No limos, though.
Back in Las Vegas, we called Nye County Sheriff Tony De Meo. Did heknow that Michael Jackson was maybe sort of possibly living in Pahrump?
“Really? He hasn’t said anything to me,” De Meo said.
We also called our source Suzy at Mom’s Family Diner. She had checked it out. It’s true: Jacko has landed.
She’d first heard it from a woman who heard it from her 12-year-oldson. Then she confirmed it with a receptionist at the office of doctorswho used to work in Las Vegas on all the stars.
Really?
“Yeah, there’s this awesome black limo driving up and down 160. Weget limos out here for the whorehouses, but this one’s different,”Dobson said.
“Bigger.”

[ 本帖最后由巴哥派于 2008-6-25 01:17 编辑 ]