Tis the season for a ‘Thriller’

Most people probably wouldn't lump Michael Jackson's song "Thriller" with, say, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."

But both have come to represent a season.

"You have your summer songs, Christmas songs, but 'Thriller' seems to be the only Halloween song," said Kellita Wooten, 30, of Chesterfield County. "It's the anthem of Halloween."

Wooten and about a dozen others gathered yesterday to hear Virginia Union University theater professor L. Roi Boyd III relate the history of the blockbuster 1982 song and video. Afterward, the bravest souls learned to dance it.

All this was at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia in Jackson Ward. The center is presenting an exhibition on Jackson's life through Dec. 19.

The "Thriller" video, of course, features Jackson dancing with ghouls, zombies and various other lively members of the undead.

The dancers yesterday appeared to be of this life, ranging in age from security officer Kathy Thompson, 52, of Richmond to eighth-grader Temea Coker, 13, of Henrico County.

"When I was young, my family played it a lot," Coker said.

As for this business about "Thriller" being the only anthem of Halloween, people of a certain age will remember Bobby "Boris" Pickett's immortal 1962 hit "Monster Mash."

But to suggest the two are of equal artistic merit value would be monstrous.

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or .