purplesweat said:

Seems morbid and disgusting to me. I guess that is what happens when you sell tickets to an event like it is a concert, not a funeral.

Someone is making a lot of money off of this.
[Edited 7/7/09 4:59am]

Busta Rhymes expresses his respects to Janet and tribute to Michael Jackson

I must say it is disgusting. I'll bet the people inside start acting like they are at a 'Live' concert.
[Edited 7/7/09 5:03am]

Former DC...

Michelle Williams about Michael Jackson // Sky News Interview // 30th June 2009



well said...

LondonStyle said:

My god, I need to marry this dude

i gotta step back and give props to CNN for their coverage of this tragedy- of course they are a news outlet and there were some things reported that could have been left alone.

But the underlying respect from Larry King to Their American Morning show- I have yet to see or feel that from anyone else. They have consistently given Michael tribute in his passing.

I have not commented alot on this- it was compleely devasting for me to hear- and its still not real. i was actually 9000 miles away in Africa when the news hit and th e BBC was so biased and disrespectful with their news segments- it was disgusting to watch. the first images I saw of this travesty were his corpse being transported and then flashes to him walking out of court as they spoke of child molestation charges....

...I just wanna thank CNN- .....

purplesweat said:

People, cultures, and religions deal with death and burial rituals differently around the world. For some, it's a solemn affair. For some the funeral and burial ritual is a celebration for the person who in death is finally at peace entering into their next realm or dimension. Although it's difficult for some to fathom, there are those who actually don't look at the deceased as an entity they're cannot be here to service their personal needs and projections; they somehow manage to eventually accept the deceased as moving on...perhaps onto something bigger or more important for themselves, and more than our 3 dimension expectations of them on this earth.

On my father's side there are roots in Louisiana. The funeral processions there are chock full of celebration, they literally dance all the way to the cemetary. No matter what area of the city you're in, if you see these funeral processions, for tourists they're often confused by the ritual. It seems they think they've stumbled onto a parade or block party, not realizing that it's simply people celebrating the one that was loved dearly, who has departed, and is now at rest from the troubles heaped upon them while in this world. It's interesting for me to see how people have been scornful of celebratory activities following this tradition, like the one held the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. For me it's not as if it's a blasphemous act (provided it's not a dog and pony show with big business and sponsors involved for corporate ends, cough cough). It just represents a different way that some people mourn the dead and pay repects to their passing:



At the end of the day though, it doesn't really matter how we in the general public choose to mourn Maichael Jackson's passing. He's gone. He's not coming back, and closure will have to be put on his death, period, however it's done.

At the end of it all, the only memorial which holds weight in truth and reality, without the fantastic projections, misconceptions, scrutiny, or idolic praise of the man we thought he was, will be that of the woman who bore him, his family, and his dearest loved ones.



[Edited 7/7/09 6:05am]

beautifully said!!!

u know- i understand people wanting to pay their respects=- but instead of paying $1500 for a round trip ticket from Europe why not donate those funds to his charity of choice so that it will be a gift that keeps on giving??

Evvy said:

The BBC have let the british fans down, I agree they never took the time to focus on the music the best they did was a newsnight special and that was it.

I think the media have an agenda with Michael Jackson - but the record sales and the music will in time correct this, but for the next year all the stories will focus on dirt

It's up to the artist that really respect Mike's craft to keep his goodname alive...

This is the test!

In the last thread it was brought up how Brooke gave the wrong date of when she last saw Michael and that made me think I also noticed Tatum O'Neal lied about when the last time she saw Michael was. With that whole controversy about what Michael said was his first sort of sexual experience with Tatum, the way she denied it by saying that couldn't of happened because she was only 12 when they were friends and never saw each other again after 1978 when the Wiz premiered. But there are quite a few photos of them from 1979 and 1980 together, actually probably the most famous pictures of them together. I wonder why they lied about this information.

Evvy said:

Exactly - well said.

Or, how about this: go out and buy all of the MJ/Jackson 5 albums you don't already have, and then give the rest to charity?

That way, you are contributing to the family and also to the world.

You being in a stadium full of other fans/gawkers isn't a memorial.

Arnotts said:

No lies just the media reporting it wrong again ...

They sure did pull this together quickly. They are talking about how much this is costing CA and the city for the security and such.
Hope there are no natural disasters they need that money for any time soon.

13.42 BST: A colleague points out that it is "interesting that the Beeb has given such prominence to Jacko coverage today, considering the criticism it came in for over its coverage of his death". But according to the Corporation, the viewing numbers justified the decision then, and presumably will do so again:

"The audiences to our main television bulletins were a little higher than average for a Friday evening and the statistics for our online content broke records: more than 8.2m global unique users, the second highest since Obama's election. The BBC News mobile site had its biggest-ever figures on Friday."

all this for a wacko .... nope there are crazy people all around the world but they don't get 8.2million hits ...

The BBC should really focus on the man's music that's why ! that way they would not get so much criticism from viewer who only know him for court sessions and plastic noses...

MrsMdiver said:

The US spent the budget in iraq , you should know this, the guys in New Orleans do !

just heard the body IS going to be there.

I'm just loving this interview from 1983! I adore what he says about the significance of the arts and creativity. R.I.P Michael

Part 1:


Part 2:

LondonStyle said:

Still does not make it right. California has major forest fires and earthquakes. They could see a natural disaster just as easy as New Orleans.
Listening to the cost this is going to be accrued by the city for this event, makes me think about New Orleans and the victims there.

11.59 BST: And just in case you were wondering about how big an event the memorial will be Stateside, this report from AFP should give you a flavour:

"A staggering 1.6 million people applied to win free tickets for the event, which were allocated via an online lottery over the weekend...

"An additional 1,400 police officers will be on duty to provide security, while city blocks surrounding the venue have been sealed off. Organizers of the memorial, which gets underway at 10:00 am (1700 GMT), have appealed to ticketless fans to watch the event on television, fearing chaos if hundreds of thousands take to the streets to mourn.

"A live feed of the service is being made available free to television networks, while the event will also be streamed via social networking websites Facebook and MySpace, officials said. “There is just so much global reach for this star,” commented Facebook marketing director Randi Zuckerberg. The site was preparing for more users worldwide to experience the event than even President Barack Obama’s inauguration in January, he said."

I think this statement proves that MJ is all about the Music, and the trash stories can never change that.

LondonStyle said:

how does a media circus about his death/funeral prove that? it proves just the opposite to me, really. which is why i haven't watched any of the coverage until today.

According to CNN MJ's body will be at the memorial

Evvy said:

That's a great idea!

you know, normally I'm not against celebrity tribute concerts, but this MJ thing has an added dimension of hysteria and lunacy I've never seen before. The fact that California is so strapped for cash and they're using so many government resources for this memorial tribute feels, well, weird. I doubt many people will heed the call to remain home and watch the proceedings on television.

I always feel people grieve however they must, but by God, don't do it uninvited, stressing and taxing everyone out in the process. There should still be attention paid to requests by the family and city officials, and for people to not feel they should just take things into their own hands and go where they want to go and do what they want to do without something in place for them. I figure if you're uninvited, it's been determined it's not your place to be there. I felt the same way seeing crowds flock to the hospital for him too

This is a strange,sad day.I can't believe that we are discussing Michael Jackson's funeral and memorial! It's been over a week since his death,but I still can't accept it.

elizabeth taylor tweeted? for real?

Some cool T-shirts, hats, belt buckles, etc. are available at the official Tour website :

SilverlakePhil said:

yeah, i'm going to buy one (none of these), but they keep adding new ones every day. so i'm not sure if i should wait a little bit to see what else is added before i buy, because they may end up selling out of the few that i actually like.

SilverlakePhil said:

I have no doubt that these tour T-shirts may very well have been in production already. But to sell 'This Is It' tour shirts, a tour which MJ didn't live to carry out - with Jacko looking like a dug-up corpse in them - seems like a major faux pas to me.

McD said:

at the same time, this was the kind of imagery that michael thought was fun...so is it morbid or is it a celebration of his creepy-kitschy comic-book boyish aesthetic? (i think the t-shirts are cool.)