MJ's Memorial and related events

Like more than a billion people worldwide, I watched the Michael Jackson memorial service. I thought it was appropriately reverent, classy, and emotional, while also taking care to express and share the joy that echoed through Jackson's music. I won't bother to rehash the event here, because it's just saturating the news (according to foreign clips shown on CNN, it's the 'top story' as far away as India and Hong Kong). I will say it featured a few surprises for me. I didn't realize how important Michael was to the African-American community, or how deeply affection for him ran among their leaders and icons. I didn't think there would come a day when Al Sharpton(!!) would earn praise from me for a rousing and positive eulogy. I certainly didn't think Sharpton would continue to garner accolades from me for his sensible commentary throughout the evening. Nor did I expect the service to end with the Jackson family making sure that, for all the spectacle of the memorial, they held fast to their faith. "The King of Pop must bend his knee to the King of Kings," said their preacher, The Rev. Lucious Smith. And Michael's daughter, wow. Her words brought tears to my eyes, a reaction I think was pretty common. At any rate, what a magnificent send-off. I won't see another funeral like this in my lifetime. There are those who will brush it off with a curt "He doesn't deserve it. It's not like he was a king, or a President who ended world hunger." I don't recall the last time a politician managed to accomplish the latter, but I understand the point. I just disagree. You may be ambivalent towards Jackson, you may dislike him. Either way an incredible amount of people felt the opposite, and where mourning is concerned I choose to be laissez faire. I say allow people to express their grief in whatever positive and healthy way they see fit. And for the record, I think he's a global icon who factors positively into the memories of three generations. The world misses the man. As popular as any President is or has ever been, you can guarantee that a billion people in China and India aren't going to give a damn when he passes away. Personally, I'm grateful for the chance to have witnessed this twelve-day event, and I hope my kids are old enough to remain some memory of it. To see an outpouring of love and respect for anyone is enriching, and the fact that people seem free once again to publicly acknowledge his talent and gifts, well, that's an added bonus. It's just a shame he had to pass away for people to once again show their love. * * * * * If you were paying attention, there were signs everywhere of this funeral's impact on our pop culture.

The woman in the apartment across from my Mom flew to L.A. for the memorial. Although I doubt she had tickets to get into the Staples Center, it was enough for her to be in the city. Another woman she knows holds a season pass for a local water park and attends religiously each day. Today she offered the pass to friends, saying she was going to watch the funeral from beginning to end. A woman at a store was wearing a "King of Pop 1959-2009" shirt as she checked out. At my niece's birthday party, the bowling alley played several MJ songs, and a middle aged man strolled down the hall singing along to "Don't Stop till You Get Enough" At a grocery store, I overheard a woman on her cell phone, vigorously debating what Jackson song was the best.

* * * * * Meanwhile, in my house last week I overheard YaYa calling LuLu over the computer. On Youtube YaYa had pulled up a copy of the Thriller video and was eager to show Lu. At first I was going to stop her as I thought it would scare them, but then I remembered something I hadn't thought about in decades. When I was around YaYa's age I was skating at a local roller rink. An announcement was made, and on a new fangled projection screen the rink played the Thriller video. A hundred kids, white, Hispanic, whatever, gathered around to watch it. Aliens could land on earth and you couldn't get 100 kids to unite and sit still for the news bulletin, but there we all sat, in awe, watching the video beginning to end. So I let them watch it, making sure to tell LuLu it was all fake. Now the kids can recognize most MJ songs by ear, even if they can't always get the title right (although YaYa is trying hard). Their favorite seems to remain Thriller, or what Lu calls "the wolf song". * * * * One last long forgotten MJ memory. When Bad came out my Mom bought us a cassette, then painstakingly sat and dubbed each of us kids a copy on her skinny dual-tape book box. (My Mom, the bootlegger :) Thank God it wasn't a Metallica album) I can still recall how hard it was to fit the track listings on the teeny little lines they printed on the tape inserts. Anyway, thanks Mom. That was sweet of you.

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Watching/DVR'ing the Michael Jackson memorial service on CNN.

Right now Mariah Carey is peforming "I'll Be There" at the memorial. I don't care what anyone says, NKOTB did a better cover of the song.

Just back from my niece's 13th birthday party. We listened to the rest of the MJ memorial in the car, as V100 was broadcasting it live. (Probably the only time you'll hear me with that on my car stereo :)