Michael Jackson heart problem

[strandinthewind]

Yea - It was rather relatively tasteful. And, I was somewhat surprised given that the leader of the clan is IMO a money hungry grifter. Having said that, that little girl seems so well grounded and centered in that tiny clip. So, that is another IMO bit of evidence and despite his public image as a weirdo, MJ was a good father to those kids.

[CelticGypsy]

Wonderful ceremony! I cried when Jermaine, Jennifer Hudson and Lionel Ritchie sang. Mariah was good but I think she was emotional and hard for her to sing. That little boy was such a wonderful singer too! I can't remember his name but I am sure we will hear about him for a long time. He was suppose to tour with Michael and he did a GREAT job!!! I thought it was nice that his brothers dressed alike and wore the sequined gloves. It was nice that Marlon and Jermaine talked to everyone about Michael. Great stories to tell. Michael's daughter was so brave too. He has beautiful kids. I hope they realize that their father was one of a kind and talented entertainer someday. He was their Daddy and it was so sad to see Paris crying. I pray that those kids will be well taken care of and guarded from the public so they can have a childhood.

[David]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

arguably, this spec., no matter how awful to some, has brought likely tens of millions in rev to the city,

How much money was generated by the festivities? Do you have the figure? How much money did businesses lose with the closure of the freeways?

created 100's of jobs,

Jobs? You mean the vendors selling gloves & T-shirts? They ought to bury pop stars every day of the year!

and boosted the income of housands of businesses

I guess the festivities generated lots of money. But that wasn't my point. I asked how much it cost to close the freeways.

moreover, like in any situation plan ahead and leave early.

If you drive from your condo in Downey to your workplace in downtown L.A., what alternative plan might get you to work on time, & how much earlier would you need to leave home?

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by David

Reminds me of the two guys in the crowd at the Aug. 31, 1980, Hollywood Bowl show, who can be heard on the audio tape:

Guy #1: We want Stevie!
Guy #2: Wonder!

Ok, my memory's fading...that was us, wasn't it?

[Dreamz19]

Originally Posted by CelticGypsy

Wonderful ceremony! I cried when Jermaine, Jennifer Hudson and Lionel Ritchie sang. Mariah was good but I think she was emotional and hard for her to sing. That little boy was such a wonderful singer too! I can't remember his name but I am sure we will hear about him for a long time. He was suppose to tour with Michael and he did a GREAT job!!! I thought it was nice that his brothers dressed alike and wore the sequined gloves. It was nice that Marlon and Jermaine talked to everyone about Michael. Great stories to tell. Michael's daughter was so brave too. He has beautiful kids. I hope they realize that their father was one of a kind and talented entertainer someday. He was their Daddy and it was so sad to see Paris crying. I pray that those kids will be well taken care of and guarded from the public so they can have a childhood.

I agree. It was a very respectful memorial. On another board I post at, many claimed it would be mayhem and a circus. I didn't think it would be and I am glad to see it wasn't.

[strandinthewind]

[QUOTE=David;829869] . . .

Originally Posted by David

If you drive from your condo in Downey to your workplace in downtown L.A., what alternative plan might get you to work on time, & how much earlier would you need to leave home?

If it meant putting food on the table, I'd figure it out

I suspect most people did.

[strandinthewind]

I thought this article from Time.com was interesting:

Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 4:45 pm
One Last Big (Yet Moving) Show for Michael
Posted by James Poniewozik | Comments (5) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

The coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial began early on cable news this morning, with nonstop helicopter video footage from a "private" ceremony for Jackson's family, while commentators vamped for time and guessed at what was going on behind closed doors.

It was symbolically fitting: Jackson, after all, spent most of his life in the public eye while his private life remained mostly a mystery. Fitting too, that his farewell ceremony should be a gaudy public spectacle—with Jackson himself onstage, in a flower-shrouded golden coffin—since he seemed most comfortable engaging the world through spectacle.

Spectacle, though it was, though, the Staples Center memorial ended up being more tasteful, moving and apt than the week and a half's media circus that led up to it.

The farewell began with Smokey Robinson coming onstage early, to read statements from Diana Ross and Nelson Mandela. And then, silence. Possibly not planned silence, as there was a gap of several minutes before the ceremony commenced. But for about a minute, not knowing whether to jump in, the networks fell silent--a blessed rest, as the cameras let the hushed crowd and the blue-tinged darkness tell the story.

Ironically, the cable news networks--whose purpose is to fill airtime relentlessly with talk--did the best job of simply letting the memorial play out, including the silences between speakers. Big-network anchors are usually more driven to justify their presence by talking, and Katie Couric and Charles Gibson, in particular, could not still themselves in between performances and speakers. "I think approaching this microphone is Brooke Shields," Couric would helpfully note, while Gibson observed, "There, a helicopter shot of the Staples Center," over a helicopter shot of the Staples Center.

Appropriately enough, there was music, much of it Michael's (Mariah Carey sang "I'll Be There," with plunging cleavage and hand gestures, and John Mayer played a guitar instrumental of "Human Nature"). The memorial closed with two songs Jackson wrote for charity, "We Are the World" and "Heal the World." But Stevie Wonder gave maybe the day's most moving performance with a serenade of his own "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" and "They Won't Go When I Go," ending with a hushed goodbye. In a way, the spectacle--a parade of memories and big-name stars of today and yesteryear--was the sort of thing an American Idol finale aims for, but animated with real emotion.

Meanwhile, a line of famous speakers paid Jackson tribute, not just high-flown words and poetry (Queen Latifah read a Maya Angelou tribute), but quirky reminiscences. (Latifah also remembered trying to do the robot to "Dancing Machine" and Magic Johnson brought the house down with a story of seeing his friend eat Kentucky Fried Chicken--letting KFC give Staples a run for its product-placement money.)

When Berry Gordy recalled hearing Michael audition for the first time--"This little kid had an incredible knowingness about him"--hearing the source tell the story among friends and family beat a previous week's worth of commentators making the same point and paraphrasing similar stories in gauzy primetime TV specials. (Gordy also called Jackson "The greatest entertainer that ever lived." Was there hyperbole? Sure. It was a memorial.)

There were a few interesting themes. The speakers didn't ignore the controversies around Jackson: Gordy alluded to "questionable choices," a clip reel included images of tabloid headlines, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee vehemently reminded the crowd of his acquittal on child-molestation charges. (It being a memorial, obviously, no one was there to offer a rebuttal.) Placing Jackson's body in front of center stage, in a gaudy if closed coffin, was one last strange, showy public display for the star, but the cameras and staging avoided too many reminders that the casket was there.

And while Jackson made a point throughout his career of being pan-racial in affect, music and appeal--"It don't matter if you're black or white"--the music (beginning with a gospel choir) and several speeches framed him as a more specifically African-American icon than he made himself in life. The Rev. Al Sharpton, besides fervently defending Jackson from allegations of "strangeness," credited him with changing not just music but politics. White kids, Sharpton said, "grew up from being teenage comfortable fans of Michael to being 40 years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the President of the United States of America." Even the slo-mo funeral procession to Staples, on an L.A. freeway, had unintentional overtones of the O.J. chase.

It was finally not a concert, and not just a memorial for a cultural icon, but a goodbye to a son, brother and father, as we were reminded when Jackson's family took the stage at the end of the event. His daughter, Paris--previously shielded, like all his kids, from the media--had the tremulous last words: "I just wanted to say I love him so much."

It was a poignant, unusually intimate glimpse at a private relationship of a man who was much gazed at but, finally, little known. It was too bad, yet probably inevitable, that he had to die before we could see it.

[David]

[QUOTE=strandinthewind;829884]

Originally Posted by David

. . .

If it meant putting food on the table, I'd figure it out

I suspect most people did.

Ever the pragmatist!

This ceremony kind of reminds me of the funeral for Diana. Remember those marvelous moments when the congregants sang "I Vow To Thee, My Country" & "Hymn No. Such-&-Such"? Or when Elton sang "Goodbye, England's Rose"?

The passing of a near-mythic figure. . . .

But what are the names of the musicians who recorded "Billie Jean" & "Off the Wall"? Let us not forget them, dead though some of them might be.

[strandinthewind]

^^
Yea - when you grow up in New Orleans and the surrounding area, where Mardi Gras causes traffic hell for about two months out of the year, you learn to plan ahead


I think Diana's is a good comparison in that both were huge humanitarians, though Diana's was a significantly endearing quality about her - with MJ, it mostly was the music, at least according to a poll I read. And, Diana had a quasi state position, which necessitated in the end, a state funeral.

I have to wonder what MJ would have thought of the show today. I think he would have liked it or at least appreciated the showmanship involved as he lived his life on stage.

Interestingly, Eddie VanHalen did the guitar in Beat It, which significantly helped MJ's already stellar career. Yet, I've seen no comment from him.

[JWS]

Originally Posted by becca

I can't watch any of it, it would just make me angry again. I don't understand these kind of idiots so happy they won tickets to a memorial, especially the people that 'won' who knew they could never go but just wanted to try to 'win' something. Why exactly is this whole thing going on in L.A. anyway? Do they all really live there in Encino or something? Is it because of the hospital? Can we have our regular tv and radio schedules back after this? Closed I-5, how bizarre... maybe he will rise from the grave (seven days?) and lead his followers on a path of flower petals up to a new never never land beyond the smog...

Does who live in Encino? If you mean the Jacksons, they have lived there since moving out in the 70's.

I don't know where else they would hold this "event" other than Los Angeles as the music industry is based here. Perhaps New York. Try closing down mid-town around Madison Square Garden. That's essentially what was done in LA today.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by JWS

. . . I don't know where else they would hold this "event" other than Los Angeles as the music industry is based here. Perhaps New York. Try closing down mid-town around Madison Square Garden. That's essentially what was done in LA today.

They do it monthly for parades, the last of which was gay pride - which ran from 52nd & 5th to Christopher and Greenwhich, which essentially is the heart of the city, for several hours

Of course, the comparison is seemingly unfair in that the subway system in NYC seemingly is more efficient than the LA one, though the LA is okay.

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Originally Posted by CelticGypsy

Wonderful ceremony! I cried when Jermaine, Jennifer Hudson and Lionel Ritchie sang. Mariah was good but I think she was emotional and hard for her to sing. That little boy was such a wonderful singer too! I can't remember his name but I am sure we will hear about him for a long time. He was suppose to tour with Michael and he did a GREAT job!!! I thought it was nice that his brothers dressed alike and wore the sequined gloves. It was nice that Marlon and Jermaine talked to everyone about Michael. Great stories to tell. Michael's daughter was so brave too. He has beautiful kids. I hope they realize that their father was one of a kind and talented entertainer someday. He was their Daddy and it was so sad to see Paris crying. I pray that those kids will be well taken care of and guarded from the public so they can have a childhood.

Shaheen? He was a runner up in Britains Got Talent this year

[David]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Of course, the comparison is seemingly unfair in that the subway system in NYC seemingly is more efficient than the LA one, though the LA is okay.

There's a subway system in Los Angeles? I've lived here all my life, & I never even knew about it.

[JWS]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

They do it monthly for parades, the last of which was gay pride - which ran from 52nd & 5th to Christopher and Greenwhich, which essentially is the heart of the city, for several hours

Of course, the comparison is seemingly unfair in that the subway system in NYC seemingly is more efficient than the LA one, though the LA is okay.

At 8:00 am on a business day?

[JWS]

Originally Posted by David

There's a subway system in Los Angeles? I've lived here all my life, & I never even knew about it.

You live in LA? The subway first opened in c 1990 after years of construction. It now goes north through Hollywood and out to North Hollywood in the SFV. Westward it goes under Wilshire as far as Western Ave. There are plans to extend this line out all the way to Beverly Hills and eventually Santa Monica. Of course, raising the money is the problem.