Thursday, July 9, 2009

Seriously Chapter 31: Buttoning Up My Friend Michael Jackson

Seriously is a sports guy but has received countless e-mails asking for comments on the Michael Jackson Memorial Service which he attended Tuesday as a guest of the Jackson family. I've known Katherine, Joe and the family for going on two decades and, sadly, I've never seen them so united as one. It took several minutes for all of us to file in and then a few minutes more to bring in Michael. After my dear friend Smokey Robinson opened with reading the D. Ross and Mandela messages, there was a 30 minute pause which was more us sitting with Michael for one last time versus the networks having lost their audio feed. From there, the celebration proceeded without a glitch. We stood, we clapped, we laughed, we cried and we said our amens. And even though we've watched Michael's moves for decades, seeing them in such sublime montage and hearing all the music once more only reminded us of the man's phenomenal artistry and how great this loss has been. I won't single out the performers, most of them are friends, but it was truly wonderful to bump into my old friend, Stevie Wonder, who was somehow in the brightest of spirits before the ceremony and yet so vintage Stevie in his sweetly somber musical homage. I can't go much further than that, it really was too personal to relate. Let me just say that I cried.

7 comments:

  1. Perhaps the most shameful moment in our cities history.

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  2. city's history....most shameful moment in our CITY'S history.

    Spelling problem with the spell thing.

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  3. How was it so shameful aside from the fact that the city spent a million and a half dollars of money we don't have?

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  4. The city acted so proper I was very proud. And I too wept. I wept the day he died, but did not cry since then. More in shock than anything else. Then, I lost it when they were talking about his career at the memorial. It just hit me, we will never see him perform again.

    I know this is a little selfish, but isn't that why we love the guy. He was the best I have seen. I saw Bette Midler and who can deny that she is one of the greatest. But there was something about Michael's smooth moves that just makes me think that we will never see the likes of him again.

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  5. $4-5 Mil spent on memorial. No summer school in LA due to lack of funds sending packs of chilluns into the street to hoot and holler. Disgraceful lack of priorities in the city of Angles.

    In other news: KMET is back for one day only today on 100.3 the Sound. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go to the original 94.7 a little bit of heaven on your dial or you will have Kenny G asphyxiation.

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  6. I had no clue that KMET was still on the air. I thought it went the way of KMPC. "Ain't my f***ing fault... Campanis the f***ing guy."

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