Michael Jackson..RIP

[caliber66]

My uncle and the church choir each sang several songs ten feet from my grandmother's coffin a couple weeks ago. Didn't seem weird to me at all.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

My uncle and the church choir each sang several songs ten feet from my grandmother's coffin a couple weeks ago. Didn't seem weird to me at all.

Yea, but this thing just seemed like a glorified concert, and the camera panning from Usher, or whoever, to the coffin just seemed strange to me.

[caliber66]

They were ostensibly singing in tribute to the man in the coffin. Granted, it may have seemed more appropriate for something weeks or months later, but honestly, that's for the family and the participants to decide for themselves.

[remphish1]

I don't think it was approporiate to applaud when the coffin came into the arena (seemed like a strange response) and the random hoots and hollars were strange...but then again this is a unique event.

[Synthesizer Patel]

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."

 

that's about all that was going through my head whilst watching this deeply christian and moving ceremony. if they were trying to guarantee he wasn't gonna be going to heaven, this was a good way of going about it.

 

rip michael.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Yea, I can understand the tribute aspect of it, and obviously it is up to the family, I just have a problem with MJ being treated as this otherworldly figure, whose death stops time altogether. It's sad that he died, and that he had to deal with what his life became, but the way the media is treating this whole thing is almost reaching the point of hilarity.

 

The idea of what was essentially a funeral being held in a basketball arena, with tickets being scalped, and a motorcade shutting down a debt-ridden city, it's just too much.

 

And Al Sharpton saying that MJ brought hope to the world. The guy was a singer and an entertainer. A damn good one, at that. But he was not a fucking messiah spreading goodness around the world. I see what got Jarvis all pissed off years ago. The guy has been trying to position himself as Christ for the longest time, so why shouldn't that continue now that he's dead?

 

Al Sharpton's ability to get himself publicity out of any event involving a black person is appalling to me. What does he even do for his job?

[remphish1]

Yea, I can understand the tribute aspect of it, and obviously it is up to the family, I just have a problem with MJ being treated as this otherworldly figure, whose death stops time altogether. It's sad that he died, and that he had to deal with what his life became, but the way the media is treating this whole thing is almost reaching the point of hilarity.

 

The idea of what was essentially a funeral being held in a basketball arena, with tickets being scalped, and a motorcade shutting down a debt-ridden city, it's just too much.

 

And Al Sharpton saying that MJ brought hope to the world. The guy was a singer and an entertainer. A damn good one, at that. But he was not a fucking messiah spreading goodness around the world. I see what got Jarvis all pissed off years ago. The guy has been trying to position himself as Christ for the longest time, so why shouldn't that continue now that he's dead?

 

Al Sharpton's ability to get himself publicity out of any event involving a black person is appalling to me. What does he even do for his job?

 

Isn't that Al Sharptons job?

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Isn't that Al Sharptons job?

I've never heard his name mentioned in any other way, so I guess it is.

 

Does the guy just wait by a TV, hoping for a story to come up that he can spin into something racist?

 

To me, people like that are more racist than the people they try to call out as racist.

[M. (hristine]

 

 

All told, I just want this MJ shit to be done with. The media attention this has gotten is disturbing, if you ask me.

Not watching tv has its benefits.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Not watching tv has its benefits.

I don't watch TV.

Yet I still get more MJ news than anyone could ever want.

[M. (hristine]

I don't watch TV.

Yet I still get more MJ news than anyone could ever want.

How? The most I have seen about this event is on VC. A guy came into my work yesterday and told me I was "missing it". That's it.

 

Media is much more like junk food than carpet bombs. You really do have to choose to partake.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Newspaper, message boards, online news sites, both music and otherwise.

 

It's hard to avoid when I try to keep up with music news, which happens to be dominated by Michael Jackson.

[Moss]

At least there was ne re-write of "Candle in the wind" for this. Or was there? I did not actually watch.

[watch me fall]

Can anyone tell me who those people were that sang at the end of the service? (We are the World and that other song) I have never seen them before.

[W(TF)]

Call me a cynic, but that was "too much" for a funeral service. I didn't watch it, just saw a few highlights on the news. Looked like a lot of hollywood has-beens taking a dream marketing opp a little too far. As someone said, maybe a few months from now would've been more appropriate.

 

I've been trying to avoid this whole circus. But secretly I hope Jeff opens the Lewiston show with a rousing 3-guitar cover of Beat It. lol

[Guest Speed Racer]

Call me a cynic, but that was "too much" for a funeral service.

 

So, this kind of remark has graced the past few pages of this thread. It wasn't a funeral, it was a public memorial service. A private memorial and graveside service were held before the public spectacle. This was not a funeral, it was a memorial. And as far as I can tell, it was not a memorial in the sacred sense, but a memorial in the LOTTERY TICKETS WOOOO STAPLES CENTER!!!! sense.

 

Was it too much? Of course it was! Every aspect of Michael Jackson's life has been too much, and I honestly can't think of a better way for the world at large to honor his life than a big flippin' spectacle. Should his body have been there? Probably not. Did that make it a little outrageous? Definitely yes. Is that fitting of his life in general? Absolutely.

 

I'm pretty confident that if he wanted to avoid anything like that he would have written it pretty damned explictly in his will.

[viatroy]

Should his body have been there? Probably not. Did that make it a little outrageous? Definitely yes.

 

 

Just to amp up the weirdness factor, his body was apparently unaccompanied by his brain, which is reportedly still in the

coroner's possession. At least that's what I read on the internet/s.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Just to amp up the weirdness factor, his body was apparently unaccompanied by his brain

 

Not the first time that's happened to him.

 

[M. (hristine]

Awww jeeze. Did it mention the whereabouts of his dick?

[bjorn_skurj]

Awww jeeze. Did it mention the whereabouts of his dick?

To be placed with Dillinger's and Napoleon's in the "Famous Dicks of History" exhibit at the Cox Museum.

[M. (hristine]

I knew I could count on you.

[Analogman]

Source: Yahoo

 

Last week's total reflected just four days of sales.) Billboard reports that 82% of the Jackson albums sold this week were CDs (vs. digital downloads). Last week, 43% of the Jackson albums sold were CDs. I think this shows that on a special album, people want the CD as a keepsake. (What a retro concept!)(LOL)

 

I'd say most of the people buying all of those cds are in their late 30s - early 50s.

 

Jackson's total song download sales this week, including hits with his brothers, stand at 2.2 million downloads, down just a little from 2.6 million last week. A total of 47 songs that feature Jackson are listed on the Hot Digital Songs chart. (This is down just a bit from last week's eye-popping total of 50.)

[mastershake]

So, this kind of remark has graced the past few pages of this thread. It wasn't a funeral, it was a public memorial service. A private memorial and graveside service were held before the public spectacle. This was not a funeral, it was a memorial. And as far as I can tell, it was not a memorial in the sacred sense, but a memorial in the LOTTERY TICKETS WOOOO STAPLES CENTER!!!! sense.

 

Was it too much? Of course it was! Every aspect of Michael Jackson's life has been too much, and I honestly can't think of a better way for the world at large to honor his life than a big flippin' spectacle. Should his body have been there? Probably not. Did that make it a little outrageous? Definitely yes. Is that fitting of his life in general? Absolutely.

 

I'm pretty confident that if he wanted to avoid anything like that he would have written it pretty damned explictly in his will.

what was too much about it? it was far from the circus i thought it would be. the guy sold over 100 million albums, he was one of the most popular entertainers to ever live. by comparison, wilco's best album has sold 650,000 copies. thriller sold 65 million copies. his fans absolutely loved him - i thought it was a very fitting service that paid respects to his uniqueness and his kind heart. we'll never see another entertainer as popular as he was ever again. it was a very fitting tribute to a legend, and a deserved one after the tortuous life he lived being constantly demonized, mocked and judged.

[Dude]

I'm amazed, but not surprised, that this footage has leaked:

 

http://www.popeater.com/music/article/michael-jackson-pepsi-accident-fire/573055

 

It's hard to watch this for any number of reasons.

[Analogman]

Is that the CNN ghost footage, Latoya and her father talking about how Michael was murdered, the A&E Jackson Family Reality Show, or Joe talking about the new Jackson Three. OR something else.