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Jacksons v AEG Timeline Top Stories
Jacko memorial event stuff
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 7 July 2009
The Jackson family last night announced a preliminary list of the music types who will take part in the big Jacko memorial show in LA today, with Mariah Carey expected to kick off the proceedings and Lionel Richie, Usher, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder all set to appear.
Reports also suggest that a certain Shaheen Jafargholi will perform, he being the kid who appeared on the last outing of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ performing a version of ‘Who’s Lovin Who’, a track actually penned by the aforementioned Robinson but, of course, best known for its Jackson Five version. If he really is taking part that’s a pretty big deal for him, making the slot at the Royal Variety Performance he’d have got had he won the talent show seem a little like a runner up prize.
You may remember that when Jafargholi first went before the ‘BGT’ judges he sang The Zuton’s ‘Valerie’ in an Amy Winehouse stylee, but that Simon Cowell halted his performance and told him to sing something else, leading to him singing the Jacksons song, which made more sense given that he’d already played a young Michael Jackson in the Jacko tribute musical ‘Thriller Live!’ And what a good job Cowell made that call, because, I mean, Amy Winehouse isn’t dead. Well, not as I write this.
Non-musical types due to take part in the Jackson memorial show include Brooke Shields, the Rev Al Sharpton, and basketball star Kobe Bryant who will all presumably say a few words. Well, unless Bryant is going to shoot some hoops.
Elizabeth Taylor will not, however, take part or attend. Commenting on her decision to not participate she wrote on Twitter (and for the purposes of this paragraph I am assuming, as the Times do, that the Dame Elizabeth feed on Twitter really is from the actress): “I cannot be part of the public whoopla. I just don’t believe that Michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others. How I feel is between us. Not a public event”.
There had been speculation as to whether Jackson’s former wife and the mother of his two eldest children (or ‘mother’ if TMZ is to be believed) Debbie Rowe would attend, with some reports saying she would, though those reports overnight saying she wouldn’t seem more credible.
As previously reported, 5500 Jacko fans have been given a pair of tickets to the show at LA’s Staples Centre, and another 3250 pairs were distributed for seats in the Nokia Theatre next door where the event will be simulcast. The whole thing will also be made available to media worldwide via a free stream – and both MySpace and Facebook plan to make the stream available to their users in what could be one of the most watched webcasts ever – I do hope the internet’s up to it. It starts at 6pm London time if you’re planning on adding to the net strain by tuning in.
As also previously reported, those without tickets for the Staples Centre or Nokia Theatre are being encouraged to stay at home and watch the event online or on TV, rather than flocking to the LA streets where no formal proceedings will take place. Nevertheless the city’s police are getting ready for hundreds of thousands of fans to amass in the area around the memorial show.
In related news, the private family funeral that will precede the public show is expected to take place at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, though there has been no official word on that, possibly to throw the paps off the scent. It’s not clear if that would mean Jackson would be buried at the cemetery. It is the last resting place of a string of top American stars including Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Sammy Davis Jr, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye.
And in other related news, Jermaine Jackson has said he expects there to be a number of different tribute events for his brother in the coming weeks, around America and the world. With some complaining that today’s memorial event favoured LA residents, and to an extent Americans, who didn’t need to make rush arrangements to get to the country and/or city if and when they won tickets for the memorial (which a stupid thing to complain about, but there you go), I think Jermaine was basically saying fans who just can’t get to LA for today can hopefully go to a tribute bash somewhere nearer where they live. In that domain, the mayor of Gary, Indiana, where Jackson was born, has said he is already in talks with the family regarding doing a tribute event there.
