Memorial for Michael Jackson to Bring Fans and Closures

This is great for the Downtown restaurants, hotels and businesses. Let the money roll in!

Last chance for a surge in MJ album sales -- better make this good.

It does seem odd that they would close off the surrounding area to fans and deny them the right to gather in a public place by closing off the Nokia plaza and all of the surrounding area and streets. They should allow the fans to be near the memorial service when it happens - it is their right. The Nokia plaza and the area around are perfect for this and definitely could accommodate the crowds. Its not really fair to the fans who really want a public memorial, but wont get tickets - most will not. I think MJ fans would be more calm, respectful, and civil than Lakers fans - they would only want to show their respect for his life, art, and legacy. This decision is shortsighted, unfair, and made from a place of fear. I would expect better from Jan Perry and the LAPD and I do hope they reconsider this.

hahaha.. henry saw your same exact comment over at curbed la....

i think the city and police are just being proactive instead of reactive like they were with the Lakers fan fiasco.

I mean imagine...the Lakers thing was a more localized situation. But this Michael Jackson memorial is a worldwide phenomenon, they estimated that about 750,000 people would converge in downtown LA for this memorial. And they know they cant really handle that many people.

For the Lakers parade and stuff it was estimated at 250,000 people .

Watching the press conference this morning all i could think about was Jan Perry's bald spot on the crown of her head.

I mean "gurl" how can you be embarrassing the city of Los Angeles during a press conference that is being televised worldwide.

Isnt the reason why weaves and hair pieces were created for these type of situations.

So who won the tickets to the American Apparel sale? Never heard any follow up...

And here in America, one must be distracted, be entertained. Perhaps he was so stoked on uppers that he couldn't sleep.

Only 17,500 will be allowed to assemble and perhaps the day of the locust will have been averted.

Meanwhile, approximately 600 Iraq/Afghan vets commit suicide every month. Yes, of course, change the subject. On with the show!

Perhaps they should provide kneelers for those who will attend, with The Lady in Black front row center.

D, the money isn't going to roll in--it's rolling OUT. The city is paying for this nonsense.

I don't know; loveandhatela, making fun of politicians is a lot of fun... but this lady... I don't know... specially with such a shallow joke...

Although I've never met the woman personally (but seen her a couple of times) seems to me that she's some kind of angel, I mean; never heard anyhting bad about her and always see her doing community work and outreach.

This is probably one of those things you could burn in hell for...

Hey loveandhate, here are more comments I just made over at curbed, with slight mods this time:)

If the lakers event hadn't just happened, I doubt these choices would have been made. It is an overreaction to those events. I don't remember historical memorials ever getting out of hand as largely destructive riots - sports events - yes, it happens frequently, - memorials for dead artists, not so much.

AEG "Owner Of The World's Most Profitable Entertainment and Sports Venues", according to their own website, and MJs family estate should be fully covering the cost of this. AEG is a smart company that has turned a huge potential loss with MJs death, into a profit by selling his tickets as "souvenirs", and by collecting insurance. AEG should be working with the family to allow all of his fans to mourn his passing, and they together should be paying for it.

Nokia plaza is a perfect venue for such a public mourning, and should be used as such along with the surrounding streets. Its the closest thing we have to a community public square - it was used as such during the last presidential election -it has huge jumbo screens made to broadcast important events to large crowds - but now they want to block the public from it - fans who want to honor one of AEGs biggest stars, a huge money-maker for them.

For any of you who are so over this event, please stop reading this immediately and pick up the New Yorker or the Economist NOW!

Henry, you really had ought to wake up. If you do so, I suggest you read Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times (highly usefull in light of getting a grip on things).

1,400 police men is not even close from blocking off 750,000 loyal fans. If those fans want to get into the Nokia Plaza believe me they will.

My concern (maybe silly) is how early is traffic going to jam in downtown area for us traveling 110 south to work???

i smell a really juicy ebay sale on those tickets/

I think all of downtown will suffer because of this insane plan. Why block off where all of the fans want to be and force them to be everywhere else in downtown. In an effort to protect AEG they(City of LA) are exposing everyone else to danger and inconvenience. The police cannot keep them out of an area and deal with whatever is going on around the same area. Will traffic move? Can workers get to work? A better plan would have been to block off the same area and allow the fans inside but also use the Convention Center and the Coliseum for the service.

we downtowners might as well resign ourselves...it's going to be insane.

The city planners are always screwing us downtown residents over. They wonder why nobody moves downtown, it's because these bozo's are constantly making it impossible for us to go about our daily lives. I live in an apartment building that is literally on the corner of Fig and Pico and I'm contemplating getting a hotel somewhere outside of this area just so I don't have to deal with the nonsense of not being allowed back into my home BECAUSE i don't have a frigging Michael Jackson Memorial ticket!!! This is total nonsense!!! Why does no one ever take into consideration the impact this stuff has on the local residents???

For those of you that are going to reply with "Buyer beware" comments that I should have known it would be like this to live downtown, I just wish you could be barred from entering your own house because the L.A.P.D. have closed down your street to everyone except the knuckleheads that care enough about a pop singer that they are willing to trash your neighborhood to show their respects.

The laker mini riots were bad enough, I predict this is going to be a total zoo.

Kris-

I live AND work downtown. I still say you shouldn't have moved down here if you have such an issue with public events. Downtown residents such as yourself are turning this beloved historic core into the complete opposite of everything we hoped it would be... Let's just ban everything from coming downtown, then, shall we? That will surely help our economy and your real estate value. ...

I for one didn't see this coming when I moved Downtown a few years ago, so I fail to understand the logic of the argument that everyone who lives here should be a stoic. People in other areas of Los Angeles would throw a hissy fit for much less. Having said that, the organizers know there's very little we can do. I'm not affected because of my location, but I would hate to live in South Park this month.

Kris - I'm not sure what the procedure will be but I'm pretty sure you're going to be allowed in and out of your building.

This was the same deal back in Chicago when Obama was still living in Hyde Park. Residents showed ID to get in and out of the sectioned off area.

I too think it's going to be a mess downtown with traffic and congestion tomorrow but what else does one expect when living in (1) the second largest city in the US, and (2) in the vicinity of Staples, LA Live and the convention center.

Just as with the Lakers extravaganza, I think the Coliseum would have been a better choice, as it could fit more people and it has a bit more of a buffer between the venue and residences (although not much).

Kris - Residents will be allowed in the blocked off zone with proof. I think there is only one residential building within those paramaters, so cant remember the name of your place.If you are not south of Pico, looks like your in it! Thousands of people will be jealous of the type of access you are allowed. Im just on the outside, of this zone. You should feel privileged!

Thanks, Eric. Methinks AEG stands to make a lot of money from this. Do they control all the merchandising in Staples? Also, are they connected to the UK concert promoter in any way? I wonder, because Jacko was rehearsing at Staples, which came as a surprise to me.

Also, I just heard that they'll be broadcasting the "event" live in certain theaters across the US. Does AEG have the exclusive broadcast rights for TV as well?

JM: AEG runs O2 in London as well, so they were the promoter over there. MJ was rehearsing at a sound stage in Burbank for a while, then The Forum and finally Staples from what I've read.

I've got to assume AEG has the rights to the feed, the subsequent DVD release of tomorrow's memorial and merchandise. Got to get that money back somehow. Then again - if people aren't allowed access to LA Live/Staples, they can't buy items.

(Published on Monday, July 13, 2009 by TruthDig.com)

The Man in the Mirror by Chris Hedges

In celebrity culture we destroy what we worship. The commercial exploitation of Michael Jackson’s death was orchestrated by the corporate forces that rendered Jackson insane. Jackson, robbed of his childhood and surrounded by vultures that preyed on his fears and weaknesses, was so consumed by self-loathing he carved his African-American face into an ever changing Caucasian death mask and hid his apparent pedophilia behind a Peter Pan illusion of eternal childhood. He could not disentangle his public and his private self. He became a commodity, a product, one to be sold, used and manipulated. He was infected by the moral nihilism and personal disintegration that are at the core of our corporate culture. And his fantasies of eternal youth, delusions of majesty, and desperate, disfiguring quests for physical transformation were expressions of our own yearning. He was a reflection of us in the extreme.

His memorial service—a variety show with a coffin—had an estimated 31.1 million television viewers. The ceremony, which featured performances or tributes from Stevie Wonder, Brooke Shields and other celebrities, was carried live on 19 networks, including the major broadcast and cable news outlets. It was the final episode of the long-running Michael Jackson series. And it concluded with Jackson’s daughter, Paris, being prodded to stand in front of a microphone to speak about her father. Janet Jackson, before the girl could get a few words out, told Paris to “speak up.” As the child broke down, the adults around her adjusted the microphone so we could hear the sobs. The crowd clapped. It was a haunting echo of what destroyed her father.

The stories we like best are “real life” stories—early fame, wild success and then a long, bizarre and macabre emotional train wreck. O.J Simpson offered a tamer version of the same plot. So does Britney Spears. Jackson, by the end, was heavily in debt and had weathered a $22 million out-of-court settlement payment to Jordy Chandler, as well as seven counts of child sexual abuse and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in order to commit a felony. We fed on his physical and psychological disintegration, especially since many Americans are struggling with their own descent into overwhelming debt, loss of status and personal disintegration.

The lurid drama of Jackson’s personal life meshed perfectly with the ongoing dramas on television, in movies and in the news. News thrives on “real life” stories, especially those involving celebrities. News reports on television are mini-dramas complete with a star, a villain, a supporting cast, a good-looking host and a dramatic, if often unexpected, ending. The public greedily consumed “news” about Jackson, especially in his exile and decline, which often outdid most works of fiction. In “Fahrenheit 451,” Ray Bradbury’s novel about a future dystopia, people spend most of the day watching giant television screens that show endless scenes of police chases and criminal apprehensions. Life, Bradbury understood, once it was packaged, scripted, given a narrative and filmed, became the most compelling form of entertainment. And Jackson was a great show. He deserved a great finale.

Those who created Jackson’s public persona and turned him into a piece of property, first as a child and finally as a corpse encased in a $15,000 gold-plated casket, are the agents, publicists, marketing people, promoters, script writers, television and movie producers, advertisers, video technicians, photographers, bodyguards, recording executives, wardrobe consultants, fitness trainers, pollsters, public announcers and television news personalities who create the vast stage of celebrity for profit. They are the puppet masters. No one achieves celebrity status, no cultural illusion is swallowed as reality, without these armies of cultural enablers and intermediaries. The producers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles made sure the 18,000 attendees and the television audience (even the BBC devoted three hours to the tribute) watched a funeral that was turned into another maudlin form of uplifting popular entertainment.

The memorial service for Jackson was a celebration of celebrity. There was the queasy sight of groups of children, including his own, singing over the coffin. Magic Johnson put in a plug for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Shields, fighting back tears, recalled how she and a 33-year-old Jackson—who always maintained that he was straight—broke into Elizabeth Taylor’s room the night before her last wedding to “get the first peek of the [wedding] dress.” Shields and Jackson, at Taylor’s wedding, then joked that they were “the mother and father of the bride.” “Yes, it may have seemed very odd to the outside,” Shields said, “but we made it fun and we made it real.” There were photo montages in which a shot of Jackson shaking hands with Nelson Mandela was immediately followed by one of him with Kermit the Frog. Fame reduces all of the famous to the same level. Fame is its own denominator. And every anecdote seemed to confirm that when you spend your life as a celebrity you have no idea who you are.

We measure our lives by these celebrities. We seek to be like them. We emulate their look and behavior. We escape the messiness of real life through the fantasy of their stardom. We, too, long to attract admiring audiences for our grand, ongoing life movie. We try to see ourselves moving through our lives as a camera would see us, mindful of how we hold ourselves, how we dress, what we say. We invent movies that play inside our heads with us as stars. We wonder how an audience would react. Celebrity culture has taught us, almost unconsciously, to generate interior personal screenplays. We have learned ways of speaking and thinking that grossly disfigure the way we relate to the world and those around us. Neal Gabler, who has written wisely about this, argues that celebrity culture is not a convergence of consumer culture and religion so much as a hostile takeover of religion by consumer culture.

Jackson desperately feared growing old. He believed he could control race and gender. He transformed himself through surgery and perhaps female hormones from a brown-skinned African-American male to a chalk-faced androgynous ghoul with no clear sexual identity. And while he pushed these boundaries to the extreme, he did only what many Americans do. There were 12 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures performed last year in the United States. They were performed because, in America, most human beings, rich and poor, famous and obscure, have been conditioned to view themselves as marketable commodities. They are objects, like consumer products. They have no intrinsic value. They must look fabulous and live on fabulous sets. They must remain young. They must achieve notoriety and money, or the illusion of it, to be a success. And it does not matter how they get there.

The moral nihilism of our culture licenses a dark voyeurism into other people’s humiliation, pain, weakness and betrayal. Education, building community, honesty, transparency and sharing are qualities that will see you, in a gross perversion of democracy and morality, ridiculed and voted off any reality show. Fellow competitors for prize money and a chance for fleeting fame elect to “disappear” the unwanted. In the final credits of the reality show “America’s Next Top Model,” a picture of the woman expelled during the episode vanishes from the group portrait on the screen. Those cast aside become, at least to the television audience, nonpersons. Celebrities who can no longer generate publicity, good or bad, vanish. Life, these shows teach, is a brutal world of unadulterated competition and constant quest for notoriety and attention. And life is about the personal humiliation of those who oppose us. Those who win are the best. Those who lose deserve to be erased. Those who fail, those who are ugly or poor, are belittled and mocked. Human beings are used, betrayed and discarded in a commodity culture, which is pretty much the story of Jackson’s life, although he experienced the equivalent of celebrity resurrection. This has been very good for his music sales and perhaps for his father’s new recording company, which Joe Jackson made sure to plug at public events after his son’s death. Compassion, competence, intelligence and solidarity are useless assets when human beings are commodities. Those who do not achieve celebrity status, who do not win the prize money or make millions in Wall Street firms, deserve their fate.

The cult of self, which Jackson embodied, dominates our culture. This cult shares within it the classic traits of psychopaths: superficial charm, grandiosity and self-importance; a need for constant stimulation, a penchant for lying, deception and manipulation; and the incapacity for remorse or guilt. Jackson, from his phony marriages to his questionable relationships with young boys, had all these qualities. This is also the ethic promoted by corporations. It is the ethic of unfettered capitalism. It is the misguided belief that personal style and personal advancement, mistaken for individualism, are the same as democratic equality. It is the celebration of image over substance.

We have a right, in the cult of the self, to get whatever we desire. We can do anything, even belittle and destroy those around us, including our friends, to make money, to be happy and to become famous. Once fame and wealth are achieved, they become their own justification, their own morality. How one gets there is irrelevant. It is this perverted ethic that gave us Wall Street banks and investment houses that willfully trashed the nation’s economy, stole money from tens of millions of small shareholders who had bought stocks to finance their retirement or the college expenses of their children. The heads of these corporations, like the winners on a reality television program who lied and manipulated others to succeed, walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation and bonuses. The ethic of Wall Street is the ethic of celebrity.

The saturation coverage of Jackson’s death is an example of our collective flight into illusion. The obsession with the trivia of his life conceals the despair, meaninglessness and emptiness of our own lives. It deflects the moral questions arising from mounting social injustice, growing inequalities, costly imperial wars, economic collapse and political corruption. The wild pursuit of status, wealth and fame has destroyed our souls, as it destroyed Jackson, and it has destroyed our economy.

The fame of celebrities masks the identities of those who possess true power—corporations and the oligarchic elite. And as we sink into an economic and political morass, as we barrel toward a crisis that will create more misery than the Great Depression, we are controlled, manipulated and distracted by the celluloid shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave. The fantasy of celebrity culture is not designed simply to entertain. It is designed to drain us emotionally, confuse us about our identity, make us blame ourselves for our predicament, condition us to chase illusions of fame and happiness and keep us from fighting back. And in the end, that is all the Jackson coverage was really about, another tawdry and tasteless spectacle to divert a dying culture from the howling wolf at the gate.

Copyright © 2009 Truthdig, L.L.C.