"What hit me most about hearing the news of Michael Jackson dying was only then I realized just how much he meant to me, how much his music was such a part of my life," confided my friend Eboness from New York by phone on Thursday evening, just hours after the shocking news of the pop star's passing had clogged all channels of communication. 

One of the many friends and acquaintances who seemed compelled to reach out and talk MJ on Thursday and in the days since, Eboness is 38 and lives in Harlem. Like so many people out there, she grew up on Jackson's music.

She said she and her mom had just come from 125th Street, where a growing crowd was gathering en masse outside the Apollo Theater to spontaneously mourn alongside total strangers in the shared sadness. As Jackson's music boomed from speakers up high, the teary eyed crowd below, with sunken shoulders, sang along to every lyric.

Thursday afternoon's shocking news of MJ passing caught everyone off guard it seemed. When I got that first text on my phone sometime after 3pm from my friend Timi D... which read "Michael Jackson just died???" I thought that maybe it was some of kind of prank or inside joke about the oft mocked star. Maybe it had something to do with his string of upcoming UK concert dates, I theorized as my Google search quickly confirmed the tragic news, with reports citing either the LA Times who broke the story or leading gossip news site TMZ that simultaneously reported on the same story. And when I next logged on to my email, my inbox was overflowing with messages with MJ's name in the subject box. I then clicked on the Amoeblog, where I saw that Whitmore had just posted the news. That was about 3:15 or 3:20 pm on Thursday; by then the news had already spread like wildfire via news and gossip sites and of course via Twitter, Facebook, and every other social network.

Veteran American TV personality Ed McMahon, best known as Johnny Carson's sidekick for almost 30 years on The Tonight Show (1962-1992), died earlier today in Los Angeles, reported NBC. He was 86 years of age. While exact reasons for death were not announced, McMahon had been in extremely poor health since he was admitted to the hospital back in late February -- reportedly with pneumonia.

Best known for his second banana role to Carson, including his trademark "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" intro to the show, McMahon was an all around television personality. A regular on countless TV shows over the decades, he was a game show host, announcer, comedian, and endorser of numerous products. Long before American Idol existed, McMahon hosted the popular talent search TV show Star Search. As an NBC personality regular, he would often be one of the presenters at the annual  Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For a time he also co-hosted with Jerry Lewis at his fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).

Over the years he appeared in many TV ads, including for Budweiser beer, and most recently he was in an ad during this year's Super Bowl along with MC Hammer for Cash4Gold following his well publicized tragic fall into tough financial woes -- his house was foreclosed on in recent times. McMahon also did a series of short parts and walk-on parts in movies and TV shows over the years. And of course, Ed McMahon will also always be remembered as the presenter of American Family Publishers Sweepstakes, which would arrive in TV vans at the homes of winners. Below are a series of video clips from the life of Ed McMahon, including a recent era one for FreeCreditReports.com in which he parodied his old American Family Publishers Sweepstakes days.