How was it?

It was good; sad, but it was great. I cried a lot. A LOT a lot. But it was great.

That's about all I can say when people ask how the Michael Jackson memorial went. I can't find the right words. I can't do it justice. All I can say is that I was very fortunate, I miss MJ, and I wish I could return the favor to the Jackson family.

Being at the Staples Center Tuesday morning during the Michael Jackson memorial was unreal. My heart was consistently inconsistent -- skipping beats, then beating too fast in an attempt to catch up. I repeatedly caught myself staring at the people around me. Such an eclectic group of people, with only one common denominator: Michael Jackson. The same man responsible for my constant dancing, the same man that made me want to create things that weren't real, the same man that made me want to care about the world and people just a little bit more, and make it a better place as much as I can. Every single person there saw something in the same man. It truly is amazing, and he really is the greatest entertainer that ever lived, in the words of Berry Gordy. Music is THAT powerful, and when someone as passionate as Michael Jackson performs, it's unparalleled, and that is immediately recognized.

Tuesday morning started off as a chilly, cloudy, dark Los Angeles morning. The line of Michael fans wrapped through downtown and all had one common interest: paying respect. Thousands of fans gathered to honor their idol, hundreds of police officers gathered to maintain the crowds, hundreds of Staples Center employees got together to ensure everyone got the chance to participate in the tribute, news anchors and camera crews converged to document it, and dozens of his friends and family united in one place. Within an hour and a half of receiving Michael Jackson memorial 'programs', the ceremony began with the amazing Smokey Robinson followed by a very awkward 8 minutes of silence. It was during that time that I looked at the stage that I had been staring at for the past hour and finally realized that the white rug lined with brilliant flowers was for none other than the casket, and within seconds of figuring it out, it became real, and Michael Jackson's casket was in front of my eyes, in front of the world's eyes. I lost it. I obviously knew going in that it was a memorial, but I didn't expect to lose it like I did. It was a different sorrow than what I had been feeling for the 12 days prior; it was real. This truly was it, there was no middle man, no media to tell me that MJ isn't here. I could see it, and that was a huge truth to wrap my head around.

It has been almost two full weeks since Michael Jackson passed, but in that time the sudden and tragic death of the King of Pop has dominated the news worldwide. Even Sarah Palin's resignation as governer of Alaska last week -- a week after MJ's death -- was upstaged by Jackson news. 

And today, the day after the heavily publicized Michael Jackson funeral/memorial in LA, which drew a reported 31 million viewers in real time, stopping by the Amoeba Music San Francisco store further proved that the intense public absorption with all things Michael (especially his music) will likely last a good while longer.

Luis at the San Francisco Amoeba took time out to show me the MJ CDs that have been hot sellers at the store, including Thriller, Bad, Michael Jackson Number Ones, Vol. 1-Greatest Hits History, and Off The Wall. See below a video clip of Luis at Amoeba SF earlier this afternoon. Also this afternoon in San Francisco I caught up (by phone) with Dave Paul, who for the past few years has been throwing the popular Prince vs. Michael parties in SF and other West Coast cities where both he and fellow DJ Jeff Harris spin regularly. Paul has a pretty extensive Michael Jackson collection so I asked him to draw up for the Amoeblog a list of his party's Top Five Michael Jackson dance floor burners -- MJ songs that always get the dance floor going. His list, including a brief description of each song, is below, along with info on the next SF Prince vs Michael party, which should be pretty wild since it will be the first since MJ's passing. The video for "Don't Stop TIl You Get Enough" is also below.

I found myself more emotional than I expected watching Michael Jackson's funeral today.


Basically, Stevie Wonder's performance shredded me, with a combo of "I Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer"/"They Won't Go When I Go," one of his most powerful songs.

Watching the service made me think about nostalgia, and in spite of myself and my own feelings about the circus known as Michael Jackson, mainly reminded me of something I was surprised to have forgotten: the power of music to unite, to heal and to inspire. The service presented in some ways (and in some performances) portraits from a different time not only culturally, but also in the music industry, when music had that power to unite, to surprise and delight us on a grand scale.


I hadn't listened to Jackson that much, really, since the early 90s. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of his music, but like everyone the world over, his music was nonetheless the soundtrack to my life. In my case, it was Thriller, then Bad and Dangerous, but his work stretched all the way back to "ABC," and though he had been much maligned over the last few decades, his music and its influence have both been undeniable and inescapable.