My View From Inside The Michael Jackson Memorial Service

As I’ve mentioned before, David and I were among the lucky folks who were able to attend the public memorial service for the late Michael Jackson at the Staples Center here in downtown Los Angeles, CA yesterday morning. There is so much to share that the best way I know how to do so is to just start at the beginning and go from there. Both David and I registered for tickets for the event but like so many other people, neither one of us were selected to receive tickets. I cannot explain why but deep down I always knew that we would attend the service somehow. Late Sunday night, after I had already received confirmation that I did NOT win tickets I received an email from Pink reader Heidi in Houston, TX. She entered for tickets never believing that she would actually win … and she won. Because she was unable to just fly to LA for the event, she very graciously gave her tickets to me. Heidi had NO interest in selling the tickets and she did not want them to go unused … so she asked if I would take them off her hands. We weren’t sure if I would be able to redeem the vouchers for tickets (since she had to enter her personal info to get the voucher and photo ID was required to pick up the tickets) but it turned out to be no problem at all. All they did was scan the barcode on the voucher and we were given our tickets and wristbands. Heidi has been insistent on not being repaid for her kindness but I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for her generosity. Once we got our tickets and wristbands, David was very relieved. He had been really excited to see Michael Jackson in concert in September … so he really wanted to say goodbye to the King of Pop in person.

We arrived at Staples early yesterday so that we could sign the memorial wall before the service began. On our way into the secure area, we were met with an onslaught of street vendors. One man was selling sparkly gloves for $5 … because I was wearing a Michael Jackson-esque red jacket, I thought it would be apropos to buy one. When I saw that Michael’s brothers were also wearing white sparkly gloves, I was happy that I wore one too. Here are a few photos of the tribute wall that people were signing in front of Staples Center:

I was able to snap a lot of photos inside the service and those can be seen behind the cut. Because there are so many and the post will get much longer you can see the rest of the photos/text after the jump …

We got inside and took our seats high in the rafters. Altho we were far from the stage, our vantage point was pretty remarkable. Here are some of the many pics I snapped from my vantage point. In order here are pics of: the stage, MJ’s casket being brought in by his brothers, Stevie Wonder performing Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer, Jennifer Hudson and co. performing Will You Be There, Jermaine Jackson performing Smile, the Jackson family on stage giving their thanks and MJ’s casket being carried out of the venue:

As I mentioned earlier today, I did not anticipate being so emotional over the death of someone I never knew. I mean, we all “knew” Michael Jackson but, in all honesty, we never really did. Mariah Carey’s performance of I’ll Be There (with Trey Lorenz) was the first part of the service that made me tear up. I thought she sang beautifully … it reminded me of her homage to MJ when she sang that song on MTV Unplugged in the mid-90’s. When Brooke Shields spoke of her friendship with MJ … I got teary-eyed again. But when Paris Michael Katherine burst out in tears professing her love for her father, I absolutely started crying. All the emotion of the day just came busting out … everyone was crying. At the end of the service, we were asked to hold hands with our neighbors and I held the hands of David and a woman named Natasha. It was just a really special moment for all of us.

After the memorial service, we met up with my friend Ollie and Pink reader Mariam who also contacted me about an extra ticket. Mariam got her tickets from her friend Courtney who lives on the East Coast and could not attend the service with her. Mariam was also uninterested in selling her ticket and asked if I knew of anyone who would like to go with her. I immediately thought of my friend Ollie who is such a big MJ fan and really wanted to attend. We all met up after the service for lunch. Overhead, a skywriter wrote the letters MJ with a heart in tribute over downtown LA:

As for “souvenirs”, I did buy 2 buttons along with my glove from vendors … that was it. It may sound tacky but I did want something to put away from such a very special day.

Here is video that I shot of the performance of We Are the World at yesterday’s memorial service:
After it was all said and done, I was literally emotionally spent. I didn’t want to Twitter, I didn’t want to do anything but reflect. It was quite an honor to attend yesterday’s service. Again, much love goes out to Heidi, Mariam and her friend Courtney. I’m sure there will be much more controversy to come from the life and death of Michael Jackson. But for one day, it was nice to just remember the man for the icon that he was, is and will forever be.

Read part 2 and view photos on PinkIsTheNewBlog.com:
My View From Inside The Michael Jackson Memorial Service