Shhhhh…
I didn’t think I would say this, but I tuned in to a bit of the Michael Jackson memorial this morning.
Thinking that it was going to be a freak show, my morbid curiousity took me to the first television station I could find that was carrying the live broadcast. With all of the confusion in the media, I honestly thought it was just going to be a concert and a mob mourning. But there it was, the Staples Center stage lit like a church, a gospel choir, and then in came the pallbearers and the very shiny casket (platinum, maybe?). I got a chill. It’s a funeral; a full-blown funeral.
So far, it’s a classy affair. There have been eulogies and music, followed my more eulogies and music. Mariah Carey hit a clinker on the opening of “I’ll Be There”, the early Jackson hit that she covered, and Lionel Ritchie showed us that time had taken its toll on his pipes when he commenced to praising Jesus and testifying, and virtually nothing came out. Guess he can’t go “All Night Long” like he used to. Thank God for gospel choirs.
But the words are heartfelt, the drama is low, and it looks like a decent sendoff for the young fella. The kids have taken over the TV to play video games now, and that’s okay by me.
