Live Bloging of the Jackson Memorial on Tape Delay

Casual observations of the day’s big event.

9:03am (FOX News)
News readers have to educate the audience while trying to fill time with overhead helicopter shots. Tell us about Forest Lawn Cemetery– “Freddie Prinze is buried there.” The best celebrity that FOX News’ Martha MacCallum could come up with was Freddie Prinze!?  Not to take anything away from Freddie Prinze, I loved Chico and the Man, but he’s hardly the most famous person buried there.  See below:

9:35am (FOX News)
Now Shepard “Shep” Smith is complaining about how the California Highway Patrol has shutdown the I-5  freeway for the procession to Staples Center. What would you have them do, Shep?  Sit in traffic?  Make thousands of people get antsy in Downtown LA as they wait for the hearse to show up?

9:39am (FOX News)
Shep: “The whole thing is kind of a freak show.  Too me its a little sad.”

Over at MSNBC, they’ve gone with all black and white on screen graphics.  They’ve also dropped the news ticker at the bottom of the screen. I guess it gives the event a more somber mood.

9:40am (MSNBC)
Now we’re talking about the program, no mention of Michael’s father Joe in there.  Also Nancy O’Dell has noted that the ex-wives aren’t coming to the Staples event.

9:43am (MSNBC)
Stephen King got a shout out!?

9:49am (MSNBC)
My own curiosity: If Michael Jackson was in deep debt and borrowing against his music holing rights– who is paying for all this?  (1) The casket is supposedly $25,000 and made of gold.  (2) The funeral procession consists of nearly endless Bentleys, Ranger Rovers, and Escalades.  Seems pricey to me.

10:02am (CNN)
Their “analyst” is talking about Michael’s appeal to the Black community.  Because we all know the community is monolithic and thinks in complete lockstep.

10:05am (CNN)
But wait, “he has white children” says another analyst.

10:40am (CNN)
Mariah Carey is trying to hit the notes in “I’ll Be There“.  I don’t think she has the vocal control to hit those notes like she used to.

10:50am (CNN)
Lionel Richie is bringing down the house with “Jesus Is Love“.  I’m almost willing to forgive him for unleashing Nicole upon an unsuspecting world.  I have to say, while in Italy in 2003  I was blown away by the fame that Richie has in Italy of all places.  Videos all over Italian MTV and songs on the radio constantly.  And I’m talking some of the old stuff from the Commodores days blaring all over Tuscany.

11:02am (CNN)
Barry Gordy confers G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) status upon the King of Pop.

11:18am (CNN)
Magic Johnson confers G.O.A.T. status.  Magic reveals that Michael once ate Kentucky Fried Chicken with him while they discussed a video project.

11:21am (CNN)
Jennifer Hudson sings a powerful rendition of “Will You Be There”

11:25am (MSNBC)
Rev. Al Sharpton says  “Michael brought blacks, whites, latinos,  and asians together.”  He makes a credible case for Michael paving the way for Oprah, Tiger, and Obama.  “He outperformed the pessimists.  Michael never stopped!”  Rev. Al just made it into a real memorial service, felt like I was in church.

11:34am (MSNBC)
John Mayer doing instrumental version of “Human Nature“.  Cut to fans in London and Harlem, rocking out.

11:38am (MSNBC)
Brook Shields is on stage.  Dishes on being “in the spotlight at a very young age” and hanging out with Michael because they had that in common.  She called him a slacker for starting in the business at 5 years old, when she jumped in at 11 months old.

11:43am (MSNBC)
Jermaine Jackson is singing “Smile“.  I had no idea that Charlie Chaplin wrote the song for Modern Times.  Brook tossed out that factoid in her speech.  It was apparently Michael’s favorite song.  How much you wanna bet this becomes a popular funeral song like: My Way or Always Look on The Bright Side of Life.

11:53am (MSNBC)
Martin Luther King III does a variation of GOAT and calls him the best ever.

12:03pm (MSNBC)
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee reveals that Michael visited the soldiers at Walter Reed.  Wow.  Wha!  House Resolution 600, will proclaim Michael Jackson an American legend and icon.  I get that he was great, but do we really need to take up valuable time on U.S. House floor to debate it?  Can you guys work on health care, unemployment, something that’s really important?

12:16pm (CNN)
Smokey Robinson confers GOAT status.

12:25pm (CNN)
I think they’re wrapping up with “We Are The World“.  Mourners are coming up on stage as the camera seems to zoom over the golden coffin.  Now its “Heal the World” with lots of satellite shots of Neverland, London, Detroit, and Times Square.

12:35pm (CNN)
The Jacksons did a tearful thank you and good bye.  Marlon recounts seeing Michael in disguse at a record store buying some CDs.  I would have done the family recollections off camera at a private service.  Why put yourselves through that?  Having Michael’s daughter, Paris, speak under the lights with that crowd seemed like a bit of overkill, way too much pressure.

12:42pm (CNN)
The casket is wheeled out to the instrumental strains of Man in The Mirror.

12:49pm (FOX News)
Geraldo Rivera, talks about how the children of Michael have endured their, “time on this earth”.  Shep says, “This the first time I’ve heard him called Daddy.”  But having Paris speak did lead Greta Van Susteren to remark, “maybe we should dial it back in the media.”

And the always classy Shepard Smith has the final word: “I was surprised at how digniged it all came off.”