Michael Jackson during "This is It" concert rehearsal at the Staples Center taken last June 23, 2009. (Celebutopia)
More than 17,000 fans of Michael Jackson will get the chance to bid their final goodbyes to the late “King of Pop” at an official memorial service at the Staple Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 7, 2009.
In a press conference last Friday morning, July 3, 2009, at the Staples Center, AEG Live President and CEO Tim Leiweke announced the rules for the tribute to Michael Jackson next week
The AEG Live boss stated he hoped the event would be a “dignified and very uplifting memorial for the Jackson family”, which has made available a “worldwide (TV) pool feed from the services for every network for free.”
“We request and encourage everyone to join us for the memorial service by following the worldwide pool. There will be no funeral procession.”
E! has already announced that they’ll be covering the public memorial live.
Councilwoman Perry added, “I want to stress to those people who are coming or thinking about coming here to our city for this special event that you might want to consider watching this from the comfort of your own home.”
Publicist Sunshine stated, “No details are forthcoming about the memorial; it’s still being developed.”
TICKETS
AEG’s Tim Leiweke said, “The family has also made available 17,500 tickets for Michael’s fans to be part of this service. 11,000 of those tickets will be at Staples Center, 6,500 of those tickets will be at the Nokia Theatre for a simulcast of the funeral on three big screens across the street.”
Fans will be able to register for tickets on Staples Center’s official website until 6pm on Saturday, July 4, 2009. Those people selected in a lottery will be alerted on Sunday, July 5, 2009, and they will be able to pick up tickets and wristbands on Monday, July 6, 2009.
Staples Center’s official website, www.staplescenter.com, received more than 120,000 hits per second for the first 90 minutes of Friday’s Michael Jackson memorial ticket giveaway.
Over 500 million people had already visited the site, which caused the website’s server to crash a couple of times. An additional server was brought in to accommodate the volume of traffic.
Leiweke, whose company is planning the memorial, insisted, “There will be no tickets sold for this memorial service… There will be no distribution of tickets at Staples Center… There will be no outside broadcast of the memorial service in or around Staples Center of L.A. Live.
JACKSON’S BURIAL SUIT
Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush, Michael Jackson’s longtime costumers, will design the King of Pop’s burial suit.
Tompkins and Bush, who have worked with Jackson for the last 20 years, were also responsible for creating the late pop star’s “This is It” comeback concerts costumes in London.
PRIVATE MEMORIAL
A private family funeral will be held on Tuesday morning, July 7, 2009 in Los Angeles before a public memorial at the Staples Center.
Some reports said that Jackson will be laid to rest in a replica of James Brown’s bronze casket at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, where his grandmother was buried in 1990.
Other stars including Lucille Ball, Bette Davis and Liberace are also buried at the Forest Lawn.
JACKSON’S DOCTOR
Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray has decided not to attend the King of Pop’s memorial service next week for he fears that his presence might be too much for grieving fans and family members.
Dr. Conrad Murray was by Jackson’s bedside when the King of Pop died on June 25, 2009; he conducted CPR on the singer after finding him unconscious at his rented home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.
Police have questioned Murray about his treatment of Jackson.
The doctor has decided not to be a part of next week’s tributes, stating he’ll be “mourning in private”.
His spokeswoman, Miranda Sevcik, tells People.com, “He (Murray) is in seclusion, not speaking even with family and friends, and won’t attend the singer’s memorial next week.
“He feels his presence would remind people of Michael Jackson’s death, and the doctor would prefer that people remember his friend as he was in life.”
Murray has declined to comment publicly on his care of Jackson, pending the outcome of toxicology tests.
Sevcik adds, “He is completely off the radar until the toxicology results are revealed.”
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