i entered the lottery to get tickets to Michael Jackson's Memorial Service along with over 1.6 million other fans. and out of the mere 8,750 people (that's less than 0.5%) that were picked to attend, i was one of them! so i printed out my ticketmaster voucher and on monday, my mom and i headed to the Dodgers Stadium to pick up our bracelets and ticket hard copies. it was a very well organized process. we literally drove into the stadium parking lot, got our voucher scanned, then headed to another station to get our bracelets, then to another station to get our tickets. all without getting out of the car. i then headed home and had the Disneyland adventure as recapped in my previous entry.

my mom and i woke up really early to try and beat the traffic going to the Staples Center on Tuesday. and we did just that. the traffic wasn't too bad, and the roads around the Staples Center were closed to the general public except for those with wristbands, making it really easy for us to maneuver to the venue. got to the front of the Staples Center and there was just a huge mass of people, police, and news reporters.


news reporters galore.

the crowd was formally welcomed to the Staples Center with a riveting speech by one of the head employees as they opened the doors to the venue. lines formed, and after about a 20 minute wait, we were all scanned in, secured, and given a complimentary Michael Jackson Memorial Book. my mom and i were taken to our seats. which i thought were pretty good. as the rest of the mass crowd was being scanned into the venue, we just sat in our seats while they played MJ's classics, newer songs, and even some unreleased songs. celebrities were making their way to their seats as well. notable ones that i remember seeing are Kobe Bryant, Larry King, Wesley Snipes, etc. we all paid our respects as the Jackson family entered the venue. at about 10:30am, the memorial service was finally started with Smokey Robinson's welcoming speech.


Smokey Robinson opens the ceremony

after Smokey's welcoming address, there was a good 15-20 gap in the program. the audience was pretty confused, but was still very classy and respectful as the Staples Center was dead quiet for the entire duration of the gap, with some scattered people yelling out "i love you michael!" and other words of appreciation of the like. i got updates via AIM and text messages from friends watching the ceremony on TV that during that confusing gap, they were bringing Michael Jackson's casket into the Staples Center -- the audience had no idea. a choir was gathering on stage and started singing, in the middle of their song, the casket is carried in. the crowd goes crazy. it was a very surreal feeling knowing Michael Jackson's body was amongst us.

i wont go into too much detail about the events that went on during the memorial since it was aired on tv (and if you haven't watched it, you should). but i will highlight that Stevie Wonder's performance was my favorite of the night. hearing him say "this is a moment.. that i wished i didn't live to see come" was completely heartbreaking. then in his performance, you can literally hear the pain in his voice. i thought Mariah Carey didn't sound her greatest.. but after watching the televised version of the memorial, i noticed she was pretty much crying during her performance so i'll give her that, haha. My favorite eulogies of the night came from Berry Gordy, Al Sharpton, Brooke Shields, and his daughter Paris. They were timeless, powerful, touching, and heartbreaking, respectively. also, Magic Johnson's anecdote regarding MJ and his KFC bucket was priceless.

after the ceremony ended, we took a few pictures outside with all the commotion, and finally head back to the car to head home and beat all the rush hour traffic.

a few more pics from the beautiful event.


the London "This Is It" tour cast on stage with what would have been with MJ's "We Are the World" and "Heal the World"


my mom with the MJ Memorial wall

all-in-all, the memorial was a wonderful experience. there was a certain spirit that we all felt in the Staples Center. everyone was on the same page, and there was just a sense of person that we all respected, rather than a personality.

it was the perfect balance of mourning a loss, celebrating a life, and paying our respects.

We are here for a moment and then we are gone ...
-Lucious Smith

CLICK HERE to view the rest of the pictures from the event.

.. RIP Michael Jackson. the greatest entertainer that ever lived.

another great artist, michael jackson, is gone. i'm not gonna go into how much of a great artist he was, or how much he's inspired and influenced pretty much the world, because everyone already knows all that. instead, there's not much else we can do but make sure the life he lived still lives on in us.

rip dude.