'09
The City of Los Angeles is currently having a very long and technical press conference regarding Michael Jackson’s Tuesday memorial service. The theme of which is “Stay home, stay home, stay home!” I’m not being a smartass, they really did say that in a variety of ways at least a dozen times.
Here’s the nitty gritty of what’s being planned in terms of ticket availability and general viewership.
• There will not be a funeral procession
• 17,500 total tickets available for fans
• 11,000 of those tickets are for a seat at the actual memorial service at the Staples Center
• An additional 6,500 tickets are for a seat at a simulcast at the Nokia Theater across the street from the Staples Center
• No tickets are being sold for the memorial service – people can register their names for a ticket raffle on the Staples Center’s website by 6:00 p.m. Saturday night. Randomly drawn names will get 2 tickets each
• Media may or may not be allowed inside for the memorial – they’re “still working on it.”
Several officials noted over and over again that the best way to honor and remember Michael is by staying home and watching the memorial there and “not coming to this venue if you do not have a ticket.”
One journalist asked how the city was paying for Jackson’s memorial, given the state of the budget and the economy. An official replied that “the city would deeply appreciate help to offset what are the incremental costs, the non-police costs” including the staging, etc. She said they’d built in some of the costs into the budget for unexpected events, which include four extraordinary events budgeted each year, but that they could definitely use some help and to please email if you’d like to pony up.
Another journalist asked if they were concerned about people trying to scalp tickets. An official responded, “folks I want to remind everybody this is a memorial service. I hope that people have dignity; we’re hoping that no one takes advantage of this particular process… For those that would try to take advantage of this - shame on them.”
At one point several journalists yelled (in the most panicked tone) “The website is down” meaning the Staples Center’s website had gone down, but it appears to be up and working now.
They literally got down to the details of the bleachers at one point, and it sounds like the city has everything under control, but they’re desperate to maintain the crowds and are begging people to please not show up. You won’t get in, you will get turned away… I’m guessing it’s going to be hot out… just don’t do it. I’m sure it’ll be quite the affair, and it’ll likely be broadcast on all the major television stations and websites.
Written by JayBird
Posted in Funerals, Michael Jackson
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10 Responses to “CA footing the bill for MJ memorial; No funeral procession; 17,500 tickets”
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Too bad they couldn’t have had an event with a little more class..Insted of a media frenzy!
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The Jackson family should pay for this circus, not the taxpayers. Period.
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this is so stupid.
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Kelly, the Jackson’s are too broke to pay for anything. No one funeral home would take their business without cash upfront because they are known as deadbeats far and wide. This is why they are making a mad scramble for power over MJ estate they can manage - they are desperate for money. If Joe’s sales pitches for a record company he didn’t even own (but was trying to get on credit) when asked about his son’s death, wasn’t enough of tip offto his desperate financial situation.
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Why would CA be paying for this???Shouldn’t the Jacksons be paying for it? If they can’t afford it, it shouldn’t be done.
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CA is BANKRUPT. Bankrupt. The Gov is going to start issuing IOUs to people. Literally.
Funerals are for families to pay for not the state!! Madness.
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Unity, everything you said might be true (and prob is), but it changes nothing: the taxpayers should not pay for this.
If the Jackson family can’t afford the circus they have planned, this is an ideal time for them to learn something all of us deal with every day: fiscal restraint.
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I have a problem with a memorial service being held in the staples center. Why don’t they just offset the intrigue of the memorial service by going gangbusters on a straight concert tribute the next day? And surely a television network/record companies would comp that.
I do have to applaud them for not selling tickets to a memorial service. Some modicum of class is maintained.
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MJ’s music sales have skyrocketed in the past week. The record company should pony up a bit of cash, since they are probably profitting right now.
Hopefully LA/CA will benefit a bit by the sudden influx of out of towners - fans and the media stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, buy souvenirs, and probably even get traffic and parking tickets.
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Still working on internal media broadcasting? Oh good, they’re going to make money at this event.
The city of LA is 500M in debt. AEG should be expected to pick up any extra police, fire department, sanitation, etc.
Memorial? More like the circus that proceeds the circus, (Barnum and Bailey due in on July 8th).
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