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Originally posted by rtrefflich

I have to go up to LA today and I think I am going to cancel my apts. Don't want to be anywhere near downtown when this stuff goes down.

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Originally posted by CoolMtgGuy

Maybe its the enormity of what one human being is capable of accomplishing, and the vastness of the number of people whose lives young boys that have been "touched" in some way, that fans are celebrating. What is so wrong about that? I personally believe that we are as eternal as the memories that others will have of us after we depart this life. Just sayin ...

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Originally posted by toddblue

Here's trivia to ponder. MJ is being buried without his brain:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/2009/07/05/michael-jackson-to-be-buried-without-his-brain-115875-21495043/

Evidently, they are waiting for further testing on it that takes several weeks.

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Originally posted by khoiey

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Originally posted by toddblue

Here's trivia to ponder. MJ is being buried without his brain:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/2009/07/05/michael-jackson-to-be-buried-without-his-brain-115875-21495043/

Evidently, they are waiting for further testing on it that takes several weeks.

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The man is dead, does it matter or important to know why or how did he die? Either way, he's already dead.

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Originally posted by homebroker@sbcglobal.net

The 10 Freeway is going to be back-up for miles, I would stay at least 15 miles clear of the Staples center. I bet there will be some small riots over tickets and who it in line first, counterfeit tickets a complete mess. It is Los Angeles after all. The street hot dog venders are going to make a small fortune today.

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Originally posted by rtrefflich

I have to go up to LA today and I think I am going to cancel my apts. Don't want to be anywhere near downtown when this stuff goes down.

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Originally posted by toddblue

They're looking for an exact cause of death that requires dissection of the brain after it has hardened a few weeks. Possible criminal and civil charges against doctors that perscribed him drugs depends on the outcome.

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Originally posted by khoiey

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Originally posted by toddblue

Here's trivia to ponder. MJ is being buried without his brain:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/2009/07/05/michael-jackson-to-be-buried-without-his-brain-115875-21495043/

Evidently, they are waiting for further testing on it that takes several weeks.

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The man is dead, does it matter or important to know why or how did he die? Either way, he's already dead.

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Originally posted by GetLoans4me

Boring, ha.. you prefer james brown drama?

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Originally posted by assassin17

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Originally posted by GetLoans4me

Boring, ha.. you prefer james brown drama?

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Dunno. Didn't watch anything about him.

For all the hype, it was boring -- which also means it was respectful, as it should have been.

The ending, where his kid was allowed to speak up there, put it in perspective. Funerals just don't belong on TV and that casket made this a 'funeral'. Personal misery is not entertainment to me.

Now the freak show really begins, as his daughter resembles a young Brooke Shields quite a bit. Here's where the moneymakers crawl out from under the rocks.

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Originally posted by GetLoans4me

Elvis died and fans/media went nuts for WEEKS - MONTHS - YEARS..

now this jacko is dead - that will go on for how long.

elvis and jackson are humans. whoopie

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Originally posted by judgement

This is a total sham, to kick off his comeback tour. Michael fakes his own death, sells tickets to his funeral in the Staples center, and then proceeds to rise from his casket dressed up like a zombie to perform Thriller.

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Originally posted by 808

I espc liked Jennifer Hudson's MJ song. How she came in 7th on American Idol is beyond me.

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Originally posted by assassin17

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Originally posted by 808

I espc liked Jennifer Hudson's MJ song. How she came in 7th on American Idol is beyond me.

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As the resident Idol-lover here, I can say with conviction that; there were 3 women who sang exactly the same type of crap and she was the ugliest one of the bunch.

How LaToya London lost that year, I'll never know.

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Originally posted by GetLoans4me

Newsflash! M jackson's kids are not his!! They're too white

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Originally posted by assassin17
Now the freak show really begins, as his daughter resembles a young Brooke Shields quite a bit. Here's where the moneymakers crawl out from under the rocks.

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Originally posted by CoolMtgGuy

Hey ... wait one minute. Wasn't MJ white? How white is too white. Have you ever seen an albino of African decent?

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Originally posted by GetLoans4me

Newsflash! M jackson's kids are not his!! They're too white

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Originally posted by carrieking

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Originally posted by assassin17

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Originally posted by 808

I espc liked Jennifer Hudson's MJ song. How she came in 7th on American Idol is beyond me.

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As the resident Idol-lover here, I can say with conviction that; there were 3 women who sang exactly the same type of crap and she was the ugliest one of the bunch.

How LaToya London lost that year, I'll never know.

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Sorry to say but I almost totally agree. I was sick and tired of the power gospel type singing week after week after week....yawn...

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Originally posted by Mandyvilla

I had the TV on, but was way too busy to watch and had the memorial turned way down or muted. So now, I get to hear the soundbites over and over......the same thing on all channels.

And every time they play the daughter's short speech, the tears start flowing.......not for MJ, but for the daughter's raw pain.

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Originally posted by djorge44

Al Sharpton should be ashamed of himself. You would think MJ was MLK Jr.

I love MJ's music but Sharpton was (as usual) out of control.

To say that MJ made it ok for white people to listen to black music was ridiculous and it was an embarrassment to all the black entertainers that were 'crossover' artists before.

Additionally, he got his facts completly wrong. He claimed We are the World was before Live Aid, when in fact the Live Aid movement was prior. Stevie Wonder has admitted that he was inspired by the Live Aid movement (not the concert, the song, I forget the title). He has publically stated that is why they wrote the song.

Sharpton (and Rev. Jesse Jackson) need to go away. They do much more harm than good by keeping everything racial when it is not.

And how did MJ make Magic Johnson a better basketball player, that was just weird.

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Originally posted by djorge44

Al Sharpton should be ashamed of himself. You would think MJ was MLK Jr.

I love MJ's music but Sharpton was (as usual) out of control.

To say that MJ made it ok for white people to listen to black music was ridiculous and it was an embarrassment to all the black entertainers that were 'crossover' artists before.

Additionally, he got his facts completly wrong. He claimed We are the World was before Live Aid, when in fact the Live Aid movement was prior. Stevie Wonder has admitted that he was inspired by the Live Aid movement (not the concert, the song, I forget the title). He has publically stated that is why they wrote the song.

Sharpton (and Rev. Jesse Jackson) need to go away. They do much more harm than good by keeping everything racial when it is not.

And how did MJ make Magic Johnson a better basketball player, that was just weird.

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Originally posted by assassin17

Well, I'd say that since MTV, in the 1980s mind you, blatantly refused to play music by black artists, racism was very much alive and tolerated at that time in the industry. Since MJ indeed broke that last wall down and no other has risen, Sharpton stands correct in my book. MJ was the first to cross over that final barrier.

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Originally posted by 808

MJ was the first Black R/B Artist to crossover into MTV but that was about his type of music at the time & not his skin color. Trying to make MJ out to be the Jackie Robinson of MTV is a total mischaracterization that's designed to confuse & brainwash the masses.

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Originally posted by assassin17

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Originally posted by 808

MJ was the first Black R/B Artist to crossover into MTV but that was about his type of music at the time & not his skin color. Trying to make MJ out to be the Jackie Robinson of MTV is a total mischaracterization that's designed to confuse & brainwash the masses.

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First of all, you are berating Al Sharpton over a complete misquote. He never mentioned "MTV" or "first";

"Because he refused to let people decide his boundaries... In the music world... (Michael Jackson) broke down the color curtain, where now our videos are shown and magazines put us on the cover" - Al Sharpton's actual words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGI2Y2uM5x8

People hear what they want to hear with Sharpton. You may also only remember what you want to remember about the 80s.

History is not being rewritten, the argument against MTV is the same as it was then... It was not called "RTV" for rock and roll. You don't call yourself "Music Television" and then limit yourself to one style of music. You don't refuse to play the most-popular artist at that moment, whether it was MJ or Prince, and dare to call yourself "Music Television".

It doesn't matter than some black drummer or model snuck through every now and then, the restrictions themselves were still in place until Michael Jackson got them removed through a combination of persistence, popularity and cooperation. The main point against your memory was that MTV's own VJs (one of which was black) admitted the practice as they were being reprimanded or replaced after wanting to expand the playlist. Black artists had to go through a management "approval" process that others did not.

During MTV's first few years on the air, very few black artists were included in rotation on the channel. Those who were in MTV's rotation included Eddy Grant, Tina Turner and Donna Summer. MTV rejected other black artists' videos, such as Rick James' "Super Freak," because they didn't fit the channel's rock dominated format at the time. The exclusion enraged James; he publicly advocated the addition of more black artists' videos on the channel. Rock legend David Bowie also questioned MTV's lack of black artists during an on-air interview with VJ Mark Goodman in 1983.[16]

Before 1983, Michael Jackson also struggled to receive airtime on MTV.[17] To resolve the struggle and finally "break the color barrier", the president of CBS Records at the time, Walter Yetnikoff, denounced MTV in a strong, profane statement, threatening to take away MTV's ability to play any of the record label's music videos.[17][18] However, Les Garland, co-founder of the channel, said he decided to air Jackson's "Billie Jean" video without pressure from CBS.[16] In any case, MTV began showing the "Billie Jean" video in regular rotation in 1983, forming a lengthy partnership with Jackson and helping other black music artists.[19]

According to The Austin Chronicle, Jackson's video for the song "Billie Jean" was "the video that broke the color barrier, even though the channel itself was responsible for erecting that barrier in the first place."[20] After airing Jackson's music videos, MTV, then a struggling cable channel, became very popular. Jackson's videos were credited for this success[21] and MTV's focus switched from rock to pop and R&B.[19] This move helped other black artists such as Prince and Whitney Houston break into heavy rotation on the channel. - Wiki

Thereafter, MJ decided that if Elvis had broken the barriers to become the 'King of Rock' through fighting for airplay to meld styles, then he certainly would be the 'King of Pop', even if only to himself. I don't recall anyone disputing that at the time, so there should be no hindsight dispute against Sharpton acknowledging it today in his own way.

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Originally posted by GetLoans4me

Elvis is dead

Jackson is dead


time to move on people.

you can always enjoy their music video over youtube

we have more serious problems to live with than some entertainment's crap.

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Originally posted by djorge44

I totally disagree with you assassin.

Sharpton was equating him to a civil rights figure in tone and in his words.

I'll take James Brown over MJ in both music and in the cultural fight for equality (and as stated before I am an MJ fan, first record I ever got was Off the Wall)

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