For one more day, Michael Jackson stopped an entire news cycle. His memorial, covered with all the painstaking attention of a presidential funeral on every conceivable network, drew millions of viewers on television and streaming online. Even the Weather Channel started playing Jackson music during its "Local on the 8s" out of respect.
Exceeding two hours, the service mixed personal tributes with musical interludes, genuine sentiments with superfluous rhetoric. Much of it worked well. Some of it crossed into overkill territory. Now that there's been time for the motorcades to clear, here are hits and misses from the proceedings.
Hits: Berry Gordy, Brooke Shields and brother Jermaine
- Looking sharp at age 79, Motown founder Berry Gordy gave perhaps the best account of Jackson's near-implausible talent at an early age, and made the Staples Center erupt when he declared him the greatest entertainer who ever lived. The whole thing could have ended right there.
- John Mayer, taking time off from his daily routine of smugness, actually put together a thoughtful, faithful rendition of "Human Nature." It dangerously straddled the Muzak line, but the instrumental take was a nice switch. Still, the choice to include Mayer was curious, and the connection between Mayer and Jackson, no matter how roundabout, is anyone's guess.
- Showing more range than in a single episode of Lipstick Jungle, Brooke Shields was a ball of emotion when she took the stage to honor her friend. With shaky hands and a repeatedly catching voice, she spoke about their parallel career paths as child stars and how fast they needed to grow up. Shields then said Jackson's favorite song wasn't one of his own, but an old standard, "Smile."
- As an unsurprising yet superb transition, Jermaine Jackson then sang "Smile." It was wonderful to see, because it may have been the first time a wide audience heard him sing since "Do What You Do" 25 years ago. Two things here: Even though he had to fight through it at the end, Jermaine's voice sounded pure. And the lush arrangement deserves a thumbs-up.
- Magic Johnson's Kentucky Fried Chicken story brought some levity, as did Smokey Robinson's recollections on his song "Who's Loving You."
Misses: Mariah Carey, Kobe Bryant and Network Coverage
- It was a rough outing for Mariah Carey as she muddled through "I'll Be There." Lucky for Mariah, her trusty backup singer, Trey Lorenz, was there. Either she was nervous and emotional or just hoarse, because she could barely hit any notes and she began gesticulating with every melismatic syllable to compensate.
- Queen Latifah was forced to read more turgid free verse from the pen of Maya Angelou for the occasion. Mix exhausted literary devices with general unadulterated tedium, and that's what Angelou's been serving up for years now.
- What was the point of Kobe Bryant joining Magic Johnson? Did the service need a Staples Center representative? Otherwise, and no offense to Kobe, his presence fit about as well as if Carrot Top presented the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- Sheila Jackson-Lee? Really? For someone who had so little purpose being there she had to introduce herself, the Democrat congresswoman from Texas sure felt the need to deliver a stemwinder on who knows what.
- The "We Are the World" conclusion mightily disappointed, largely because of the assortment of nobodies who were left to sing it. Got Lionel Richie? Got Stevie Wonder? OK, then let them sing. They're familiar with it, after all.
- Coverage on the networks gave the mute button a workout. From Geraldo Rivera's inane blather and gratuitous name-dropping on Fox to the oily Jackson pest Martin Bashir on ABC talking as some sort of self-appointed authority, less should have been more.
More Michael Jackson in London? And a Los Angeles post-script
Now there's word from Roger Friedman that yet another Jackson tribute will take place in London around the time of his birthday in August. Too much? Maybe, but based on his star power in his prime, maybe not.
Therein lies the paradox that unfolded yesterday in Los Angeles. The service was star-studded, yet so many were missing. There was no Quincy Jones, no Diana Ross, no Elizabeth Taylor, no Liza Minnelli. The entire production seemed over-the-top and almost too reverential at times -- it's to be expected when dealing with the King of Pop -- yet it found a happy medium in others.
One person with such a checkered and sometimes disturbing personal life need not deserve this round-the-clock media saturation. But megastars like the pre-1994 Michael Jackson hardly ever surface.
