A public memorial service for the so-called King of Pop Michael Jackson has been set for early next Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The event will be held July 7 at 10 a.m. at the downtown Los Angeles arena, which holds 20,000, according to a statement released by the Jackson family’s publicist.

Continue reading →

Billboard magazine is reporting that at the time of Michael Jackson’s death, the aging pop star was working on two albums in addition to preparing for a 50-show concert series. One album, the website reports, was in the pop vein, while another would be made up entirely instrumental classical compositions. Jackson’s pop album was a collaboration with songwriter Claude Kelly and Akon, who says Jackson was motivated by his fans and by his children, who had never seen him perform live. For the classical album, composer David Michael Frank was invited to Jackson’s Holmby Hills home a few months ago looking for help with orchestration.

With only a week and a half left until the long-delayed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince finally hits theaters, media outlets are jumping on every angle possible to cash in on Pottermania. Most recently, James Parker from The Atlantic examined the different approaches each Potter director has taken in adapting the books for the screen, which another Atlantic writer took to task in a blog on Tuesday.

Continue reading →

Local concert promoter AEG spent well over $20 million in preparation for Michael Jackson’s 50-date run at the O2 Arena in London. The promoter sold about $85 million in tickets for Jackson’s comeback stand. With numbers like that, it’d be easy to speculate that the pop star’s sudden passing would put the company in dire financial straits.

Continue reading →

It may have come as a surprise to some that Diana Ross was mentioned in Michael Jackson’s will as a secondary caregiver to his three children, but her inclusion was not unexpected to those who had tracked their longstanding relationship, dating back to Jackson’s early childhood.

In his will, Jackson specified that if his mother Katherine Jackson, his first choice to become guardian for his three young children, died before he did, then he named Ross to take custody of the kids.

SEE VIDEO

Continue reading →