Of course the front of church is invaded by flowers and balloons, but fans could not come inside, and people in the streets are watching celebrities arriving at church. On CNN, the omnipresent Jesse Jackson is explaining that it is the New Hope Baptist Church, in Newark, N.J, where Whitney used to sing as a young girl, and that it will not be a concert performance but a regular Baptist service, … with a few celebrities nevertheless.
Comparing what is taking place to Michael Jackson’s funerals is out of place, Jackson had an arena stadium ceremony at the Staples Center and was buried at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, this is more a family affair, a private event,… except that all the media of the world are around and oh my god, it is broadcasted live on CNN commented by Piers Morgan, Soledad O'Brien, on BET, on E!, and streamed all over the internet on many websites (TMZ included)?
I wonder, is it still private at this point? Why is the family pretending they want a private ceremony when this is mediatized to this extreme? And how much did CNN pay to be authorized to do this?
Inside the church, the New jersey and the New Hope mass choirs are singing some dynamic gospel music,,… Bobby Brown has arrived but is not condemned for his sins by some religious authority talking on CNN, and the service can start at last after a micro eternity of choir singing, and pointless filling conversations; Piers Morgan has already succeeded to annoy me with all his ‘amazing’, ‘off the charts’, ‘unbelievable’, and numerous superlatives.
A few words by Corry Booker, the mayor of Newark, who speaks about god, heaven and angels…is he also a priest? Pastor Joe A. Carter preaches and asks many times to clap for Jesus, I am bored…… As an atheist, I am completely indifferent to all these discourses about what god wants and does not want, ‘everybody questions god’ says someone, fuck no! Not everybody!….Where is Kevin Costner?
Dionne Warwick is speaking with a raucous voice, she does not seem well, then Tyler Perry remembers about some anecdote about Whitney, and wants to convince us that she was a woman of god in real life, always talking as if she was at the church. Jesse Jackson is observing him, Bobby Brown is chewing gum, and Perry gets all caught up during his speech, he is now preaching-speaking louder and louder, like a typical Baptist preacher.
The whole thing is moving slowly, in the most traditional way, and it is less a celebrity lineup as I could have imagined, with many unknown people singing and speaking,
Love will last forever? Yeah sure! But how many reverends and pastors are gonna speak and sing… how many hands clapping, hymns singing for Houston’s ‘home going’? I am bored to death,… wait here is Kevin!
Kevin Costner thanks the family for the invitation, and starts probably one of the most moving speech of the whole ceremony, talking about the ‘sweet miracle of Whitney’, talking about the country song ‘I will always love you’ that was almost not used in the movie, because they thought it would not have the impact the song actually had. He may be the only white guy in the room (with Clive Davis), but he insists on having had a real connection with the Jersey girl. He addresses to daughter Bobby Kristina, ‘A lot in common with your mum really?’ He insists, despite being a white boy who can’t sing, both had a common bound since they grew up in a Baptist church, and Kevin continues sharing his memory about church as a kid, with a grandma playing the piano, leading the church choir where mum was singing. He sounds very affected, his voice is breaking, he sounds genuine, and the public is applauding. Then he shares his memories about the movie the Bodyguard, and the difficulties he had to convince the studio to cast her as his co-star. She was the perfect choice, but it was her first acting role, and the studio wanted another singer ‘may be somebody white’, but Kevin says he absolutely wanted her for the role, and he gets the biggest acclaim when he says he even postponed the movie production and made everybody wait for a year because Whitney was on tour at the time.
He also talks about Whitney insecurities ‘Call it doubt, call it fear’, ‘I had mine, and I know the famous in the room had theirs, ‘Am I pretty enough? Am I good enough? Would they like me?’…. ‘It was the burden that made her great, and the part that costs her to stumble at the end’,…Wow ,Kevin is very good and he does not seem to be acting, he makes me cry… I understand the cynics are gonna say his talk was totally self-serving, look-at-me-I-am-the-one-who-made-her-famous, I-am-the good-guy-who-dared-to-cast-a-black-girl-in-a-totally-white-movie, but when he spoke I did not take it like this. However, I haven’t forgotten, the Bodyguard was a watery movie, and I have listened to this song too many times by now. Stop it.
Then, we are graced by the dreadful Alicia Keys, who speaks about how caring Whitney was, and sings ‘Send me an Angeeeeeeeel’, she so over-sings it, she screams so much, I find it awful, but it is just me, as apparently they all like it.
Old mentor Clive David comes and speaks about his own experience about death, about his parents’ passing when he was a teenager, and then spends a little time praising Whitney’s beauty, talent and goodness, ‘She never took anything for granted. She was never arrogant. She was always appreciative’. ‘Was there anything she could not do?’ errr,…I guess staying alive? He is boring, he says Whitney had told him she was getting back in shape and would be ready in August… he jokes about her next performance in heaven, how she is going to reach the roof,… is there a roof in heaven?? As usual the canonization has begun.
Godmother Aretha Franklin is reportedly ill and will not be present at the ceremony (she released a statement saying she was suffering from muscle spasms and leg cramps, and was heartbroken to not be able to sing at Whitney's funeral). But wait, hasn’t Dionne Warwick just announced her? What happened, nobody told her? Warwick seems out of it, but I can’t tell she is very sad.
After Houston’s brother-in-law and real bodyguard for 11 years Ray Watson’s speech, Stevie Wonder takes over the piano, thanks god to be alive at the same time than Whitney, and sends other messages about love; he starts singing a song that seems to have been made up for the circumstance with lyrics like ‘angel from god’s choir’, that’s actually a personalized version of ‘Ribbon in the Sky’, reportedly one of her favorite songs. It is not that memorable, but then there is ‘Love’s in need of love today’ and a discreet choir sing-along.
Patricia Houston, her sister in law, speaks a long time, then it is R. Kelly’s turn to sing ‘I look to You’, Warwick recovers and gives a short speech before welcoming gospel singer CeCe Winans who sings ‘Don’t cry for me’,… isn’t it over already? I can’t take it anymore
Oh no it is not, there is still Houston’s music director, and the reverend Marvin Winans does Whitney’s eulogy and says he will not be that long! Really? At this point they may be done before the sun is down.
I started watching around 8 am PST, and it is already noon… It is not completely over but I give up, it was four hours of my life, way more time than I have actually spent listening to Whitney Houston in my entire life.