Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, and there were several places fans could go to pay homage, the Neverland ranch, the Jackson family’s home in Encino, the Staples center, but especially Forest Lawn in Glendale where he is buried. That is where I went during the afternoon and I was a little disappointed, the Forest Lawn security did not want any ‘circus’ and had banned signing, dancing, balloons, web broadcasting, video cameras, candles, spinners, statues, posters, incense, radios and had not allowed the release of doves! Come on, no doves? I came for that kind of things, Michael Jackson was all about eccentricity and they did not want any little doves? They had removed all the fun of such an event!
But I don’t want to offend Jackson’s fans (there are too many of them), I actually saw people who were very quiet, sad and respectful, walking by the side of the Mausoleum where he is buried and whose entrance has been closed to fans, of course!
There were people of all age and shape and, as expected, most of them were wearing black with a little Michael Jackson touch (a hat, a white glove, a red armband).
Many fans had chosen to walk up to the hill where the mausoleum is, and it was quite hard for some on this warm day. Especially, I saw a disproportionate amount of handicapped people, and I said to myself this place may become, as years go by, some kind of religious pilgrimagelike Graceland is For Elvis Presley fans.
Tons of flowers, drawings and collages were accumulated along the mausoleum wall, with no real originality, everything being solemn and elegant. There was a huge amount of security and media people everywhere but especially at the entrance, and after passing by the site, people were hanging around, sitting on the grass for a little while. If some of them were carrying radios, they were playing Jackson’s songs while keeping the volume at the lowest.
The fans decided to observe one minute of silence at the time of his death in front of the mausoleum (actually I’m not sure of this because it was past 2 pm and I thought he died around 1 pm, but what do I know?), then they applauded cheerfully and began to sing in choir ‘Heal the world’, ‘We are the world’, suddenly braving the singing ban. One fan asked a security guard where the body was exactly, to what the bouncer answered it was ‘top secret’. The guards were saying to the fans they had to keep moving and I saw a woman almost in tears say to another one ‘They don’t understand, they just do their job’.
This outburst of love from the fans for Michael is quite something, there was even a group of middle-age women wearing L.O.V.E. red tee-shirt who apparently managed to release the famous doves from across the street despite the banning (I did not see it but it says so on their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Doves-of-LOVE-Release-for-Michael/117591208278396)
Everywhere it was ‘I love you Michael’, ‘He loves you back’, ’Let’s form the circle of love’, …. I understand the admiration for the talent, music, creativity, but I will never get over this surge of good feelings ad nauseum, this pseudo cult-like craziness, this collective illusion of universal innocence from Jackson’s fans.
But most of all, the place had become a look-alike contest, with some very credible ones, some less credible, but it all depends which Michael Jackson face you want to remember. There was a middle-age Jackson, red jacket and a face Jackson could have had in a regular life, a younger one in a shining jacket who was giving away his professional cards like Michael Jackson his V signs, and an extremely credible one, a ‘Bad-Dangerous’ era Jackson who was posing at demand for pictures.
But the ‘best’ of all was this baby Jackson who could moonwalk and take all the famous moves as if he was one of his natural born sons if MJ had a natural born son! Esteban Ramirez is from Costa Rica, has already a facebook account, a website (http://www.principedelpop.com) and two parents who seem to promote their little boy’s talent in a way that could be reminiscent of you-know-what,… he is only 4 years old for god sake!
However, nobody could see it, since he was so cuuuuuuute! Of course he was! The mother managed to make her miniature Jackson wear 3 different outfits in less than an hour.The terrible circle cannot be stopped…