I am just baffled by your assertion that serious music fans don't appreciate Michael Jackson. Anyone who cares about contemporary pop in any form knows that MJ changed the game. His influence is enormous.

There seems to be a generation gap on this issue. It seems to that anyone under 40 gets why this is a big dealio---whether you care about it or not. Also, I'd way rather see wall to wall MJ coverage than Sanford coverage. There have many stupider things to dominate the news cycle.

I've read and seen just a little about the Staples Center (is all publicity good?) wake, but it's very likely representative of the whole. I would bet dollars to donuts that your post contains more humanity than all of the TV coverage combined. It is very hard to look past Michael's recent image, but you've helped me do that and remember when he was music.

I'm very curious to know if other people (okay, white people) Michael's age were into him back in the day. Not the Jackson 5, but Michael's solo career. My guess would be not that many, present commenters excepted because of selection bias.

You mean dance, sing, write song lyrics, and compose music as well as Michael Jackson did?

Probably not many who can do all that, and certainly not as well as Michael Jackson did, but I would like to think that somewhere out there in a rather obscure place some kid is practicing his/her dance moves, playing with a karaoke machine and musical instrument, and using Michael Jackson as inspiration to become the next great performing talent.

That kid will emerge out of his obscure place, trust me, and we'll have Michael Jackson to thank for having inspired that kid.

First, the boy who brought charges against jackson said in an interview that Jackson slept on the FLOOR, not in the bed with him.

Now, Joan, third time posting this is the charm:

It's a freaking FUNERAL. If a little girl wanted to say something at her non-celeb dad's funeral, would you have a problem with it?

If you went to your friend's funeral would you want the whole thing to be about all of his fuckups and eccentricities, or would you want everyone to celebrate the good he did and how much he was loved?

There will be plenty of time for the media to dissect this man and discuss his foibles and faults.

This was the tribute of his family and friends - to them, he was father, brother, son, friend, not "strange man".

What was surreal was the fact that we were watching them grieve the man THEY knew. What is surreal about your comment is that you expected them to talk about the man WE "knew", and all the media hype and the mud.

Why should they? It's the funeral of someone they love, not some media creation.

I think it is fair to say that Michael Jackson was a quirky eccentric, and very lonely despite his wealth and fame, and was probably in need of some help that he didn't get.

But you are right, he managed to hold it altogether, despite the hardships of his life, which would have broken most people.

No one is a saint, but aside from some inappropriate stuff he might have done with some children (none of which - even if true - I think constituted sexual abuse or anything illegal; yes, it is possible to behave inappropriately but not abusively or criminal), Michael Jackson came pretty close.

One thing is for certain, when I talk to my kids about Michael Jackson, and I will because I love playing his music, I won't let the rumors tear him down.

"you're not the only one with mixed emotions"

I always thought MJ was a great performer...up until about 1984 that is. His freakdom has no doubt overshadowed his talent over the last 25 years. He is almost everything that has been said about him the last two weeks, but I have issue with all of this talk of being a trail blazer in the breaking the racial barrier department. For starters it seems that there were many black performers before him that should be credited with those achievements. Making it possible to have a Barack Obama? Are you kidding? Isn't that just a tad oversimplified? Does that mean that Elvis made Bill Clinton possible? And this constant harping on being the 'first African American on MTV' is, I'm sorry, just a bunch of crap! I lived through that era as a teen, and I don't remember any big fanfare over his videos being shown, with the exception of 'Thriller' of course, because it was the first 'long form' music video. In fact, as I recall there were a few black artists on MTV prior to MJ and the 'Thriller' hysteria. Call me crazy but I'm pretty damn sure I saw them play Prince's 'Controversy' video which would have been a full year before 'Thriller', and I'm sure that they were also playing videos from Prince's other early albums like 'Dirty Mind'. But the way it's been talked about since Jackson's death, you'd think that there was a sign on the door at MTV back in those days that said 'no blacks alowed'. I don't remember it that way, and quite frankly I thought that alot of the black artists of that era were superior to the white ones and never thought that MTV should be limited to whitey only. And let's remember...there was ALREADY an African American VJ on MTV from day one. HELLO!! JJ Jackson!! Let's give THAT man some credit. Talk about someone that closed the racial division. JJ Jackson was as diverse and colorless as you could find on television at that time.

Was this memorial for Michael Jackson necessary? I think so. There were some great moments. If anything he ad his brothers should be recognized for their work as the Jackson 5 I'm just afraid that from now on when these big superstars die, there going to be eulogized in an arena. Please don't make it so. One gigantic show biz funeral is enough for a lifetime.