The folks at Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns Staples Center, sold luxury suites to other folks so they could attend the Michael Jackson memorial service in style. Now the same folks have decided to donate $90,000 of the money collected to a fallen cops memorial.
The move comes after Police were accused of misappropriating funds used to secure the Jackson memorial, however, Anschutz Entertainment Group contends they intended to donate the money all along.
Anschutz Entertainment Group or “AEG” are the same folks who were trying to pull off 50 concerts in a row with a sickly, fifty-year-old Michael Jackson. AEG was said to have hand delivered the check to the non-profit org.
In sports this would have been called a “prevent move.”
The $90,000 will go in the pot towards a $620,000 brass wall honoring fallen officers, which is being erected at the new Police Station in Downtown Los Angeles.
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Good morning, folks. We’ve made it to Hump Day. Doesn’t Friday feel within your grasp? Just a couple more days and then the weekend is here. Well, let’s take a look at the stories that are bound to be on the pop cultural radar today.
Here are some upcoming stories to count on for Wednesday, July 8:
- Obviously, people will still be talking about Michael Jackson’s memorial today. It’s all over now but you can bet that the media and blogosphere will still be discussing it all day. Expect highlights and first-hand accounts from many people, including some right here on The Count. It’ll definitely be an interesting retrospective.
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Senator
- Comedian and former Saturday Night Live writer Al Franken is officially a senator. He was sworn in by Vice President Biden Tuesday morning and today will be his first day in the Senate chambers. Do you think he’ll liven the place up with some comedy? That place could use a dose of humor.
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From Christian Audigier
“I am at a loss for words.” said Elizabeth Taylor, along with many of Michael Jackson’s fans, friends and family who are in mourning over his passing. In what I am about to tell you in regards to Michael Jackson’s memorial today, will be many, many words that I have conjured up throughout the day that you will hopefully relate to. I know you, along with myself, have been at a loss or maybe a struggle for words too. But we do know that we loved him and he inspired us in many ways. We know that he has affected our souls deep down in indescribable ways. We know that we are sad. We know that Michael loved us. We are searching…
After I left the memorial today, and hours later sitting here writing this, I am able to finally come up with words that make some sense. This journey with Michael for the last week has been a challenging one for you, us and fans around the world. Here’s our story…
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As you can see from our recent posts, we have been very busy all day long in attendance at Michael Jackson’s memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. We have been on a mesmerizing trip for the last week since Michael’s passing. The whole entire time has been surreal and emotional. It’s been a rollercoaster for every one of Michael’s fans around the world. My next few posts will be about each part of the journey to Michael’s memorial.
I am starting off with our “golden ticket” Willy Wonka story, unto how we got tickets to Michael’s memorial today…
Yesterday on Monday, I woke up to find that I still had not received a ’special email from the Michael Jackson memorial lottery.’ The special lottery was an email submission contest from you could enter, requesting tickets to attend his memorial that was today, Tuesday.
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Paris, surrounded by family
Surely the most touching moment from Michael Jackson’s memorial service would have to be his 11 year old daughter Paris taking the stage and saying a few words about her father.
“I just want to say ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine,” Paris said, surrounded by the rest of the Jackson family. “And I just want to say I love him so much.”
Paris was then embraced by her family and taken off stage. While her words were very heartfelt and emotional, they were also surprising because we never hear the Jackson children speak. To be honest, this added a layer of humanity to this whole ordeal that I didn’t feel until today. I always imagined Jackson’s children to be somewhat distant and silent, the typical celebrity child. This just goes to show that they are real kids in a completely surreal situation.
The video of Paris’ speech is making the rounds online and you can watch it here. You might want to grab a tissue before hand.
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As the memorial winds down, I thought it would be nice to show photos from outside the event. TMZ took these pictures earlier this morning as crowds waited outside to come into the Staples Center. You can get a decent idea of how many people were there.
More photos here.
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Morning, dear readers. Back into the workweek, are we? How was your first day back? Well, today is going to be plume full of news. Let’s see what’s going to make headlines on this gorgeous, sure-to-be-sweltering Tuesday.
Here are some upcoming stories to count on for Tuesday, July 7:
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At the Staples Center?
Today’s the day. Michael Jackson’s memorial service is today at L.A.’s Staples Center. The crowds will be immense, the media will be everywhere. Movie stars, sports stars, music stars, everybody will be there. This truly might be the biggest pop culture event in years. There are sure to be countless headlines from today’s event so stick with us as we sort through all of it. We’ll keep you up-to-date on all things Michael Jackson.
- Speaking of MJ’s memorial, did you know that there will be a bunch of elephants backstage? Technically it doesn’t have anything to do with the service but it’s still interesting. Check it out.
- New music comes out today. Tuesday’s slew of new albums include records from Maxwell, Stellastarr* and Against Me!, among others. Hop onto iTunes or visit your local record store for all of today’s new tunes.
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We already know a huge number of people will be magically drawn to the Staples Center for the MJ Memorial Service, however, AEG and others involved in planning this historic event have chosen to try and shut them down, why? The people are on the way…
The complex was open to the public for the Lakers when they won the championship, but why not this event? If you did not win one of under 10,000 vouchers to gain access to the ceremony honoring Michael then, as Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell stated publicly, “You’ll be standing in the hot sun on a city street with a lot of other people, but not within eyeshot of Staples.” Read between the lines… The Chief knows we are on the way!! Your lame warning will NOT keep us away!
The madness. People are going to be hypnotically drawn to Michael! The event planners need to open the grounds of the Staple Center and TURN ON THE BIG SCREENS!! You know we are on our way! Deal with it!
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Happy Monday everybody! We hope your fourth was amazing and safe. You’ve still got all yours limbs, right? Let’s look forward and see what’s bound to make news on this beautiful July day.
MJ
Here are some upcoming stories to count on for Monday, July 6:
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Of course everyone is still getting prepared for Michael Jackson’s memorial service. It’ll be tomorrow morning at the Staples Center in downtown L.A. Word is that tickets have started to pop on eBay, fetching nearly $1,000 a piece. This story is certain to stay evolve throughout the day. We’ll keep you up to date on all the current MJ news.
- The box office was on fire this holiday weekend. However, as I write this, we still don’t have a clear winner. Both Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen have made about $42.5 million. The Johnny Depp/Christian Bale film, Public Enemies, also did well with a strong $26.2 million. The final numbers should come out today and we’ll get a real champion so make sure to look out for that.
There’s sure to be more big news today, so stick with The Count for all your pop culture news.
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Here we are at 6pm PCT, finishing up our beautiful 4th of July weekend…
ON THE EDGE OF OUR SEATS…CROSSING OUR FINGERS TO BE THE LUCKY WINNERS TO MICHAEL JACKSON’S LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL AT THE STAPLES CENTER.
Tick-Tock Tick-Tock Tick-Tock…
*THIS JUST IN* Breitbart news source reports that tickets have begun to trickle out to people who registered NOW! Tonight! Sunday!
“OMG OMG OMG OMG i got tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial service!!!” tweeted Deka Daye from San Francisco. Other messages came from users in Scotland and Iran.”
WHOA! WAIT…Did they just say “messages came from users in Scotland and Iran”? Do they mean that people in other countries get the chance to go to the event? That’s weird because a couple days ago, the StaplesCenter.com stated that “all who register, must be U.S.A. citizens.”
Okay, so did Staples let the “U.S. citizen rule” slide today? Is this a mistake? We aren’t being mean, bias or pompous about ‘other countries’ than America, we just thought the rules were only allowing American citizens to enter the memorial contest. Let’s face it, how are these winners from other countries going make it to the memorial anyway? Flights are probably packed, hotels are jammed…how will they travel the distance to make it on time?
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