Jackson memorial service live blog ...

12:35 p.m.: "We Are the World" send off. Must say: All in all? This was amazingly well produced given how fast it came together and the number of moving parts. Aside from the stretch of dead air at the outset, I've seen Emmy telecasts, planned months in advance, that were more glitchy and awkward and rambling than this. Also, his daughter's speech at the end (video below) was unlike any other moment in the ceremony -- a pure expression of grief, untainted by the vague sense of grown-up opportunism that occasionally seemed to fade into the event.

12:20 p.m. It's actually "p.m." now. Clearly this is being produced into a commemorative DVD-length event. Twelve-year-old "Britain's Got Talent" star Shaheen Jafargholi sings, which is a nice circle-of-life touch.

12:15 p.m.: Usher sings. He strolls downstage near the casket. Gets closer. Clooooser. Puts his hand on the lid. Keeps singing. You're conflicted here: good showmanship, a bit odd, weirdly suspenseful, as if somebody dared him to do it.

Rewind: Going back to Brooke Shields, who gave touching anecdotes of her friendship with Jackson: "They called us an odd couple ... but it was the most natural and easiest of friendships... Maybe it was because we both understood what it was like to be in the spotlight from a very young age ... both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together we were two little kids having fun."

12:05 a.m.: A pissed-off sounding representative from Houston, Sheila Jackson Lee, defensively declares that people are considered innocent until proven otherwise. "Don't tell me what an American story is all about!" she says. "If he was burned, he built a burn unit ... if they needed money for developing countries, Michael gave." Then notes that, "we have introduced into the House of Representatives this Resolution 600 that will be debated on the floor of the House that claims Michael Jackson as an legend and musical icon, a world humanitarian" -- and in a "The Shining"-like turn of phrase -- "someone who will be honored forever, and forever, and forever, and forever."

11:49 a.m. Jermaine Jackson sings "Smile." Anybody else get the impression that Simon Cowell would roll his eyes and argue with Paula Abdul about whether Jermaine could go to Hollywood?

11:30 a.m.: A low-key (for him, anyway) Al Sharpton gets an ovation with this line: “I want his three children to know: There was nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with, and he dealt with it.” Young Prince Michael looks nonplussed, chews gum. Somehow you get the impression that kid is never going to have to clean his room. As for Sharpton's sentiment, it's nice and all. But Jackson's various seeming addictions (drugs, debt-chasing overspending, the surgeries, hanging with kids) were the very model of somebody who was unable to deal with his issues.

11:14 a.m.: Kobe Bryant points out that Jackson made the Guinness Book of World Records for most charities ever supported by a pop star..." Magic Johnson adds, "I want to thank Michael for opening up so many doors for African Americans to be on daytime shows, late-night shows. It allowed Kobe and I to have our jerseys in people's homes across America because he was already there."

10:55 a.m.: A lengthy though very effective walk through of Jackson's career by Motown founder Berry Gordy: "He raised the bar then broke the bar... He went into orbit and never came back...sure there were some sad times and some questionable decisions on his part, but Michael Jackson accomplished everything he dreamed of ... the more i think and talk about Michael Jackson, the more I think the 'King of Pop' is not big enough for him. I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived." Standing ovation.

10:49 a.m. Queen Latifah, the first surprise guest, reads a poem by Maya Angelou that goes over well ... Lionel Richie performs "Jesus Is Love"...

10:40 a.m.: Mariah Carey performing "I'll Be There." Jackson's casket front and center and gold and shiny and making everything all the more weighty and suddenly real ... and yet, unreal. Surreal. The odd disconnect between having somebody who's always supposed to be the performer, now being gone, and yet still on stage, being sung to...

 10:37 a.m.: Pastor Lucious Smith: "We come together in the space where only days ago Michael sang and dance and brought joy the way only he could ... as long as we remember him, he will be there forever to comfort us."

10:33 a.m.: Choir.

10:11 a.m.: It begins. Smokey Robinson reads letters of remembrance from Nelson Mandela and Diana Ross, followed by a stretch of dead air (so to speak). Smith cites "classic Jackson family disorganization." ... Tweets Belloni: "Staples hasn't been this silent since last Clipper home game."

9:55 a.m.: Not to keep mining Fox News, but I'm channel surfing to other news networks, getting bored, and going back. Here’s Smith, building up the memorial performance to an otherworldly degree: “What sort of live performances will happen? And what sort of crazy somethin’-or-other is gonna happen? Because Michael Jackson is in the house. And when Michael Jackson is in the house, Crazy. Things. Happen. I will never in my days, forget when he stood on top of that car and started dancing after his child molestation case ...  And no matter what we’ve seen prior to today, I bet nothing tops this.” It's as if Shep really expects Jackson to leap out of his casket for Thriller 2.

9:30 a.m. On Fox News, Shepard Smith is marveling at the "astounding" sight of Jackson's funeral procession traveling along a stretch of L.A. freeway which apparently has been completely shut down on a Tuesday morning during commuter traffic. "If you're an Angeleno on the way to work right now you're not too happy, but I guess the King of Pop needs to get to Staples Center." 

9:18 a.m.: THR's Matt Belloni is inside Staples Center and just Tweeted that the ceremony has been delayed by a half hour. Follow his feed here.

9:09 a.m.: Casket sighted. Pic to right from CNN.com.

8:39 a.m.: Nets are returning to the security situation, how scarily "fluid" it is, how the police are considering this a bigger security problem than the Olympics, how there's consideration of having a SWAT Team guarding the casket. It's as if the police and media have no sense what this event is. These aren't rowdy sports fans. This isn't a political protest. It's a memorial. For Michael Jackson. These are fans who listen to "Man in the Mirror" and are sad. You have to wonder: If Jackson were a white singer, if he were Paul McCartney or Bono, if they'd be so freaked out. "I haven't seen the slightest bit of anarchy," marvels Geraldo Rivera.  

8:20 a.m.: News reports keep referring to this Forest Lawn ceremony as the "private" ceremony, even as we watch live footage of Jackson's relatives embracing outside their black SUVs on every network. 

8:00 a.m.: Fox News is echoing reports in major publications that Michael Jackson’s body will make an appearance at the Staples Center. That after the private family ceremony at Forest Lawn, the singer's $25,000 gold-plated casket will be rolled out to another tour stop. “We are told now to expect the casket to appear that his body will be — at least according to preliminary reports, the final decision is still the family’s -- the body will brought through the streets of Los Angeles and delivered to the Staples Center where we are expecting it will take front and center stage for his fans to say a final goodbye.” .... In fact, in case L.A. traffic is too jammed, "[Police officials are] preparing for the possibility of actually having to air lift the body to Staples Center." Wow. Yesterday's "coffin at half court" comment below was meant as a joke, not a suggestion.

Preamble:

I'm going to live blog the Jackson memorial service Tuesday morning.

The decision came after considerable wavering on the appropriateness of the idea. At what point does a memorial service become "entertainment" and therefore fair game for bloggy criticism?

I decided that point is when the service is being held at the Staples Center, tickets are being scalped, there's a star-studded lineup, pre- and postshows, and the whole thing is going to be telecast live around the world.

A memorial service is not the man, after all. And this one is clearly more show than ceremony, one that's quickly shaping up to set the gold-coffin-standard of new millennium bereavement.

This is a Pharaoh-esque send-off. The service is, as of this moment, actually suspenseful (and that's the first of what will surely be many unique-in-context adjectives to describe what’s coming). It's suspenseful because we don’t yet know exactly what form such a spectacularly public and produced version of an event that's traditionally so grave and private will take.

And what are we expecting, exactly? Songs and speeches? A coffin at half court? “Thriller 2”?

Is it possible to have a pop star's memorial service on this scale and not have it be, to a large extent, tacky? Isn't having a memorial service at an arena named after an office supply company sort of like having a wedding in Las Vegas? No matter how much it means to you, the setting turns it into camp. Who can regard an event soberly when you know there's going to be folks selling T-shirts outside?