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Fans Flock to Michael Jackson Memorial
Aired July 07, 2009 - 11:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody, to our special coverage. You're looking at the casket of Michael Jackson coming out of the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn. A fairly short ceremony inside, a private ceremony. And now they are bringing the body out. We expect the hearse will be pulling around shortly. And then -- you can see it right there, actually -- and then there are expectations that they will bring the body of Michael Jackson to the Staples Center.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I've got to say it's stunning to suddenly see the casket.
O'BRIEN: It was a little bit of a surprise. I mean, it is one of those senses that, wow, he's really dead. Around us has been pictures all day of a young Michael Jackson and then through his career, but to see these pictures of Forest Lawn Cemetery and the body of Michael Jackson being loaded into the back of the hearse really has a certain amount of finality to it.
COOPER: Bryan Monroe, formerly with "Ebony" and "Jet" magazine, you had the last interview with Michael Jackson. Your thoughts on seeing this.
BRYAN MONROE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, I'm watching to see who the pallbearers are. It looks like several brothers are helping out.
You know, it's sad, but it's also -- this tribute is going to be phenomenal today. I understand inside the Staples Center, it's going to have a very solemn and serious tone, and will be both a memorial and funeral. There's not a lot of pomp and circumstance. But we will remember him in a very somber way.
COOPER: Stuart Backerman worked with him as a publicist back in 2002.
It's got to be surreal to see this.
STUART BACKERMAN, FORMER JACKSON PUBLICIST: It is surreal, but to tell you the truth, I think he would have loved this. He was particularly distraught about the fact that he was beloved all around the world, but in the United States, particularly after the trial, he kind of sensed that he was a persona non grata. To have U.S. fans and the United States paying this kind of tribute and this kind of attention to him I think would have made him really proud. COOPER: Reverend Sharpton said to me several days ago, you know, it's great to see this outpouring of affection for him, but where was it when he was alive? And certainly it's something that he felt the loss of very acutely in the wake of the allegations that had being made against him, allegations which ultimately were never proven in court.
O'BRIEN: Bryan Monroe, who's also a CNN contributor, I should say, welcome to the family.
MONROE: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: You have many friends, I know, who are inside, who are inside this service, which looks like it's about to wrap up. You see some people getting ready to get back in their cars. We saw the body loaded back into the hearse.
It's interesting there. The tone there clearly somber, and even the tone here for the memorial service not as out here as sad. I mean, there's a sense of joy about his life, which is hard for me to explain.
MONROE: There is. You'll hear every once in a while the crowd erupting in laughter or joy or some applause happening right now.
O'BRIEN: And not in a disrespectful way.
MONROE: Not at all. And folks are really well-mannered, very controlled as they're streaming into the Staples Center. And I think this afternoon or this morning is going to have a very serious tone.
COOPER: I also want to bring in -- as we continue to stay with these images -- we're not going to be leaving these images as the family and the hearse make their way under police escort to the Staples Center, where we are. It should be about a 15- or 20-minute drive. We're told the ceremony here, which was supposed to start at 10:00 a.m. Pacific coast time, is running -- is going to start a half an hour later. So, it's supposed to now start at 10:30 a.m. And we, of course, are going to continue to cover this thing live all throughout the day.
But I want to bring in Donna Brazile, who is in New York, just as we continue to look at these pictures.
Donna, you've been a lifelong fan of Michael Jackson. As you see these images, as you see the coffin being loaded into the hearse, what goes through your mind?
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Michael Jackson will be remembered for his music, his movements, and I also think his humanitarian -- giving across the world.
I met Michael Jackson when I was quite young, first through his music, and later working with Stevie Wonder and many others -- Hands Across America, USA for Africa, the efforts to make Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday in the 1980s. In 1993, when he came to Washington, D.C., for the inaugural ceremony of Clinton/Gore, I met him backstage.
He was shy. He was quite unassuming. But he was a very powerful figure, not just in the music world, but for many people of my generation. We grew up loving his music. We loved the Jackson 5.
My sisters and I -- there were, of course, many girls in my family. There were nine of us, there were nine of them, and we would often trade off which brother we would marry when we grew up.
Of course, we didn't marry any of them, but we fell in love with their music. And it was a time when the country was changing and the Jackson 5 came along and inspired us. They brought us hope. And I hope that today people remember his music and the magic that he brought to life by dancing and really celebrating life itself.
COOPER: Also, Donna, I mean, I think for many -- certainly African-American, to see the Jacksons on television at a time where you didn't see many people of color on a television screen, and that goes all the way through up the early days of MTV, which he really broke the color barrier on MTV.
BRAZILE: Well, I'm about a year shy of Michael's age, but I remember when the Jackson 5 appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show." I turned 10, and my grandmother had baked us some cookies and my mother brought home ice cream, and we watched the Jackson 5 on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
You know, back in the late '60s and '70s, especially during the period of busing, when they really didn't really know what music to play that would accommodate both the little black kids and the little white kids, but the Jackson 5 seemed to suit us all well. We loved Michael Jackson, we loved their music, and we all learned to dance to it.
So, he was the beginning of this transformation that we've now seen with Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods to the Williams sisters, the election of Barack Obama. Michael Jackson and many of his era helped usher in this moment.
COOPER: CNN contributor Roland Martin is also standing by.
Roland, your thoughts upon -- oh, he's not there yet? All right. We'll get to Roland shortly.
O'BRIEN: Let's go to Jeff Toobin, who is standing by as well.
I'm curious to know, Jeff -- and again, we talked about sort of the life of Michael Jackson as being a life of contradictions, one of those being, as many people are remembering him today, some have been lucky in getting the tickets to the Staples Center to be part of the memorial service. Others will be watching, no doubt, at their television screens.
Behind the scenes there is a major legal battle, and numerous ones on many fronts, going on over the estate, over the children. It is yet another contradiction. COOPER: There's Don King waving a flag.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You know, that's potentially true. But yesterday, when it looked like there might be a major fight brewing, peace broke out. And I think cooler heads may prevail. And the opportunities now, financially, are so great for the Jackson estate that the Jackson family, Katherine Jackson, who had originally been given control of the finances, you had the will come out, and John Branca being named the executor. Obviously, a very savvy musical lawyer, executive.
At the end of the day yesterday, both sides seemed to get together and said, look, we are going to try to exploit financially his name together. And I think there will not be -- at least initially -- a huge battle brewing, and they will have the opportunity to make enormous amounts of money.
The best model they have is his would-be father-in-law, Elvis Presley, who, in fact, to put it simply, made more money dead than he did alive. His estate has been exploited so brilliantly by Lisa Marie Presley and Priscilla Presley, the Jackson family could use that it as a model, and I suspect they will.
COOPER: And Jeff, also, in terms of custody, that is also still very much, though, a question. There may be peace on the financial end. There is potential problems ahead.
And I believe, Bryan, is that Katherine Jackson?
MONROE: It's hard to tell.
COOPER: I believe that's Katherine Jackson toward the bottom of the screen.
MONROE: Yes, being hugged.
COOPER: Just walking now. She's now blocked by the banner there. But Katherine Jackson getting into a vehicle there.
She was one of the first people we saw emerging from the vehicle. We were told she was with one of the Jackson children, but at this point it's very hard to see.
But Jeff Toobin, in terms of the custody, that is still very much -- could be an issue depending on what Debbie Rowe decides to do.
TOOBIN: That's right, because there's a real paradox at play here.
Under California law, the mother of children, when the father had custody and the father dies, the mother almost invariably gets custody, and that would suggest that Debbie Rowe would get custody. But every other factor that a court looks at would point towards Katherine Jackson getting custody.
Debbie Rowe has apparently had virtually no contact with these children. Katherine Jackson has been a very present grandmother in their lives. That is the real connection.
So -- and, of course, Michael Jackson's will said that he wanted his mother to get custody of the children. So, it seems very likely that Katherine Jackson will get custody, particularly because there's a third child, Blanket, mother unknown, who will want to be kept together with the two siblings. That all suggests that Katherine Jackson will get custody, even if Debbie Rowe challenges the custody arrangements, but that is as yet unresolved.
COOPER: Debbie Rowe not going to be present at the Staples Center or at this private ceremony.
O'BRIEN: No, she made that very clear. And one would imagine that she may not even be invited to that.
A.J. Hammer is standing by for us as well from the Headline's entertainment show.
This is, A.J., no exaggeration to say, Michael Jackson the biggest entertainer on the planet. I think that's fair to say.
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": It is fair to say. And I think as Jeffrey mentioned a moment ago, we're only going to see this legacy grow.
There is so much still out there, so much that we have not yet seen or heard from Michael Jackson. There are so many songs that he recorded all throughout his history that are locked up in a vault somewhere, including music that dates back to when he recorded the "Thriller" album.
Of course, AEG Live, the company that was supposed to put on the 50 shows in London that were just set to get started in a couple of weeks, well, they did a very smart thing. They were documenting the entire process of rehearsal, shooting in high definition. So, certainly we're going to see the legacy grow.
But to call him the biggest entertainer on the planet is certainly an accurate statement. He's in a very small, a very exclusive club of artists who not only influenced the people that listen to their music, but literally generations now of artists. There's not a single artist that I can think of who wouldn't say that in some way, their music or their style has been influenced by Michael Jackson. You'd be hard pressed to find one.
O'BRIEN: I think that's very true.
Campbell Brown is in New York as well.
Campbell, what are your thoughts, as you take a look not only at these pictures here from Forest Lawn, but also the pictures behind us from Staples Center, where people have been slowly entering the arena and signing their names on their way in to be part of the remembrance of Michael Jackson?
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Soledad, we've been looking into the vast numbers of people who are going to be watching this event. I mean, this is -- you know, you recognize the crowds that are -- that you're seeing out there in California, but think about it in terms of the worldwide interest in this.
I mean, Michael Jackson was an international superstar, perhaps unrivaled in terms of the interest in his life. I mean, he's loved in Europe. He was worshipped in Asia. And there's no way to calculate, honestly, how many hundreds of millions of people are going to be watching today.
The organizers are feeding this memorial free to an array of satellites, so people are going to be watching it on the Internet, on their computers, on their handheld devices. I mean, hundreds of millions, probably the biggest media event, the biggest Internet event, ever, frankly. Because if you think about other similar occasions where we have gathered around the TV, globally, the death of Princess Diana, the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, that were huge numbers. I think it was 750 million viewers watched Charles marry Princess Diana.
Live Aid, another number we had, 400 million. I mean, this is going to be far, far greater than that because of the impact of the Internet here.
There are also tributes taking place around the world, watch parties taking place all over Europe, all over Asia. Tokyo, Delhi, Hong Kong, London, Berlin, are just a couple of places we have cameras where people are gathering to watch this. It is truly is -- compared -- there is nothing that has happened that we can compare this to.
COOPER: We're told even in the press room in Moscow, where reporters are covering the president's trip, they are right now watching CNN coverage of this event. It is truly a global broadcast.
And I think the family is very aware of that and very concerned about Michael Jackson's legacy. We have heard this repeatedly from the family, who have been kind of pushing back in the last week or so about media coverage on, you know, the personal life of Michael Jackson, the problems of Michael Jackson, anything that they feel might hurt that legacy. They are very protective of that.
MONROE: They are very concerned about that, and, in fact, they've been really pushing to remember him as an artist, as a father, as a son, as a brother, as well as the other controversies that have been out there. And I think Campbell's on to it. This could go down as one of the largest broadcasts in global history, if the numbers pan out.
I remember when we did the interview with Michael, the number of letters and e-mails and calls that I got from Tokyo and London and Sydney, Australia, and Ghana, and Moscow was staggering. The interest is huge in the United States, but it's massive, worldwide.
COOPER: Stuart Backerman, when you were publicist for Michael Jackson, it wasn't just a job of domestic publicity. I mean, it was truly global. I mean, had you dealt with anything like that previously?
BACKERMAN: No. It's almost impossible to have dealt with anything like that before, because he's loved in China. He's loved in Israel. He's loved in Australia. Particularly loved in Japan.
I mean, in Japan, they're wild over him. He could do no wrong, no matter what he did, anything,. They would go crazy for him in Japan.
COOPER: And in today's world, Michael Jackson is not just a person, he is a brand, a global brand, and that brand continues.
BACKERMAN: No question. I think given this tribute and what you've said, I think that brand really lives on.
O'BRIEN: And when you think about other stars, other entertainers who could reach those same heights, I don't think anyone comes to mind. I don't think that the...
MONROE: Well, the music business has changed.
O'BRIEN: Changed completely. And even outside of that, I'm not sure that there's someone who you can say would rise to the level where people feel that they are so connected and so -- that someone in Japan who's 40 years old, feels as connected to a black kid from Gary, Indiana, as someone who grew up in Gary, Indiana, can love him just as much.
COOPER: We've got to take a short break because we want to bring you -- as soon as the vehicles start to move, we want to bring you the procession to Staples Center, live, as it happens.
Our coverage continues. It also continues online, CNN.com. Join other viewers who are watching right now, expressing your feelings about Michael Jackson.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The many images we are tracking today. Forest Lawn Cemetery there on the top. Staples Center on the bottom of the screen.
People still milling in. We're told from someone inside it's only about half full at this point. People still streaming in.
The ceremony was supposed to start at 10:00 a.m. We're told it's already going to be about a half an hour late. It's starting at 10:30.
There you see the motorcade. Michael Jackson's body we saw placed into a hearse a short time ago. And they are about to proceed, begin the escort, police escort, to the Staples Center.
O'BRIEN: Gail Mitchell is a senior editor for R&B for "Billboard" magazine.
Your most recent article was about Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and how it really changed the business.
How did it change the business?
GAIL MITCHELL, SENIOR EDITOR FOR R&B, "BILLBOARD": Right. In a lot of ways.
First off, it was one of the first albums released simultaneously worldwide which hadn't been done up to that point. Videowise with "Thriller," and some of the other songs, that's when Michael took it to the next peak.
It was the dawn of MTV. He broke the color barrier there as well at MTV in terms of being the first black artist on there with "Billie Jean." And then when "Thriller" came, he just took the whole standards of video up to a new level.
O'BRIEN: He always seemed to be pushing the envelope.
MITCHELL: Right.
O'BRIEN: You know, kind of topping himself every step of the way. And clearly, "Thriller" is going to remain in the history books forever. I mean, it holds this incredible place. But I'm curious to know if some of that contributes to the pressure of always having to top yourself.
Many people have said as he prepared for this most recent tour to come out as a comeback, you have to be huge. And before you answer, Gail, you'll see the motorcade is just starting to get under way. The family members and friends who have been inside the private memorial service are now making their way to this public memorial service where we are at the Staples Center.
COOPER: And there's the hearse. It looks like to be the fourth car in the motorcade. But the camera zooming in on it right now. The hearse carrying the body of Michael Jackson.
O'BRIEN: Covered with flowers.
COOPER: To what will be a celebration of his life. A number of stars ready to perform.
Bryan, what have we already heard?
Bryan Monroe joining us, formerly of "Ebony" and "Jet" magazine.
What are we hearing about the ceremony itself? A number of performers. Jermaine Jackson is going to be performing "Smile"?
MONROE: Jermaine will be performing "Smile." John Mayer will be performing. Jennifer Hudson. Lionel Richie may do at the end a gathering of all -- a star-studded gathering for "We Are the World."
It's going to have a very musical tone, but also a serious tone.
O'BRIEN: Ted Rowlands is right at the location where all these vehicles and then, of course, the hearse, which we believe is the fourth car in this motorcade, will be rolling right by him as they make their way to Staples Center.
Ted, let's check in with you one more time.
Give me a sense of, is there a massive crowd where you are? I have to imagine both the security and the crowd has to be huge.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, the crowd has been building since news came out that Michael Jackson's body would be moving in a motorcade. You can imagine that people are coming out of their homes now.
What the most likely route is going to be here is that this hearse and the motorcade will take a right-hand turn out of Forest Lawn, and they will go through the Griffith Park area. And a number of people have now gathered at the Griffith Park area. From there, they'll pick up most likely to the 5 Freeway, and then down to the 110, which will take you directly into downtown.
But already, just in the last 10 to 15 minutes, we've seen a lot more people coming out of their homes, hoping, obviously, to get a glimpse of this procession as it goes by and makes its way into downtown Los Angeles.
COOPER: Hilary Rosen is also joining us, former president of the Recording Industry of America.
Hilary, you're also hearing about a number of songs that are going to be performed at the celebration.
HILARY ROSEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Anderson, Mariah Carey is going to sing "I'll Be There." Stevie Wonder is going to sing "I Never Dreamed I'd Leave You in Summer," a beautiful song.
Jennifer Hudson will sing "Will You Be There?" Chris Brown is there. Akon is there. And Akon actually did the last duet with Michael Jackson in "Want to be Starting Something."
Michael Jackson's most recent charting single was with Akon. So I think we can expect to see that.
And then Lionel Richie. All of the artists have been asked to stay and perform with Lionel Richie at the end to do a star-studded "We Are the World."
O'BRIEN: Gail Mitchell, senior editor for R&B at "Billboard" magazine, when you see this hearse as it leaves Forest Lawn and heads here to the Staples Center, as someone who spent her career covering Michael Jackson -- we just lost that shot -- we're back again -- does it feel to you as an end of an era?
MITCHELL: I don't think there will be another Michael Jackson. It's still very surreal for me. I got a chance to meet him back during the "Bad" era. And it still is a meeting that resonates with me still after all this time.
O'BRIEN: Why is that? Tell me about it.
MITCHELL: He was taller than I thought. I've been telling everybody, taller than I thought. He had the black pants on, the red shirt, black jacket, black hat.
But very nice. Very quiet, but very nice. And was very interested.
I was working on another publication at the time and he came through the print room. We were there putting the paper to bed. So, he was very interested in a lot of what we were doing.
So, it's just a moment that stands with me. And he's just unequalled. I just think there's icons that come and leave an indelible mark -- Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and certainly now Michael Jackson.
O'BRIEN: Is it fair to say that for 99 percent of the performers who follow, that they can look back to having been influenced in some way by Michael Jackson?
MITCHELL: Oh, certainly. You see it with Usher, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake just the whole -- And I think a lot of that kind of showmanship is starting to come back with some of the newer emerging artists that are coming out today.
O'BRIEN: Roland Martin is in New York.
Roland, I'm curious to know what you think as you see these pictures. You know, any time you see a funeral procession, it does kind of make you stop and catch your breath, sort of just how somber the moment is, the finality, frankly, of this moment as that hearse which has the casket, the body of Michael Jackson, covered in really beautiful flowers is making its way to the Staples Center.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, Soledad, it is somber, but I also think back to the tradition in the black church where funerals are also called homegoing services, where they are seen more as celebrations. Donna Brazile knows about this, being from New Orleans in terms of how people look at it. And so I think you're going to see that.
If you think back to James Brown's funeral, when you had people who were performing, folks who were laughing, who were singing, because the thinking is Michael Jackson is in a better place. He's in a place where there's no more pain, there's no more sorrow, there's no more heartache. And so that's sort of the thinking there.
And so I think you will see people stalking more about this being a celebration. That was the sense this past weekend at the Essence Music Festival when you had Beyonce, when you had Lionel Richie, Frankie Beverly and Maze and others who were paying tribute. They focused on the celebratory moment, as opposed to it being a somber moment.
O'BRIEN: Yes, absolutely.
And in addition to that, John Legend, it was interesting to see at one point they also did a New Orleans funeral.
COOPER: For the first line.
O'BRIEN: For the first line. And they -- of course, the funeral starts very slowly and very somberly, and then at the moment when the body is put into the ground, the musicians then symbolically began a celebration.
And I think that actually matches the tone that we see behind us here at the Staples Center. I guess I had expected to it be just incredibly sad with people weeping, and it's not that way at all. Every so often you hear a shout, and people are talking and sometimes laughing.
And I think it sets the tone of a real celebration of his life and his impact as a performer and an entertainer. And also, I think, with the conversations that have to be had as a person who clearly was tortured and had a lot of challenges, legal challenges, emotional challenges, and otherwise, but a real celebration of his life.
MITCHELL: Yes.
MONROE: And there have been celebrations throughout. You saw it this weekend with the Essence Festival. Madonna did a great tribute on July 4th in London. Jody Watley from Shalimar did a tribute in Minneapolis.
So, across the country, across the world, artists are turning out to remember his music.
COOPER: It's also so shocking when you juxtapose these images that we're looking at right now to the images that we had anticipated seeing just a few days from now, Michael Jackson's first concert at the O2 arena in London, a concert series which was to be really a comeback of sorts for Michael Jackson, 50 concerts originally, just 10 were announced. Ultimately, it became 50.
It was supposed to be a complete new chapter in Michael Jackson's life.
MONROE: And he was very excited about it. Everyone I talked to who was working with him told me that he was preparing for it. He had a trainer. He was there at rehearsals. He worked long days. In fact, the last night he was there until about 12:30.
O'BRIEN: At the same time, you have to wonder, for a person about whom so much has been written about, his inability at times to deal with the pressure, very private, the anxiety of living on the stage, and yet also being incredibly anxious in front of, you know, human beings when he's not on stage, you have to wonder about the role of that series of performances. And also a comeback, frankly, a comeback tour, a way to put yourself out there and say, am I up to what everybody expects?
That pressure must have played a role in how he was feeling and doing.
MONROE: In fact, when I interviewed him, I asked him about, did he want to tour? And at the time -- this was before the London deal -- he told me he didn't want to tour again.
He loved to perform, but he couldn't take the grueling effort of a multi-city, big-arena tour. And in fact, said he didn't want to go out like James Brown went out. He thought James Brown worked too hard and killed himself that way, by doing city by city every night.
COOPER: Well, the name of these concerts in London was "This is It." He certainly had hoped that that would be it, that he wouldn't need to do it anymore.
But certainly, Gail, in terms of -- I mean, we are told that there are many songs recorded by Michael Jackson that have not been released that are basically kind of in his vault. So, we don't know -- I mean, there could be Michael Jackson albums coming out for years to come.
MITCHELL: Oh, yes. You've had Tupac, Elvis Presley, so I think there's a lot of things. He was working with Akon, RedOne, the producer behind Lady GaGa. So, between that and the rehearsals that AEG said that they filmed, I think we're going to see a lot of new Michael material come out, and the fans will be happy.
O'BRIEN: We're going to take a short break, as we continue to watch this, what is approximately a 10-minute drive, as the vehicles make their way to the Staples Center, and the hearse carrying the body of Michael Jackson makes its way here. The ceremony and the memorial to get under way at approximately 10:30 a.m. West Coast Time.
Going to take a short break. We're back right in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And that's the view from the Staples Center where, again, people still continue to come in. Previously we had said the ceremony would begin about a half an hour late. Now we're told it may not be that late. So, again, very much in flux.
There you see the hearse carrying the body of Michael Jackson from our affiliate KTLA. Probably about five or seven minutes away from our location right now.
And we're going to continue to follow this for many hours, as it all comes to pass today. We're joined by Gail Mitchell from "Billboard" magazine, Bryan Monroe as well, former editorial director and vice president of "Ebony," "Jet" magazine.
Again, Gail, it's just so strange unusual to see a hearse carrying Michael Jackson. We've been covering it since this happened.
MITCHELL: Right.
COOPER: We know it is real, but it is sort of shocking the first you see it.
MITCHELL: It certainly is. As I said earlier, it's just very surreal, and you just can't believe that this is happening. But at the same time, what a great celebration of his music and legacy.
COOPER: We just saw Larry King enter. He's going to be sitting with the family we're told during the service. We saw Barbara Walters entering a short time ago. That's Larry and his wife, one of his producers as well.
A lot of celebrities in attendance entering with everybody else, again, getting through this cordon of security.
O'BRIEN: And we'll have an opportunity to hear from Larry king after the service, after the ceremony, after the memorial inside, to really tell us about some of the remarkable moments as we gets an opportunity to sit with the family.
You're looking at the hearse, though, right now. The freeway obviously cleared by the CHP, or that is the best traffic day ever in the history of Los Angeles, making their way.
And I think partly because of no traffic and a clear path, and what has appeared, at least from here to be, tremendous organization, they may be back on time. They had pushed the ceremony back a little bit to 10:30 west coast time, but it looks as though, in fact, they might be back on time.
Let's check in with Kara Finnstrom, because she is actually outside of where the public is stopped. To get in, you know, you need certain wristbands of certain colors. But Kara is where the public has stopped.
And they made it very clear they did not want the public to come down to this area. They thought it would just create incredible gridlock and be a mess. And so Kara, I'm curious to know, how did it turn out?
FINNSTROM: You know, actually, the crowds have been growing here throughout the day. If we pan off to the side here, you can see, you know, quite a bit of fans out here at this hour.
What we did just learn, Soledad, though, from the officer in charge here is that the motorcade is expected to make its way straight down this street in just a few moments from now.
And if we pan around, Damir (ph) can show you officers, just about 15 minutes ago, pushed the crowd back, put up this yellow tape, and are now lining the street in preparation for this motorcade to head straight down this street and right into the Staples Center.
You can see the barricades that have been put up. We understand they're going to remove those and that they will take the motorcade straight through there.
But one of the fans that came out here today that has been waiting right alongside the other side of this yellow tape, they came all the way from North Carolina, from Greensboro, North Carolina. They took three days on buses to get here. Tell us why you wanted to be here. You don't -- and by the way, you don't have tickets. You just wanted to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael, he's a true inspiration to me. And I say I wanted to see him one last time. And when I found out he was going to be here, it really broke my heart. And we made so many sacrifices. We sold everything we had in our house. And we just wanted to come here to be here.
FINNSTROM: All right, one of the many fans waiting alongside. And they've all gotten word now that the motorcade will be headed down here shortly. And we're told just a few minutes from now, Anderson.
COOPER: Kara, about how many people are kind of gathered there? Can you tell?
FINNSTROM: You know, it's so difficult to tell, because it winds around the street and it heads down that way. But I can tell you, and we'll just let Damir pan the crowds here and give you a feel, that officers tell me it's like this around the perimeter that completely encircles, you know, the Staples Center, that security zone.
So, what you're seeing here is just a small sample of what now surrounds the Staples Center.
COOPER: All right, Kara Finnstrom. Again, as we go back to the funeral procession, the hearse carrying the body of Michael Jackson on the freeway, accompanied by his friends and family for the final journey.
We still don't know -- that's Dionne Warwick entering the Staples Center there on the right-hand side of your screen. We still don't know, Bryan, where Michael Jackson will be laid to rest.
MONROE: Well, there's -- it appears that he at least will start off at Forest Lawn, and whether he will be there for a short period of time or indefinitely.
Jermaine, of course, wanted to make sure he was buried at Neverland. The issues up there with the local ordinances in trying to get permission, they were going to try to work that out. But whether he will be temporarily at Forest Lawn or permanently is unclear.
O'BRIEN: I'm curious about the Neverland location, because in some ways, when Michael Jackson decided to leave Neverland, you got the sense that he wanted to distance himself from it in some ways. It was the source of such bad memories and nightmarish PR.
Earlier we spoke to Stuart Backerman and ground zero for accusations, et cetera? MONROE: He clearly was in a lot of pain coming out of the trial. In fact, the shots we saw this week, they pulled a lot of the Ferris wheel and a lot of the facilities out of there to make it simpler.
But Neverland is a good 100 or so miles from here. And unlike some people make the comparison to Graceland in Memphis, Graceland is actually in downtown Memphis. You can get off the plane, you can have some barbecue, you can go to Graceland and be out.
Neverland is a good two, three hours from here, and so it's in a very secluded part of the state.
O'BRIEN: We're watching the hearse carrying the body of Michael Jackson as it makes its way down the freeway coming here to the Staples Center, where there are, you know, the crowd is now thinning out, people beginning to really go inside and take their seats.
They opened the doors probably an hour ago for what you saw were crowds of people milling around, really waiting for this moment to see if they can catch -- those that stayed outside, catch a glimpse of the hearse that's now probably just a few minutes away.
That casket will be front and center as performers pay their tributes to Michael Jackson here this morning on the west coast.
COOPER: We're going to get in one more quick break, because we want to be live, of course, as Michael Jackson arrives at the Staples Center. Our coverage continues and continues online at CNN.com. Stay tuned.
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COOPER: Looking at some of the arrivals, Reverend Jesse Jackson arriving.
O'BRIEN: His daughter, his son.
COOPER: Yes. We saw Larry King arrive a short time ago, as well as Barbara Walters and others, as the hearse continues to make its way to the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
Just a few minutes away, we believe, there's the scene, the Jackson family accompanying the hearse on this drive, which is about a 15-minute drive in total to downtown under police escorts. You see the roads have been cleared.
I'm Anderson Cooper along with Soledad O'Brien here for our continuing coverage. We're also here with Bryan Monroe, a former vice president and editorial director of "Ebony," "Jet" magazine.
O'BRIEN: It's interesting to watch the crowd thinning out now at the Staple Center as the hearse gets closer to the location. Those who stayed outside will probably have an opportunity to catch a glimpse. Those who have gone inside really an opportunity to get their seats, because it's an indication we're just a few minutes away from this memorial service starting.
We should check in with inside -- there we go, tight there. You can see the Center beginning to fill up.
COOPER: Also, we're joined by Gail Mitchell from "Billboard," magazine. Gail, we're told that the end of this ceremony is going to be all the performers singing "We are the World." That's certainly going to be an emotional high point for a lot of viewers.
MITCHELL: Yes, it is, especially those who remember the original recording after the Grammy ceremony and Quincy Jones' famous entreaty to check the egos at the door and do this recording. So, it's a very fitting tribute.
COOPER: That was really something that really had not been done before --
MITCHELL: Right.
COOPER: -- that many artists getting together at one time.
MITCHELL: Exactly. Again, it shows Michael's legacy beyond music, that he was such a humanitarian.
COOPER: He co-wrote the song with Lionel Richie?
MITCHELL: With Lionel Richie, exactly.
O'BRIEN: I think the sheer scope of his humanitarian efforts were often not really well understood. Clearly he has the song and some other things that he did very publicly, but he also put the United Negro College Fund at the top of his list of giving, is that right?
MONROE: Yes. He was -- most people don't realize that he probably contributed $300 million to $500 million privately to various of charities, including the UNCF because he believed in African- American issues as well as global issues.
I asked him his thoughts on poverty worldwide, and he got serious in talking to me. That's why you hear it in the lyrics of his music.
COOPER: Roland Martin also joining us, watching this procession starts to get very close to the Staples Center. Roland, you can hear the helicopters over us where we are just outside the Staples Center -- your thoughts?
MARTIN: Anderson, you were just talking about "We are the World," and when you really think about Michael Jackson in terms of his music -- and the reality is music crosses boundaries, they cross geographical lines.
And so in many ways, this is not a Los Angeles production or a U.S. production, this is being viewed across the world. When he died, you had radio stations across the world going wall to wall.
When you think about his legacy, this is a guy, frankly, who was bigger than Elvis, was bigger than Frank Sinatra, and some would argue bigger than the Beatles. And so, I think, to close with "We are the World" with such a world entertainer, I think makes a heck of a lot of sense.
You also talked about this being, this is it. This really is the final performance. And the reality is that Michael Jackson has indeed gone on top.
You look at the record sales. You loot at dominating coverage for two weeks. What he wanted to do in life, to be honest, he has achieved now in death.
The question now is how soon can they build a lasting legacy to him? You think about a Frank Sinatra, yes, we revere Frank Sinatra, but there's nothing really there for people to continue to show their appreciation to Frank Sinatra like there is for Elvis.
And so having that kind of memorial will be important. And in Gary, Indiana, they really want to build it there. The mayor, Rudy Claysman, talking with the family. They say centrally located, next to Chicago, folks can access it a lot better than they could at Neverland. So, it makes a lot more sense.
O'BRIEN: Everyone, I imagine, wants to build it wherever they are...
MARTIN: Of course.
O'BRIEN: ... because you know that's something that will bring people in from a long, long distance.
It's interesting, when you think about the lasting legacy, Roland, you certainly think about his children, because he had said that one of the reasons that he wanted to take on this tour, 50 shows, was in part because he wanted his children to see him perform.
And a realist would also tell you because he has massive debt, and that was part of the reason also. But there is something about his children being sort of in the right age range, our children, Bryan, and, you know, and I both have kids that age, where you want them to understand what it is you're famous for, what it is you do, certainly.
MONROE: And he said how much the kids were important to him. When we did the interview, his son Blanket greeted us at the door...
O'BRIEN: Why is that his nickname?
MONROE: I don't know. I'm sure there was a story behind there. But he was very well-behaved. He offered us some candy, shook our hands.
But you could tell the relationship between father and son was genuine. And I believe both Blanket, Paris and Prince Michael really gave his life new meaning. And -- and especially in the later years, it really gave him focus.
O'BRIEN: You can see outside the Staples Center now those vehicles that were rolling through the highway have come to a stop, because they are slowing down, getting ready to turn in, make their way right here where we are to the Staples Center.
And, again, the streets are clear, really a testament to the job the security, the police, have done here, and not at an insignificant cost to a state that is having huge financial difficulties.
But there have been in every single shot we've seen numerous police officers, mounted police, this, of course, to make sure that there's no mayhem at this scene, which is the family and very close friends who have been attending that private memorial service really having a clear way into the Staples Center, and the hearse, too, of course most importantly, coming in and being able to place them below the stage where the memorial's going to take place.
COOPER: And let's take you inside to the Staples Center. Don Lemon is inside there. He has been watching the preparations under way. Don, we have seen a space at the bottom of the stage that we believe is where the casket of Michael Jackson will be placed.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. That's what we believe. And you guys saw it on the way here.
And just so -- to tell you about the folks who are arriving. You talked about the Reverend Jesse Jackson and his family arriving. They are inside now, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jackie Jr., Yousef, Santita Jackson and all of the Jacksons here. And they're at Chicago -- Gary, Indiana, very close, within 45 minutes of each other.
And there are pictures of the Jackson family with the other Jackson family.
I'm looking at just this Center here starting to fill up, guys, and people are -- I heard you guys talking about a solemn mood. It is not solemn here. It's celebratory.
People aren't being outrageous. They aren't dancing in the streets -- or in the aisles, I should say. But they're being very cordial and they're just happy to be here.
You can hear the announcement -- I'm not sure if you can, it says, the memorial service will start very soon. You can take your seats here.
So, just everyday folk who really loved Michael Jackson from all over the world. And really, you know, we talk about the dignitaries and whatever, it's not really about them, you know. Those are the people that get on television. Those are the names that, you know, people may perk up when they hear. But this is really about Michael Jackson, his family, and these people who supported him for years and years and years and who came from all over the world just to pay tribute to him.
There's a guy right, I'm looking at now that has the red Michael Jackson jacket from "Thriller," and the hat, and I've seen people with the gloves on.
And everyone, ever since I put that program on television, my email box is clogged. I can't even send emails out, everyone asking for this program. So, certainly, it is a collector's item, and if you can get your hands on one, it would be amazing to get one.
I'm sure they will be in short supply very soon, and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up on eBay shortly as well, Soledad and Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, Don, we want to take a very short break, our last one before the ceremony begins. So let's take that break now. And, again, our coverage continues online at CNN.com, where you can join others talking about their remembrances of Michael Jackson, a community online. We'll be right back.
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