Afterward: Michael Jackson Memorial

As one of the 8,750 people selected out of the million-plus who submitted requests for tickets to the Michael Jackson Public Memorial Tuesday,  I attended the July 7, 2009 event at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Though very much a life-long fan of Michael Jackson, I went somewhat cynically to observe the spectacle. But …

Guess Who They’re Letting In To The Jackopalooza!?

Gotta admit, I submitted my request to attend the Michael Jackson Memorial at Staples Center tomorrow far more to just bear witness to the public spectacle than to publicly bare any grief at his passing. And when yesterday came and went without getting confirmation — especially with the news that I was literally among a …

Mourning Has Broken

Literally no sooner had my reminiscing post recalling the day I “met” Farrah Fawcett gone live at L.A. Metblogs when news started trickling in about Michael Jackson. To say goodbye to one adored icon of my youth — in essence my Marilyn Monroe — was tough enough. But on the same day for a cherished …

Richard Sylvan Selzer, RIP

Way back in another life when I was the theater critic at-large and filing a theater review every Monday for the Pasadena Weekly newspaper, I once found myself at Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse seated directly behind one Richard Sylvan Selzer — far more recognizable as Mr. Blackwell, the self-styled arbiter of taste most famously known for …