Michael Jackson's public memorial service will take place at LA's Staples Center on July 7th. NBC's Michael Okwu reports preparations at the site are already underway.
[Updated at 6:15 p.m.:
Few details were immediately available. But in a statement, Sunshine said that 11,000 tickets will be distributed to the general public free of charge. There will be a registration system to get tickets. More details will be announced Friday.]
Randy Philips, president and CEO of AEG, told KNBC's Robert Kovacik that the service, which will be open to the public, will begin at 10 a.m. Arrivals are set to begin at 8 a.m.
According to Philips, the overflow crowd will be accommodated at Nokia Plaza where widescreen TVs will broadcast the proceedings inside.
Details are still to be finalized when I meet with the Jackson family this afternoon, Philips said. Everything is in preliminary stages except the place and time.
The Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus has long been scheduled to appear at Staples next Wednesday through Sunday, July 12. Traditionally, the Parade of the Elephants in which the circus elephants walk, trunk to tail, through downtown to Staples -- is held as circus performers arrive in town.
This year, that parade was scheduled for Tuesday morning followed by a visit by local elementary school children who were to aid in the animals' feeding. One source familiar with the planning process said that the parade would continue but that the schoolchildren would have to wait.
Debbie Rowe to Fight for Custody
Debbie Rowe will fight for custody of Paris and Michael Jr., the children born during her marriage to Michael Jackson -- this, according to NBC 4 in Los Angeles.
According to the NBC 4 website, Rowe said during a 90-minute phone conversation, “I want my children." Rowe says she will seek a restraining order to keep Joe Jackson away from the children.
Rowe also says she'll submit to a DNA test to prove she's the biological mother.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
