Jackson memorial set, fans can apply for tickets

LOS ANGELES - A memorial service for Michael Jackson will take place Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Tim Leiweke, CEO of AEG Live, announced Friday that 17,500 tickets will be made available to fans via a Web lottery to attend the service. Eleven thousand tickets will be issued for the Staples Center and an additional 6,500 will offer seats to watch a live simulcast at the nearby Nokia Theater.

Fans interested in attending the memorial service can apply for the lottery at the Staples Center Web site. Registration began at 10 a.m. PT and will continue until 6 p.m. PT on Saturday. A computer program will randomly select 8,750 names to receive two tickets for one venue or the other, he said. Those selected to receive tickets will be notified between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, and will be given a code to use at the Ticketmaster.com Web site, which will give them further instructions on where to go Monday morning to get the tickets and wristbands enabling them to enter the venues, Leiweke said.

The area around Staples and Nokia will be blocked off by police, and there will be no outside broadcast in or around Staples Center. But the service is being offered free to TV networks, so fans who do not get tickets were encouraged to watch the service from the comfort of their own homes, said Councilwoman Jan Perry, who is acting mayor while Antonio Villaraigosa is on vacation in South Africa.

Organizers also said there will be no funeral procession as had been rumored.

They also had no details on the family's plans for a private service for the pop star, nor did they offer details about the public service itself.

Jackson’s brother Jermaine told CNN’s Larry King that there will be a private ceremony for family and some special guests before the public memorial. He added the family wants to have other memorials around the United States.

Video   Final images of Michael Jackson July 3: TODAY’s Natalie Morales talks with msnbc.com’s Courtney Hazlett and Dr. Roshini Raj of Health magazine about videotaped dress rehearsals from Michael Jackson’s ill-fated comeback concert tour.  Today show

Meanwhile, the future of Michael Jackson’s children was thrown into question Thursday when his ex-wife emerged and won a delay in a custody hearing while she decides whether she wants to raise her two offspring.

It was the first legal move from Deborah Rowe since the entertainer’s death. Jackson’s will asks for his 79-year-old mother, Katherine, to get permanent custody of his three.

Rowe, who met Jackson as a receptionist in the office of his dermatologist, has characterized their relationship as strictly for the purpose of giving birth to Jackson’s children. She is the mother of his two oldest children and received $8.5 million in their divorce, according to court records. His youngest child, 7-year-old Prince Michael II, was conceived with an unidentified surrogate.

Rowe has spent little time with her son Michael Joseph Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; and daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11. But Rowe also has opposed the idea of Katherine Jackson getting custody of her children when it came up in the past.

Rowe’s attorney, Eric M. George, said his client had not decided whether to seek custody.

 

 

A guardianship hearing was set for July 13 at the request of attorneys for Rowe and for Katherine Jackson, who has temporary guardianship of her son’s children.

In other developments:

• A 30-second snippet of Jackson rehearsing for a series of comeback concerts in London two days before his death was released Thursday. The rehearsal footage, shot in high definition, includes Jackson performing his hits “Thriller” and “Beat It.” His voice is strong and he appears in perfect health. Other footage shows production meetings and auditions.
• A court hearing was scheduled for Monday to deal with who will take temporary control of Jackson’s estate. He left all his assets to the Michael Jackson Family Trust. A person familiar with the details of the trust said it would be shared between his mother, who gets 40 percent, his three children, who together get 40 percent, and charities for children, which would receive 20 percent. The charities will be determined later by the trust. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.