Michael Jackson. (press release photo)
Just as Michael Jackson during life kept company with many individuals as celebrated as himself, the same can now be said of him in death. His remains were placed in the Holly Terrace section of the Great Mausoleum at Forrest Lawn.
Forest Lawn is comprised of six separate locations in southern California (with more elsewhere): Covina Hills, Cypress, Hollywood Hills, Long Beach, Cathedral City, and Glendale. Architects for the Glendale branch drew inspiration from Genoa, Italy’s, world-famous Campo Santo. Time Magazine described the Great Mausoleum where Jackson now rests as the "New World's Westminster Abbey."
An Appropriately Classic Style
The Great Mausoleum quietly boasts the kind of classic creative spiritual majesty that the iconic composer and performer sought to demonstrate through his music. It includes a Memorial Terrace leading to a masterful stained glass version of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (produced in Italy by Rosa Caselli Moretti ), and a Memorial Court of Honor, which contains precise replicas of work by the great Renaissance painter and sculptor Michelangelo.
Exterior of Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn. (press release photo)
Asleep in the Company of Giants
The Glendale branch of Forest Lawn is also the final resting place for some of the most celebrated giants in modern entertainment history. One of them is Walt Disney, whose classically-styled film music Jackson reportedly often played in his home and at his former Neverland Ranch.
According to Mark Masek, author of Hollywood Remains to be Seen, “Forest Lawn has been called the Disneyland of the dead.” It was also, he said, “the first cemetery to be called a memorial park as opposed to a memorial cemetery.”
In addition to Walt Disney, other greats in the memorial park include: Sammy Davis Jr., Ethel Waters, Jean Harlow, Dorothy Dandridge, Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, Clark Gable, and Jimmy Stewart. Like Jackson himself, nearly all of these actors, singers, dancers and producers played major roles both in shaping and advancing the entertainment culture of their time.
"The Pieta" by Michelangelo in the Great Mausoleum. (press release photo)
If Michael Jackson’s life was one that helped to define a musical era ranging from the late 1960s to the New Millennium, his death, now ruled as a homicide, has become one of the definitive events of 2009. It was the one occurrence to halt the intense nonstop media scrutiny of U.S. President Barack Obama’s every utterance, whether official or personal, and gesture. Jackson’s legacy—like that of Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke, Duke Ellington, and others before him--will remain an influential one for decades and possibly centuries to come.
For Part One of This Article Please Click Here
By Aberjhani, the African American Art Examiner and author/co-author of eight books including Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance and The American Poet Who Went Home Again.
Associated Press Video of Michael Jackson's Funeral
Visitors Guide to Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Michael Jackson A Moonwalking Giant Lies Down to Rest Part 1
Michael Jackson Legacies of a Globetrotting Moonwalking Philanthropist
To Walk a Lifetime in Michael Jackson's Moccasins
Larry King with Deepak Chopra and Others on CNN
Comments
may Micel rest in peace, we love you and may your soul be happy with the angels. Micky we love you R.I.P. I am one of your favourate supporter.
Oh yes, no possibly about it, for centuries to come. MJ's fan, and it seems you included, see Michael's imprint on over four decades. The man surpassed boundaries set by race, color, creed, gender, politics. He brought the world together under his music and dance, under that umbrella. His prolific nature, his art spirit, his trailblazing everything, his countless records that he set . . . I promise you, he will be remembered with Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Michaelangelo, Walt Whitman, he will not be forgotten. And the sad part is, so many people want to talk about silly things. Talk about the ART . . . which is why we love him to begin with. He touched our souls. Grown men were crying, and not just at his passing, merely in his presence. Duende, Lorca called it; the Art Spirit, Robert Henri, the American Painter called it; Michael said he was blessed; he deferred all praise to his Maker and Higher Power. He was a borrowed angel, and brought us the ecstatic. We love you, Mike.
And . . . it's a real shame, truly, for his detractors to be blinded by tabloid sensationalism . . . or by their judgement calls . . . they have NO IDEA what they are in the presence of. so sad. MJ's fans, we know . . . believe me, it's why we have been weeping and wildly moved by his life and his passing. I pray, for everyone's sake, that they begin to realize Michael Jackson's greatness, if only to just open their eyes and partake in it. RESEARCH HIM, people. HIS LECTURE AT OXFORD, his philanthropic ways, his kind gestures to strangers! . . . People believe what they see and hear . . . be qualitative. Turn over the stones . . . never take what you hear without ciphering it out . . . so much junk going around . . . look at the art, and understand you lived in an era of such a great performer who time will NOT erase . . . those living in his era are so blessed. So blessed.
Thank you Artur and Marian.
As objective as I attempt to be as a journalist, it's fairly impossible for anyone to ignore or diminish the magnitude of his accomplishments. People of just about any cultural or racial background tend to respect such outstanding demonstrations of humanity and genius.
Marian, your mention of duende struck quite a chord with me because I had actually started to associate that concept with Jackson's gifts myself :-)
Aberjhani
I agree with all Marian wrote - especially "He was a borrowed angel and brought us the ecstatic"
I'd also implore anyone who thinks they know Michael Jackson according to accusations and media stories to overturn those stones and LOOK deeper.
We have been in the presence of an Angel on Earth - a truly exemplary human being - a being of Light on a planet of shadows and too much darkness for our own good. His lecture at Oxford is one I listen to repeatedly, as I read his poems and essays - as well as listening to and watching his music/performance/dance for inspiration. Michael Jackson was the ultimate artist - in just about every form.
I truly believe he was gifted to us by a higher power, whatever one might believe that to be - to teach us certain things and his immense passion and talent was a means to get us to unite and listen - every race, religion, every nationality - and he did just that. Often when he performed live, there was not a dry eye in the place, such was his
No doubt whatsoever Barrett that Jackson did indeed "bring us the ecstatic" through his music and performances. The challenging thing is that, as both you and Marian point, the value of such a quality was not always recognized, but then that has often been the case throughout history with those men and women whose lives served as channels for creative spiritual energy of such a powerful magnitude.
Aberjhani
It's so sad 2loose Michael, I hav never n my life ever been so moved by the death of anyone as I hav w/Michael's death. I hav turned n 2 a pathetic mess cryin @ any given memory moment. It's like loosing the best friend u never really had. He made our dance steps, he allowed us 2 understand that the world really has 2 change. I wz raised a southern woman but I left the south because their ideas n mine were not the same. n I c clearly how Michael filled the race gap. I am 51 so I have known of Michael all my life. I remember when we were not allowed 2 watch him on tv because he was black. Michael was not black r white he was people n good people. He pulled us 2gether. A few days after he passed I wz @ a club when Billie Jean, Bad n Thriller wz played n a tribute 2Michael, there wz no room on the dance floor 2dance. It packed up. I think Michael's death moved the hearts of people who haven't really thought about Michael n years. He will NEVER leave our hearts he's n our soul. Jaimie n Tx
As sad as it is to have lost him Jaimie, the world now seems more intent than ever on celebrating Michael Jackson. I must confess that I never expected to write more than a single short blog on his death but have also found myself so affected that I continue to research and review and produce additional works reflecting on various aspects of his life, so clearly there was/is much more to the man than many of us ever allowed ourselves to see while he lived.
Aberjhani
“He could go into a state of ecstasy, which is nothing short of the existential spirit and he could do that in such a way that he brought that ecstasy to people.
I remember a concert I was with him in Bucharest, Romania. The entire city was on fire. There were people on tree tops, there were people on window ledges, on the tops of buses. As far as the eye could see there was a seething mass of humanity, and he went into an ecstatic dance and you could see the ecstasy in the whole city.”
~~Deepak Chopra
WWMJD--
When I first read your quote from Deepak Chopra talking on Larry King's CNN Show, it sounded like he was describing the Sufi poet Rumi as he whirled in the middle of a different era. I had to revisit that transcript and added a link to it to the more info section above. Thanks for sharing the excerpt.
Aberjhani
One less sicko raping children!! Good ridence!
Except, Dave, that all the relevant evidence and the recanted statements of accusers later on make it clear he was not a rapist or anything close to one at all. What the emerging evidence and testimonies indicate more than anything else is that Michael Jackson himself was a victim of exploitation, extortion, and possibly his own ambitiousness. But none of that evidence reveals him as someone who knowingly or unknowingly victimized others.
Aberjhani
What I find so sad is that now that Michael is gone, only now do we find the incentive to really look closely at who he was and there is so much we didn't know about him and are only finding out now what a truly exceptional human being he was. It's like opening layer upon layer of a box of jewels. It's delightful and beautiful but also very sad because during Michael's difficult times in his life with us, he could have used that understanding and deep love that we have for him now. We took his presence in the World for granted and didn't look more closely when it could have really made a difference in HIS life.
That is a thing that I'll be forever heartbroken, guilty and sad about in regards to Michael's death. It's hard to think of this as a beginning rather than an endless ending. I personally wish that I'd been there for him when he needed it most even if it was just a deeper understanding and more loving thoughts and wishes for him based on that, during his trials and pain.
As brutal as it may sound Barrett, it is sometimes the painful injustice that good men and women suffer in their lives that spark the creation of the lasting beauty, grace, and truths that they give to the world through the medium of their art. Michael Jackson often said the one thing he hoped for more than anything else after his passing was that he would be remembered as a great artist. Even amidst all the scandal and savage sensationalism, confirmations of the greatness he reached for increases daily. Adding to that positive confirmation is one way of balancing the previously unbalanced scales of support in regard to him.
Aberjhani
I'm sorry that last post appeared twice. I don't know what happened! Here's a quote from Michael re: remembrance:
"How would I like to be remembered? As a person who came and brought light to the world, some escapism" - Michael Jackson
He did bring light and so much more. Inspiration, love, he showed us strength, wisdom, he made you believe in yourself.
Queen Latifah put it really well:
"I'm here representing millions of fans around the world who grew up listening to Michael, being inspired and loving Michael from a distance. Somehow when Michael Jackson sang and when he danced... we felt he was right there. . . He made you believe in yourself."
From what I just saw on the VH1 Video Awards that light that Michael Jackson brought into the world is going to be around for quite some time. And I agree with Queen Latifah--because he dared so boldly to live so vulnerably for all the world to see and yet achieved wonders in spite that, he did indeed motivate others to believe in themselves and to reach for the seemingly impossible.
Aberjhani
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