No encores for MJ

How poignant that gold casket was. It stood, surrounded by thousands of people but all alone on a pedestal much like Michael did in life

No encores for MJ

How poignant that gold casket was. It stood, surrounded by thousands of people but all alone on a pedestal much like Michael did in life.

Around the world, mourners, fans, groupies and the-merely-curious tuned in to watch that flower laden casket being wheeled in by bling-tied men, whose skin colour Michael would have called a shade too tanned.

Most of us who were watching, just wanted to know hmmm...you think they'll lift the lid for one last peek before they put him away for ever. Was that really a wig? Was that really a nose? Were those really cheek implants?

Or were they all merely a cover up to one of the biggest celebrity downward slides in history?

The rumours flew thick and furious. One went that, M J had actually died six years ago, and this was a double (how much plastic surgery would it take to make a double look like a plasticated Michael?) The family had to kill the double off before the London shows happened or the public would have gotten to know the real story.

Back in office, there were clearly two groups of people: the older set, for whom Thriller was a landmark video.

And the rest: the blasu00e9 MTV-ed generation who grew up with bubble gum and silicon staring at their faces, as women gyrated in unmemorable video after unmemorable video.u00a0 That first older set played HIStory and Everlasting Love, for two entire days. They relived memories when they had first seen Annie. Reminisced over how they tried to moonwalk in college. Black and gold jackets and white gloves were all the rage back then.

You wore your hair long. You held your crotch when you danced. And at the end of every song, you stood on tiptoe like a ballet dancer only it was a cool cat thing to do.

The second set put up with the Jackson tracks for exactly three hours. They then grabbed a sandwich and quickly checked youtube for the latest gags on the legend: the most popular one apparently, is of Hitler being broken the news of Michael's death. In a way that is almost cruel to those of us who first saw morphing in Black Or White, the crass here-today, forget-tomorrow youngsters were cracking up on this inane video. But then they never lived through the era of this man who was loved and reviled, misunderstood and misquoted. What can you say about a man who never wanted to grow up u2014 but who was such a genius, he was a giant?u00a0u00a0

I guess his funeral is all he would have ever wanted it to be : he looked perfect, the flowers were beautiful, and his kids and friends and zillions of fans around the world were saying only one thing: Michael, don't go!u00a0 "Heaven Can Wait."