Update: Michael Jackson Birthday Block Party Location Change, Andy Warhol’s Michael Portrait Is Sold, and Michael’s Burial Is Postponed. Again.

The Nethermead, at the center of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, where Spike Lee's commemorative party for Michael Jackson will occur (Courtesy: Prospect Park Alliance)

From The New York Times:

The party will take place at the Nethermead, a meadow in the center of Prospect Park, according to an e-mail message from a city official on Friday.

The date, Aug. 29, which would have been the singer’s 51st birthday, and the time, from noon to 5 p.m., remain unchanged.

The decision to move the party came after several days of discussion on the wisdom of holding it in the 30-acre Fort Greene Park because of the large number of people expected.

Prospect Park is about 18 times bigger.

Apparently the authorities were concerned about crowd control. Thirty acres, in their opinion, wasn’t going to do it. Some are predicting upwards to 10,000 or more attendees hanging out, drinking, eating and dancing to Michael’s best, not the 2,000 envisioned by Lee and his organizers, because of nationwide publicity over the upcoming event. (I know…y’all did come over here, and checked it out. Thank you very much for visiting, and come again!)

But it’s still going to happen, and on Michael’s birthday. I hope the news outlets do a couple of reports on this event, and better, that Spike films this for a little short-short film. It’s bound to be a party to remember, especially if DJ Spinna is as good as folks are saying he is.

Andy Warhol's Michael Jackson sold for over $1 million at the Vered Gallery in the Hamptons on Tuesday; it is one of four commissioned by Time Magazine in 1984 (Courtesy: Culture Monster)

Meanwhile, Andy Warhol’s famous portrait of Michael Jackson sold on Tuesday at the Vered Gallery in the Hamptons for far less than the $10 million some were predicting the painting would go for, as it is now an integral part of the Jackson memorabilia catalog. However, it reportedly went for more than $1 million, about $700,000 more than than what it sold for some three months before Michael’s death. The exact price and the name of the new owner were not divulged.

Michael’s private burial has also been postponed once more, but TMZ.com says it’s more about the unanticipated opening of school than anything else. The children will not be home-schooled as before, and will attend private schools for the first time this year, although a school has yet to be chosen. Katherine Jackson, it is said, is leaning towards The Buckley School, as Tito’s children once attended there.

The burial will instead occur on September 3, at Holly Terrace in The Great Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. TMZ.com reports that Michael’s body resides in a freezer awaiting final disposition, and that Katherine Jackson visits the body “frequently.” What is she doing, praying over him, or not wanting to let him go? By now, Katherine knows what he did to himself; lingering over his remains and blaming herself for what she didn’t do all the way up to his death only makes it worse.

~ by blksista on August 22, 2009.