With more than a half million fans eagerly entering a lottery for tickets to Michael Jackson’s memorial, Los Angeles braced itself for an onslaught of mourners. The Staples Center and local police prepared for the worst, closing freeways and pulling every available officer for crowd control.
It turns out preparations were a little over the top. The Los Angeles police deployed the largest number of officers since the 1984 Olympics, according to the LA Times . All over the blogosphere, Los Angelinos are complaining about the massive expense incurred during the memorial. Instead of an anticipated million people, fewer than one …read more

Back in 1983, a year after Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” release, the King of Pop and his brothers teamed up with Pepsi in a $5 million partnership. Those kind of numbers were unheard of for a celebrity endorsement at the time.
And now, after Jackson’s untimely death, his landbreaking marketing power is stronger than ever. On Friday, more than half million fans around the globe applied for a lottery for 17,500 free tickets to his public memorial service, which will take place next week. Fans are scrambling to get tickets to the celebration at the Staples Center in Los Angeles happening on …read more