LimeWire Music Blog

1:44 pm: Mariah ends her song with simple words, “We miss you.”

1:45 pm: Is that unmistakable voice — why yes, yes it is. Queen Latifah! “We never felt distant … We believed in Michael and he believed in you.” Latifah reminisces as a fan, talking about trying to learn his dances with her siblings as a child. “Michael was the biggest star on Earth. He let me know that as an African American, you can travel the world.” Latifah reads something Maya Angelou wrote for Jackson. “Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing. Now that our bright and shining star can slip through our fingertips like a puff of summer wind,” it begins. “He was ours, and we were his,” writes Angelou.

1:49 pm: Here’s Lionel Richie, singing “Jesus Is Love,” and keeping it together better than Mariah was able to.

1:54 pm: Wow, when was the last time you saw Berry Gordy give a public speech? But here he is. “The Motown family mourns the death of our friend and brother, Michael Jackson, who was like a son to me,” says Gordy. He reminisces about “that July day in 1968″ when he heard Michael sing for the first time. “Michael had a quality that I couldn’t completely understand, but we all knew that he was special.” Gordy is talking about Motown: “sometimes the competition got in the way of the love, but the love always won out.” He shares some memories of Jackson-Gordy family softball games — which the Jacksons, with little help from Michael, tended to win. Says Gordy, “He loved everything and everybody, especially his fans … The more I talk about Michael Jackson, the more I think The King of Pop is not big enough for him. I think he is simply the greatest entertainer who ever lived.” Gordy concludes, “Michael, thank you for the joy, thank you for the love. You will live in my heart forever. I love you.”

2:03 pm: The screens are showing a collage of moments from Jackson’s life, from familiar music videos to Grammy acceptance speeches to stacks of tabloid covers to a melange of triumphant images set to “You Are Not Alone.”

2:07 pm: Stevie Wonder takes the stage to thunderous applause. “This is a moment I wished I didn’t live to see come,” he says. “I do know that God is good, and I do know that as much as we may feel that we need Michael here with us, God must have needed you far more.” He, too, seems near tears, singing his own song, the appropriately titled “Never Thought You’d Leave in Summer.” Wonder’s voice shakes and even cracks with emotion.

2:15 pm: Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant appear. Bryant talks about Jackson’s commitment of charity, saying, “Because he gave so much to so many of us for so long, Michael Jackson will be with us forever.” Johnson remembers his own friendship with Jackson, which was memorialized in the video “Remember The Time.” “That was the greatest moment of my life,” says Johnson, recalling the day when he shared a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken with the King of Pop.

2:21 pm: A very pregnant Jennifer Hudson doesn’t say anything but keeps looking at the sky while performing “Will You Be There.” I could probably do without the cheesy dancing. She cedes the floor to a recording of Jackson’s voice for its end-of-song, spoken-word portion. The effect is both chilling and poignant.

2:25 pm: Al Sharpton — who, WTF, got thin, when did that happen? — steps up to the podium and speaks about the (highly controversial) Jackson family in his best preacher shout. “He put on one glove, pulled his pants up, and broke down the color curtain!” he yells. Jeez, I forgot how goofy Sharpton can be. Of course, he is talking about the color barrier. Jackson begat Obama. Important, certainly, but did they have to get Al Sharpton to say it? Oh, that’s right — he’s here to make the first controversial statement of the day, directed at Jackson’s children: “Ain’t nothin’ strange about your daddy. It was strange what he had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway.”

2:33 pm: John Mayer? Really? Who called him up? He’s doing “Human Nature.” Time for a drink break.

2:38 pm: Brooke Shields is speaking about her friendship with Jackson. “We had a bond, and maybe it was because we both understood what it was like to be in the spotlight from a very young age. I used to tease him, and I’d say, ‘I started at 11 months old. You’re a slacker. You were, what, five?’” she says. “Both of us needed to be adults from a very young age. But when we were together, we were two little kids having fun.” Shields remembers when he tried — in vain — to teach him the moonwalk. She tells of when she and Jackson snuck into Elizabeth Taylor’s room, pre-wedding, to take a first peak at her dress. “It must have seemed very odd to the outside,” she says. “But we made it fun. And we made it real.” Shields recalls questioning Michael’s sequined glove. She tells the audience Jackson reminded her of The Little Prince and reads a particularly apt passage of the book. Good call, Brooke.

2:47 pm: Jermaine Jackson sings “Smile,” wearing his brother’s signature glove. I can’t help thinking this must be by far Jermaine’s biggest gig in about three decades. Sorry about that…

2:52 pm: Whoa, it’s Martin Luther King III. He demonstrates his father’s unparalleled oratory skills in a speech that puts Sharpton’s to shame. Bernice King invokes Jesus: “At the end of the day, it is only God’s love that will anchor you, sustain you and move you to a higher ground.” She remembers when Jackson called Coretta Scott King on her deathbed to say he had been praying for her. “He was indeed a shining light, like our father, Martin,” she says. “Rest in peace, our brother Michael.”

2:59 pm: Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) comes to represent her colleagues in the House. “We understand the Constitution, we understand laws and we know that people are innocent until proven otherwise,” she says. She compares his life to the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan and talks about his charity and visits to wounded war veterans. She speaks about a House resolution to claim Michael Jackson as an “American legend … someone who will be honored forever and forever and forever..”

3:08 pm: Usher sings”Gone Too Soon.” A competent, but not particularly powerful, tribute.

3:12 pm: More video, this time an early Jackson 5 performance of “Who’s Lovin’ You” from the Ed Sullivan Show.

3:13 pm: Smokey Robinson gets up again, saying, “I wrote that song!” When he first heard Jackson sing it, he says he couldn’t believe the boy was only 10 years old. “I did not believe that someone that young could have that much feeling and soul and know,” he says. “I never thought I would be here today. That’s my little brother.”

3:18 pm: Here’s a kid I haven’t seen before, singing “Who’s Lovin’ You.” Apparently, his name is Shaheen Jafargholi, and he sang the song on Britain’s Got Talent. He does a pretty good job with it. The choreographer Kenny Ortega joins Shaheen after his performance to share a few memories.

3:26 pm: A collage of religious symbols and lyrics appear on a big screen as a slew of multicultural singers perform “We Are The World.” The Jackson family, and many of the other of the day’s acts, take the stage. A bunch of kids join the performers. Now it’s time for “Heal the World.”

3:34 pm: The Jackson family addresses the audience, each in turn. Everyone has on sunglasses, likely to hide puffy eyes. Jackson’s daughter, Paris, clings to Janet Jackson. “I would like for you to give our brother, my twin brother, Brandon, a hug for me,” says ____ .

3:40 pm: Paris unexpectedly takes over the microphone, giving the last words of the day: “Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much,” she managed, through tears. And now, embarrassingly enough, I’m crying too. Even bloggers have feelings.

Now here’s Brian Williams to overanalyze. But me? I’m out.