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FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
The scene outside the childhood<br />
home of Michael Jackson resembled<br />
a party as fans joined members<br />
of the pop star’s family for a vigil<br />
Wednesday, which would have been<br />
his 54th birthday. Fans danced to<br />
Jackson’s music prior to the arrival of<br />
his children and mother at the house<br />
at 2300 Jackson St, where the King of<br />
Pop, his siblings and their parents<br />
lived until 1969. In the days after<br />
Jackson’s death in 2009, the singer’s<br />
admirers piled stuffed animals, flowers<br />
and photos outside the tiny home<br />
in Gary.<br />
Among those at the Wednesday<br />
night vigil was Andrei Tejada, 32, a<br />
Chicago veterinary technician student<br />
who said she was pleased that<br />
Jackson’s relatives were attending the<br />
event. “They still remember where<br />
they started, and it shows they appreciate<br />
where they started. It’s a humbling<br />
experience to know they are<br />
here,” said Tejada, who said she visits<br />
the Jackson childhood home once a<br />
month.<br />
Other events planned by the family<br />
in Gary include a dinner Friday and a<br />
concert Saturday. Before the vigil,<br />
Jackson’s children, 14-year-old Paris<br />
and 15-year-old Prince Michael, were<br />
given blue “Team Gary” T-shirts by<br />
Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson as<br />
they posed for pictures at a casino<br />
overlooking Lake Michigan. “We just<br />
want you to know how much he<br />
meant to us and the city of Gary,” the<br />
mayor said. Paris and Prince Michael<br />
didn’t speak during the brief presentation.<br />
Later, in the moments before<br />
the vigil was to start, the two, joined<br />
by Jackson’s other child, Prince<br />
Michael II, signed autographs outside<br />
the Jackson home. A large crowd<br />
formed around them, with fans shov-<br />
ing books and posters in the teens’<br />
faces.<br />
Jackson’s sister LaToya told the<br />
crowd the family’s musical fame started<br />
in the city, east of Chicago, and in<br />
“this little house.” After saying, “We all<br />
love you, Michael,” LaToya folded her<br />
hands and looked to the sky.<br />
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition leader<br />
the Rev. Jesse Jackson showed up at<br />
the tribute, stopping in the crowd<br />
before the vigil to pose for a photo<br />
with a Michael Jackson impersonator.<br />
Jackson later said he thanked God for<br />
Michael Jackson and led the crowd in<br />
chanting, “Long live Michael!”<br />
Michael Jackson spent the first 11<br />
years of his life in Gary. The family<br />
moved out of the city known for its<br />
steel mills after the Jackson 5 struck it<br />
big in 1969 with the release of their<br />
first album.<br />
Aside from two concerts the<br />
Jackson 5 played at West Side High<br />
School in 1971, the only time the<br />
singer returned to his hometown was<br />
in 2003, when plans for a Michael<br />
Jackson Performing Arts Center in the<br />
city’s downtown were announced. It<br />
was never built. “Gary, you are family,<br />
you always will be, I love you,”<br />
Jackson said at the time. Last week, a<br />
Los Angeles judge appointed the pop<br />
star’s nephew, TJ Jackson, to share<br />
guardianship responsibilities for the<br />
late singer’s three children with family<br />
matriarch Katherine Jackson.<br />
TJ Jackson was appointed a temporary<br />
guardian last month when<br />
Katherine Jackson was incommunicado<br />
during a stay at an Arizona spa<br />
with relatives. Other family members<br />
have said Katherine Jackson was<br />
being improperly influenced regarding<br />
custody arrangements for the<br />
children, but her attorney disputed<br />
those claims. — AP<br />
Lifestyle<br />
Jackson family<br />
in Gary to mark pop star’s birthday<br />
Paris Jackson, daughter of entertainer Michael<br />
Jackson, poses with a fan.<br />
Prince, left, and Paris Jackson, son and daughter to the late pop icon Michael Jackson, display<br />
T-shirts given to them by Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson Wednesday. — AP photos<br />
Paris Jackson, daughter of entertainer Michael Jackson, receives a poster of her<br />
family from a fan.<br />
At Venice: Michael<br />
Shannon darkens<br />
‘Iceman’ role<br />
Michael Shannon is filmdom’s newest<br />
Mafia hit man, playing a killer-forhire<br />
who conceals the truth of his<br />
occupation from his picture-perfect suburban<br />
family in “The Iceman.” Israeli director<br />
Ariel Vroman says he fought for years to get<br />
Shannon into the role, fending off “more<br />
obvious choices.”<br />
Vroman said he wanted Shannon because<br />
“he comes with a darkness,” explaining it was<br />
more effective to “make that darkness more<br />
refined” than to “bring someone who is very<br />
cheesy” and try to add it.<br />
In the film, based on the real story of<br />
Richard Kuklinski, Shannon stars alongside<br />
Winona Ryder as his unsuspecting wife and<br />
Ray Liotta as the Mafia boss who recognizes<br />
hit-man potential. The film makes its world<br />
premiere yesterday in competition at the<br />
Venice Film Festival. — AP
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