Michael Jackson was laid to rest last Thursday evening at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale, CA. The private funeral was attended by 200 family members and close friends.

Michael Jackson is laid to rest

On a hot evening at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, friends and family say farewell to the pop singer.

By Carla Hall and Chris Lee

In a tree-lined clearing of Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale, about 200 of Michael Jackson’s family and friends gathered for the final leg of the pop singer’s odyssey from death to interment on a hot Thursday evening exactly 10 weeks after he was found dead.

The service, scheduled for sunset, became a nighttime gathering as guests awaited the late arrival of Jackson’s family. They were ferried through the park’s towering gates in a fleet of luxury cars and took their places in the front row of white folding chairs.

The Jackson brothers, in black suits and red ties, filed past a portrait of Michael, a confident smile on his face. His children made their way to their seats. A bespectacled Paris Jackson, his young daughter, wearing a dark dress and her long hair pulled back in a ponytail, watched soberly.

Jackson’s children placed a crown on their father’s coffin — a nod to his moniker, the King of Pop. Gladys Knight sang the gospel hymn “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and songwriter Clifton Davis sang a tune he penned for the Jackson 5 that became one of their signature songs — “Never Can Say Goodbye.”

Check out the entire article here.

They claimed that the funeral was gonna be private yet CNN had coverage of folks arriving at the funeral. The feed was eventually cut off before the funeral started.

Speaking of CNN, I found a transcript for LKL (Larry King Live) from Thursday’s show. Larry interviewed one of Michael’s long time friends Steve Manning.  Steve is featured in Ebony Magazine’s September 2009 issue with Michael on the cover.  According to Ebony Magazine Steve started out in 1970 as president of the Jackson 5 fan club and later became the group’s publicist at Epic Records.  The Jackson family consider him a member of the family and Michael called him “brother.”

Larry asked Steve if he will be writing a book about Michael and Steve said yes:

KING: Are you going to write a book about him?

MANNING: Yes, I am, Larry. Yes.

KING: What angle?

MANNING: Well, the people don’t know him. I mean they’ve never — the real Michael Jackson — the Michael Jackson nobody knows. He was very misunderstood. He felt that people didn’t understand him. I’ve known him for 40 years.

KING: What was his biggest weakness?

MANNING: Being kind, being trusting to you…

KING: Too kind?

MANNING: Yes. Absolutely, yes. And I’ll tell you something, he also often wondered, he just had a great faith. That song there was influenced by Mahalia Jackson (ph), the late Robert Johnson and Bob Johnson — I mean, the Johnson publication people…

If there is anyone who knows the real Michael Jackson it’s probably Steve Manning. That should be one interesting book if he does write one.

RIP Michael.