Popping kingsize remembrances

Michael Jackson fans the world over paused on Friday to remember the King of Pop with songs, dances and prayers on the first anniversary of his death.

From silent mournings to moonwalk jams to raucous bashes... tributes on Michael Jackson’s first death anniversary were as varied as his music.
Michael Jackson fans the world over paused on Friday to remember the King of Pop with songs, dances and prayers on the first anniversary of his death, a day Jackson’s father marked by filing a wrongful-death lawsuit against the doctor charged with giving his son a lethal dose of sedatives.

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In Japan, hundreds of people lit candles in Jackson’s memory. In the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, thousands filled the Forest Lawn Cemetery, where Jackson’s body is entombed in the mausoleum. Some of them released white doves while others wept softly. “He’s been my idol all my life. I feel like I haven’t had closure,” said Erick Dominguez, who traveled more than 80 miles from his home in Victorville to pay respects.

Several of MJ’s relatives visited the mausoleum, which was off limits to the public. Brother Tito shook hands with fans as he arrived, and brother Jermaine rolled down a window and waved as the family left in a fleet of luxury vehicles. In MJ’s hometown of Gary, Indiana, his mother, Katherine, unveiled a monument in the front yard of the modest home where her children grew up. “This past year has been very hard on us. If it wasn’t for the help of all of you, we wouldn’t have made it through.”