Nostalgia soars as fans pay tribute to Jackson

CAIRO (Al Arabiya)

A sudden wave of mournful nostalgia took hold worldwide as fans and fellow pop stars revived memories of Michael Jackson's musical genius, tarnished over the past decade by accusations of child molestation and eccentric behavior.

Jackson's death was front-page news around the world as airwaves filled with his greatest hits from "Thriller" to "Billie Jean" and social networking sites were bombarded with messages and tributes.

"My heart, my mind are broken," actress Elizabeth Taylor, long a close friend of Jackson, said in a statement.

"He will be in my heart forever but it's not enough," Taylor said. "My life feels so empty. I don't think anyone knew how much we loved each other."

Michael's fluidity of movement made his dance moves a sensation

On Hollywood Boulevard, police put up barricades to control thousands of fans who filed past Jackson's star on the Walk of Fame to honor the child prodigy who became one of the top singers of all time with an estimated 750 million albums sold.

About 50 people danced to such Jackson hits as "Rock with You" and "Beat It" in New York's Washington Square. When "Thriller" played, the crowd formed into lines to imitate the moves from Jackson's ground-breaking video for the song.

Facing a battered reputation and a mountain of debt that the Wall Street Journal reported ran to $500 million, Jackson spent the last two months rehearsing for a series of 50 London concerts, including Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Many claimed Michael's marriage to Lisa Presley was an attempt to dispel child molestation rumors

Despite reports of Jackson's ill health, the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson passed a 4 1/2-hour physical examination with independent doctors.

In death, the gloved one's music enjoyed an immediate rebound that eluded him for years. His songs surged to the top 15 on online retailer Amazon.com's best-selling albums within hours.

He dominated the charts in the 1980s and was one of the most successful entertainers, with 13 Grammy Awards and several seminal music videos. His 1982 album "Thriller" yielded seven top-10 singles.

But he was twice accused of molesting young boys and was charged in 2003 with child sexual abuse. He was acquitted of all charges in a four-month trial in 2005.

Inmates dance for Jackson

Inmates perform a dance routine in the syle of MJ's 'Thriller' at a jail in Cebu city

An unusual number of tourists flocked to a Philippine jail in Cebu city on Saturday to watch about 1,500 inmates perform a special Michael Jackson dance tribute in honor of the dead star.

"Visitors have been calling and checking in with us for this afternoon's performance," said a prison official who did not want to be named, while an AFP photographer at the jail said visitors were told to sign in hours ahead of the scheduled performance to guarantee a slot.

The jailbirds spawned a worldwide Internet hit two years ago with their morning exercise routine using synchronized movements based on the groundbreaking 1982 "Thriller" video.

Fans worldwide tried to emulate Michael's smooth style

The prisoners' dance found its way onto the popular Internet video-sharing site YouTube, where it developed a huge fan base. The four-minute video has so far generated more than 23 million hits.

The inmates in their saffron uniforms have themselves become tourist attractions, with visitors allowed to have their pictures taken with the dancers after each performance.

Choreographer Byron Garcia, a prison consultant and the brains behind the dance exercise, said he was shocked by Jackson's death and that many of his wards were grief-stricken.

"I am shocked, the inmates are still in grief after learning that their idol is already dead," Garcia told AFP, adding that the inmates had performed the routine for visiting tourism officials on Thursday afternoon, just hours before Jackson died.

Bus fight over Jackson

Michael's fans are extremely loyal to him

While many fans grieved over Jackson's sudden death, others fought over him as fight broke out on a Florida bus when news of Michael Jackson's death sparked debate over whether he should be remembered as a great musical talent, and one passenger was charged with assault, police said on Friday.

The bus was moving through the city of North Lauderdale on Thursday when passenger James Kiernan received a text message about Jackson's death on his cell phone, and he read it aloud on the bus, the Broward County Sheriff's Department said.

The unidentified bus driver opined that "Michael Jackson should have been in jail long ago," prompting Kiernan, 60, to retort that "the world just lost a great musical talent," the police report said.

It said the last remark enraged another passenger, Henry Wideman, who started a swearing match with Kiernan, then pulled out a knife and chased Kiernan down the aisle with it.

The driver called his dispatcher and pulled over near a convenience store to wait for sheriff's deputies, who arrested Wideman, 54. He remained in jail on Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Biggest news story to date

A Facebook screen image showing a group on Facebook created in memory Michael Jackson

Jackson's death has heavily impacted social network site Twitter in the past two days with Tweets about the pop icon comprising about 30 percent of the total volume the microblog according to the leading widget network Clearspring while Google reported a huge surge in Michael Jackson queries.

Yahoo registered an all time record for its News traffic yesterday if 16.4 million unique visitors, beating out election day in the U.S., where the site saw 15.1 million visitors.

Google chart shows a huge surge in Michael Jackson queries following news of his death

New Media Strategies reported that Jackson’s Wikipedia page logged 1.8 million visitors Friday, compared to its daily average of just 20,000 in a addition to a whooping 650 edits as users feverishly updated the entry as news broke.

Remembering Michael Jackson Facebook groups proliferated the social networking site in Arabic and English as fans joined to remember everything that was great about Jackson, ignoring years of weirdness and scandal.

The pop icon surges made Jackson's sudden and shocking death one of the biggest news stories in recent history, likely to dominate online discussions in the coming weeks if not months.

(With agencies)