Final farewell

Hundreds of Thai fans headed to the lobby of CentralWorld Tower last week to mourn Michael Jackson at a commemorative event titled "You Are Not Alone", joining voices to sing "Michael, you are not alone" and leaving garlands in front of the king of pop's portrait.

They also toured an exhibition of MJ memorabilia before enjoying performances by Thai artists, impersonators and fans, as well as a talk titled "Why was Michael Jackson praised as King of Pop?" by artists and members of the media, among them Tik Shiro whose hit "Oak Ma Ten" was inspired by the American star's "Beat It" and Atchariya Singrachatanan, aka DJ Miew, who won second prize in the "Heal the World" essay competition several years ago.

The event opened with music and a collection of scenes showing Jackson in Thailand and abroad, followed by a striking performance of young boys and girls singing the chorus of "Heal the World" led by voice trainer Rungroj Dullpan, the man behind the success of many Grammy artists.

Art Vocation was next up, singing in "I'll Be There" to the accompaniment of keyboards by Paul Ewing who once played with the king of pop.

Fans had fun bidding for Tik Shiro's acrylic painting of Michael Jackson - it sold for the more than Bt10,000. The event wrapped with a rousing rendition of "You Are Not Alone", with John Ratanaweroj leading all the artists in song.

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.

XTRA

Too little, too late

>> Fans were also show a video of Jackson rehearing in the US for his "This Is It" shows at The O2 arena in London, which were rescheduled to run from July 8 to March 6, 2010.