Even in Death, Elvis Beats Jacko Like a Drum

Matt Welch | July 1, 2009

So, Michael Jackson will be buried at Neverland, and freaky or campy couples of the future will be getting married near his remains, right? Think again:

Joe Jackson...said Michael would not be buried there, and Don Loper, director for the Loper Funeral Chapel in nearby Ballard, had a succinct answer to the question.

"No," said Loper, explaining that, legally, only ranches with grandfathered personal cemeteries may be used to bury remains. [...]

The possibility of a Jackson museum put Santa Barbara County Supervisor Doreen Farr, elected on a slow-growth platform, on the political hot seat, caught between music fans and her pro-green supporters. Speculation about a Jackson museum ignored one King Kong-sized if prosaic issue, however: zoning.

Reason on zoning here; on MJ here.

Comments

DHS Thinks I\'m a Terrorist|7.1.09 @ 9:19AM|#

""No," said Loper, explaining that, legally, only ranches with grandfathered personal cemeteries may be used to bury remains. [...]"

Aren't laws wonderfull!

|7.1.09 @ 9:29AM|#

Oh, I'm sure theres a very important public policy reason for the law, DHSetc.

:)

|7.1.09 @ 9:38AM|#

Wow, I would love to spend a day at Neverland!

RT
www.complete-privacy.tk

Abdul|7.1.09 @ 9:41AM|#

I think that we can all agree Michael Jackson would have preferred to be buried in a twelve year old than in Neverland.

What? Too soon?

Libertroll|7.1.09 @ 9:43AM|#

I'm sure theres a very important public policy reason for the law, DHSetc.

But really, shouldn't we defer to the institutional wisdom of the policymakers of Santa Barbara County? I mean these people are EXPERTS working for ELECTED officials. It has been handed down through the ages that land use regulation falls under the police power of local governments, and who are we to say that this or that regulation is unacceptable? I'm sure the voters of Santa Barbara County knew exactly what they were doing when they forbade burials on ranchlands. Who are we to dispute their priorities?

Mike in PA|7.1.09 @ 9:49AM|#

I looked up the ranch on a map... It's a huge piece of property in the middle of nowhere. If the property owner has no problem with it, then the government shouldn't even have a say. Michael Jackson's ridiculousness is not even comparable to government's.

Tim Cavanaugh|7.1.09 @ 9:54AM|#

It's been about a week, so can I say one other critical thing about Michael Jackson's death relative to Elvis Presley's? The King of Rock may not have been in the best shape physically or morally in his declining years, but unlike the King of Pop, who did nothing interesting musically in at least 15 or 20 years, Elvis remained at the top of his form.

You could make the case (that is, I'm going to make the case) that The King's 1970s output includes some of the best work of his career. I challenge anybody to listen to Elvis's versions of "Danny Boy," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Snowbird," etc., with a dry eye. He still had variety, doing relatively up-to-the-moment material as well as songs for Jesus, wide-ranging country as well as roofraisers. And that's even though musical styles (I would say) had changed more dramatically between Elvis' heyday and his death than they have since Thriller. Of the two kings, Elvis is the one who remained relevant, for something other than unintentional comedy, until his death.

Telly|7.1.09 @ 10:03AM|#

And Elvis didn't diddle pre-pubescent boys or feel a need "to share a bed and cuddle with them" to meet a love and affection need. That's enough for me to keep him way above Michael Jackson.

Mike M.|7.1.09 @ 10:06AM|#

Indeed. I suspect that Elvis impersonators and Elvis tributes will be still be going on for a good long while after M.J. has receded from the collective memory (which will be in about another week or so).

¢|7.1.09 @ 10:16AM|#

I challenge anybody to listen to Elvis's versions of "Danny Boy," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Snowbird," etc., with a dry eye.

Yeah, those suck. They're not even funny. "Suspicious Minds" and "Kentucky Rain" were as preposterous as Elvis could get and still convey anything besides preposterousness.

Jackson's last twenty years' output was way the hell worse than Elvis's, but you can't hinge your case on some flabby bellowed standards. They're as trite and interchangeable as Jackson's late ballads.

Mike in PA|7.1.09 @ 10:35AM|#

Well, I think it's kind of silly to compare legends, but I don't think Jackson's impact can be trivialized. He had a way of communicating that translated across all nationalities and even non-english speaking peoples. I see it as more of a Bob Marley style gift, than a purely entertainment one like Elvis.

|7.1.09 @ 10:47AM|#

I don't believe it is possible to understate Michael Jackson's musical genius.

hmm|7.1.09 @ 10:58AM|#

Massive funeral pyre and intoxicated debauchery is the only way to go out.

|7.1.09 @ 10:58AM|#

Who the fuck cares about Elvis or Wacko Jacko?

Fucking losers. Both of them.

|7.1.09 @ 11:09AM|#

My wife owns a cemetery. A pretty big one, too.

|7.1.09 @ 11:23AM|#

damn people it's my job to help...

Rest of comment:

If Jackson needs a resting place, I can hook him up. Western Kentucky needs the tourism dollars.

|7.1.09 @ 11:30AM|#

I don't think Jackson's impact can be trivialized.

Me neither, but what I think you meant to say what that it shouldn't be trivialized. Only something inherently trivial can't be trivialized.

|7.1.09 @ 1:18PM|#

I think they should bury him next to Liberace.

|7.1.09 @ 1:21PM|#

Or maybe they should have a sort of Egyptian pyramid and entomb with him all those who served him in the mortal world, such as Quincy Jones, Eddie Van Halen, etc.

|7.1.09 @ 7:59PM|#

Sainting Elvis is a mistake. At the tail end of Elvis' career he was producing some of the most embarrassing music imaginable. I know the estate of Presley proudly released an Elvis in Vegas collection, which included late performances of Elvis babbling like a complete moron -- worse than anything you ever heard from Jackson in terms of unitelligibility. Elvis, as one comment termed it, didn't "dither" 13 year old boys, but it seems he did dither 13 or 14 year old girls, for which he would have been sent to jail for statuatory rape in most states, but perhaps because Jackson was black and Elvis white Presley's behavior is excused. As should be clear to any intelligent person, Jackson suffered from various neuroses caused by a life in the spotlight and only cruel, vicious people attack the mentally ill. Jackson oscillated back and forth between stability and neuroses, much like a schizophrenic. A jury refused to convict him, but knuckle-dragging beer swilling arm chair moralists fed on tabloid culture and snippets of information believe themselves better judges. Give me a break. I was never a Michael Jackson fan but his mental state was obvious and the fact that he had a "sue me" bullseye painted on his back was also obvious. Paul McCartney referred to Jackson as a "boy-man" and there is a good reason for this that all should consider. In my opinion Jackson was taken advantage of not the kids, but only God and the parties involved know for sure.

|7.1.09 @ 8:44PM|#

Leave Elvis alone. He died in 1977 and has nothing to do with Michael Jackson's death. The fact people even mention Elvis 32 years after his death tells you that Elvis is a part of our culture. And he made very good music up to the end of his life. Those who knock it haven't heard it.

But let's move past that and just let Elvis rest in peace. I say let's remember Elvis and MJ as very talented musicians and leave it at that.

|7.2.09 @ 2:33AM|#

Actually, there was a way around this. They could of given the land where MJ was to be buried to a church, and they could of allowed MJ to be buried there. Thats what happened when Richard Nixon wanted to be buried in the backyard of his birthplace in Yorba Linda.

|7.3.09 @ 2:59PM|#

Have to agree with Lon. Why does this have to be a contest? Both Elvis and MJ made their mark as music icons; they were both equally relevant, only perhaps to different eras and a different audience. The fact that these sort of comaprisons are being made at all speaks volumes for just how much commonality they shared. In time, MJ like Elvis will simply become a legacy of our culture but for the time being the fans are grieving their loss. Let's allow them that, and stop with playing games as to who was better than who.