Michael Jackson's memorial airs worldwide at noon

Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Usher-- the cast will likely expand into the dozens tomorrow as 20,000 ticketed fans and hundreds more along the streets are expected to turn out for Michael Jackson's memorial service.

Befitting Jackson's incomparable reach as a public figure, every major television network in the nation will be simulcasting the memorial. Movie theaters all across the nation will be projecting streams of the services. Even radio outlets as principled and austere as MPR will be broadcasting the memorial's audio tracks. LAPD is futilely warning non-ticket holders away from the streets surrounding Staples, but early predictions suggest that hundreds of devoted fans will clog the streets.

Which is another way of saying that, if you had any hopes of getting through the day tomorrow without seeing a few thousand teary eyes and hearing soulful renditions of Jackson's music, throw them right in the trash along with with your Leeann Chin leftovers.

The whole affair is a little polarizing-- pundits across the radio dial bemoan the enormity of reporting resources devoted to the death of a single man, while foreign correspondents on all major media outlets shrink into the single digits. And sure, there's a point.

But if ever there were a celebrity death that warranted such a somber carnival , it is Jackson's. We're a music blog-- we have a vested interest in the man, and our feelings on the matter are no secret. It's our personal belief that art and music are the true motivators of the human spirit, and by that yardstick, we'll willingly give up all the bandwidth we can spare to see the guy safely into the ground. For God's sake, he gave his life to give us Thriller. It's the least we can do.