Michael Jackson News

UPDATE: E! News has learned exclusively that AEG Live will make next Tuesday's memorial service for Michael Jackson free to the public.

"There will not be a charge for tickets," says an event organizer.

More details will be released on Friday morning at 10 a.m. during a press conference being held outside of Staples Center.

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The pieces are finally falling into place as to how Michael Jackson will at last be laid to rest—and then memorialized accordingly.

Arrangements are still being made, but Jackson's body will ultimately be interred at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, and an open-to-the-masses tribute to the King of Pop will take place at Staples Center on Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Details are still to be finalized when I meet with the Jackson family this afternoon," AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips told L.A.'s KNBC-TV. "Everything is in preliminary stages except the place and time."

The L.A. Police Department will be ready, having already started setting up security blockades outside Staples in Chick Hearn Court.

Arrivals will begin around 8 a.m., Phillips said. Huge-screen TVs will be set up elsewhere in the L.A. Live complex as well, to give any overflow crowd a glimpse of what's inside.

But while details of what the Jacksons have in mind for the memorial event remain murky, at least the death certificate can finally exchange hands.

The L.A. County Coroner's Office told E! News today that a death certificate—minus the final cause of death, which is pending—has been issued for the 50-year-old artist, but it could not be released until the family had decided on funeral arrangements.

"Until [the family] makes specific plans for funeral arrangements, that might be what's holding it up," spokesman Craig Harvey said.

As for the official cause of death, Harvey says that it will say "deferred" on Jackson's certificate right now.

"That basically means that the coroner is still doing its investigation and hasn't issued a final cause yet. When we do issue the final cause, we'll issue an amendment and that will indicate the final cause of death."

He says that the coroner's office is continuing to work with the LAPD in its ongoing investigation into Jackson's death, as well as continuing to probe the results of its autopsy.

"We still have some additional tests—neuropathology and pulmonary, tissue studies on the brain tissue and lung tissue," Harvey said.

But once the funeral arrangements are finalized, the death certificate is ready to roll, regardless.

Sources tell E! News that Jackson's body was transported directly from the coroner's office to Forest Lawn on Friday following the autopsy, but that his remains may have been moved yet again pending burial (or cremation, possibly) to keep them safe and secure until the family has made its final decisions.

Details have remained up in the air while the family (and various interested parties) crossed Neverland ranch off the list and wavered between a few large venues in L.A. for the "official" memorial.

(Originally published July 2, 2009 at 2:01 p.m. PT)

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