Spike Lee Plans King Of Pop Block Party

Plans for Michael Jackson's burial have finally been set for August 29th, the same day the King of Pop entered the world, and would have been celebrating his 51st birthday. While the private ceremony takes place at 10 a.m. on the West Coast (in the Great Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California), the East Coast will be celebrating his life in a different way.

Spike Lee is organizing a block party in Brooklyn, where Borough President Marty Markowitz will proclaim the date "Michael Jackson Day" at the celebration. Following a ceremony, DJ Spinna will be spinning all MJ, all day long. More details at the Root, where Lee declared, “We're of the same era. I wanted my Afro to be perfectly round like Michael’s, all that stuff.”

The director recently talked to Time about the singer as well, recalling their first meeting, which took place in Brooklyn. "Michael Jackson called me up and said, 'Spike, I want meet you, I'm coming to New York.' I said, 'Well where you want to meet?' He says, I want to come to your house.' I live in Brooklyn! He wants to come to my house! So, Michael Jackson came to my house in Brooklyn, New York—this was when I was living in Fort Greene. I dunno if he'd ever been there before. We spent like two or three hours just talking. I mean, we're the same age. I'm less than a year older than him. To be honest, I dominated the conversation, because I was trying to really tell him how much impact he had on my life. And I could just not believe that Michael Jackson was sitting in my living room in Brooklyn, New York. It was amazing."