Michael at the Circle Centre Mall in Indianapolis
King of Pop stops to shop
Jackson returns to Circle Centre; draws fans, signs autographs
By Abbie VanSickle and Tom Spalding
abbie.vansickle@indystar.com
June 10, 2003
The King of Pop is back in town and he's not being shy about it.
After a quiet arrival by limo at the Canterbury Hotel shortly before 7 p.m. on Monday, music star Michael Jackson headed out for some shopping.
Jackson, wearing a black shirt and accompanied by a small group of security guards, emerged from the Canterbury Hotel into Circle Centre mall at 8:05 p.m. He browsed through several stores before heading back to the hotel about 10:40 p.m. Each store would be closed to other shoppers while he was there, but Jackson would invite small groups of fans into each store, where he would chat with them and sign autographs.
The music star's entrance immediately drew attention from shoppers, many of whom approached him.
"Hi, folks," Jackson told them.
Jackson stuck out his hand to 7-year-old Debby Esparza, from Eden, N.C. Shaking the little girl's hand, he commented on the small rhino on her red shirt.
"I like your sticker," Jackson told her.
He also signed a $1 bill for the second-grader.
"He was cute, really cool and sweet," Debby said.
Surrounded by white-shirted mall security guards, Jackson joked to them he knew the layout since he'd just been there last month. He walked into the Sam Goody music store -- just he and his entourage, but they weren't alone for long.
A crowd that swelled to about 120 people -- including teen-age girls and babies in strollers -- peered through the window or the gate and screamed his name. Jackson signed several autographs before walking through the store and peering in the sci-fi section and horror video sections, among others.
Erik Williams, 19, of Indianapolis, and Darrick Neal, 18, also of Indianapolis were shopping at the Coach store when they saw the crowd and walked over. They said that after they called out Jackson's name, he came toward them and signed an autograph for each.
"He's the king of pop and he's from Indiana," Neal said.
Sixteen-year-old Jessica Murphy, a student at Ben Davis High School, explained why she was so excited just to watch the pop star shop.
"It's big time," she said. "You see him on the news, you see him on MTV, on BET and you never really think you'll see him right in front of your face," Murphy said.
Jackson then headed to Brookstone. This time, he stayed away from the crowd of fans, browsing near the back of the store.
He later went to the Doubleday book store and then The Children's Place, a clothing store. There, he chatted with members of a high school girls' volleyball team from Oklahoma who were let into the store to meet him.
As teen-age girls screamed Jackson's name, Kathy Rogers, of Cleveland, Ohio, yelled into her cell phone, telling her daughter back home that she got to touch Jackson's hair as he walked between stores. Rogers and her husband, Hal, were shopping when they saw the mass of people in front of Sam Goody.
"I'm probably the oldest woman here," Rogers said. "Hal and I are big fans of anyone who's more famous than us. We bought his albums in the 1980s, but then we got old."
Star reporter Kevin O'Neal contributed to this story.Indianapolis Star Website
[Modificato da mikele78 10/06/2003 13.36]