♪ you are not alone i am here with you ♪ we are back now with more of this special edition of "today," remembering michael jackson on tuesday morning, july 7th, 2009. and you are looking live at the scene in los angeles, california, where memorial service is being held today for michael joseph jackson. otherwise known as the self-proclaimed king of pop. at the staples center. and that is going to be a real scene in just a couple of hours. as thousands of people descend on that building, and the outlying area to pay their final respects to michael jackson. i'm matt lauer along with natalie morales and maria

soleste from our sister network telemundo. meredith is in los angeles. let me ask you to take us through the evolution of the morning. you've been there for a couple of hours. have you been able to see a change in the scene there? >> yeah, a subtle change, actually. very quiet when we arrived and now there is definitely more police presence as fans make their way up to the perimeter. in about five minutes they're going to open up the barricades so those folks who have tickets and have their wrist bands on, so they can then make their way up to the staples center to the arena. and two hours from now they will open the doors to the arena and fans will be allowed to go inside and begin taking their seats. another hour later the actual service will begin. so let me bring you up to date on how today's tribute will unfold. we have now learned the casket contains jackson's body could be a part of today's memorial. with the jackson brothers serving as pallbearers. and we've received a list of performers and speakers who will also take part. those include stevie wonder,

smoky robinson, lionel richie, jennifer hudson and mariah carey. that's just to name a few. other notables, magic johnson, brooke shields and berry gordy. but michael's exwives lisa marie presley and debbie rowe will not be in attendance. we're going to take you inside the center in just a few minutes to show you what the preparations are like firsthand. natalie? >> all right, meredith. and of course, while thousands, those who were lucky enough, will be inside there instead the staples center, perhaps 1 million people in the u.s. will be watching and worldwide the number expected to be closer to over 1 billion people will be watching on tv. so the outpouring there is going to be astounding. we're going to get an example of that from one fan coming up in just a minute. >> plus we'll look at the fight over the fate of michael jackson's three children. will debbie rowe be fighting the jackson family for custody? we'll have the latest. >> first let's check in with nbc's lee cowan who is outside the staples center and he has a special jackson fan or the story of one. lee, good morning to you.

>> reporter: good morning, matt. i'm here with jamilla mohammed, she came all the way from south london. she bought a last-minute ticket, $1400 she paid just to be here. she didn't have a ticket to get into the memorial. we found here on the side of the freeway holding a sign trying to get a ticket. and you got one. >> basically i was there for hours yesterday. it was boiling hot. and i approached a fan, his name was michael ed win, from utah and he kindly gave me a ticket. so we'll be going together. >> just out of the goodness of his heart. >> he didn't ask for anything in return. >> why was it worth the incredible amount of money for the ticket? you came here, you might have just been watching it on tv or just outside the building. why was it worth it? >> it had to be. there's been no one else like michael. there isn't now. there will never be. there's an element of magic about michael, and i just had to be here. it wasn't an option. >> a lot of people thought this was -- >> a lot of people said don't go

if you don't have a ticket. but i knew coy make it happen. >> well i'm glad you get a chance to pay your respects. you and about 11,000 other people, and about a billion more people watching on tv. >> lee cowan in los angeles for us this morning with a very lucky young lady. thank you very much. let's get a check of the rest of the top stories. ann is off and natalie has the headlines. wrapping up a two-day visit to moscow, today, president obama told college students in moscow that the u.s. and russia are not destined to be adversaries and said the two countries should work together to defuse the nuclear efforts of north korea and iran. earlier he met with prime minister putin for talks that one u.s. official called very successful. alaska governor sarah palin is speaking out about her decision to step down. she tells nbc's andrea mitchell her decision was in response to what she called the superficial political blood sport of frivolous ethics complaints that are costing her state millions of dollars in legal bills. she said she does not know what

the future holds for her yet. there's a big sense of relief this morning in gaffney, south carolina, following the death of what police say was a serial killer. 41-year-old patrick burris was killed monday in a shoot-out with police in north carolina. ballistics tests show that his gun matched the one used to kill five people around gaffney in recent days. officials still do not know a motive for the shootings. a political reprimand for south carolina governor mark sanford. on monday his state's republican party censured sanford for what it called a breach of the public's trust for leaving south carolina last month on a secret trip to argentina to see his mistress. today democrat al franken is sworn in as mirns to's junior senator. he'll serve on the senate judiciary committee which opens hearings next week on supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. and you're up to date right now. at five minutes past the hour. matt and maria? >> all right, natalie, thank you very much. we want to get a check of the weather now. al is taking some time off as you know, maria. but we've got stephanie abrams

from the weather channel who's got our forecast. >> matt, good morning to you at home as well. we have heather an and paul who just got engaged on july 4th. were you surprised? >> yes, ma'am. >> from houston and that's where it's typically very hot. look how gorgeous it is. very exciting. let's look at the temperatures not only in houston but across the rest of the country and show you just how hot it's going to get there. we're going to see the warm temperatures spread throughout the rest of the country. otherwise 60s and 70s throughout >> partly cloudy, high temperature of about 87 degrees, right where we should be. winds like that of the west and humidity is kept at bay. cooler conditions wednesday cooler conditions wednesday through

and we go from a couple newly engaged to a couple celebrating a 20th anniversary. congratulations, guys. >> all right, stephanie, thank you very much. michael jackson's memorial service could be the largest celebrity service ever. meredith has been at the staples center in los angeles all morning, where she got a look at the final preparations to the worldwide event that's expected to be watched live by almost a billion people. >> set in the hollywood hills, forest lawn is the burial place of stars like bette davis, lucille ball, and more recently, john ritter. today, the world is watching the staples center in downtown los angeles. where one of the biggest public memorials in history is set to begin. >> i'm not sure in our lifetimes we'll ever see anything like this again. >> reporter: so give us a preview of what we're going to see. >> mariah carey and you have lionel, and you have john maher and you have smokey and you have

the wonderful performers that are going to be in here. i just heard one number and it was pretty spectacular. >> reporter: home to sporting events and concerts, today the center will play host to over 11,000 michael jackson fans and members of his family. his brothers will be performing or his sister? >> i think you're going to see one or two of the family perform. so this will be very emotional. i can promise you that. >> reporter: jermaine jackson is said to be ready to perform one of his favorite songs that his brother recorded. a song jury maine sang for matt. ♪ though your heart is aching smile even though -- ♪ >> reporter: one person who will not be attending is the mother of jackson's two oldest children, debbie rowe. >> do not touch me! >> reporter: who said she does not want to be an unnecessary distraction to an event focus okay michael's legacy. >> don't touch me! >> reporter: longtime jackson friend elizabeth taylor write on her twitter page i just don't believe that michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others. how i feel is between us, not a

public ee vens. several members of the jackson family have had different ideas over how to remember the superstar and sources say details about the program will be changing up until show time. >> we all have our own memories of him. >> reporter: the former friend of jackson's who will be attending says it will be a day filled with mixed emotions. >> this is going to be very sad, and then moments of this is very exciting. i'm not supposed to feel that excited right now. >> reporter: worried about overexcited masses of fans, police continue to encourage everyone without a ticket to stay home. but it hasn't stopped thousands of fans from starting this makeshift memorial outside of staples center. in fact they're on their third sign, because so many people have wanted to express their thoughts. while authorities here say they expect crowds of up to 750,000, organizers say more than a billion people will be watching on television, in movie theaters, and online. >> i'll tell you, i'll be peeking looking online.

i know it's going to be everywhere. i told my boss i'm going 0 look. >> reporter: joy nester didn't get a ticket but said she will be remembering michael at work and at home. >> the fact that i have for him being on tour when i was a kid and people going nuts akin to the footage that they play of the beatles or people with elvis. and you know for my generation, you know, he is as close as we got to that. >> reporter: meanwhile, in court the legal wrangling over jackson's multimillion dollar estate has begun. >> the latest will is the effective wishes of the decedent, the person that's died. >> reporter: on monday a los angeles judge handed temporary control of the superstar's estate to the lawyer and music industry executives named as co-executors in jackson's 2002 will. a defeat for jackson's mother katherine who add applied to oversee her son's estate but keeps custody of his three children. >> as the world prepares to say good-bye to michael jackson, we remember not only his life, but also his place in history. joe leave very covered the music

industry for dpek aids and is now the editor in chief for maxim magazine. touree also writes for rolling stone magazine. joe, michael jackson made headlines for his entire life. many of those headlines were good. many of those headlines were bad. how will he be remembered in the end? >> you know, in the end it's likely we'll be remembered for both the good and the bad. it's been she hard for decades to separate the music from the life. the thing is the music has continued to have resonance even during the worst headlines, even during the worst moments a michael jackson song came on. it was possible to remember, to feel, to re-experience the joy that music had given you the very first time. we're getting a chance to do that now. but it's been impossible to separate the music from the life and i think it will be for quite a long time. >> you're hearing some people toure in particular, one politician from new york who seems outraged that more has not been made of the more negative aspects of michael jackson's life. so if you were writing the book

on michael jackson, how many chapters would the negative if i, the trials, the accusations, occupy and where would those chapters come? >> well, i mean the first thing i would say is representative king has been talking about michael jackson in a very negative way. if he's never danced to a michael jackson song in his whole life, he's weird. because everybody in america has done that. if i was writing the book i think maybe you'd talk about quarters of his life. the early quarter where he was a prodigy. the second quarter where he becomes the biggest star in the world. the third quarter where he's trying to get that stardom back, trying to chase the numbers that "thriller" did with "bad" and "dangerous" but not being able to do that. and the fourth quarter is where the story starts to become more tragic and you start talking about those other things that we all know about. the thing is that at this point a person has died. and i don't think it's appropriate for people to go around talking about the bad things. i think all of us would hope that when we die, people would remember what we tried to do, the joy we tried to spread, the

good things that we tried to do, and not remember our frailties, our mistakes. >> joe, let me hit you with the names of two albums and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind, "off the wall." >> don't stop until you get enough. one of the greatest pop records ever made. >> and "thriller." >> an even better pop record for some people. i like "off the wall" better. but thriller ee vinced the modern pop album, modern pop celebrity, as well. >> toure i was thinking last night, let's say you were talking to someone who had never seen or heard of michael jackson. how would you describe the physical evolution of this young man? how would you convince someone that the young man we met as a child was the same guy we saw in the last couple of years? >> well, i mean, that's a really interesting question. i wonder if young michael jackson saw older michael jackson if he would realize that it was the same person. and you know, you have to go into some really deep sort of

psychology on sort of what really is -- black people have been dealing with in terms of our relationships, standards of beauty and skin color, and nose and that sort of thing. and you know, if somebody didn't know michael jackson, you'd have to start with a discussion of the music. the dance. the fashion. the cultural importance. and after they're steeped in all those sort of things, then we're going to deal with, okay, and there's this other discussion, too. >> and joe i'm going to give you the last word. what needs, what absolutely is essential as a part of today's memorial? what do you have to see there? >> you have to see michael himself. as represented by some of the people who are going to get up and perform his music, as represented by his family. >> did you see the four brothers perform? >> i think you're going to. i hope you do. it's how we first met michael. it would be interesting to see now how that family comes together musically at this very moment. >> joe levy and toure, thank you both very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and brian williams will anchor live coverage of the michael jackson memorial today at 1:00 p.m. eastern, 10:00 a.m.

pacific time right here on nbc. "dateline" will have a full wrap-up tonight. a farewell to michael jackson at 10:00, 9:00 central time. and up next, meredith takes us 10:00, 9:00 central time. and up next, meredith takes us inside the staples center live. please proceed to the viewing platform. ( beeps ) oh. - ( beeping ) - begin ink discharge. watch tough stains disappear right before your eyes with clorox 2 stain fighter and color booster. see for yourself. lose the stains. keep the color. see for yourself. yeah, my buddy's got all that. do we need to buy a bunch of different medicines? pepto guy: oh, no, pepto alone relieves all five symptoms. plus gas too. dude. we're covered. enjoy the game. easy. pepto guy: pepto-bismol. yup, you're covered.

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and we are back as a special edition of the "today" show, i'm meredith vieira. i've been outside staples center all morning. finally made my way inside to give you a sneak peek of what this celebration will be like today. maybe the biggest celebration ever. at 10:00 a.m. pacific time, 1:00 eastern time, take a look down here. this will be space will be filled with some 20,000 people, 11,000 of those will be fans who've come here to pay tribute to michael jackson. right now there's just a few workers in here getting things ready. i don't know if you can see the

stage, it's pretty dark. there are some flowers that have been placed there. also a bandstand behind it. there are some drums there. a big screen, as well. and i imagine there will be moving tributes of michael throughout the memorial, as well. and also on the jumbotron you can see the shots of michael. you know it's eerie, natalie and maria, to think that about two weeks ago michael was in here. the day before he died. the night before he died, he was in here rehearsing. people said he was in fine form at that point. very excited about a possible comeback. and now, today, we are celebrating this public memorial for him. again, 20,000 people here, 11,000 of them fans who won that lottery, and then 6,500 overflow at the nokia theatre which is right across the street from here. we expect a lot of celebrities. we told you some of the names, smoky robinson, lionel richie, mariah carey, stevie wonder, jennifer hudson. and we're hearing, and we don't know if this is true, but we're hearing the possibility that jermaine jackson, michael's brother, may perform, as well. his favorite michael jackson

song, michael sang "smile" so he actually performed that for matt and he might be doing that, as well. but right now it's a little eerie in here. it's sad. and i know that this is supposed to be very celebratory today. a joyous celebration of michael's life. but when you sit here in this cavernous space, just looking at the images, you can't help but appreciate what a tremendous loss to everybody, really. >> absolutely. and meredith, i know that you're going to be there, too. do you know where the media is going to be placed yet so that they can watch this tribute? >> you know what? i do not. i haven't even looked at my ticket. i know i have a ticket. you have to have a ticket. i also have the wrist band. the blue as i pointed out earlier means i'm a member of the media. the gold allows me access inside. otherwise i could not get in here. i've been told the seats are good. i think it's just a privilege to get here and to see it. everybody associated with it and has seen some rehearsals say it is going to be quite a spectacular. >> you're one of the lucky ones.

>> seeing that in person with such a big crowd expected, how is the security? >> the security is, as far as i can tell, extremely good. there's a lot of police here. they urge people to stay away. if you didn't have a ticket, stay home, or go watch it with friends at a movie theater or watch it online and hopefully people will pay heed to that. we're going to have much more special edition of "today" as we remember michael jackson, after this. so when i saw this air wick freshmatic mini i had to give it a try. i set the timer to spray automatically. each burst renews the fresh scent. so my home smells great for up to 60 days. mmm... vanilla. it's small and it's always working to keep my house smelling fresh. air wick freshmatic mini. renews the fragrance with every burst. air wick. it's good to be home. but i've got a warm, fresh baked strawberry toaster strudel. see the difference?

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trains and of luther bill area where two teenage boys bodies were found. a possible witness who rode the light rail that they came forward saying she heard what sounded like a thug. the driver, she says, got out of looked around and returned to make a phone call before proceeding to the station. mta says it appears one trade made contact with the person. connor peterson and kyle wankmiller died from injuries. yesterday another incident involving a light rail car disrupted service. in train car struck a pickup truck trying to cross an intersection. fortunately no one was hurt. now let us take a look at the forecast. >> plenty of sunshine in store. partly cloudy, 84 to 88 degrees. the normal for july 7 is 87. high pressure is giving us a nice, dry day. a front to the north will make its way through overnight and that will change the pattern in

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♪ where there is love i'll be there ♪ ♪ i'll be there >> a towering and sometimes tragic figure, michael jackson, the king of pop, died at the age of 50 and is honored today in a star-studded memorial service. we'll have all the details of the ceremony and the legacy of michael jackson tomorrow morning on "today." meredith vieira is going to continue out there. meanwhile here inside studio 1a, i'm natalie morales along with tell humanitarian dough's maria soleste. al and ann are off today. we'll have much more on today's memorial service for michael jackson. as you heard, thousands expected to be there. millions more expected to be watching. we'll tell you who is expected to perform. and also who will not be attending. plus we're going to take a look

at the possible legal guardians of michael's three children and find out if any of them are really ideal. >> then, on to weddings. we'll catch up with our "today throws a wedding" couple, leigh and nick. they'll get hitched live on the plaza next week. but we've got a lot of planning to do. today, the choices for what their wedding party will wear. >> all right. we already saw what the bride is going to be wearing. gornlgsious gown. first let's get a check of the weather once again from the weather channel's stephanie abrams who is filling in for al. stephanie? >> good morning to you. we're in sci-fi park, which is in rockefeller plaza, and they're launching a new logo here. it sounds the same but looks a little bit different. they're going to party all week long and actually tonight they have a premiere of a new show coming on, warehouse 13, the stars of that show are going to be talking to hoda and kathie lee a little bit later. until that let's have a look at the weather. there you go, there is the logo for you. the old logo, switching into the new logo. switching out the "c" and the

"i" for a "y." showers and storms through the gulf and also into the northeast. as w w >> our fair weather for july continuing with los humidity but a nice day time high of 87. partly cloudy, on the shores of ocean city, 84. ocean city, 84. and there's the new logo so head down to rockefeller plaza and some celebrate. natalie, maria over to you. >> that logo is huge. >> you look like a little mini me there. >> thanks, stephanie. >> now on to those road trips for the family that can be both

exciting, and if you've taken one, you know it can be exhausting. >> from chicago to l.a., the new nbc reality show "american road trip" has seven families traveling in rvs, families compete in a series of challenges for a chance to win $100,000. comedian collier is the host of the show. >> thank you. >> all of them surviving. what's the goal here? >> it's to make it to be the last family standing by the time you hit the santa monica pier after traveling all the way through route 66. and if you're the last family you win it all. >> the $100,000 grand prize. i love the idea that there are no electronics here to entertain the kids. no dvds. no ipods. we've got a family out on our plaza, we should point out. >> yeah. >> they're really excited. they're from here, really. they're from new york. >> tell me about the seven families competing.

what are some of the challenges? >> i don't know you've seen in the commercial they're in that giant ball flipping over. the funniest thing to me was by the end of it, it wasn't the money or anything that anybody cared about. it seemed like the families just wanted to stay on the vags indication. especially the dads. and it's a complete family show. there's nothing dirty in it. you don't have to worry about your kids watching it. >> that's good in this day and age. >> and this was your first time in an rv and you loved it so much and now you have decided to take a vacation on an rv to florida? >> the rv i had in this had my head on the side of it like an enormous picture of my head and i'd be driving it and sometimes i'd get away from the families. and people see this guy. i just look like a pompous camper. people drive by and look at me like i get it. you like to camp. you don't have to paint your head on the side of your own rv. >> it looks like great entertainment. >> it was a blast. i had a great time. the families are great. it was so much fun. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> "the great american road trip" premieres tonight at 8:00,

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michael jackson was a pop star, a troubled icon, and most important, he was the father of three. right now michael's mother katherine is the temporary guardian of his children. but she is 79 now, and has had her own health problems. and the question of who will get the job for the long haul is still unresolved. nbc's mike taibbi is outside the staples center with more on this. good morning to you, mike. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. you know there are a number of possibilities, none of them easy, none of them ideal. they do include michael jackson's mother katherine, as you pointed out. but also singer diana ross, both specied in his will. there's also debbie rowe, the birth mother of his two oldest children. jackson's eight siblings, and even the nanny, who besides jackson himself was the sole constant in the children's lives. it's a thicket of problems for

any family court judge to solve. after his mother jackson in his will nominated diana ross to have custody 6 his children. but she's reportedly had little recent contact with them. and debbie rowe, the mother of jackson's two oldest children, prince and paris, once signed away her parental rights, says now she might challenge for custody or might not. and reacted this way to the relentless demands for her answer. >> don't. >> are you ready to fight for her children? >> are you ready to get your butt kicked? >> reporter: 23578ly law attorney says jackson's family has to help the judge decide what's best for the children. >> the most important thing is who really wants to take care of these children. who's stepping up to the plate? >> reporter: one possibility is that one of jackson' eight siblings could offer to take charge and be approved by the judge. perhaps reuniting the children with their longtime nanny who parted company with jackson last december. jackson friend spoke gloriously of ra woman ba's relationship with the three jackson children, prince, paris and the youngest

called blanket. >> all three kids, they listen to her. they revered here. michael was really the father and the mother, and grace was the substitute. but he could not have found a more appropriate dedicated, talented substitute than grace. >> reporter: she would re-enter the scene with some baggage after jackson's death about the pop star's drug use that she publicly denied calling it outrageous and patently false, and she roinely pumped his stomach after he ingested a dangerous combination of drugs. after the denial michael's father joe jackson welcomed her back and said the family was discussing her future ro. >> she's a good friend of the family and good friends with the kids. >> reporter: will she be more than just good friends with the kids again? and what will be the most important factors in the ultimate decision on custody? >> i think continuity, and the emotional bands these children

have had with whoer is going to come to the fore would be the most significant thing. >> reporter: that's why most experts agree that no single factor will win the day. not debbie rowe's biological motherhood and not even michael jackson's own expressed preferences as he wrote in his will. they're hearing the custody part of this case next week. >> thank you mike taibbi, thank you. now for a preview of the elaborate memorial in los angeles today, we turn to courtney hazlett, a pop culture columnist for msnbc.com and ian halperin, the author of the up coming book "unmasked: the final years of michael jackson." good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> and courtney, as we've heard, this is going to be a massively orchestrated, highly produced memorial service. i know that the organizers of the comeback concert are going to be -- they're involved in this, as well. tell us about the production side, what we expect to see, who's going to be performing? >> you can expect to see, first of all, natalie a highly, highly

produced show. ken ehrlich, who's produced emmys and grammy shows is the producer brought into this sort of in the last minute just a few days ago. and in terms of performance, jennifer 4udson, stevie wonder, john maher, they're all going to be performing. i'm told they might be performing some of michael jackson's songs and possibly songs we were going to hear for the first time in london during those concerts. the organizers of the london concerts told me it was important to imbue this memorial with the spirit and the vision that michael had for those london concerts. >> is this going to be a somber occasion or a more celebration of his life and all that he gave us? >> at the end of the day this is still a jackson family production. and so i do think that while there is a somber mood to this very clearly, they still want it to be a happy memorial, and a remembrance, in the spirit of the message michael jackson wanted to get across, and that was one that was encouraging and really full of life. so i think it will toe the line but definitely lean a little bit more towards a celebration.

>> a lot of people are asking and wondering if jermaine jackson and the other jackson brothers, the jackson four now, will be performing, as well. do you know anything about that? >> there's definitely a lot of talk about jermaine jackson. and i was told the was conversations about having prince michael jackson, michael jackson's son, take the stage today, as well. it's very unclear whether that will happen. i'm told that was a big source of debate within the family. t i heard that also in london, prince michael might have been making his musical debut. they're trying to bring a lot of the london spirit to this mem orrial today. >> ian, let me bring you in. because your book is about to come out and you actually predicted before all of this that michael jackson would not survive this year. what gave you that feeling? >> well, i infiltrated his camp for several years and they gave me all indications that michael was not in good health. he had become extremely depressed over the last few years. he'd become addicted to prescription drugs.

and all that he really had left in his life was the love for his three children. he was an incredible father and incredible human being. and you know originally i set out to -- i was furious when i heard that he was acquitted of the child molestation charges and i set out to prove that he was guilty. and after interviewing thousands of people, i was wrong. he's innocent. he's not a child molester. his legacy and music is indelible. it's going to live on forever. and i think, you know, there's a lot of unequivocal nonsense being bandied about right now about michael jackson, and let's put it all aside today. let's celebrate this incredible person and human being's legacy, and his art, and let's all just pay tribute to an incredible human being, and that's what i do in my book. >> and let me ask you -- >> there is just no shred of evidence that he ever molested children. >> and let me ask you final ply in terms of his place in history, as you talked about his legacy, when we talk about legends, and king of pop, as he's been called, you think of

elvis, you think of john lennon, where do you put michael jackson, ian? >> well, michael's the first guy to admit he'd go really further than elvis and john lennon, who are two incredible musicians. but we've got to look further to little richard, to people like muddy waters, and even before that great blues artists like jack johnson, and that's -- michael was a real historian. he knew everything about pop culture. he loved renaissance art. he was the real deal. he lived and breathed art. and today, i think it's fantastic that all these people are getting together, right around the world, and celebrating the incredible impact, and art that michael jackson contributed to this world. >> and it's certainly great to see a new generation of children being introduced to the music of michael jackson. sadly, though, it had to come to this, from this means. thank you very much, courtney hazlett, ian halperin, thank you both, appreciate your time. >> pleasure. >> and we'll be back with our "today throws a wedding" bride and groom coming up.

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wellbein we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. "today throws a wedding," ten years of i dos, wrought to you by purina. your pet, our passion. >> as you may have heard by now, we are throwing a wedding on the plaza next week. and on monday you voted on the wedding gown for our bride leigh. we don't want to tip our hands. we revealed earlier what the winning gown was. you can find out on our website.

we don't want to tip our hand because the groom is here with us, nick. but now it's the bridal party's turn. and bobby thomas and ian rapport are here to give us some still choices. nick and leigh, stand aside. you can just relax and watch the fashions here because you get to have your say in a minute. adam and bobbi, i know you guys collectively worked on these selections, right. let's talk first about what nick gets to wear, adam. tell me about his -- he's wearing a great-looking suit. >> he is, depends on what the groomsmen wear. >> but you have some choices. >> we have some four choices. we have to defer a little bit to what the bridesmaid are wearing and complement what they're wearing. >> adam is a gentleman. he gave me leeway to pick color choices. so you know what the brides. in the competition, i recently went on twitter to find out what people like for colors. >> let's take a look. our first is a romantic look for our vineyard wedding with lazaro

for the women and claiborne by john bartlett for the men. tell me what we're seeing here. >> what i love this is the most popular color apparently. >> blush? >> pink. pink was the biggest color i found out from people on twitter when i asked them. nice complement to the brushing bride. i like the flower accent because you don't have to worry about jewelry. just add the shoes. >> adam is wearing a linen suit. this is the only place you can wear a linen suit? >> can't wear it to a business meeting. summer wedding, we dressed it up with a shirt and tie. it's going to wrinkle. embrace the wrinkles. >> thank you, two. next is occasions for her and j. crew for him. and this creates the classic yet elegant look. >> leigh said she was really interested in green, a color she liked along with the other popular colors. i like this goes with the back of ariana's dress is really the wow ctor. it's got the tiered draping.

and the khaki suit? >> you can never go wrong with a cotton khaki suit. we lost the tie, it's summer, you're in the vineyard. >> the panache with the silk pocket wear. >> thank you two. option number three as we're speeding along here. sophisticated chic look. vineyard collection dress with a tommy hilfiger suit. and bobbie, this is another classic competition, and we look at his suit. he's got the seersucker on. >> one thing about seersucker you don't have to wear the bow tie. you can look very good with the white shirt and black tie. >> we elevated the little black dress. the open neckline is so dramatic and gorgeous. >> okay. thank you two. and let's take a look quickly at our last look by cocoa miles for the ladies and brooks brothers for the gentlemen. this is your ultimate sort of more traditional look here. although with the plaid pants. imagine that. >> i think the theme of the

wedding was vineyard so i thought this would be nice to have a wine color. this was inspired by a reese witherspoon gown on the red carpet. so i thought it was a pretty sort of glamorous take on the vineyard theme. >> and the plaid pants complement the burgundy dress. >> you guys look great. now quickly to vote, find out more on our website, todayshow.com. pa

>> good morning. i'm mindy basara. here is a look at some of our top stories. reports of baltimore county say a man who was rescued from a creek in baltimore county died. sky-team 11 -- police and fire crews were called to chink

crank-and divers were able to pull the man out of the weather reports say it was too late. a report is expected to take part of regulators to task for ignoring a rise in potentially dangerous bacteria in the chesapeake bay. the chesapeake bay foundation noticed an increase number of infections in maryland and virginia in a salt water but to repair the varieties can cause life-threatening skin and long infections and intestinal and the -- illnesses. the report cites the epa for failing to clean up the bay as required under

the forecast. >> now let us take a look at the forecast. >> partly cloudy skies. you see a nice dry channel over the mid-atlantic thanks to high pressure. there is a front that will approach later this afternoon and make its way through here tonight. cooler conditions for the middle half of the week. but up to the mid and upper 80's -- which is normal. our benchmark for july 7 is 87. it looks like today we -- today we will be where we should be. tomorrow, 20% chance of islip by the storm. increasing chances of scattered storms thursday and friday a better chance go for scattered storms saturday afternoon and humidity is back and play for saturday and sunday. >> thank you for joining us. see you back here for 11 news at noon. america, whattaya say to big cheesy-steaky-ness!

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