<h2>BET's awards show tribute <br>to 'The King of Pop'</h2>

I'd never watched a full BET Awards show before last night, but during the day I saw a promo about it -- either on television or online -- that indicated BET had made furious revamps to the program in the 48 hours or so after Michael Jackson had died and would transform the show into a MJ tribute.

Supposedly, stars and entertainers who wouldn't normally show up, or hadn't planned on showing up, were now telling BET they would be there, "coming out of the woodwork," as one entertainment industry executive put it. It promised to be a star-studded tribute, so I decided to look in. I was surprised; it was very well done. It also was an education.

I hadn't known, for example, just how good of a singer actor and comedian Jamie Foxx was until watching the show. Foxx served as host of the awards show which, by the way, seemed less about awards than about music and Michael Jackson. But I'm not complaining; it was very entertaining, and it sure made me think this is the way "awards" shows should be handled. In the scope of things -- and comparing the BET show to, say, the Oscars -- I'm all in favor of far fewer awards (but also a much tighter-run show)!

I also got my first real look at some names in contemporary music that I hadn't seen or heard much of -- Lil' Wayne, Maxwell, Ne-Yo, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Soulja Boy, Keyshia Cole and Keri Hilson to name a few. Monica, Bell Biv DeVoe and Keith Sweat also were on hand; I'd heard of them. Oh, and the NBA's 2008-09 MVP LeBron James was there -- BET named him the athlete of the year.

Foxx and the New Edition did an MJ tribute at the very start of the show, Foxx sampling MJ material from the Billie Jean era (including a short reprise of the "Beat It" video and a moonwalk that I admired largely because Foxx didn't care that he was a bit rusty on the finesse -- he claims he hadn't done it since 1983), and the New Edition (Ralph Tresvant, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, Bobby Brown and Johnny Gill) reprising Jackson 5 tunes like "ABC" and "The Love You Save."

Beyonce sang a medley that included Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel" and periodic phrases from the Latin liturgical hymn "Ave Maria." It was beautiful; when she reached the end, and actually started singing the opening lyrics to the hymn, I started tearing up. It was that moving. Unfortunately, she stopped after "Ave Maria, gratia plena, dominus tecum."

BET honored the O'Jays at the ceremony, designating them to receive the "lifetime achievement" award. Tevin Campbell, Ne-Yo and Foxx ripped through a medly of O'Jays hits, including "Backstabber," before the O'Jays themselves came up, accepted the award, and proceeded to do their own medley of their hits, including "Used to Be My Girl" and "For the Love of Money." The latter, incidentally,is the theme song for the Donald Trump NBC television series "The Apprentice." I was very surprised that "Love Train," perhaps the O'Jays' biggest hit, was not included in either medley.

The show ended on two powerful notes. First, Janet Jackson came out to center stage and addressed the crowd. She said her family wanted to attend (which in a way was kind of weird, because her father, Joe Jackson, sat in the front row for the full show), but that it was too painful. So, she said, the family sent her to represent them. She said that while MJ was considered an icon to most everyone else, to the Jacksons, he was was family. She then thanked everyone for their kindness and support and walked off.

Then Ne-Yo, who earlier had sung Jackson's "The Lady in My Life," joined Foxx and Stevie Wonder (the latter playing piano) for a very moving rendition of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There."