Est. 1998
After a quiet arrival by limo at the Canterbury Hotel, Indianapolis shortly before 7 p.m. yesterday evening, Michael headed out for some shopping.
Looking extremely handsome in a black shirt and accompanied by a small group of security guards, he emerged from the Canterbury Hotel into Circle Centre Mall, Indianapolis shortly after 8 p.m.
He browsed through several stores before heading back to the hotel about 10:40 p.m. Each store closed their doors to other shoppers whilst he was there, but Michael kindly invited small groups of fans into each store, where he chatted with them and signed autographs.
Michael’s entrance to the Mall immediately drew attention from shoppers, many of whom approached him. “Hi, folks”, said Michael. He shook hands with a little girl, and commented on the small rhino on her red shirt. “I like your sticker”, Michael told her. He also signed a $1 bill for her. “He was cute, really cool and sweet”, she said.
Surrounded by white-shirted mall security guards, Michael joked to them that he knew the layout since he’d just been there last month. He walked into a store with 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. Michael signed several autographs before carrying on shopping. Two young fans called out his name and he went towards them and signed an autograph for each. “He’s the King of Pop and he’s from Indiana”, they said. Another young fan, explained why she was so excited just to watch Michael 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”, the 16 year old student said.
Michael later went to other stores where 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 Michael’s name, Kathy Rogers, of Cleveland, Ohio, yelled into her cell phone, telling her daughter back home that she got to touch Michael’s hair as he walked between stores. Rogers and her husband, Hal, were shopping when they saw the mass of people in front of a store. “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.”
Source: Indianapolis Star & MJWN
