Local student wins tickets for Jackson memorial
The world will pay tribute to Michael Jackson during today's memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and watching it all from the 12th row will be Buffalo Grove resident Zach Moss.
The 21-year-old deejay and University of Missouri communications major, who grew up in Mundelein, won two of the 17,500 tickets awarded from a lottery of 1.6 million applicants.
Moss learned he had won the highly coveted tickets Sunday night. He was in Las Vegas, where he is working this summer, and immediately hopped in his car and drove to Los Angeles. He claimed his tickets and wristbands Monday.
As his guest, he's taking his agent, Diane Copeland of Copeland Entertainment.
"I felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory who found the golden ticket," said Moss, also known as "DJ Z."
Moss sent messages to everyone in his Twitter and Facebook networks Sunday night, sharing his news.
"Holy (expletive deleted)!! I won the Michael Jackson tickets for Tuesday!!!! Heading to LA tmrw!!!!" he wrote.
Within hours, Moss was being interviewed by everyone from CNN to the Australian Radio Network. While tickets to the memorial were selling for as much as $25,000 each on eBay at one point (the Web site removed all such listings Monday), and several people personally offered Moss money for his tickets, he said they're not for sale.
"There is no way ... I'd ever sell these tickets. It's disrespectful. If someone handed me a suitcase with a million dollars in it, I'd say no," he said. "It's a shame people are trying to profit off a legend's death."
Moss, who was born in 1988 - six years after Jackson's "Thriller" album was released - says he is a genuine Michael Jackson fan and not a celebrity hound. At his deejay gigs, he said he always plays at least one or two songs by Michael Jackson or the Jackson 5.
"I don't have any of his vinyl records in my basement or anything ... but I like Michael Jackson. I'm a huge fan of his. Being a DJ and being able to play his records is an honor for me. His Jackson 5 stuff is phenomenal," he said. "After he died ... I could play a 30- to 45-minute set (of his music) and people would still be on the dance floor. If I did that three weeks ago, people would be leaving."
His mother, Lisa Moss of Buffalo Grove, is thrilled for her youngest son's good fortune. She said he's been playing Michael Jackson music since he was a student at Mundelein High School.
"I wish I could go ... I'm going to live vicariously through him," she said. "He will enjoy it. He will drink it all in, and he will share it because that's the kind of person he is. And when he plays (Michael Jackson songs) now, after attending this, it'll mean a lot more to him. It'll be a part of him for life."
For the past five years, Zach Moss has worked for A-Z Entertainment, Ltd. in Wheeling. Owner Howard Wallach found out about his employee's good luck through Facebook.
"He was in the right place at the right time. That's Zach," Wallach said.