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The public memorial for Michael Jackson is being held on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, but you have to be one of the lucky chosen few thousand in order to attend. (AP Images)

A public memorial for Michael Jackson is being held on Tuesday, July 7th at 10 a.m. at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. In order to attend the event, however, you have to be one of 17,500 attendees chosen through a free, online lottery system at StaplesCenter.com, officials said at a news conference today. 11,000 of those tickets will be for the actual memorial in Staples Center, and 6,500 will be seats at the Nokia Theater across the street where fans can watch a live feed, which will also be open to all broadcast and cable networks.

If you want to go to the memorial you've only got until Saturday at 6 p.m. (PT) to register.  From all of the names registered only 8,750 will be randomly selected to receive two tickets — to either the Staples Center or the Nokia Theater.

If you are one of the lucky fans chosen, you will be contacted by e-mail between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. (PT) on Sunday by Ticketmaster with further instructions on how to pick up your tickets and wristbands for the memorial.

The Staples Center was host to Michael Jackson's recent rehearsals, as he was preparing for his big comeback tour. A film (based on 100 hours of recorded material) is in the works, but there are no plans to broadcast the memorial during or after the memorial.

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