Jacko’s musical Bahrain child
Michael Jackson plans to release a new album next year for a record label owned by the son of Bahrain’s king.
2 Seas Records announced it has signed an exclusive recording agreement with Jackson.
The 47-year-old pop star moved to the Gulf state soon after being acquitted of child molestation charges in California last year.
“I am incredibly excited about my new venture, and I am enjoying being back in the studio making music,” he said.
2 Seas also is scheduled to release Jackson’s long-promised Hurricane Katrina benefit single, “I Have This Dream.”
Meanwhile, a federal judge in New Orleans has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a man who says Jackson molested him.
Joseph Bartucci Jr. claimed he was lured into Jackson’s limo in 1984 and held against his will for nine days. He said he had repressed his memories of the incident until 2003.
Mocking in the free world
Canadian-born music legend Neil Young, who in 1970 recorded “Ohio” to protest the Kent State shootings, has finished a 10-song record, “Living With War,” which attacks President Bush‘s foreign policy and features the song “Let’s Impeach the President.”
No release date has been set for the CD, which Young recorded over three days with a chorus of 100 singers.
Ready, Teddy?
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is venturing into a new frontier – late-night comedy.
The 74-year-old political patriarch is slated to take a seat tonight on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
Said a Kennedy adviser: “He’s a huge fan of Jon Stewart, and he’s very much looking forward to this.”
Desperate tabloids
Britain’s best-selling newspaper has apologized to “Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher for a story that claimed she had sex with men in a van outside her home.
The Sun tabloid acknowledged the article last August was “totally incorrect” and agreed to pay undisclosed damages.
Hatcher accepted undisclosed libel damages in December from another tabloid, The Daily Sport, which had made the same claims.
Farrell-tail ending
Colin Farrell and ex-girlfriend Nicole Narain have reached a settlement in their legal battle over a sex tape they filmed three years ago.
Narain, a 2002 Playboy Playmate, had challenged Farrell’s claim that they agreed to keep the 14-minute videotape private and argued she had the right to distribute it.
Sorry, kids – still blurred
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has donated a 32-inch TV to a North Carolina high school.
After watching the 1971 film “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” which Hefner executive-produced, an English class wrote to him asking for his help “so our viewing experience can be as wonderfully unforgettable as the film itself.”
The birthday bunch
Actor George Takei (“Star Trek”) is 69. Actor Ryan O’Neal is 65. Actress Jessica Lange is 57. Actor Clint Howard is 47. Actor Crispin Glover is 42. Country singer Wade Hayes is 37. Actress Carmen Electra is 34. Actor Joey Lawrence (“Blossom”) is 30.