But will he ever land there again?
Michael Jackson has closed the house on his Neverland Ranch and laid off some of the employees there but has not completely shuttered the sprawling estate, the pop star’s spokesman says.
“It is public knowledge that Mr. Jackson currently resides in the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain,” Raymone K. Bain said in a statement. “He therefore decided to close his house and reduce his work force.”
Earlier this week, state labor officials announced that Jackson had agreed to pay Neverland Ranch employees hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages, avoiding a lawsuit by the California Department of Industrial Relations.
Employees who received their back pay said they were told they were being laid off because Jackson had shut down the ranch, but Bain said: “Reports indicating that Neverland has been closed or ‘shut down’ for good are inaccurate.”
As the Crow flies
Sheryl Crow, who postponed tour dates set for March and April after undergoing successful breast cancer surgery last month, is hitting the road again starting in June.
On her Web site, Crow called the surgery “minimally invasive” and said she would have radiation treatment as a precaution.
Crow and her former fiancé, cycling champion Lance Armstrong, announced last month they were splitting up.
Rolling in the hay, and dough
Former Playboy playmate Nicole Narain stands to make at least $3 million if the sex tape she made with former boyfriend Colin Farrell is publicly released.
Farrell has gone to court to block distribution of the 14-minute video the pair made three years ago. If he loses, Narain would get a $3 million advance from Internet Commerce Group, according to documents posted at the Smoking Gun Web site, and would receive 60 percent of net revenues.
Bad move, generally speaking
Tom Wopat, who played Luke Duke in the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard,” faces a drunken driving charge in New Jersey.
Wopat, 54, was pulled from a Ford Bronco on Wednesday night after hitting orange traffic cones and nearly colliding with a police car sent to an accident, authorities said.
In the TV series, which aired from 1979 to 1985, Luke Duke and his cousin Bo, played by John Schneider, were known for driving a speedy 1969 Dodge Charger, the General Lee.
Up your nose with a microphone
Former “Welcome Back, Kotter” star Gabe Kaplan says Ice Cube is a great choice to play his old role in the big-screen remake of the hit 1970s TV series.
Kaplan told “Access Hollywood” that the rapper/actor “is the perfect guy. … He has shown what kind of crossover appeal he has.”
As for the rest of the cast, Kaplan quipped: “Well, I think Snoop Dogg will play Horshack, Vanilla Ice would play Barbarino. … “
The birthday bunch
Actor Peter Graves is 80. Country singer Charley Pride is 68. Actor Brad Dourif (“Lord of the Rings”) is 56. Singer Vanessa Williams is 43. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) is 40. Rapper-actress Queen Latifah is 36. Singer Adam Levine (Maroon 5) is 27.