As pop-prince Michael Jackson nears the end of his second month’s stay at the Palms, he has told friends that he’s house hunting here in Vegas again. The news comes against the backdrop of a last-ditch effort to save his Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara as bankers move to foreclose on it.

“Michael is quite prepared for it to go now,” I was told. “He’s lost all interest in it, and if it pays off $23 million in loans then he’s just as happy.”

Billionaire grocery mogul Ron Burkle apparently pleaded to Fortress Investments not to foreclose instantly on the famous ranch to recoup their massive loans to the King of Pop. The slight stall may have won him a short reprieve, but there’s still no-one waiting in the wings to buy it—so expect that storm to hit any moment.

According to my gossip pal, Roger Friedman at FOX News, Michael has also dumped his controversial antagonistic long-time manager publicist Raymone Bain—and he’s juggling a possible appearance at the upcoming 50th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony all by himself on Sunday Feb. 10. The world-telecast of him performing with Will.I.Am, Kanye West and Akon, who duet on his new 25th Anniversary edition “Thriller” album being released on Feb. 12, would be extraordinarily valuable for sales.

Says Roger, “It all sounds good, but without a manager Michael’s unlikely to get it altogether himself and is now unlikely to show up.”

Meantime as we reported yesterday in our Luxe Life late posting, Michael has taken on the role of Mr. Nanny, taking his children out for trips to the Luxor—first to see the IMAX 3D movie there and then the mid-afternoon show of ventriloquist Ronn Lucas.

Roger revealed that his children’s longtime nurse, Grace Rwaramba is out sick and he won’t allow her near them all at the Palms until she’s well again.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 11:07 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.