ENTERTAINMENT: Michael Jackson, indentured servant?

   Well now, here’s a theory to have some fun with. Impress people at happy hour. Use it to fuel the “Will Michael Jackson ever play Vegas?” talk that hovers over gossip columns like desert smog and will persist as long as the dethroned and ever-quirky King of Pop is spotted around town.
  Consider this recent news report:

        LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A foreclosure auction scheduled this week for Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch was canceled after an investment company bought the loan.
        Colony Capital LLC spokeswoman Caroline Luz said the loan purchase was recently made by Colony and the auction slated for Wednesday was off, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
        In a statement released Sunday by a Jackson spokesman who identified himself as B. Michael, the singer said he was "pleased with recent developments involving Neverland Ranch ... that would allow me to focus on the future."

    Now, Colony Capital LLC also owns the Las Vegas Hilton. So if one wanted to go really overboard here, one could put two and two together:
     Colony could make him work off his debt of  $24.5 million by playing the Las Vegas Hilton. Does he want to keep the 2,500-acre spread in Santa Barbara County ? (Seems he’s been spending more time in Las Vegas of late.) Then "Beat It" out there and sing some "Billie Jean," bub.
    Fun, huh? On Tuesday, I ran into Hilton vice president Ken Ciancimino at a press conference. I floated the idea. He laughed. But he didn’t say anything else to the contrary. Hmm …

Tuesday Update:
  Six days after this posting (and five days after a more serious breakdown in Norm Clarke's column), gossip site TMZ.com has "connected the dots" to come up with an "Exclusive" report that Michael Jackson could be strong-armed into playing the Hilton:
http://www.tmz.com/2008/05/20/jackson-poker-faced-on-vegas-gig/

Wednesday Update:
  KVVU-TV, Channel 5 addressed the Jackson-Hilton rumor on their morning news today, crediting TheVegasEye Web site run by Michael Politz. This little theory of ours is picking up steam, isn't it?

June 13 update:
Well now, the Wall Street Journal has finally made us take this story seriously:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121331476011469961.html

The Journal story seems well grounded in Colony Capital sources, though predictably light on comment from the Jackson camp. But one possibility is raises that hasn't been floated before is the idea of a "Love"-type revue that would be built around Jackson's hits, but one he only would perform in 20 or 30 times per year. That seems far more plausible than getting any kind of serious commitment from a singer who doesn't seem exactly driven these days.