For American fans who have been deprived of seeing George Michael live, this is your summer. Last week, he snuck out to LA with his Dallas partner, Kenny Goss, to perform at the American Idol finale. On June 17, his American tour begins.

But don't look for him to be hanging out long in any of the cities he plays. After every show, he will fly back to his Dallas home so he can spend the night in his own bed.

On the trip to LA, George stayed close to his Greek-Cypriot roots by bringing his pals, Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece and Marie-Chantal's sister Alexandra von Furstenberg.

If Greece were to ever call back deposed King Constantine II to the throne (don't hold your breath), Pavlos would be heir. Considering Greece's love-hate relationship with its Danish-descended ex-royal family, Pavlos has a better gig now as an investment adviser and son-in-law of American billionaire Robert Miller. But his ancestry has good perks. Pavlos' Aunt Sophia, Constantine's sister, is the Queen of Spain, and he's cousins with the British royal family. (Britain's Prince Philip is the nephew of the late King Constantine I.)

Now that her hubby Mike Modano and his Dallas Stars are out of the playoffs, dancer-singer Willa Ford can concentrate on her acting. She's been cast for the latest installment in the never-ending Friday the 13th franchise, filming in Austin.

Anna Nicole, the film in which Willa portrayed Anna Nicole Smith, never found a domestic distributor. But if you have Firefox and 90 minutes to kill, watch it free at www.watch-movies.net/ movies/anna_nicole/.

As a special farewell for outgoing Dallas Museum of Art director Jack Lane, one of his favorite entertainers, singer-songwriter Jimmie Dale Gilmore, came to town to perform two sets at last week's going-away party for Jack at the DMA.

Either you know Jimmie from his music, or you know him from the Coen brothers movie The Big Lebowski in which he played the fragile pacifist bowler Smokey.

In Dallas, he and his son, Colin, performed for the black-tie and boots crowd, which included DMA benefactor Nancy Hamon.

Saturday is Jack's last day at the helm of the museum and Jimmie ended the party by singing his rendition of "Happy Trails."

There's a certain symmetry to the London placement of Howard Rachofsky 's large Jeff Koons sculpture, Balloon Flower (Magenta), 1995-1999 . Before it's auctioned at Christie's on June 30, it will be displayed for nine days in London's St. James's Square right next to Cleveland House, a building owned by Dallas-based Harwood International. For the last decade, the sculpture has sat in a pond next to Howard's Preston Hollow house.

"It's a small world," says Harwood chairman and CEO Gabriel Barbier-Mueller. "In Dallas, the sculpture was 50 yards from our home."

That was Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, son of the team's late founder Lamar Hunt, dining with golfer Justin Leonard at the Villa O pasteria on Travis Street.