"But of all the things that make Michael unknowable, thinking we knew him is maybe the most deceptive. Let’s suspend it," writes John Jeremiah Sullivan on Michael Jackson.

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Wow! That’s all I can say after getting a look at the September GQ with previously unseen photos of Michael. So fresh, so vibrant, so … well, butch! There is a perceptive article by Mr. Sullivan that accompanies the photos, but the images take precedence, and Michael’s unsullied youthful appearance render the circumstances of his later life and his tragic death all the more wrenching.

The media has written so much about Michael. And with such assurance! He was this. He wasn’t that. So, I especially liked our opening quote from Sullivan’s article.

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Janet Jackson, the other talent in the family, has agreed to chair amFAR’s September 28 Milan Fashion Week event. Miss Jackson has always been a dedicated philanthropist and AIDS activist. There is a lot to like about Janet, her infamous "costume malfunction" notwithstanding.

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Remember disco? Remember Thelma Houston and her classic "Don’t Leave Me This Way"? Well, at 66, this woman is still at it, and her recent gig at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles wowed fans. She sang her hits, she delivered a scorching Motown medley and then she performed numbers from her new album, "A Woman’s Touch." (This is Thelma’s first disc in 17 years!) On her new CD, she performs songs previously and most famously done by male singers, from Al Green to Sting to Glen Campbell’s "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."

And though she is a diva, she doesn’t behave like one. Asked if she needed anything special backstage, Ms. Houston cheerfully said, "All I need is a towel and some water!"


Thelma Houston/Image: dbking/Flickr

Thelma and other ’70s stars will appear at the Hollywood Bowl on September 27 for a big disco tribute.

You know, the 1970s just don’t seem that distant to me. Hmmm … maybe I had too much fun during that decade to relegate it to nostalgia.

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Jane Seymour was out with friends on Malibu Beach last week, strolling along in her bikini. Someone I know spotted her and reported, "Her body just won’t quit! From a distance, you’d swear she was in her 20s. And up close not a day over 40." Miss Seymour is a vigorous 58. And aside from her firm figure, she keeps her career in trim, too. The "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" star has four feature movies upcoming.

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What rock or pop star’s concert sold out in hours in New York, racking up $2.5 million dollars in ticket sales? None. This was first-day box-office haul for the Metropolitan Opera’s coming season. So, who says culture is dead? The season officially opens on September 21 with a new production of Puccini’s "Tosca." (When this classic debuted, in 1900, it was not well received. One contemporary critic called it a "shabby little shocker." No matter, it’s still an audience favorite, 109 years later.)


Metropolitan Opera House/Image: Flickr

Speaking of opera, the great, glam soprano Renée Fleming is touring South Africa, performing in gowns designed by Henry Schickerling of … Tosca Couture!

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OK, I broke down and watched Kate Gosselin of "Jon and Kate Plus 8" reality-show-infamy on Larry King last week. She is not exactly Miss Warmth, and admits to being a "control freak." She doesn’t seem uncomfortable with that aspect of her personality, either. I will never be a fan of reality programs and especially those that use children. So she’ll win no kudos on that score.

But here is what impressed me. She would not discuss, in any intimate way, her coming divorce from Jon, or criticize him. She said that in years to come, when her children look back, she wants to be sure they won’t see her behaving badly during this crisis.

Kate has been a creature of the tabloids and paparazzi for a relatively short time, but she seems to have learned a lesson that celebs of many years don’t – consider how this is going to look and sound to your children! Admirable, but I’d prefer it if she pulled the plug on that wretched show and let those kids grow up normally.