Michael Jackson in Foreclosure, Again

Michael Jackson | Gene Simmons Gets the KISS Off | Wolfgang Puck

Michael Jackson doesn’t like to pay his bills, that’s for sure.

For the second or third time this year — even his noteholders aren’t sure — Jackson has received a notice of pending foreclosure for the home where his parents live in Encino, Calif.

The estate, worth about $7 million in the current real-estate market, is known as Hayvenhurst because of its address. On at least one other occasion this year, Michael simply missed payments on the $2 million mortgage.

The last time this happened, as this column reported, Jackson’s sister Janet Jackson ponied up the required dough not only for the back installments, but also for fees and back pay due to employees at Neverland, courtesy of a state order.

Click Here to Visit the Michael Jackson Celebrity Center.

This time, according to the group from Palos Verdes, Calif., that bought Jackson’s note earlier this year, the pop star put his parents’ abode in jeopardy by not making the required monthly payments.

The group responded by issuing the foreclosure notice, although it is unlikely they would ever actually go through with an eviction and auction.

“He was 30 days behind this time,” said one member of the mortgage group. “But a check just came in, so we may be on track again.”

What’s interesting about all this is that Jackson doesn’t seem to care if marshals affix a foreclosure notice on his parents’ front gate, causing them untold embarrassment and humiliation.

A pattern has developed in which he refuses to pay a bill — or gets someone to pay it for him — until legal action of some kind has been commenced against him.

Jackson, meanwhile, is at large somewhere in Europe, according to his publicist. But he is most likely in London, either at the Lanesborough or Dorchester hotels.

Jackson continues to rack up lawsuits in the U.S., however. His latest is rumored to be a $600,000 suit said to be in the works from another former attorney, Michael Sydow, the Texan who was not paid for a substantial amount of work.

Jackson was recently sued by another ex-lawyer, Brent Ayscough. He is also being sued in New York by Darien Dash for $48 million.

Gene Simmons Gets the KISS Off

Jayne County is mad as hell at rocker Gene Simmons of the rock group KISS.

According to a message board for music insiders, Jayne, who was once Wayne, is considering legal action against Simmons. She/he claims that Simmons has stolen the name of her band, the Electric Chairs, for his son Nick’s group on Simmons’ A&E reality show.

“THAT IS THE NAME OF MY BAND AND IT HAS BEEN FOR THIRTY YEARS! AND I STILL use the name," Jayne wrote on the message board recently.

She also goes on to say that Simmons is "probably trying to get revenge" on her for singing about what a "creep" he is in one of her songs.

Insiders tell me there is no coincidence that Simmons chose Electric Chairs for his son’s band's name. Years ago, they say, Wayne/Jayne County opened for KISS on several gigs.

Hollywood Celebs Like a Cut Above

The movie crowd here in la-la land has been in love with Wolfgang Puck for more than 25 years. I can still remember walking into the original Spago on Horn Avenue and seeing Gene Kelly, Lloyd Bridges and many other superstars and legends.

Now, with Spago Beverly Hills pulling that older crowd — including daily luncher Sidney Poitier — Puck has taken over the lobby restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

He and architect Richard Meier opened Cut, a streamlined steak house, eight weeks ago. There are about 110 seats and 250 requests for reservations every night. Yesterday, both the L.A. Times and New York Times raved about it.

Last night, I ran into “Sideways” star Virginia Madsen as she was coming out of dinner, quite satisfied. But Puck has also recently hosted a foursome of Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

He has also welcomed several NBA players and a raft of younger stars.

Jeffrey Katzenberg is said to have come in at least eight times so far, once with Steven Spielberg. Clive Davis has already commanded a table for 10 set up just for him. And this is only the summer!

The food is delicious, the steaks are sublime and the desserts are to die for.

But the design is another reason people are coming in, with Meier creating a uniquely modern and comfortable space.

Something tells me that once awards season gets into gear, movie companies will be fighting over who gets to throw private parties at Cut.