Jackson to party with Clinton

Fresh from Liza Minnelli's nuptial freak show, ageing boy wonder Michael Jackson's next public appearance will be even more curious: headlining on stage with Bill Clinton, saxophonist.

They will be joined on vocals by crooner Tony Bennett and the goddess of gospel, BeBe Winans, in a show slated for the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, where some of the greatest American music of all time was performed. As the former president will surely know, this was the stage from which John Coltrane changed the 'sound of sound' in the Fifties. And Jackson will sing on the spot where Billie Holiday sang 'God Bless the Child'.

Actress Cicely Tyson will host the Big Night at the Apollo, launch pad for the Democratic Party's massive fundraising effort which it hopes will set it on course for victory at the Capitol Hill elections in November.

The razzmatazz bears the hallmark of the Democratic National Committee's flash new chairman Terry McAuliffe, a friend of Clinton. McAuliffe said the evening was to raise money for a voter registration effort called Every Vote Counts. 'We're raising about $2.5 million,' he promised, 'and it all goes to registering voters. Only 50 per cent of eligible voters register, and we've got to do more.' The Apollo show, he said, was 'the kick-off event'.

Not all his staff were so enthusiastic about the profile the event might cut, or the association with Jackson. 'I'm not sure he's the place to start a vote registration drive,' whispered one staff. 'You know the joke: what's the difference between Michael Jackson and a supermarket carrier bag? One's made of plastic and dangerous to children, and the other is a supermarket carrier bag.'