For Prince, a slightly manlier mane

Is a ballet dancer bringing out the boy in Prince?

For years Symbolina has been very much in touch with his feminine side (not that there's anything wrong with that), while still being all about beautiful women. Guys don't have to be Cro-Magnon to be appealing.

But the haircut he was sporting in an Oscar night photo posted at janetcharltonshollywood.com is the most masculine crop we've ever seen him wear. It looks like something you'd see on a toddler (that's another issue), but at least it's a boy toddler.

Wearing a sparkling purple top and blinged-out helix and antihelix -- are those clip-ons or did he have holes punched in that part of his ear? -- Prince had ballerina Misty Copeland on his arm.

"It looks like he designed her dress, because it somewhat resembles the dress he designed for his Oscar date Kim Basinger many years ago!" wrote Charlton, who has noticed that Prince loves shoulder pads and asymmetric looks.

Charlton's spy at the Elton John party reported that Prince was one "of the nicest and most polite celebrities to arrive -- he waited patiently and turned down an offer to be escorted to the front of the line."

He just wants everybody to get a gander of this sweet young thing he's courting.

There's a different kind of courting in Prince's future as a result of media reports that an NYC law firm is suing him for not paying a $700,000 legal bill.

Reuters reports that Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler wants its money, although the firm already miraculously got $125,000 from him.

Don't know if this is proof of those rumors that Prince is having financial problems. Do know that any law firm that sent him bills instead of getting paid upfront must be chumply.

Italian accent

A sassy little Italian is joining the Luther family.

Patti's coming to town

The inestimable Patti Austin, my favorite singer on the planet, is coming to the Dakota for four performances over two nights next week.

"Patti Austin," said Dakota owner Lowell Pickett when he called me in early February. "Is that somebody you've been talking to me about for years?"

She is the ONLY SINGER I've ever asked Pickett to book. And I first started asking about 15 years ago.

"All right, I'm trying," he said, when the booking process was in its infancy.

In anticipation of her behaving like my Patti Austin and not that Symbolina, I've already arranged for Roger Beck Florist to deliver flowers. I've never sent flowers to a singer before.

"I think people will be excited. I know you are," said Pickett, who is also trying to arrange for Austin to make visits to centers that help domestic violence victims, one of her causes, according to pattiaustin.com.

The goddaughter of Quincy Jones and the late Dinah Washington, Austin is a not-so-hidden treasure. You've heard her singing -- you just might not have known it because credits don't roll at the end of TV commercials.

She also sang songs on two of the most lauded albums in the music history: Jones' "The Dude" (www.startribune.com/a230 ) and Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall."

Austin's biggest musical hit, "Baby, Come to Me," a duet with James Ingram, became very popular after being played on "General Hospital." She finally won a Grammy in 2007 for "Avant Gershwin."

In my opinion, she is the best R&B, jazz and country singer (the latter of which she sings just to show you a black woman can) alive. Don't take my word for this: A 2008 New York Times article states that Austin has "a voice that is too perfect. Strong and flexible, with a velvety texture, and immaculately rounded tones complimented by impeccable enunciation."

In other words, she is no rapper (95 percent of whom definitely are not singers). But if she wanted to rap, you'd at least know what the heck she was saying!

Of course, she also has a wicked sense of humor.

On her live albums you get a feel for that along with her spectacular gift for impersonating Michael McDonald, Cher, Anita Baker, James Ingram and Jackson. There's a joke about Jackson in one of her live albums that was drawing groans before he died, so it's probably not in her act any more. She can probably impersonate Prince, though, if she wants, and she is surely one of the few singers to incorporate a mention of Betty Crocker into music as she does in her version of the swing song, "I Can Cook Too."

In 1991, when Austin flew to Minnesota to sub for Whitney Houston, who was already showing signs of flakiness, at the International Special Olympics, I disclosed that Austin was my favorite singer. A Special Olympics insider tipped me off about a lecture Austin was giving at a Radisson and I chatted with her for about a minute. When I lived in Michigan I drove from Grand Rapids to Detroit for the State Fair at which Austin was scheduled to appear, but that event got rained out. It was in Michigan where my friend Bob Emerson, who recently departed his job as the state's budget director, first introduced me to Austin's music, years before her "Baby Come to Me" success.

Off guard, but never off key. Don't talk amongst yourselves, or to me, when the fabulous Patti Austin is on stage at the Dakota!