"We're thinking about Michael Jackson now. We're just a very small part in this tragic story."

In the absence of facts, rumors are swirling about replacement acts. The London Sun reported yesterday that AEG was talking with ABBA about reuniting.

Well that's not going to happen. Any other ideas?

"I'd say Marilyn Manson because he's really good on covers," said Novella Ciceri, 22, a leather- goods trader from Milan.

You know what that idea says to Tattle? Don't let a leather-goods trader book a 23,000-seat arena.

There's the possibility of a tribute show for which no solid details have been announced and for which only a few nights of sales may be possible.

"Fifty nights is absolutely out of the question," said music writer John Aizlewood. "Nobody in the Jackson family is capable of selling out the O2 for even one night, not even Janet."

* An L.A. judge yesterday de-

layed Monday's guardianship hearing for Michael's children at the request of attorneys for his mother, Katherine, and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe. KNBC reported earlier yesterday that Debbie now intends to seek custody of Michael's two oldest children (born when the pair were married) and will seek a restraining order to keep Jackson's father, Joe, away from them.

* With the federal Drug En-

forcement Administration now joining the investigation into Michael's death, Jermaine Jackson says he would be "hurt" if toxicology reports show that Michael abused prescription drugs. (No matter how much it hurts, don't take a shot of Demerol.) "In this business, the pressures and things that you go through, you never know what one turns to," Jermaine said yesterday on NBC's "Today" show.

Jermaine also said on "Today" that he wishes he had died instead of Michael (something that's always easier to say for the person who hasn't died) and that Michael was "a gift from Allah." "He went too soon," he said. "I don't know how people are going to take this, but I wish it was me."

He said that he always felt that he was Michael's backbone. "I wanted to be there for him. I was there and he was sort of like molded. Things he couldn't say, I would say them. During the trials, during everything . . . "

Jermaine said that when he rushed to Michael's side at

UCLA Medical Center last Thursday, "I wanted to see Michael, and I wanted to see my brother, and see him there lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me, but I held myself together, because I know he's very much alive. His spirit is, and that was just a shell, but I kissed him on his forehead and I hugged him, and I touched him and I said, 'Michael, I'll never leave you. You'll never leave me.' "

* TMZ.com said yesterday that

Michael's private family service will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles. A motorcade will then go into downtown L.A. for a public memorial at either the Staples Center or the Nokia Theatre.

Tattbits

* Tattle's winners for dinner for

two at Patou in Old City are Mary-Ellen Walter and Lynn Turner, both of Philadelphia. Congrats. Enjoy.

* Jay Leno has won control of the

Web address thejaylenoshow.com. The U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization says current owner Guadalupe Zambrano of Katy, Texas, failed to show he had a legitimate reason for registering the address five years ago. His illegitimate reason? Zambrano used the site to redirect Web surfers to his real- estate business. *

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Send e-mail to gensleh@phillynews.com.