Green Day at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach? Dude, no way! Well, no. And, um, yes.
Green Day is not – we repeat, not – performing at the Belly Up on May 26. But the three members of the Bay Area's superstar pop-punk trio – singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, drummer Tre Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt – are.
What's the catch? The three are playing at the Belly Up as the Foxboro Hot Tubs, the Green Day-offshoot band that Armstrong, Cool and Dirnt launched late last year. Their Belly Up show, originally scheduled for the same night here at SOMA Sidestage, next to the San Diego Sports Arena, is part of a quick-hit, eight-city national club tour to promote “Stop Drop and Roll!!!,” the new album by Green Day, um, the Foxboro Hot Tubs. The 12-song album is due out May 20.
Tickets for the Belly Up gig are $20 each. They will go on sale at the Belly Up box office, only, the day of the show (the exact on-sale time has yet to be determined). There will be a limit of two tickets per customer. Other steps to prevent scalping, possibly including an on-site blood test for each ticket buyer, are expected to be announced soon.
– GEORGE VARGA
GRANT, HURLEY GET APOLOGY
Two photo agencies have agreed to pay $113,000 to Hugh Grant, his ex-girlfriend Liz Hurley and her husband for taking photos of them while they were vacationing in the Maldives.
Britain's High Court says The Big Pictures and Eliot Press Sarl agencies apologized yesterday for using a long lens to violate the trio's privacy in October. The pictures appeared in several newspapers.
Grant, Hurley and her husband, Arun Nayar, have released a statement saying it was “reprehensible” that photos were taken of Hurley's son playing naked on the beach.
The three plan to donate the money to a cancer charity.
INSPIRED BY INDIANA JONES
The actor who helped glamorize archaeology on the big screen is lending his star power to the Archaeological Institute of America.
Harrison Ford, who portrays the adventure-seeking Indiana Jones, has been elected to the Boston-based organization's board of directors. The group promotes archaeological excavation, research, education and preservation worldwide.
AIA President Brian Rose says Ford's Indiana Jones character has played a major part in stimulating interest in archaeological exploration.
The latest installment in the series, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” opens in theaters on Thursday.
R. KELLY JURY IS SET
Jury selection was completed at R. Kelly's child pornography trial yesterday amid contentious exchanges between prosecutors and defense attorneys, who accused each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines.
Of the 12 jurors who will open the case, eight are white and four are black. The four alternates include two blacks, one Hispanic and one white.
Defense attorneys objected several times as prosecutors used challenges to have several blacks dismissed from the jury pool.
Prosecutors shot back, telling the judge that the defense had used all six of its pre-emptory challenges on white people.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty. The alleged victim, now 23, says it wasn't her on the videotape.
– COMPILED FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
