We didn’t really expect him to be pro-Bono
POLITICS MAY MAKE strange bedfellows, but Bono and Jesse Helms?
The Irish rocker and the archconservative former North Carolina senator sat down for dinner before U2’s concert Monday night at the new arena in Charlotte, N.C.
“(Bono) called us a couple of weeks ago and said he wanted to see his old friend the senator,” said John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center.
Since they were introduced several years ago, the pair have become allies in the fight against the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
On Monday’s menu: grilled chicken, roast beef and salmon.
“It was nothing fancy,” said Dodd. “They ate in the cafeteria with the roadies and the rest of the crew.”
But Helms, 84, who suffers from a number of serious health problems, didn’t stick around for the show.
“He has been to a U2 show before, but he was tired after traveling back from Raleigh earlier in the day,” Dodd explained.
Sprung from the trap
Lindsay Lohan‘s parents reached a divorce settlement Monday, ending their 20-year marriage.
In a public battle, Dina Lohan sued for divorce and Michael Lohan asked for a cut of his daughter’s earnings in response. They have three other children.
Lohan, the 19-year-old star of such films as “Parent Trap” and “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” reflected on the situation in her new album, “A Little More Personal (Raw),” including the song “Confessions of a Broken Heart,” about a daughter’s abandonment by her father.
Buck bagged
Rapper Young Buck has pleaded no contest to a felony in the stabbing of a man at last year’s Vibe Awards show.
The 24-year-old entertainer (real name: David Darnell Brown) entered the plea Monday to a charge of assault likely to produce great bodily harm and was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service.
He was charged with stabbing 27-year-old Jimmy James Johnson, who had punched producer Dr. Dre during a melee at the Nov. 15, 2004, awards show. Johnson previously pleaded guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to a year in jail.
Alexander the addict
Irish actor Colin Farrell is being treated for exhaustion and dependency on prescription medication.
The medication was prescribed to Farrell after a back injury, his publicist said, adding that he checked himself into an unidentified treatment center.
Farrell, the 29-year-old star of “Alexander” and “Phone Booth,” appears in the upcoming adventure-drama “The New World.”
I am woman, hear me implore
Naomi Watts knew her role as Ann Darrow in the big-budget movie remake of “King Kong,” opening today, demanded one thing: a strong set of pipes.
But the new film from director Peter Jackson isn’t quite as filled with the throat-rattling shrieks that packed the 1933 original or the 1976 version, Watts says.
“There are screams, but it’s not all the way through,” she says. “I don’t know, maybe that’s reflective of the modern woman. Yeah, she’s a damsel in distress, but she’s tougher and that’s why she negotiates herself out of being killed.”
The birthday bunch
Jazz trumpeter Clark Terry is 85. Actress Patty Duke is 59. Singer Joyce Vincent-Wilson (Tony Orlando and Dawn) is 59. Actress Dee Wallace is 57. Actress Cynthia Gibb (“Fame”) is 42.