Crosby pleads to gun charge

New York — Rock musician David Crosby, founding member of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, pleaded guilty Friday to a gun charge, was fined $5,000 and sentenced to a conditional discharge.

Crosby, 62, pleaded guilty in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree as part of a plea deal.

The singer was arrested March 6 at the DoubleTree Suites Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Police said they found a Colt .45-caliber handgun, three clips of .45-caliber ammunition and two knives in his luggage.

ESPYs to honor Tillman

Los Angeles — Tom Cruise will introduce a tribute to late football star Pat Tillman during the 12th annual ESPY Awards, which recognize achievement in sports.

Tillman left a $3.6 million contract as an Arizona Cardinals safety to join the Army and was killed in Afghanistan on April 22. He was 27.

“I am honored to take part in remembering and celebrating the life of Pat Tillman, someone whose courage and integrity I respect and admire,” Cruise said in a statement.

The tribute will be part of the awards ceremony to be taped July 14 at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.

AIDS conference gets energized

Bangkok, Thailand — Brazilian dresses made of condoms, a drag show from Indonesia and a special appearance by actor Richard Gere.

These and dozens of other cultural performances, art shows, fashion parades and films from around the world will be featured at the international AIDS conference this month in Bangkok to break the monotony of scientific sessions, organizers said Friday.

Nearly 240 artists, mostly from Asia but also from Africa, the Americas and Europe, will produce more than 70 shows during the 15th International AIDS Conference July 11-17, said Chumpon Apisuk, chief coordinator of the cultural program.

Ruck counts lucky stars

Washington — More than two years ago, doctors told Alan Ruck, who played Cameron in the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” that he was about to die.

Now, he’s singing and dancing eight times a week in the role of Leopold Bloom in the touring company of “The Producers,” now playing at the Kennedy Center.

Bloom is the role made famous on Broadway by Ruck’s “Ferris Bueller” buddy, Matthew Broderick.

Diagnosed with a strep infection in December 2001, Ruck said his doctors didn’t think he’d survive.

“And then after that they said, ‘Well, we think he’s going to make it, but we don’t know if he’s going to have all his marbles,”‘ the 48-year-old actor told AP Radio in an interview.

Ruck emerged intact — and with all his marbles — and for that, he knows he’s fortunate. “I was lucky I have come out of it relatively unscathed. And I’m singing and dancing!”