Village People policeman to perform after 25 years

Los Angeles – Victor Willis, the original policeman in the disco band The Village People, is planning his first performance in about 25 years after completing a drug treatment program earlier this year, his publicist said.

Willis, 55, will appear at the House of Blues in Las Vegas on Aug. 31 in a show previewing his planned 2008 world tour, publicist Alice Wolf said Friday.

His “Victor Willis Disco Dance Tour” is to begin in March and is expected to include concerts in the U.S., Australia, Britain, Japan, Norway, Germany and Canada, Wolf said.

Willis co-wrote hits such as “Y-M-C-A” and “In the Navy,” Village People standards in the late 1970s. He left the band in 1980.

He was arrested in San Francisco in March 2006 after police stopped his car and found cocaine and drug paraphernalia. He pleaded no contest to possessing drugs, was sentenced to three years of probation and entered a nine-month treatment program that he completed in April of this year, Wolf said.

Suit claims Avril Lavigne’s ‘Girlfriend’ is really ‘Boyfriend’

Suffice it to say the ’70s rock band the Rubinoos doesn’t think Avril Lavigne is “the best damn thing.” Band members are claiming the bubblegum diva’s international smash hit “Girlfriend” rips off one of their most famous songs.

Songwriters James Gangwer and Tommy Dunbar, a Rubinoos founding member, filed suit in a U.S. District Court on Thursday charging Lavigne and her co-writers with copyright infringement and copying their 1979 song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” without permission.

“It’s the exact same meter and chord progression as our song,” said the Rubinoos’ lead singer, Jon Rubin, who is not a part of the lawsuit. “Then it gets to the last line and it’s the same lyrics. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the songs are the same.”

Videos comparing “Girlfriend” to “Boyfriend” rank among the most popular offerings on YouTube. By Friday, more than half a million people had viewed dozens of clips that emphasize the similarities.

“Girlfriend,” off Lavigne’s platinum-selling album “The Best Damn Thing,” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart.

‘ER’ star Goran Visnjic faces paternity suit in Croatia

Zagreb, Croatia – A Croatian woman is suing “ER” star Goran Visnjic, claiming he’s the father of her 4-month-old daughter and demanding a paternity test.

Mirela Rupic, 36, filed the lawsuit after Visnjic refused to recognize the child as his, Rupic’s attorney, Nenad Skare, told The Associated Press on Friday.

Visnjic, who plays Dr. Luka Kovac on the long-running NBC series, has been married to Ivana Vrdoljak since 1999 and lives in Los Angeles. The couple told Croatian media last spring they have adopted a boy, born in April, in the United States.

Skare said that Rupic initially wanted to settle the matter directly with Visnjic, but her attempts failed. If Visnjic formally denies paternity, they would request a paternity test, Skare said.

Rupic told Friday’s Jutarnji List that Visnjic “knew about my pregnancy from the start.” The newspaper quoted her as saying she decided to sue him after he told her recently he would financially support the child, but never recognize her as his own.