An old, old Friend of Unfair Park sends word that INXS played a private birthday party at the Granada Saturday night for Scott Kipp, a partner at the real-estate investment firm Cardinal Capital. Kipp and his missus were celebrating their 40th birthdays, which apparently fall a few weeks apart, and, for reasons that remain mysterious to those of us who can hear, the couple hired the retooled band to play the shindig. Ah, but we kid, of course. After all, somewhere in our collection is a copy of Shabooh Shoobah. Haven't played it in 25 years, but, still.
Then again, maybe the Kipps just felt bad for the band: INXS was dropped from Epic Records last year after 32 people, give or take, bought the band's first album in eight years, Switch, which featured hired-on-TV lead singer J.D. Fortune. We're not sure what it cost the Kipps -- had to have been in the high four figures, at least -- but for INXS, it had to have been a better gig than this week's stop at the Cache Creek Casino and Resort in Brooks, California, wherever that is. At least the couple didn't steal my idea: For my 40th birthday, or my kid's bar mitzvah in 2017, we're totally, like, hiring Adam and the Ants. --Robert Wilonsky