Quick Takes: Billie Joe Armstrong boosts ‘American Idiot’

Having Billie Joe Armstrong on Broadway was — not surprisingly — a pretty smart move for “American Idiot.”

Producers of the rock musical say ticket sales soared to more than $1 million last week when the Green Day frontman joined the show for eight performances ending Sunday.

The show’s weekly average gross has been $740,000 since it opened April 20 at the St. James Theatre. Last week it was $1,092,334.

Armstrong, who composed and co-wrote the musical, made his Broadway debut as St. Jimmy. Actor Tony Vincent will resume performances in the role Oct. 12, with understudies playing the part until then.

—Associated Press

Thurber Prize for Hely novel

Steve Hely isn’t funny only when he’s writing for “The Office.”

Hely’s modestly titled novel, “How I Became a Famous Novelist,” was awarded the 2010 Thurber Prize for American Humor in New York on Monday night.

Hely, who has previously written for the TV shows “30 Rock” and “Late Show With David Letterman,” received $5,000.

Previous winners of the Thurber award include Jon Stewart and David Sedaris. The prize, which was founded in 1997, is named for the humorist-cartoonist James Thurber.

—Associated Press

Reality show winner’s plea

The winner of the CBS reality show “Big Brother 9” pleaded guilty Monday to a drug charge and for failing to file a tax return for the year he won the show’s $500,000 prize.

Adam Jasinski was arrested outside Boston last October and charged with attempting to sell 2,000 pills of oxycodone, the main active ingredient in OxyContin and other painkillers.

He had originally pleaded not guilty to possession with attempt to distribute oxycodone but changed his plea to guilty during a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He also pleaded guilty to the tax charge, which was added Monday by prosecutors.

Sentencing is not scheduled until Jan. 11, but Jasinski, 32, was immediately handcuffed and taken into custody to begin serving his time.

—Associated Press

Symphony’s players picket

Musicians dressed in tuxedos and black performance attire hit the picket line Monday after refusing to accept pay cuts of more than 30% demanded by the financially struggling Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Musicians would normally be preparing this week for their first, still-scheduled performances at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in downtown Detroit and elsewhere. Instead, about 65 of them marched in front of the center while a French horn quartet composed of orchestra musicians serenaded their picketing colleagues.

Haden McKay, a cellist and spokesman for the musicians, called the strike “the only weapon we have” to keep the orchestra from being permanently harmed.

Symphony management declared an impasse Sept. 1 and began implementing a 33% base pay cut for orchestra veterans, from $104,650 to $70,200 in the first year. Musicians had offered a 22% reduction in the first year to $82,000, which would increase in subsequent years.

No bargaining sessions are scheduled.

—Associated Press

Comics join in cancer fight

The Sunday funnies will be in shades of pink ink on Oct. 10 in support of breast cancer awareness month.

King Features Syndicate Inc. said that more than 50 cartoonists will participate. Each comic strip will also feature a pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness with the tag line “Cartoonists Care.” The pink strips will run in newspapers nationwide and online.

Participating strips include Blondie, Zits, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, Mother Goose & Grimm and Mallard Fillmore.

—Associated Press

Finally

Coming: “The Tales of Peter Rabbit,” the classic children’s stories by Beatrix Potter, will come to life anew in an animated series for preschoolers that Nickelodeon plans to put on in 2012. It will be produced by Chorion, which previously made “Olivia” and “Max & Ruby” for the children’s channel.

Going: ABC Family said it would not be renewing its low-rated freshman summer series “Huge,” which starred Nikki Blonsky and Hayley Hasselhoff as teens at a weight-loss camp.