Quick Takes: Stones roll again in Paris

As secrets go, the Rolling Stones’ surprise gig on Thursday in Paris ranked among the “worst-kept” variety, as word quickly spread over the Internet before the band took the stage at La Trabendo rock club, site of the group’s first public show in five years.

The 600 fans who paid 15 Euros (a little over $19) apiece to attend may have gotten the classic-rock bargain of the year, given that tickets for the Stones’ upcoming concerts in New Jersey are going for $95 to $750. The Stones’ only scheduled 2012 concerts are Nov. 25 and 29 at London’s O2 Arena, and Dec. 13 and 15 at New Jersey’s Prudential Center. The band is widely expected to tour more extensively in 2013.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood, supplemented by bassist Darryl Jones and keyboardist Chuck Leavell, ran through a dozen songs on Thursday, including their new single, “Doom and Gloom.”

The set began with the Bobby Troupe classic “Route 66,” which drew a straight line back to the Stones’ days of banging out covers in London clubs, as well as their take on Muddy Waters’ “Champagne and Reefer,” to flesh out a batch of cornerstone numbers from their own catalog.

—Randy Lewis

Timberlake critiques video

Justin Timberlake has taken time to “clear the air” and apologize about the video featuring homeless people that was produced by a friend of his, ostensibly in honor of his recent wedding to Jessica Biel.

Timberlake and Biel invited about 100 people to their lavish, fireworks-punctuated nuptials in Italy.

Singer-actor-businessman Timberlake posted an open letter on his website Friday explaining his take on the video, which opened with a title card reading “Greetings From Your Hollywood Friends Who Just Couldn’t Make It.”

It went downhill from there, as the “friends” offering their congratulations turned out to be people who appeared to be homeless or otherwise distressed on the streets of Los Angeles.

Timberlake said he didn’t know about the “silly, unsavory video that was made as a joke and not in any way in mockery.”

The video was not shown at his wedding. And he thinks we can all agree it was “distasteful, even though that was not it’s [sic] intention.”

Timberlake ended his apology: “Again, it was something that I was not made aware of. But, I do understand the reaction and, by association, I am holding myself accountable.”

—Christie D’Zurilla

Rock to pick up the ‘Hat’ again

Chris Rock will reprise his Broadway debut role in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ “The Mother.... With the Hat” for six performances at L.A. Theatre Works, Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. The production will be a radio theater staging recorded in front of live audiences for later broadcast.

Rock will join other members of the original Broadway cast, including Bobby Cannavale and Elizabeth Rodriguez.

Guirgis’ comedy follows a former drug dealer (Cannavale) who learns to readjust to life outside of prison with the help of a counselor (Rock).

As previously announced, Guirgis’ play will make its local debut at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa in a production directed by Michael John Garcés, Jan. 6 to 27.

The play was developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference before it opened on Broadway last year at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

The production received six Tony Award nominations, including a nod for best play.

—David Ng

Looted artifacts return to Mexico

More than 4,000 looted artifacts, many of them made by ancient hunter-gatherers in what is now northern Mexico, were returned to Mexican cultural authorities on Thursday, to be studied, then distributed to Mexican museums.

U.S. investigators said that the stolen antiquities were recovered through 11 separate investigations. Relics were seized by Customs Enforcement agents in El Paso, San Antonio and Fort Stockton, Texas; Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Chicago and Montana.

Arrowheads predominated, but the smuggled items also included statues, figurines, copper hatchets, textiles and pottery. Pedro Sanchez, president of the National Archaeological Council of Mexico, said that several of the recovered pieces have “incalculable archaeological value.”

—Mike Boehm

Morrissey postpones tour

Morrissey has postponed the remainder of his scheduled fall U.S. tour, including the Los Angeles stop Nov. 24 at Staples Center, to remain in England because his mother is ill, according to a spokeswoman at concert promoter Goldenvoice.

The singer plans to reschedule all shows, so fans should hang on to their tickets. Details on the new dates are expected shortly.

The announcement covers 22 shows that had been slated to start Monday in Minneapolis, including a Nov. 14 show in Davis, followed Nov. 16 by one in San Francisco.

—Randy Lewis