There was little astonishment, on the other hand, when New York Mayor Ed Koch strolled into Neary's Select Pub in Dublin Thursday and ordered up a glass of Guinness stout. Gotham's mayor was on his way to Knock, site of a shrine to the Virgin Mary, to join a peace pilgrimage to Northern Ireland led by Cardinal John O'Connor, archbishop of New York.
SENTENCED TO SING
"I just thank God I was able to get out of here," soul singer said James Brown as he left an Aiken, S.C., jail Thursday. Brown, who had pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and carrying a pistol, and no contest to possession of the
drug PCP, was placed on probation on the condition that he perform a concert to benefit a local organization for abused children. He could have been sentenced to 2 1/2 years and fined $3,000.
TAKING A LOOK
High-powered music-industry moguls joined die-hard home-town fans Thursday night at the Chestnut Cabaret to check out the music of Philadelphia rocker Tommy Conwell and his Young Rumblers. The group was previewing its soon-to-be- released album, Rumble, and the show was designed to introduce the band to music execs from around the country, including John Sher of Monarch Entertainment, Jack Royle of Cellar Door Concerts and promoter Bill Graham. Songs on the album familiar to Philadelphia fans include "I'm Not Your Man," ''Walking on the Water" and "Gonna Break Down."
BORROWED PHRASES
Texan Ann Richards, the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, is getting a lot of mileage out of her remark that Vice President Bush was born "with a silver foot in his mouth." However, the credit for the line belongs to David Kusnet, a Washington columnist and a former speechwriter for Walter Mondale. Kusnet said he didn't mind that Richards appropriated the line; in fact, he's flattered. "I thought it was a nice line when I wrote it," he said.
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Hersey has acknowledged that he appropriated facts and phrases from another writer for use in a New Yorker article on novelist James Agee. Hersey apologized to Agee biographer Laurence Bergreen by saying: "I'm very sorry if I've offended Mr. Bergreen. There's always a fine line between facts and the work of another writer."
HILLBILLY HEAVEN
Coal miner's daughter Loretta Lynn, singers and humorists Homer and Jethro, and singers Roy Rogers, Hank Thompson, Bradley Kincaid and Ray Price were chosen as finalists Thursday for admission into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Two of the finalists will be admitted this fall by a panel of 200 music- industry representatives. The selection will be announced Oct. 10 during the nationally televised Country Music Association awards show.
