Mike Dirnt’s Back-Up Plan?
Although the Green Day bassist has said that in another life he’d like to be a stand-up comic, he’s already quite the entrepreneur, just opening a second location of his almost decade-old Rudy’s Can’t Fail Café in Emeryville, California in nearby Oakland, near the iconic Fox Theater.
Named for a Clash song, the new location nabs the after concert crowd. But why did the musician, who began his professional career as a short order cook in Crockett, California at a place called Nantucket, want to open a restaurant? “One of the reasons was I couldn’t go anywhere with my six-year-old without waiting 45 minutes to get her a friggin’ waffle.”
Since Green Day doesn’t work half enough, Dirnt has expanded into designing shoes. According to the band's website, the 39-year-old is currently designing his third collection of vegan shoes for Macbeth:
We love working with Mike, and he's come up with another great shoe this season. The 3rd in his series of military inspired Schubert’s; this slick Grey version is one of our favorites. Royalty form this shoe gets donated to charity.
Called the 45 RPM Schubert, it’s black, has lace loops and doesn’t contain any animal products. The high top version is available for $79.99. Despite not actually being vegan or even vegetarian, Dirnt has erroneously been nominated for PETA2's Sexiest Vegetarian award numerous times. PETA2 is the youth branch of the PETA animal rights organization.
Chrissie Hynde: Gay Icon?
Speaking of vegans, according to the Gay People’s Chronicle, a week before Chrissie Hynde's 60th birthday, the fierce, stunning musician was given an Ally Award by Cleveland, Ohio’s Human Rights Committee. No, it's not awarded by the diet drug—although Hynde is still lithe as she ever was. It’s an honor bestowed annually to a person who has shown their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people or the LGBT community.
Neil Young's Son Is an Egg Man, the Walrus IS Paul
Yes, that was Neil Young at Half Moon Bay’s Coastside Famer’s Market. Why was he there? Well, he lives just a stone’s throw away, but it’s one of the locations where his son Ben sells his organic eggs, sold as Ben’s Free-Range Eggs at $7.00 a dozen.
The 32-year-old, who was born with cerebral palsy, is the inspiration behind his famous parents Pegi and Neil Young helping to found the Bridge School in 1986, whose mission is to ensure that individuals with severe speech and physical impairments achieve full participation in their communities through alternative means of communication and assistive technology.
The younger Young is a testament to the fact that Bridge School graduates can merge into society by starting his egg farm on his family ranch in Woodside, California after graduating from Half Moon Day High School. He began by raising alpacas as part as a 4-H Club project. He still has his alpacas on his farm to fend off predators for but turned his attention toward raising chickens, which have grown to 200 in number—every single one of them named Georgette. They lay about 60 eggs a day—which is a rather small number—but Ben is researching ways to increase production.
But according to an article in The Half Moon Bay Review, the business broke even in 2007, due mainly to diligent marketing, selling most of the eggs at the Shoreline Station farmers market, then bringing the leftovers to El Granada, California’s Café Gibraltar. Maybe Mike Dirnt could take a few off Ben’s hands?
As for Ben Young’s dad, he just announced the lineup for the 25th Annual Bridge Show Concerts at Mountain View, California’s Shoreline Amphitheater, featuring performances by Arcade Fire, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, Foo Fighters, Tony Bennett, and Mumford & Sons on October 22 and 23.
