The only thing stranger than Boy George’s planned concert for the City of New York Department of Sanitation’s annual Family Day on Aug. 17 is the latest bit of info that he won’t be coming to the States after all. Boy George, who wanted to perform for the department in gratitude for “the kindness shown to him during his community service with them in 2006,” has been denied permission to enter the U.S. This means his U.S. tour is scrapped too. A representative from the U.S. State Department declined to comment, stating that it is against policy to talk about individual visa cases.

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English magazine Total Guitar has released a list of the worst cover songs of all time. Readers of the magazine’s top choice? Céline Dion’s dreadful take on AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” The song was never officially released by Dion, but You Tube has given the version (performed in Las Vegas in 2002 for a VH-1 special) a second life online.

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Trenton Guinta, left, of San Dimas, and Ian DeLucca of Long Beach work their exit strategy as the opening day of Warped Tour comes to an end.

||| See: After a show Saturday in San Francisco, the Warped Tour returns to the Southland on Sunday for a date at Seaside Park in Ventura. And the tour comes to a close Aug. 17 at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

–Kevin Bronson

There’s not much to say about Say Anything’s first Warped Tour set except: better luck next time.

Savaged by technical problems, the emo sextet was reduced to playing only a handful of songs — the final two solo efforts by frontman Max Bemis, who handled the sticky situation with as much aplomb as could be expected. “This didn’t happen to Angels & Airwaves,” he said, referring to the band that preceded him onstage.

He thanked the audience profusely for its patience. And his solo renditions of “Baby Girl, I’m a Blur” and “Walk Through Hell”? Pretty darned memorable.

–Photo and post by Kevin Bronson

One down, 45 Warped Tour dates to go.

If you were 14, female and near the rail for Katy Perry’s set, you probably thought the fresh-faced 23-year-old had a pretty killer debut on the Warped tour. You could see the pink eyeliner (”I’m bringing pink to the Warped Tour,” she declared), the “Jesus” tattoo on her wrist (she’s the daughter of pastors from Santa Barbara); and you might have caught one of the strawberry balloons her minions threw to the crowd.

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The L.A. contingent at this year’s Warped Tour isn’t quite as deep as in past years, but it’s always interesting to see bands outside of the Southland club environment, where they are taking aim at new fans.

Two of those local heroes, the Aggrolites and the Briggs, pushed themselves to the limit.

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Warped Tour producer and founder Kevin Lyman put attendance for Friday’s opening date at 16,000.

That’s fewer than the 20,000 that packed the grounds last year (for a bill a bit heavier on veteran, big-name punk bands) but more than the 14,000 from two years ago. Lyman reasons that having the tour start a week earlier, along with the general economic doldrums, kept attendance down.

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If you walked briskly Friday afternoon in the 102-degree heat (and dodged the kids with squirt guns), you departed the northern main stage at the Pomona Fairplex just as Gym Class Heroes were finishing their catchy but kitschy low-brow anthem “Clothes Off!” and arrived at the southern main stage in time to hear Against Me! break into its strident anthem “Stop!”

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Nigerian singer Fela Kuti is most known for ushering Afrobeat rhythms and socially conscious messages onto the world stage. Tonight and tomorrow, his son Seun (pronounced shi-oon) embarks on his first ever tour to promote his album “Many Things,” which features his father’s 15-piece funk and jazz orchestra, Egypt 80.

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Everyday around 4:30 or 5 p.m., we’ll be releasing a quote from Ann Powers’ interview with George Michael in preparation for his performance Wednesday at the Forum.

ON ‘ELI STONE’

“The ‘Eli Stone’ thing for me is very confusing. Initially it was just this 13-week period and I found it almost impossible to say no to it, just because it was so complimentary to place that much music of mine in it.

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