Rockin’ the vote

It’s been a busy year for former Nirvana bassist turned politico Krist Novoselic.

He released a new record in May, had a short-lived protest candidacy for clerk of his home county in Washington state, and is now focused on keeping an alternative voting system in place in another county.

“Politics is just organizing people toward common goals, and I feel like I’m doing a lot of good work,” Novoselic said after speaking at a luncheon hosted by Washington state Secretary of State Sam Reed. “It takes awhile but you have successes and you have setbacks.”

Novoselic said that he’s already working to defeat a November ballot measure that would repeal Pierce County’s “ranked choice” voting system, in which a voter ranks each candidate in order of preference.

He said he’s also planning to be involved in an effort to get a similar system in Los Angeles.

Last month, he withdrew from the race for Wahkiakum County clerk, saying he filed for the office only to protest Washington’s system of letting candidates pick their own party affiliation.

Camera conflict

Arraignment has been postponed for “300” actor Gerard Butler, who’s been charged in Los Angeles with misdemeanor battery for a scuffle with a paparazzo.

A Los Angeles Superior Court clerk says the actor’s lawyer requested the delay on Wednesday, and a judge agreed to postpone the arraignment to Aug. 18.

City prosecutors say the Scottish- born actor had a run-in with a photographer on Oct. 7 after leaving a premiere party for the film “RocknRolla.”

Butler’s manager, Alan Siegel, says Butler was forced to have his driver stop the car after the photographer repeatedly sped through red lights and almost struck two pedestrians.

Butler, who also stars in this summer’s “The Ugly Truth,” faces up to six months in jail if convicted.

Labor of love

Colombian pop star Shakira says after her latest album is born she plans to undertake a new labor: multiple children.

The 32-year-old Grammy winner known for her seductive dance moves says that she plans to focus on a family after October, which is when her as-yet-unnamed album is to be released.

Shakira spoke with the El Tiempo newspaper at her home in the Bahamas, where she says she goes barefoot all day. The newspaper published the interview on Thursday.

Shakira says she wants two kids, while boyfriend Antonio de la Rua would like three.

For now, Shakira’s baby is her new single, “Loba” –Spanish for “She-Wolf,” which she released this week.

Husky hospitalized

A spokesman for country star Ferlin Husky says the singer has been hospitalized in Tennessee.

Tracy Pitcox, president of Heart of Texas Records, said the 83-year-old was admitted to the critical care unit of Summit Medical Center in Hermitage on Thursday.

Pitcox said he had an accelerated heart rate and possible pneumonia, and doctors were treating him for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Husky was country music’s top entertainer in the early 1960s with hits like “Wings of a Dove” and “Gone.” His latest album, released in 2007, is called “The Way It Was.”