One for the record

Ken Casey (right) and the Dropkick Murphys presented Mayor Tom Menino (left) with the band's Gold Record Award at McGreevy's yesterday (above) on behalf of the local music community. It will reside in a bar display case dedicated to Boston's history of baseball, music, and politics. Also in the case: a Boston history book signed by Mayor James Michael Curley and Menino.

Plain White T's guitarist Dave Tirio was recovering from his 29th birthday with a Bloody Mary yesterday before the band's Mix 98.5 show at the Foundation Lounge. The entire band partied the night before on their bus, where he was gifted with a little too much Maine beer and dark chocolate. But the real surprise came when Olympic gymnasts Alicia Sacramone and Nastia Liukin showed up; the medalists are friends with a dancer who worked with tourmates Panic at the Disco, Tirio said. "I was so excited. I'm a huge sports fan. They were like, 'You know who we are?' I don't usually have good birthdays on the road." Tirio and bandmates Tom Higgenson, Mike Retondo, De'Mar Hamilton, and Tim Lopez were scheduled to play Lowell last night. Also hanging with Mix DJs John Lander, Kelly Malone, and Alicia Love in the studio yesterday: "American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta.

How's this for awkward? When Christine Dorchak was a student at the New England School of Law, she received a scholarship that had been funded by George Carney, who owns the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park. Dorchak, however, is the architect of Question 3, which would outlaw dog racing. In a roundabout way, Carney - who is a major donor to the law school - helped fund the very ballot initiative that could put him out of business. For his part, Carney says he doesn't regret that he helped his rival. "When you give money to the school, they give it to someone they believe is a worthy student," said Carney, who personally presented Dorchak with her diploma when she graduated in 2005. "I wished her the best of luck." But Dorchak, who co-founded a greyhound-protection group in 2001, tells it differently. She says Carney confronted her a few months after graduation at a Supreme Judicial Court hearing where he successfully sought blockage of the so-called Greyhound Protection Act. (Activists finally got it back on the ballot this year.) "He looked at me, red-faced, and demanded his money back," she said. "I just said, 'I thank you for the scholarship, but I'm going to keep doing the work I'm doing.' " Carney says that's not how it happened. "No way," he said. "I'm not a small person. We just have a difference of opinion."

It's apparently not personal between Nic Cage and Newport. Turns out the "Leaving Las Vegas" star, who last week put his Rhode Island mansion on the market for $15.9 million, is selling several other properties. TMZ.com reported yesterday that Cage is unloading his New Orleans spread for $3.7 million and a Bel Air abode for $30 million. In addition, the Oscar-winning actor recently sold a 132-foot yacht for $7.7 million. Cage is selling his Rhode Island crash pad barely a year after buying it.

Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.