Hilary Duff tickets
go on sale Saturday

IF YOU thought next week's "American Idols Live" concerts would contain enough sugar-coated pop goodness to last us the rest of the year, think again.

Tickets go on sale Saturday morning at 9 a.m. for an Oct. 30 concert featuring Hilary Duff at the Blaisdell Arena. She'll stop in Honolulu on the way back from a pair of shows in Australia.

While her latest album, "Metamorphosis," gained her respectable radio and MTV airplay with the singles "So Yesterday" and "Come Clean," much of Duff's popularity stems from her role as Lizzy McGuire on the Disney television show of the same name. She was also in the summer movie "A Cinderella Story" (still playing at the Restaurant Row cineplex), after appearing in "Agent Cody Banks" and "Cheaper By the Dozen."

Get ready to spend some cash if you're planning to check this one out -- tickets are $48 each, and you can bet there will be plenty of merchandise bearing Duff's image for sale as well ...

OTHER CONCERT news: Next month's show at the Wave Waikiki by Welsh singer-songwriter Jem has been canceled. No word from promoters as to why it's off, or if the date will be rescheduled ... Tickets went on sale yesterday for the return of Mark Farina to the islands. He'll play on Maui Oct. 15 before heading to Oahu the next evening for a gig at the Wave. Head over to Cheapo Music, Jelly's, Hungry Ear Records or the UH Campus Center for $15 presales, or buy online at www.groovemusic.com ...

CONGRATS TO Renell Gamboa, who beat out 20 other contestants on Saturday night for the title of Miss Venus Hawaii.

Although some of the other finalists had sizable cheering sections, Gamboa's mom Cindy and three of her aunties represented to the fullest. They went bonkers when hosts Bruddah Bryan and Juliet Lighter announced that the 23-year-old Paradise Cove dancer would be flying to Florida to meet with world-class photographers and get a shot at a career in modeling.

Not bad for someone who had entered only one other contest before winning this one ...

FOLLOWING SUNDAY night's event at 39 Hotel Street, Sergio Goes and the gang from Cinema Paradise wrap things up with a party at the Buddha Bar on Thursday night.

You've got to be at least 21 to check out the award presentations and meet the filmmakers behind some of the entries from this year's independent film festival. Also flying in for special guest sets are DJs J-Boogie and former Hawaii resident FLX (also known as DJ Felix).

Can't make it to the Buddha Bar on Thursday? You can catch J-Boogie tonight and Friday at the Wave, and FLX will be spinning at Indigo on Friday night, the Buddha Bar on Saturday and the Velvet Lounge on Sunday ...