It's feast or famine in this goddamn town, and right now we're feasting on great shows, VIP parties, and real gossip. Take Sub Pop's alcohol-soaked celebration for Zen Guerrilla and the Hellacopters before their show at Graceland. Murder City's Gabe was sporting a new tattoo, which, I was told by Spencer Moody -- who hopes never to see it for himself -- is a skull and crossbones. "Located where?" you ask. On his freakin' BALLS, that's where -- and I hope to God never to see it for myself, either. Perhaps a pair of fuzzy dice would have been more appropriate? Oh, and just so you know, there's no shortage of brotherly love among the Devils -- it was bandmate Nate who did the inking.

Later that night, I was surprised to see a male security person quite thoroughly patting down showgoers of both sexes as they passed through the front door. When I went over to find out what the hell was going on, I was informed that Mr. Security was, until that second, unaware that the show was 21-and-over and not all-ages, as it had been the night before. At Graceland, apparently, The Kids get patted down. Both sexes, by a guy. I don't think I like that. Let's complain, shall we?

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Then it was on to the End's annual Deck The Hall Ball at KeyArena, where familiar faces from Severna Park, Micro Mini, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Peter Parker were hanging out in the extremely hospitable VIP area. Run-DMC ended up being the super-secret surprise performers of the evening (although faithful readers of TTS knew that weeks ago. Way to go, Shirley!), and began a fine set only to have organizers cut them off after a couple of songs! God forbid Beck should get his sham shut down a second early, however. Run-DMC were good-natured about it, though, and even autographed Severna Park drummer Fred's Adidas. The next performers were Foo Fighters, who created a mini Nirvana reunion when Krist Novoselic joined Dave Grohl on stage for the final songs. (Nate Mendel was ailing.) Krist was working an odd look with suspenders and jeans tucked into jack boots, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one having MTV Video Awards flashbacks when he threw his bass up into the air after the final song. He chucked the thing once, twice, three times -- and it didn't land on his head once. The reunion continued during headliner Bush's set as Grohl and Novoselic stood arm in arm by the stage, rocking out to the band that, not so many years ago, many accused of ripping off Nirvana. Can ashes spin? A pink-haired Gwen Stefani stood close by as she kept a proprietary eye on boyfriend Gavin Rossdale, whose striking good looks were the topic of many VIP-ers that evening.

Earlier that day on Howard Stern's radio show, Courtney Love called Grohl a dick, claimed Kurt Cobain hated him, and sang a song in response to the Foo Fighters new anti-Courtney single, "Stacked Actors." "Stacked Actors," it should be noted, was played with ample passion and fury at KeyArena later that night.

Speaking of which, the Jackass of the Week award goes out to the Bush fan who, while sitting directly behind Dan Savage and his boyfriend, kept hollering about Beck being a "fucking faggot" between each of the performer's songs. Congratulations, sir -- you are a jackass.