Is there anyone in town who DIDN'T have a run-in with Guns N' Roses last weekend? Saturday I stopped by Chop Suey to see Portland's Heavy Johnson Trio--Heavier Johnson Trio was more like it, as they've gotten louder since I left that godforsaken town. The New Mexicans played a short set (dang!), but headliners Rye Coalition fizzled and the crowd diminished quickly. I decided to stop off at the Cha Cha before attending current Flesh drummer Coady Willis' birthday party, and lo and behold, not only was the cute and still-sassy Tommy Stinson in the house, but also all the rest of GN'R, save for ratty old Axl--what a present for the birthday boy! I left soon after the party began, but was told by a spy that at one point in the night a vexed Stinson begged my informant for a butcher knife so he could chop off the head of a woman who dared to tell him that Axl's voice was crap. I might add that the birthday boy took time out from his festivities to call a cab, and then carried me down the stairs to the street when it arrived. Such a nice boy--and his mother, to whom he introduced me when I first arrived, is no doubt the reason. I also got this bit of gossip before I left the party: Someone who would know told me that Dead Low Tide is soon to be resurrected. That would be nice, so long as Mike Kunka will still be playing bass. I also learned that Pearl Jam, a band I really like (though no one seems to believe me), will be taking another Northwest band with them on their upcoming tour supporting their new album, Riot Act. In the past, Pearl Jam has given a leg up to the Fastbacks and the Murder City Devils, providing them with exposure they might not otherwise get on their own. Who are they taking this time? The rumor is that it will be Sleater-Kinney, who just returned from a tour that sold out every single show. That's too much politics, angst, and navel-gazing for one tour, if you ask me. Then again, there's a lot of weirdness going on with Pearl Jam circa '02: They're doing press, they've made videos, and advances of the album were sent out sealed in Walkmans that couldn't be opened without destroying the whole kit and caboodle. The band didn't want anyone to rip the album before its November 12 release date, despite their release of about 30 bazillion bootlegs. Someone very close to the Pearl Jam camp grumpily complained last Friday at yet another party that the whole cloak-and-dagger thing was just ridiculous. I agree, but the band is doing things they've never done before--like making a video since swearing off them after Ten.

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Missy Elliott was the highlight of the Staying Alive AIDS awareness show held November 7 at the Sky Church. Michelle Branch spoke intelligently on Bush's stance that abstinence is the only way to fight HIV; she's a teenager, so her opinion is vital. Also performing that night was Dave Matthews, who, despite my disinterest in his music, is the funniest deadpan comedian I've ever seen. And what a potty mouth! Dave's back was out, he said, and I almost sympathetically offered him a Vicodin, but just in time I remembered he moved to Seattle so his wife could attend the natural health sciences college Bastyr University.

kathleen@thestranger.com