City Kitchens continues to be a fount of celebrity gossip. After reading my blurb last week about Mrs. Angus Young's purchase of those tiny paper chef hats that festoon racks of lamb or prime rib or whatever that bony, fancy circle of meat is called (can you tell I've only been eating meat for two years?), the downtown culinary accouterments store blabbed that on the occasion of his recent Seattle show, Nick Cave stopped by and made purchase of a set of knives. The tipper also noted that Jason Finn once purchased the same set. Sur La Table, my ass. And forget The Naked Chef, while you're at it. As a matter of fact, I think the Food Network has the makings for a real rock and roll cooking show right here in the Emerald City.

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Those lucky enough to gain entrance to the sold-out Modest Mouse show last Friday were rewarded with a masterfully subdued set, subtle in its intensity, fitting for the cavernous splendor of the Paramount Ballroom. More than a couple of fans noted, however, that some songs got the "Built to Spill treatment," meaning the jamming threatened to become tedious. Frontman Isaac Brock had flown to Seattle from New York where he had played an Ugly Casanova (his side project) show with Grandaddy at Irving Plaza. Afterward there was an invitation-only party held in the band's honor at Nation, where the glittering and the nondescript alternately hobnobbed and jammed booths. K Records' Calvin Johnson was in attendance, as it is Johnson's label that just released Sad Sappy Sucker, a disc of early Modest Mouse material, recorded in 1994 when the band consisted of Brock and drummer Jeremiah Green, bassist John Wickhart, and second guitarist Dann Gallucci, who, of course, went on to co-found Murder City Devils. Also throwing shade at the after-show blowout were various Devils, and members of Pretty Girls Make Graves, Carissa's Wierd, Fastbacks, Alien Crime Syndicate, Rocket from the Crypt, Hafacat, IQU, and eXBeSTFRIeNDS, whose singer Ryan provided plenty of hilarity with his death-defying leaps and bounds from tabletop to tabletop, much to the chagrin of certain hemmed-in employees.

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Speaking of Ryan Davidson, practices and songwriting sessions have begun for a new collaboration between him, Jenn Ghetto, and former Karp drummer Scott. The band is a balls-to-the-wall metal project, and as kick-ass as that hookup will be, woefully, I'm sad to report that the future of Ghetto's wildly popular solo project, S, is undecided at the moment, as the silently charismatic Ghetto is seriously considering laying it to rest.

Still no definitive word as to just what exactly happened on that infamous flight containing R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and his drunken hissy fit. The band is keeping mum on the event until the May court date, of course, and outside of a British media report divulging that "crockery" had been broken when a serving tray was overturned, no dirt has surfaced. The brouhaha did afford viewers of local newscasts' repeated footage of beloved road manager/party animal Bob Whitaker stuffing his charge into a car as media pursued Buck when he exited the London jail where he had been held overnight.

kathleen@thestranger.com