Gossip Should Have No Friends

[April 19th, 2006] HEART ATTACK Nominations were announced for the 2006 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (sort of like the Oscars—for 40 year-old virgins). Up for an award as Best Painter/Multimedia Artist is Paul Guinan , for his work in Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate. If that names sounds familiar, it's because WW interviewed Guinan and his wife, Anina Bennett , after the book came out last August. Then the WW book review of Chris Elliott 's The Shroud of the Thwacker (Oct. 19, 2005) later exposed Elliott's use of Guinan's copyrighted character, prompting a New York Times story and forcing Elliott to pay Guinan a tidy sum. See? We knew Guinan was great long, long ago.

BACK TALK OK, two weeks ago we reprinted a downright frightening Talkers magazine cover featuring Lars Larson enjoying a rubdown and we asked for your best caption suggestions. Local genius Steve Cohen won our vote with: "Was there anything else—besides your head—that you wanted me to pull out of there?" Cohen has won a pair of tix to the hottest political party of the year, Candidates Gone Wild, coming May 1.

PORN PUNDIT Viva Las Vegas, Portland's itinerant literary stripper, has bumped 'n' ground her way into a new club: The Sunday New York Times, where she'll be this week's guest writer for

the Fashion & Style section's Modern Love column.

THUNDERSTRUCK Simon Thunder, Portland musician and "real true artistic outlaw" (according to his website), is jettin' down to L.A. in May as one of 50 finalists for the next season of the CBS TV series Rock Star. If selected, he'll appear on the Dave Navarro-Brooke Burke vehicle this June. Last year, Rock Star sussed out INXS's new lead singer. This year, the search is for a leading rocker/addict to play in a new all-star band, Supernova, with Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted of Metallica, and Gilby Clarke of Guns N' Roses. Rock on, Thunders!