Gossip Should Have No Friends

LONG-RANGE LIFE The highlight of "Long Range: A Benefit for Disjecta and Portland Public Schools," held at the R.J. Templeton building on April 4, was supposed to be the meeting of two worlds as indie icon Stephen Malkmus faced off at the three-point arc with Portland Trail Blazers Darius Miles and Voshon Lenard. But the Blazers no-showed, deciding that they were too uncomfortable shooting in the warehouse, even if it was for the schools. Way to go, guys. If it's any consolation, the "role models" missed out on a rare post-shootout set from Malkmus, which featured some Pavement songs. The group's former leadman played "Range Life," "Stereo," "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence" and more. The Malk was a little rusty, but we forgive him. I mean, it's not like he lost to the Sonics by 39 points.

FASHIONABLE BLAZERS Diehard Trail Blazers fan and former Portlander Jeff Gamble has captured an odd fashion phenomenon on his website: New Yorkers sporting Blazer bling, from jerseys to warmup gear. Photographer Gamble insists the team has an inexplicably large fan base in New York (or at least did in 2003, when he shot most of the pics), but we think it's all about the threads. Check it out at www.jeffgamble.com/gallery/gallery3_blazers.html.

CELEB SIGHTINGS Music Millennium Northwest has been the store of choice for some old famous dudes lately. In the first week of April, the Edge, Sean Penn and Peter Buck were all seen perusing the stock. Don't worry—there are still plenty of copies of the new Train album available.

CHIPPER SLIPPER Local choreographer and Northwest Professional Dance Project artistic director Sarah Slipper will head to Moscow next Tuesday as a nominee for the Benois de la Danse international ballet prize for choreography. Slipper says she's more excited about seeing her piece A Fine Balance on the Bolshoi Theatre stage than she is about the possibility of winning, although "the names of people who have won the award in the past are people I have admired my entire career."