GOSSIP SHOULD HAVE NO FRIENDS

[September 28th, 2005] QUEENS OF THE STONE PAGE: No, that line outside Powell's Books Sunday night was not due to the release of yet another Harry Potter tome. Rather, the 300-odd queuing up at the Burnside store were there for a secret concert by stoner rock group Queens of the Stone Age. The band took its day off from opening arena shows with Nine Inch Nails (who played the Rose Garden Saturday night) to play the bookstore at the request of QOTSA leadman Josh Homme, who is a really big fan of Powell's. The sit-down, partially acoustic show was kept relatively quiet, with invitations being extended to employees of Powell's and Music Millennium and a few lucky others. The band opened the set up to requests from the awestruck few in attendance. "You know, when we asked for requests, no one said 'Freebird,'" said Homme, sipping from a can of Corona. "That's why I love Portland."

FREEZE FRAME: By day, Martin Waugh is a top-level engineer at the Portland-based Net-crunching firm WebTrends. But that's not why he received accolades in last weekend's London Times. That honor was bestowed him because of his night obsession, taking amazing high-speed photographs of liquid drops and splashes. His website showcasing these heart-stopping images, www.liquidsculpture.com, was recently featured on trend-savvy blog www.boingboing.net.

FORGOTTEN ONE: We forgot to give credit where credit was due. The photo with last week's story "ONE's Way to Broadway" was taken by Ericka Heidrick. WW regrets the omission.