Jeff Ament

Rock documentaries made by fans of the band fall into two categories: They either exclude nonbelievers or draw them into the fold. "Pearl Jam Twenty" starts out exclusionary but opens the gates before it's through. Writer-director Cameron Crowe, whose idea it was to examine the celebrated Seattle-based band in time for its 20th anniversary, is no ordinary fan. His films include "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous," and he has the Matt Damon-starring "We Bought a Zoo" due for December release.

“Did you see Maroon 5 on 'Saturday Night Live'?” Jeff Ament asked the other day. The Pearl Jam bassist wasn't looking for an opinion on Maroon 5's performance last weekend; instead, he was sharing his incredulity over the L.A. group's all-orange wardrobe - the same look Ament has been going for in RNDM , his new power trio with singer-guitarist Joseph Arthur and drummer Richard Stuverud. “I wouldn't have cared if they were good,” he went on. “But the song [wasn't good].” Ament can rest easy: Beyond that shared color choice, RNDM stands little chance of being confused with Maroon 5. On “Acts,” its recently released debut, the band rockets through a dozen leanly propulsive art-rock cuts full of sharp grooves and the atmospheric vocals Arthur has honed over the course of his acclaimed solo career.

WASHINGTON - Want to see Pearl Jam's only non-festival show this year? Montana Sen. Jon Tester has you covered. The Democrat, who is in a tough reelection battle against Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg this fall, is offering 100 tickets to the sold-out Sept. 30 show in Missoula. Tickets were $250 a pop on the senator's campaign website, www.jontester.com , Thursday. Turns out Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament is a fellow native of Big Sandy, where Tester has his family farm, and is a longtime friend of the senator's family, the campaign said.

WASHINGTON - Want to see Pearl Jam's only non-festival show this year? Montana Sen. Jon Tester has you covered. The Democrat, who is in a tough reelection battle against Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg this fall, is offering 100 tickets to the sold-out Sept. 30 show in Missoula. Tickets were $250 a pop on the senator's campaign website, www.jontester.com , Thursday. Turns out Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament is a fellow native of Big Sandy, where Tester has his family farm, and is a longtime friend of the senator's family, the campaign said.

“Did you see Maroon 5 on 'Saturday Night Live'?” Jeff Ament asked the other day. The Pearl Jam bassist wasn't looking for an opinion on Maroon 5's performance last weekend; instead, he was sharing his incredulity over the L.A. group's all-orange wardrobe - the same look Ament has been going for in RNDM , his new power trio with singer-guitarist Joseph Arthur and drummer Richard Stuverud. “I wouldn't have cared if they were good,” he went on. “But the song [wasn't good].” Ament can rest easy: Beyond that shared color choice, RNDM stands little chance of being confused with Maroon 5. On “Acts,” its recently released debut, the band rockets through a dozen leanly propulsive art-rock cuts full of sharp grooves and the atmospheric vocals Arthur has honed over the course of his acclaimed solo career.

Eddie Vedder's struggles with fame have been well chronicled, but what do the other members of Pearl Jam do when success overwhelms them? Bassist Jeff Ament resorted to a mental trick. "For a while I was wearing a rubber band around my wrist," he says. "Whenever I would find myself speculating too much about what was going to happen, worrying about the future, I would snap the rubber band and say, 'Right now!' The rubber band reminded me that I should be living for the moment."

For the Cadillac Tramps, last week was one of Shakespearean proportions: first a comedy of errors, then all's well that ends well. At some point in the middle of it, the road-weary band must have thought about trading its kingdom--or it least its much-abused 1985 Dodge Ram touring van--for a Lear jet. The unlikely series of events began to unfold on Aug.

THE LAST WORD: Our Euphemism of the Month goes to the Seattle band Pearl Jam. According to a history of the group just penned by bassist Jeff Ament, the end of Pearl Jam's forerunner Mother Love Bone came about when singer Andrew Wood "left to go do his solo album." That's a unique way of saying that Wood had died of a drug overdose in April, 1990.

Rock documentaries made by fans of the band fall into two categories: They either exclude nonbelievers or draw them into the fold. "Pearl Jam Twenty" starts out exclusionary but opens the gates before it's through. Writer-director Cameron Crowe, whose idea it was to examine the celebrated Seattle-based band in time for its 20th anniversary, is no ordinary fan. His films include "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous," and he has the Matt Damon-starring "We Bought a Zoo" due for December release.

Eddie Vedder's struggles with fame have been well chronicled, but what do the other members of Pearl Jam do when success overwhelms them? Bassist Jeff Ament resorted to a mental trick. "For a while I was wearing a rubber band around my wrist," he says. "Whenever I would find myself speculating too much about what was going to happen, worrying about the future, I would snap the rubber band and say, 'Right now!' The rubber band reminded me that I should be living for the moment."

For the Cadillac Tramps, last week was one of Shakespearean proportions: first a comedy of errors, then all's well that ends well. At some point in the middle of it, the road-weary band must have thought about trading its kingdom--or it least its much-abused 1985 Dodge Ram touring van--for a Lear jet. The unlikely series of events began to unfold on Aug.

The Pearl Jam apparel and memorabilia being sported by many of the audience members at the El Rey Theatre on Friday were a tip-off: It was the L.A. debut of Three Fish, a side project spearheaded by Pearl Jam's bassist Jeff Ament. The blend of Middle Eastern-flavored rock and loud, fervent angst came across with mixed results.