A ‘Singles’ Premiere: a Singular Party

The Scene: Premiere party for “Singles,” the Cameron Crowe-directed tale of modern romance set among Seattle’s rock ‘n’ roll youth, starring Campbell Scott, Bridget Fonda and Matt Dillon. At the Park Plaza Hotel ballroom on Thursday night, Hot Seattle grunge-rockers Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains (members do cameos in the film) performed. Giving the evening that authentic rock club feel, fire marshals prowled the grounds, limiting the numbers who could squeeze into the food room and the sweat-drenched concert hall.

The Buzz: The first film premiere party with slam-dancing and stage diving? In fact, you’d hardly know this was a film-related event, and it was definitely the Pearl Jam and Alice performances that made this a hot party ticket. The biggest topic of discussion seemed to be what strings had to be pulled to score an invitation. The film may be testimony to Crowe’s hand as a writer-director, but the party was testimony to his past as an insightful rock music journalist. (He started to make the movie two years ago, long before Seattle rock caught on in a big way.)

Guest list: Crowe, with wife Nancy Wilson and sister-in-law Ann Wilson (the core members of the band Heart), most of the “Singles” stars (Scott, Dillon and Fonda among them), Johnny Depp, David Geffen, John Landis, Peter Fonda (searching for his daughter Bridget at one point), Joel Silver and members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry and Soundgarden.

What you won’t see MacCauley Culkin do at the “Home Alone 2” premiere: Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, wearing an old-style motorcycle helmet, stirred things up during Alice in Chains’ three-song set by initiating the slam-dancing in the crowd and getting into a fight. During his own band’s rowdy finale he taunted security guards, fire marshals and the crowd with a series of expletives and dived into the crowd, which held him aloft and passed him back to the stage as he sang.

Style: With the mix of film industry hangers-on and music industry hangers-on, it ranged from studio suits to “Ren and Stimpy” T-shirts, with healthy smatterings of grunge-rock plaid. One twentysomething woman tried to bridge the two worlds with a nose ring, black lipstick and a scent of patchouli contrasting with a tony brocade and lace bolero jacket straight off Rodeo Drive. Call it Grunge Rock 90210. Call it a mistake.

Overheard: “There’s Johnny Depp.”

“Which one is he?”

“The one with the black T-shirt . . . Oh, there are a million black T-shirts.”

The Upside of Nepotism: Being married to the director gave Nancy Wilson, with her sister, a chance to show off their side project, the acoustic Lovemongers, whose two-song performance was much more personable than their recent hard-pop work with Heart.

Ciao: Most common comment as people waited half an hour or so for their cars to be retrieved, circa 1 a.m.: “I guess I shouldn’t have valet-parked.”