Gossip Should Have No Friends

[September 6th, 2006] COFFEE-TABLE PORN Is it art? Who cares! This November, Lucy Fur —who WW named Portland's "Best Burlesque Queen" back in 2004—is dropping a book of sexy self-portraits . Too campy to be porn and too hot not to be, A Room with a View (feralhouse.com/titles/kulchur/room_with_a_view.php) is 112 pages and 60 photos of the pasties-loving pinup. If your blue balls can't wait until November, check out Miss Fur's live schedule (which often includes gigs at Dante's and Mary's Club) at lucyfurpresents.com.

RUN FOR HELP Last September, local filmmaker Lisa Shannon ran all 30 miles of P-town's Wildwood Trail and raised $30,000 in under eight hours. Not a bad day's work. That was "Run for Congo Women " 2005—Shannon's one-woman fundraiser for sexually victimized women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With this year's run slated for Sept. 16, Runner's World magazine has named Shannon one of its 2006 "Heroes of Running." She'll be flown to NYC for a fancy awards ceremony in November and featured in an article in the mag's December issue. For 2006, Shannon is making her fundraiser more accessible—courses range from 5 to 30 miles. And she's taking her act on the road—runs are in the works across the country and in Ireland, Australia and Germany. Shannon's goal: to raise $1 million . That might take more than eight hours.

DREAD THREADS Time stood still for fashion last Friday, Sept. 1, as Adam Arnold kicked off The Collections, the first show of Portland's two Fall Fashion Weeks. With only three models showing 16 looks, each mannequin took a good five minutes to do a slow , funereal procession down the runway and back, resulting in a show that was twice the length of a regular 20-minute show. All the more time for the antsy audience—spilling out of the New American Art Union onto the street—to ingest the finely tailored duds. Inspired by the language of Esperanto , an international language developed in the late 1800s as a way to invoke neutral, equal communication across cultures, the show seemed filled with a bit of dread , as though as much as we can try to understand one another, we are still steadily marching toward war. The mood was reflected in the neutral colors (mustard yellow, black and cream, only dotted by a hopeful magenta plaid), utilitarian fabrics and silhouettes inspired by other wartimes ('40s silhouettes for men and women mingled with the early Vietnam War's mod-inspired swing coats). Serious? Yes, but utterly wearable—and hot, too.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND STARTED EARLY AROUND HERE Last week, It List scribe Ethan Smith got a little overexcited and moved Farm Sanctuary's "Walk for Farm Animals" up a few weeks to Saturday, Sept. 2 from its real date, Saturday, Sept. 30. Also, on WW's Fall Arts calendar, we noted that the Polaris Dance Theatre's show TooBLUE (Oct. 18-21) was totally free. Actually, only the Friday, Oct. 20 matinee for Portland students is free. For all you working-age suckers, the price tag is $24. WW regrets the errors.

WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK ON WW'S LOCALCUT.COM Watch once local, much-missed singer/songwriter/sand-eater M. Ward play Letterman...don't thank us, thank YouTube. >> First Ernesto—now perhaps Large? Storms are brewing. >> "Local Cutter of the Century" Amy McCullough debuts "Band Name of the Week." >> Casey Jarman is too cool for Denise Richards and Neve Campbell—even when they're naked. But he likes local band Hello Lobster. Go figure.