Gossip Should Have No Friends

[September 27th, 2006] DRY MARTINI How do you follow up a sold-out East Coast tour? If you're Thomas Lauderdale , frontman for Portland's Pink Martini , how about not showing up for one of your home town concerts? That's what happened Saturday night at the Oregon Zoo when PM ended up not performing at an event marking Standard Insurance Co.'s 100th anniversary. Scheduled to hit the stage at 7:30 pm, Lauderdale was still a no-show at 8:30 pm , which forced Standard's CEO and president, Eric Parsons, to cancel the event. On Monday, Lauderdale's camp issued a "no comment" followed by a note that Thomas is "not missing." Scoop heard word from Tommy Boy himself that he has broken down and bought a cell phone so stuff like this doesn't happen again.

YOU SAID A MOUTHFUL A heaping helping of rumors about Bruce Carey's Northwest 23rd Avenue Italian behemoth Balvo has hit Scoop's desktop, including this 100 percent unconfirmed whopper: Balvo is closing and reopening as a new take on Zefiro (Carey's much-missed restaurant that closed in '00). Usually Scoop would dismiss such flotsam, but just last Friday, when local arts website ultra (ultrapdx.com) queried Carey on what he had coming up "interesting on the horizon," his coy response was "I have some plans for Northwest 23rd and Hoyt." This on the heels of Balvo sous chef Grace Tara jumping ship—"on good terms," Tara adds. Does that mean there's actually a grain of truth to all this? Although Scoop's made repeated attempts to contact Carey, the Balvoites are keepin' their traps clamped shut tighter than a crab claw right now. (Check out portlandfoodanddrink.com for more speculation.)

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE Delicious news from the still-under-construction Ace Hotel downtown. The Southwest Stark Street space will house a public house named The Clyde , co-owned and operated by Nate Tilden , 32, who was, until recently, general manager of local fave Castagna. Although he's a bit nervous callin' it a "gastropub," Tilden—who'll share Clyde ownership with his old Lincoln High School buddy Matt Piacentini—told Scoop to expect "European comfort food, simply prepared in a tavern setting" when it opens in early '07. Ace co-owner Alex Calderwood says a second "yet-to-be-determined" restaurant in the old Scandals space will also call the hotel home when it opens next year.

MAUI WOWIE! Although one of our city's recognizable clothed bodies, former model Juanita "Nita" Howard, has posed nude for a few oil paintings, her son, Hunter, has gone and done her one better. The tattooed Oregon native was photographed on the beaches of Maui as the cover boy—and centerfold—for the October issue of Playgirl magazine. Along with his revealing photos, Hunter admitted to being a bit of an "exhibitionist" and seemed more concerned how he'd stay in an "aroused" state for the shoot than anything else. Keep it up, Portland!

WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK ON WW'S LOCALCUT.COM Bassist Colin Grigson tells Jason Simms he is leaving the Clorox Girls (the third band he's quit in the last year), and Simms weighs in on the Portland punk cornerstone's wanderlust >> The Decemberists played a secret show to warm up for their big tour at little ol' Acme. Mark Baumgarten tells exactly how drunk Colin Meloy got. Here's a clue: Jefferson Airplane was played >> The Kingdom played a CD release show to the wrong crowd >> And, of course, there were plenty of free MP3s from Small Sails, Typhoon, the Shaky Hands and Fall of the Bastards.