gossip should have no friends

[October 19th, 2005] JAHN'S JIHAD Local curator Jeff Jahn has taken to calling The Oregonian's visual-arts critic "D.K. (Death) Row "—at least that's the nickname he posted Monday on the Stumptown arts blog PORT (www.portlandart.net). Seems that Jahn views the O's visual-arts coverage, all too often, as necrotic and wrong-headed. This comes on the heels of Jahn's October column, "Critical i," on www.nwdrizzle.com, in which he opines that the O is increasingly playing the role of "backwards-looking curmudgeon" and that "the Oregonian's core readership" consists of "suburban hausfraus" not sophisticated enough to appreciate cutting-edge local artists such as Matthew Picton, Bruce Conkle and Brendan Clenaghen. Asked about his use of the unflattering "Death Row" moniker, Jahn told WW: "It's a nickname local artists have long used for D.K. I can't take credit for it." In the same online screed, Jahn made a plea to WW and the Mercury, too: Run more art-related features.

THE BODY ECLECTIC Conduit dance studio kicked off its 10th anniversary celebration last Saturday afternoon with a one-time-only "celebrity dance class" taught by BodyVox's Jamey Hampton and Conduit's Gregg Bielemeier . Moving her groove thing alongside urban environmentalist Mike Houck , Broadway mask-maker Michael Curry and WW's own Byron Beck was Diane "I'm dancing as fast as I can" Linn . At one point during the hourlong workshop, the late-for-class county chair paired up with the Mayor Tom Potter's wife, Karin Hansen , for an improv tango duet during which Linn shouted: "Who said the city and the county can't work together?" For more same-sex dance action, turn to page 25.

WELL-HEELED Plucked from a recent missive posted by James Gregory and WW contributor Amy Phillips on the online indie music bible pitchforkmedia.com: "And if you're the kind of person who just can't get enough Dandy in your life, get pumped for late October, when John Fluevog Shoes will unveil 'The Dandy Warhol Boot,' a 'classic-styled leather boot' dreamed up by Dandy frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor and upscale cobbler Fluevog. See, kids, rappers and basketball players aren't the only ones who get their own shoe lines!"

PORTLAND GETS WOOD? Two Portland bands are up for consideration from the we'd-rather-be-making-crappy-fake-reality-TV folks at MTV, or at least at their college-focused sub-channel MTVU. That channel will be awarding Woodies (har-har) to some of the best bands currently making videos that enrich the lives of stoned, rich college kids. The Decemberists' video for "16 Military Wives" is up for the emerging artist—or Breaking Woodie—award, though last year's Silent But Deadly Woodie winner Modest Mouse is now out of the running for the ickily named Streaming Woodie (its "Ocean Breathes Salty" video had been an early candidate). Vote at mtvu.com, where they still show videos. For now.