Gossip Should Have No Friends

[December 27th, 2006] STREET TALK The new tenant at the highly coveted retail corner of Southwest Broadway and Morrison Street will be Carl Greve Jewelers , not Lucky Brand Jeans boutique as previously reported on wweek.com's WWire (Nov. 21, 2006). Carl Greve, which has been at the same Morrison Street spot since 1923, will be moving into a smaller, one-story space with almost as much "linear case feet" (that's jewelry talk, folks) as it has now. Tim Greve, Carl Greve's president, says the new space should open sometime in mid-2007. Two other pieces of retail news: Leonidas , an upscale Belgian chocolate boutique, opened Christmas Eve on Southwest Washington Street. And Lit , the hipster boutique tucked off Broadway near Southwest Ankeny Street, has announced it's shuttering its doors at the end of January.

NEW YEAR'S EVOLUTION If you've missed out in the past (suckers), the Portland Lounge Series is a monthly event where WW's Local Cut music crew takes a few of Portland's most talented musicians, chats them up onstage, and then lets 'em play for us (yes, like VH1 Storytellers, but better). Thanks to the Web-streaming Portland Radio Authority , that "us" is both those in the crowd and those hooked up to a DSL jack in Stockholm. Normally, this all goes down at the Towne Lounge in a fairly low-key fashion on the last Sunday of every month. In December, however, that Sunday is New Year's Eve. So, thanks to Blackbird Presents, the Lounge Series is going all out with the indie-rock power lineup of Quasi, the Joggers and the Grails . And, since there's really no way the night's usual home can contain it, we'll be at Disjecta . See Music listing, page 35. For a complete guide to the city's 100 top New Year's Eve events, visit wweek.com.

DEPARTMENT OF SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION (SORT OF) It wasn't enough that we had to move to industrial Northwest Portland, oh no. Now WW has wooed the fancy-pants boozers behind Liner & Elsen, one of the city's most trusted wine merchants, into our asphalty corner of Portland. Yep, sometime later this spring, the storefront space beneath WW's offices will officially become home to the vino store that Bon Appetit magazine once called "one of America's six great Main Street wine shops." No more Night Train for us, friends. We're guzzling ChÂteauneuf du Pape until our faces turn purple. And, uh, we get a discount, right? Right, neighbor?

WHAT YOU MISSED AT WW'S LOCALCUT.COM THIS WEEK Casey Jarman quizzes local hip-hop producer Bosko about his new album, spending time at the Y and his time working with K-Fed. >> Vancouver, B.C.'s, Hot Loins explains that the origin of its band name is indeed the members' very hot loins. >> Meanwhile, we eagerly anticipate an explanation (hopefully not as literal) from this week's Band Name of the Week nominee, Wombstretcha, as well as a reply to our shout-out for testimonials from the "womb-stretched" (the rapper's ex-girlfriends). >> LC eulogizes I Can Lick Any SOB in the House. >> "Friendly, Friendly World" dishes some therapy to the Clorox Girls. >> Becky Ohlsen reveals that even the Thermals can't thaw Stockholm. >> Devan Cook's "don't fuck with the natives" defense of the Dandy Warhols. >> Plus, MP3s from Pure Country Gold, Eluvium, The Dimes, Michele Wylen and more.