Gossip Should Have No Friends

[August 27th, 2008] SWEDE SCENE: Another day, another heap of love bestowed on PDX from someone who’s barely even been here. In an interview with Pitchforkmedia.com that ran last week, Swedish indie-pop starlet Lykke Li named our own log cabin of love, the Doug Fir Lounge, as her favorite music venue. Apparently, the 21-year-old Li—who played a local show May 16—likes Portland’s liberal tendencies and even rode the bus to the show, taking care to note that “maybe 8 to 9 percent of the people on the bus were schizophrenic or something.” Sam Adams might have a new favorite singer....

HALF-COCKED: Local writer Brad McCray has been tapping out daily dispatches from Burning Man for wweek.com. This snippet from his Monday, Aug. 25, post was just too weird not to share:

“‘Are you shirt-cocking it?’ a shirtless, furry man asked. His name was written on his chest in lipstick. I lifted my shirt to reveal my shorts. ‘We’re not there yet,’ I explained. ‘It’s only Sunday.’ Shirt-cocking is the act of wearing a shirt and shoes with no pants. Among the otherworldly aspects of Burning Man is the fact that this fashion NEEDED a name. By midweek, the shirt-cockers will be out in force. Some will be decked with safari hats, goggles, water packs, socks and hiking boots, but still shirt-cocking. Sock-cocking and goggle-cocking takes the fashion predictable steps further. Once a running joke for men who…simply forgot pants, there are now dedicated shirt-cocking enthusiasts who shirt-cock just to shirt-cock....”

BEAN TOWN: “It’s my day,” said Terry Bean. “I can do whatever I want.” Bean whispered those words last Saturday at his beachside 60th birthday party held atop a cliff overlooking the ocean at Lincoln City. Gov. Ted Kulongoski had proclaimed Aug. 23 Terry Bean Equality Day in honor of Bean’s work for queer rights. Bean—a real estate magnate, the most influential gay person in town who isn’t going to be mayor and the first gay on Sen. Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee—was presented the honor by Gov. Barbara Roberts the night before. Saturday’s posh party, with music by the Dusty York Trio and lobster skewers to nibble, took place in between Bean launching the website LGBTforObama.com and arriving at the Dems’ National Convention in his private jet with his good friend and former executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, Elizabeth Birch. And you thought you had a good birthday.

CORRECTION: In last week’s pullout guide to MusicfestNW, we mistakenly wrote about Portland band the Retrofits using information about another band called the Retrofits from Montana. The good-natured boys from Portland’s more radio-ready, popular and attractive Retrofits (theretrofits.com) play Musicfest at 10 pm Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Someday Lounge. We really, really regret the error.