Gossip Should Have No Friends

  1. RAMONA READS WW: Ramona and Beezus won’t be filmed on Klickitat Street—the movie adaptation of Beverly Cleary’s classic children’s book series set in Portland is scheduled to begin shooting this year in Vancouver, B.C. But that won’t stop the filmmakers from making Canada look like Stumptown, all the way down to the Willamette Week boxes. The set design department contacted WW Publisher Richard Meeker last week, requesting permission to create replicas of WW’s blue boxes to use in their streetscapes. The movie, directed by Gossip Girl vet Elizabeth Allen, may also feature Ramona’s dad (John Corbett) leafing through WW classifieds as he looks for a job. Meanwhile, a movie actually shooting in PDX—the medical drama Crowley,starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser—will film two scenes in May at the Portland VA Medical Center, including a shot in the skybridge between the veterans’ hospital and OHSU.
  2. DINNERTIME: David Machado—the former executive chef of both Pazzo and Southpark restaurants—is making another grand downtown entrance in May. Already a hit across the river with his solo projects Vindalho and Lauro Kitchen, Machado will open his striking Italian kitchen, Nel Centro, at 408 SW 6th Ave., adjacent to Hotel Modera.
  3. T-SHOUT: Back in January, as Mayor Sam Adams was contemplating resigning from office over Beau-gate, downtown boutique Radish Underground halted an order of T-shirts honoring Adams, the first openly gay mayor of a major American city. Oregon’s attorney general’s office is still working on its criminal investigation of Adams, but the boutique is so optimistic about Adams’ future that it now has those T-shirts in stock. The $20 duds also give a nod to Obama. On the front? The words “Gay Mayor, Black President.” On the back? An image of two fists (including one decorated with the colors of the rainbow) bumping.
  4. STATUS O’ THE TIMES: In a sign that things just ain’t the way they used to be, Alan Singley—PDX’s Burt Bacharach-obsessed singer-songwriter—announced his new album via his Facebook page. Feelin’ Citrus will be out in August on local label Bladen County Records. It’s Singley’s first release to feature a 10-piece orchestra, but not his first to feature more than one song about riding bikes.
  5. CORRECTION: In last week’s music feature on the legendary African drummer Obo Addy, we regrettably used an incorrect photo—the man pictured was Addy’s nephew, O.B. Ahmed Addy. This is especially distressing because WW ran a story in 2003 about a lawsuit Addy filed against his nephew for use of his name. The picture has been changed online, and we sincerely apologize to Addy and his family for the error.

WWeek 2015

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