Gossip Should Have No Friends

1. FAUX ART: September’s edition of First Thursday was a doozy thanks to the giant opening party of the Time-Based Art Festival, where hundreds of tipsy revelers played with giant foam art and admired Ethan Rose’s music-box installation at the “The Works,” the fest’s HQ at the old Washington High School. But First Thursday’s most interesting piece came courtesy of a performer who wasn’t even part of PICA’s 11-day festival. Olaf Gambini, “artist and founder of the nothingist art movement,” hired a limo, bodyguard, cameraman and shills from the crowd to create a traveling-circus party wagon that roamed from stop to stop around Old Town and the Pearl. The point? The faux-celeb, faux-Italian, faux-friend-of-Warhol had come to convince everyone he was famous. It was a hoax—“ Gambini” didn’t hang with Warhol, and he couldn’t decide which accent to speak in. But then, to point this out is simply to miss the point. Gambini’s intention was not to fool people, but to create an aura of extreme fame. And if that’s not time-based art, what is? To read more about individual TBA shows and experiences, visit wweek.com/TBA.
2. DRUNKEN BRIDE: Though Sellwood residents are still bummed by the news that stalwart dining room Caprial’s Bistro recently closed, we’ve just heard that Libations Wine Bar will open in October catty-corner from the defunct restaurant, in the storefront at 1665 SE Bybee Blvd. that formerly housed Tres Fabu Bridal.

1. FREE NORFOLK: After over a year of delays, local noise-folk trio Norfolk Western is finally letting you hear its new album—just not in the traditional way. Still without a record label, the band is offering a free stream of the 11-track Dinero Severo for a limited time on its website norfolkandwestern.org. Recorded at Portland’s Type Foundry studio (owned by singer/guitarist Adam Selzer) and in Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain, the record features noisy, Yo La Tengo-ish rockers (“Turkish Wine”) rubbing elbows with stately, piano-led numbers like opener “Hiding Home.” Norfolk Western is hitting the road for an October tour with Mirah, including a stop on Oct. 24 at new Southeast venue the Woods.
2. CLARIFICATION: WW film critic Alistair Rockoff emailed to fess up to an egregious error in the listing he wrote in last week’s Screen section for the new Sandra Bullock vehicle All About Steve. “I just realized I wrote that the deaf kids fall down a well, when they actually fall down a mine. But doesn’t ‘well’ sound so much more right?” It does.

WWeek 2015