Scoop: This Gossip Just Deleted Its Tumblr.

  1. CARPETBAGGING COMEDIANS: AMC’s new reality series Showville bills itself as a chance for small-town Americans to get a shot at stardom—easy pickings for city slickers like the two Portland comedians who trucked 250 miles to audition for the show in Walla Walla, Wash. In October, Nathan Brannon and Tyrone “The Real Hyjinx” Collins brought their acts to Showville’s open call in rural eastern Washington. Collins—who says his mentor, Brannon, hatched the idea—landed in the final four. What did Walla Walla’s humble sweet onion-farming jugglers and prison-guarding magicians think of two big-city hustlers crashing the party? “They took me in and treated me well,” says Collins. Some townsfolk even asked him for pictures and autographs. Collins, who hosts a weekly open mic at Northeast 82nd Avenue’s Red Room, will appear on the June 6 episode.
  1. ART SHAMING: There’s trouble at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where students and alumni have plastered bulletin boards with fliers accusing college President Tom Manley and top PNCA executives of giving themselves raises while leaving many adjuncts who actually teach classes underpaid and uninsured, all while raising tuition in a recession. Manley’s 2010 salary was reported as $218,368—up from $207,019 in 2008. “People are getting priced out while college education is becoming compulsory,” says Chloe Dietz, a student at PNCA who runs the website distributing the fliers, pnca.centralcentral.org. She says other people have downloaded the fliers to post around the Northwest Portland campus. Asked about the fliers, Manley wrote that PNCA will “continue to support our students…in the creative expression of their thinking and beliefs.”
  1. CLICK AND SEE: At wweek.com you’ll find a review of Mike Daisey’s new show, Journalism, which debuted in Portland, along with a recap of the new episode of The Real World: Portland and an explanation of why Portlandia sculptor Ray Kaskey gets paid when you buy a bottle of Laurelwood Portlandia Pils.
  1. CLARIFICATIONS: A photo accompanying last week’s review of Slide Inn (“Bar Spotlight,” WW, May 15, 2013) was from the adjoining Jade Lounge, which has the same owners and an overlapping menu, but is a different place. In a review of Portland Center Stage’s The People’s Republic of Portland (WW, May 8, 2013), Lauren Weedman’s mispronunciation and misnaming of this newspaper (“Will-uh-met Weekly”) was interpreted as accidental. Cynthia Fuhrman, who served as dramaturg for the production, tells us it was deliberate. Finally, last week’s interview with Mike Daisey (“Hotseat,” WW, May 15, 2013) characterized the monologuist as “weaselly.” Daisey emailed WW to note that he is “more like a plump otter.” WW regrets any confusion.

WWeek 2015

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.