Scoop: A Crystal Mystery For Our Dreamlets.

SHY GIRLS
  1. FOUR ON THE FLOOR: As first reported on wweek.com, Quartet, the South Waterfront’s famously troubled fine-dining restaurant, shuttered March 26. “We have decided to close the restaurant after a year and two months,” co-owner Frank Taylor told WW. “We put our best foot forward, and we decided it’s the best decision to close it.” The opulently decorated but meat-and-potatoes eatery opened in February 2013 in the space previously occupied by Lucier, which WW called “the most colossal faceplant in Portland dining history.” Quartet was troubled from the start, with its first bad review arriving from The Portland Mercury before the restaurant had even officially opened. Other middling reviews followed. In August 2013, former part-owner Roy Jay sued two other owners for mismanagement. In the same month, the restaurant was the target of two small-claims lawsuits for back bills totaling almost $15,000.
  1. GIRLS ON TOUR: Shy Girls, last year’s winner of WW’s annual Best New Band poll, are going to spend early spring on tour with the group Americans unofficially voted their favorite new band of 2013, Haim. The sisterly pop-rock trio handpicked the Portland R&B act to open 14 dates in April and May, according to singer-producer Dan Vidmar. It’s the culmination of a few big months for Shy Girls, which saw the release of its Timeshare EP in October and subsequent online endorsements from Maxwell and Brandy, ’90s singers whose heyday the group’s softly funky sound harks back to. “We are upgrading some gear and adjusting our set list for the tour along with a few other modifications, but for the most part we are gonna be playing the same way we would to a crowd of 100,” Vidmar tells Scoop.
  1. BIG BEER: On March 31, the Colorado-based Brewers Association released its annual list of the 50 largest craft breweries in the country by volume. Deschutes remains the largest craft brewery in Oregon, falling one place to No. 6 overall. Full Sail fell one place to No. 25 and is now larger than Rogue, which fell five places to No. 27. Eugene’s Ninkasi came in at No. 30. Craft Brew Alliance, the Portland-based business that includes Widmer Brothers, Redhook and Kona, remained one of the 10 largest American beer companies.
  1. ROYALE WITH CHEESECAKE: A new gay bar and drag-show venue called The Royale is planned for the Northwest Broadway space previously occupied by Tiger Bar, according to owner Shawn Carey, who was formerly part-owner of downtown’s Club Rouge strip club. The Royale will resurrect Tiger Bar’s elevated DJ box, and will feature drag shows three nights a week promoted by local talent agent Justin Buckles, who was events manager at gay clubs Boxxes and Red Cap Garage after working four seasons on American Idol. Buckles co-wrote an e-book, American Idol Exposed, for which his promotional copy promises: “The whole truth and nothing but. This is my Idol life.” >> Nearby, at 817 NW Couch St., a former branding and advertising expert named Brendan Jones is planning a 20-seat growler bar called the Big Legrowlski.  

WWeek 2015

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