SCOOP

[June 8th, 2005] SWINGING PARTY: The highlight for the Nike Global Celebration, last week's sales meeting for the sneaker giant, was a hush-hush dance party (word on the street is that it served as a retirement shindig for founder Phil Knight ) at North Portland's Expo Center. The event attracted 4,000-plus employees/Nike bigwigs from across the globe, including celebrity talent such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James . Scoop heard the dance floor was decorated with four trapezes with four beautiful blondes swinging from long swatches of white silk. No word whether VP Dick Cheney was invited.

COMIC CLASH: A poster-sized blowup of a Superman comic-book cover was hung near the front door of the Milk Studio & Gallery to promote last week's First Thursday exhibit of Matthew Clark , who illustrates the Adventures of Superman series. The poster drew the attention of two trendy art snobs, who studied the superhero's image with confusion. "What do you think he's trying to say?" one was overheard asking the other as they struggled to find the meaning in Clark's work.

BENEFITED & BASHED: After decades of covering the doers and movers of Portland's most social citizenry, the O has, if not abandoned, at least outsourced its society column to the denizens it once covered. Instead of having the likes of LeeAnn Gauthier (and prior to her, Jenny Duchene , Sara Perry and Beverly H. Butterworth ) report on events attended by the likes of Arlene Schnitzer and Gerry Frank , nonprofits are now being asked to submit their own photos.

CAMPY: Speaking of benefits, from the glittering party to celebrate the opening of the Brad Cloepfil-designed Hearth Building at Caldera, founder Dan Wieden's arts camp for underprivileged kids in Central Oregon, comes news of the advertising guru's camp name: Pappa Bear.

COVER GIRL: Carson Ellis, the pencil behind the artwork of indie darlings the Decemberists, recently lent her talents to Weezer for the band's latest, Make Believe. But even the Portland artist's talent couldn't save the sound of that abysmal album.

RIPE TYPE: Clear Cut Press co-founder and novelist Matthew Stadler has been named "writer in residence" for a local restaurant empire. Yes, we said "restaurant"-Ripe's Gotham Building Tavern, clarklewis and family supper, to be specific. Stadler will "conceive and compose a series of card-sized essays about food and society throughout history, for occasional distribution at the restaurant tables," trumpeted Ripe's head couple and new lit patrons, Michael and Naomi Hebberoy. "We seek nothing less than a new civic intelligence." What's next? A Ripe Manifesto?

DOWNSIZED: Former indie It Girl Liz Phair playing at the 300-capacity Doug Fir on Aug. 17? Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

CORRECTION: Due to a communication breakdown, WW erroneously reported Lords of Dogtown star John Robinson was a graduate of Catlin Gabel School. Robinson graduates from Oregon Episcopal School this week.