- ARMISEN WATCH CONTINUES: We werenât actually going to mention that Portlandiaâs Fred Armisen was hanging out at the Rebecca Gates and the Consortium/Ted Leo show at Backspace on Saturday night. But when he got behind the drums and played a song with Gates during her MFNW setâquite ably, we might addâhe kinda left us no choice. Itâs not the first time the former Spinanes frontwoman has played alongside the SNL vet: He joined her during a NYC residency five years ago and, according to Gates, actually filled in as a Spinane in the â90s. Weird? It gets weirder. Ted Leo was also a Spinane.
- STAGE HANDS: White Bird Dance co-founders Paul King and Walter Jaffe have earned the awkwardly titled Jerry Willis Achievement Award for artistic excellence, distinguished leadership and extraordinary vision, for bringing some of the top names in contemporary dance to Portland over the past 14 years. >> Local actor Carlos Alexis Cruz has been awarded a $5,000 Princess Grace Theater Fellowship for his work with the Miracle Theatre Group.
- DOWNTOWN DINING: Popular coffeehouse Floydâs has opened a âwalk-up windowâ at Southwest 3rd Avenue and Salmon Street. >> Popular Belmont food cart EuroTrash has opened a second cart at Southwest 10th Avenue and Washington. >> Former Goose Hollow Japanese eatery Kalé has announced it is reopening in a yet-to-be-disclosed location downtown.
- FUTURE DRINKING: Mynt Gentlemenâs Club is becoming Syrenâs Gentlemens Club. Is there an apostrophe shortage? >> Bistro Asian, a restaurant around the corner from Montgomery Park, is becoming Akiâs Noodle House. >> Lisa Lavochkin has applied to open Barrel, a bottle shop, in St. Johns. >> Ryan Pawley has applied to open a bar called the High Dive at 1406 SE 12th Ave. (one block north of Hawthorne) in a former law office.
- BACK IN BHAP: Awesomely named Korean food cart Kim Jong Grillinâ burned down in a blaze of Morissette-ian irony in March of this yearâjust as owner Han Ly Hwang was receiving the judgesâ choice award at WWâs Eat Mobile festivalâbut the Taepodong Hot Dogs will live on. Han has announced he will be opening a bricks-and-mortar establishment at Southeast 49th Avenue and Division Street, a block from where the cart stood. According to a note on his Facebook page, the new ventureâslated to open in Octoberâwill be called Bhap Sang PDX, and will serve the same lunch items as Kim Jong Grillinâ as well as a new dinner menu.
WWeek 2015