Scoop: Finding New Friends Thanks to wweek.com.

1. LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: A rash of break-ins has left a Northeast Portland guitar store short $10,000 worth of merchandise. Over the course of three consecutive weekends beginning in late October, thieves stole 17 instruments from Centaur Guitars on Sandy Boulevard, according to co-owner Jason Snell. Security camera footage of the first crime shows the suspects came in through the skylights and rappelled down from the ceiling, “like something out of James Bond,” Snell says. The second time, they tripped the alarm and left empty-handed. The following weekend, they entered through an exhaust vent. After the third burglary, Snell says he “totally lost it.” “At this point, my feeling about it is, it’s stuff,” he says. “Guitars are what they are. You can get that stuff back. What’s been really frustrating is not sleeping at night, worrying that someone is breaking into the shop.” Information about the stolen guitars and video stills of the suspects can be found at centaurguitar.blogspot.com.

1. CIDER PRESS: Portland cidery Reverend Nat’s has been at least partly sold to a New York investment company called Rafferty Holdings. “It’s all still being operated and run here,” says owner Nat West. “We’re not moving. We’re not going anywhere.” West declined to disclose any terms of the sale but says the influx of money allows the company to more than triple its production capacity and expand this year into California, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia, with ambitions for the East Coast. “We’re on the road to being a reputable business,” says West. “Two years ago, I was still in my garage. And now we’re in seven states.”

1. FUTURE DRINKING: Burrasca, our Food Cart of the Year in 2014, will be shutting down Jan. 1 at Southeast Ash Street and 28th Avenue. Chef Paolo Calamai plans to open a brick-and-mortar Tuscan-style Italian restaurant in the spring. In the meantime, the food cart is for sale. >> The former location of the Nest at Northeast 18th Avenue and Alberta Street, which was shut down by fire in October 2012, may be getting new life as a jazz bar called Solae’s Lounge. According to the liquor license application, performances are planned for weekends and Wednesdays.

1. SEATTLE’S FUNNIEST: Portland comedian Nathan Brannon has won the Seattle International Comedy Competition. Despite what its title might suggest, the annual competition draws contestants from afar, and counts Mitch Hedberg and Portlander Dwight Slade among its past winners. According to The Stranger, Brannon—who grew up in St. Johns and placed third in WW’s inaugural Funniest 5 poll last year—“lackadaisically slew the crowd with a litany of insane stories delivered in the manner of a very friendly stealth bomber.” The first-place finish earns him $5,000 and a recording deal with comedy label Uproar.

WWeek 2015