Gossip Doesn’t Want Us As Friends

[June 17th, 2009]

• ROVING VOODOO: Confectionary legends like the Bacon Maple Bar and the Portland Crème just got a sweet set of wheels. Urban Opportunities youth job-placement program has teamed up with Voodoo Doughnut to mobilize the cult favorite in a jolly pink van that will be rolling around town spreading the sugar-glazed gospel 9 am to 8 pm Thursdays through Sundays. The nonprofit partnership will provide jobs for up to 20 kids a year. (The youth will presumably not sell the limited-edition Breedlove Cock. ) Look out for the pink monstrosity at street fairs, community events, and your front yard (the van can be reserved for parties at urbanopportunies.net).

• DARK SIDE OF THE POND: Now we know how British people feel! Snatched up by Columbia Records and off touring the European festival circuit, it looks like Portland’s Gossip (which dropped a “the” some time ago) are putting the ol’ U.S. of A. on the back burner for a while. While the trio’s forthcoming effort—the discotheque-ready, Rick Rubin-produced Music for Men—drops Tuesday in the U.K., Beth Ditto’s American fans will have to settle for streaming it via AOL; an iTunes release is due next week. We’re not sure whether Columbia plans to retool the physical disc to try and crack the U.S. market with it (weird!) or if they just think Yanks aren’t the target demo, but CMJ reports a U.S. release date of Oct. 9. By our calculations, that’s about 3 1/2 months after anyone cares.

• PRESSES STOPPED: PDX Magazine, the “Where to Go, What to Do” glossy published since 1995, has folded. “It’s official,” editor-in-chief Hollyanna McCollom wrote on her Facebook page 11 minutes after midnight on Monday. “PDX Magazine has gone the way of the…” (she did not finish the sentence).

• RESTAURANT CHEAPOCALYPSE?: 23Hoyt, the Bruce Carey-owned Mediterranean joint that topped Esquire’s 2007 “Best New Restaurants” list, has ditched the chanterelle soups and sweetbreads in favor of burgers and steak frites, with prices more in line with Lauro Kitchen than Bluehour, in the wake of the departure of chef Aaron Barnett. Carey did not return WW’s email seeking comment by press time UPDATE 6/17: Carey writes, "ach of the restaurants has it's own personality - usually a result of the chef's personality, my interests, and the neighborhood. In the case of 23Hoyt, I was feeling a diminished interest in the creative and ambitious menu we were delivering (while always delicious) and a harkening for standards. I also felt that the street was not as supportive of a fine dining concept as we had hoped. 23rd is casual and young. And so 'A New American Tavern' ... with more accessible pricing and more accessible hours. So far the reception has been very validating."

• SENT FROM MY BLREG: Want to meet up with some friends for beer, but too lazy (or drunk) to call or text them a complete sentence? Beer Signal, brought to you by the local beer fan site taplister.com, is a new free iPhone application that uses Twitter or Shizzow to message your friends with a time and place to meet for drinks. The app stands out from other beer-related iPhone programs because it uses a list of Portland pubs: Beer Signal’s site says there are 50 venues and 400 beers listed and up to date. It also has a pubcam with a live view of a pub’s chalkboard with the current beer list. (Unfortunately, that service currently supports only one pub: Eastburn.)