Gossip Should Have No Friends

[November 28th, 2007]

LOVE FOR SALE: A group of like-minded merchants on Southwest Broadway, between Alder and Stark streets (including Morgan’s Alley), have banded together to rename their bit of Portland “The Romance District.” The movement was spearheaded by UnderU4Men owner Steven Lien. He says it’s a way for the shopkeeps, who sell everything from wine and chocolates to flowers or intimate apparel, to brand their particular businesses and cater to their customers’ mushiest desires. The campaign, which includes more than 20 businesses, launches in December but will be in full swing by Valentine’s Day. So far, the businesses aren’t giving anything away for free in honor of the new name—except love, sigh.

VERY FAIRY: What do you get when you drop off 25 people (including sissyboys, trannies and a 10-year-old girl) in a forest glen right next to Pennie Lane’s Sauvie Island Rock and Roll Ranch ? Well, if you’re music booker and photographer Alicia J. Rose , you get the images for a January solo art show at the Grass Hut Gallery. “It was an exercise for my imagination,” says Rose about the mid-November shoot inspired by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm . “It speaks to my inner adolescence.” She shot about 50 rolls of film in about 50 hours with subject matter inspired by Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and Hansel and Gretel. “When I got home I realized everyone there, except the 10-year-old, was queer.” Check out an exclusive shot from the shoot above, and check out the rest here.

HORSIN’ AROUND: Looking for that perfect gift for the indie artist, barista or PICA volunteer? Portland Art: A Coloring Book ($20) by Scott Wayne Indiana —he did the “Horse Project” that tied toy ponies to sidewalk rings all over town last year—is it. His black-and-white, 8-by-11-inch coloring book is a who’s who of the local contemporary art class and features everyone from filmmaker Matt McCormick and WW’ s Richard Speer to art collector Jordan Schnitzer and glam gal Marne Lucas. Already a big hit on the Web (you can only buy it online at 39forks.com—click on the second fork in the middle row), it’s stirring up talk on YouTube , where Indiana’s drawing of Brad Adkins has been animated with Adkins’ own voice . Not keen on the idea he has been turned into a cartoon à la Robert Smigel, Adkins has asked that the “piece” be taken down. Indiana says: “I think it’ll stay up, but with a re-recording of his voice. I just need to find out who did it.”

correction: In last week’s Visual Arts section, Richard Speer mentioned a new book, Vibrant Energy: Black Men Revealed. Although the listing noted that Larry Cross wrote the introduction to the collection of photos of (often impressively endowed) nude African-American gents, it was not clear that he also wrote, “conceived and produced” the book itself . Also, the photo accompanying the listing was attributed to PDX photographer Paul Dahlquist. Nope, it’s the work of Mr. Ajamu X . Our bad. WW regrets the errors.