Gossip should have no friends

[January 23rd, 2008] »NO PROTEST LIKE SHOW PROTEST: Dr. Laura ’s ratings have dropped in recent years, and to top it off, Doc Schlessinger isn’t drawing protesters like she used to. Last Friday, Jan. 18, approximately 15 activists gathered to picket the homophobic pseudo-doctor ’s sold-out two-night engagement at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. But the protest was something of a fizzle: The group seemed more interested in sipping designer cocktails at PCPA’s Art Bistro than in showing dissent. For the entire hour the “protest” was supposed to be taking place, the picketers were indistinguishable from patrons who had paid to see the show. One protesting gent, at least, stayed on topic: “Have you ever seen Dr. Laura’s son, Derek? Totally hot.”

»BEAN BATTLE: Has Stumptown met its match? Seattle-based micro-roaster Caffe Vita is actively looking for a retail spot for its first Portland cafe , now that the company has 23 local wholesale accounts in our city, including Whole Foods, Market of Choice, and the upcoming Indie Wine Festival. Owner Mike McConnell and Eric Pauli, his PDX sales representative, brewed coffee for 400 diners at this past weekend’s OMSI Science in the Kitchen event. “There’s good coffee down here,” says Pauli, who moved to Portland from Seattle five years ago. “But there’s not a lot of variety.” Seattleites, Pauli explained, have lots of choices when they’re looking for a solid cup, and while Caffe Vita isn’t trying to take over the market, it would like to broaden the options. More inbreeding: Caffe Vita has collaborated frequently with our city’s departed culinary reheat, Michael Hebberoy , in his latest project, One Pot. Check out caffevita.com for details.

»LAP BLOG: Portland writer and science blogstress (urbanhonking.com/universe) Claire Evans —a WW freelancer—is suddenly a minor celebrity in the world of high-tech toys . Along with her boyfriend, Jona Bechtolt —better known to electro-pop fans as the force behind YACHT —she’s created the AirMail laptop sleeve ($29.95, manilamac.com). AirMail, which takes its name from its manila-envelope design, was created for the new MacBook Air, which debuted last week at Macworld S.F. That was last Tuesday. By Friday, Jan. 18, Evans and Bechtolt had finished a prototype and launched a website. Initially, they expected to move only about 100 units, and the plan was to make those by hand, in their home. But almost overnight, there were 1,000 orders , and they were getting mentioned in tech blogs around the world, not to mention nods from other big-time publications like The Sydney Herald and an the upcoming issue of German Vanity Fair . Currently, they are in talks with regional manufacturers about sustainable production possibilities. Of course, this is a big change for the two, whose efforts until now have been less...uh, mainstream. But they’ve got a lot to keep them busy. “Right now,” admits Evans, laughing, “we just have to get the damn things made!”