GOSSIP FOR LOCALS & WANNABES

[August 31st, 2005] I HEART PORTLAND! Yes, local fans of the indie-rock band Spoon will soon be able to call its mastermind Britt Daniel their own-maybe. At his solo show last Thurday at Dante's, the singer-songwriter claimed to have forsaken Austin, Texas-for the moment-to take up residence in P-town. Daniel professed his love for our fine city and the fine turnout he received at the club. So, anybody lookin' for a roommate?

LAST CALL: Talk about tickling the Pearl District's ivories. Two of pop music's top piano players, Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright -joined by guitar man Ben Lee -finished their "Odd Man Out" tour last weekend with a sold-out Saturday-night set at the Roseland and a closing-night party at Vino Paradiso , the new wine bar owned by Pink Martini's Timothy Nishimoto . Just two nights earlier and a few blocks away, another piano heartthrob, John Legend , capped his Portland whistle-stop with his own after-party at Bluehour .

PERMANENT VACATION: After nearly three decades on and off, the Vat & Tonsure , Portland's beloved European comfort food and post-performance boîte, has served its last Cornish game hen. Although the sign on the door of the downtown Portland restaurant has read "closed until the end of August" for the past month, the Vat's cook and owner, Rose-Marie Barbeau-Quinn , says it's closed for good. "At this time in my life, I need a little free time," says the 66-year-old cook, who opened her original cross-pollinating conversation spot for artists and lawyers with late husband Mike Quinn in 1978. The bistro reopened on Southwest Taylor Street in 2002, after its original digs were bulldozed to make room for Fox Tower in 1997. "It was just this comfort zone where people knew they weren't gonna be asked to leave," she says. "If you were at the Vat, you were there to stay."

REGRETS: In last week's Fall Arts Calendar, we listed the wrong venue for Oregon Ballet Theatre's fall program. The company will perform Angelo, In the Night and a new work by Christopher Stowell at the Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway. For tickets, call 222-5538. WW also apologizes for the stray digits attached to Oslund+Co events. Call 221-5857 ext. 3 to make a toe-tapping, hip-swiveling modern-dance date.