Gossip Should Have No Friends

[May 31st, 2006] CASTING COUCH The re-opening of the Hotel deLuxe (formerly the Mallory Hotel) was the place to be last Wednesday night, as Portland's movers and shakers lined up to throw back free booze while rubbing elbows with Ted "Still the Governor" Kulongoski , and actors Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers (because Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are dead). The biggest changes to the 93-year-old hotel? Owners Aspen Hotel Group, which also owns Portland's Hotel Lucia , added a new silver-screen theme and—it looks like—went on a major cleaning binge . And yes, as promised, the management has also reopened the hotel's beloved Rat Pack-style bar, the Driftwood Room .

GET WIG IT Scoop has heard word that Portland wunder-actor Wade McCollum , after butching it up as the frighteningly wholesome Balladeer in Artists Repertory's current production of Assassins, will head back to his transgendered German roots before moving to New York City. Not only will McCollum once again don a flawless blonde bouffant for a quick turn as Hedwig's title character this summer (July 13-Aug. 12) for Triangle Productions, but Scoop just confirmed that McCollum will also star as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf , the German transvestite of I Am My Own Wife, inside the studio space of Portland Center Stage's new Gerding Theater (Nov. 7-Dec. 17).

PDX PRIDE Portland's mix of brews and beautiful views once again makes the pages of a national publication. The June issue of GQ features a gushing full page piece on P-town, written after a friend of managing editor Erik Meers moved here and wouldn't shut up about the place, according to sources at the magazine. The article gives shout-outs to evergreen goodies such as Higgins , Dante's and the always reliable International Rose Test Garden , as well as such lesser-known goodies as Simpatica Dining Hall , Amnesia Brewing and Sameunderneath clothing company.

FIGHT SONG First Portland, now the world! The Rose City's wildest marching band, the MarchFourth Marching Band (or M4, for short) are planning on packin' up their drums, horns and stilts and heading across the pond to Hamburg, Germany, later this month. The 35-person band was invited to perform at the Altona Fun Parade, the highlight of the humongo German street festival happening smack-dab in the middle of the globe's biggest sporting event—World Cup. The honor doesn't come cheap though, according to M4's recent newsletter. Although the group has already saved up more than $40,000 for airline tix, they're still gathering mad money (up to $30,000 more) for lodging, food "and of course, beer." Pitch in a few euros or just say auf wiedersehen at M4's big tour kickoff party and fundraiser this Saturday, June 3, at the Wonder Ballroom.