Gossip should have no friends

[April 18th, 2007] CODA RED Southeast's Audio Cinema was red-hot Saturday night as 1,000-plus crimson-dressed guys and gals danced and drank their asses off at Velvet Rope, the 7th Annual Red Dress Party fundraiser (benefiting Q Center, the Swan House, and Friends of People with AIDS Foundation). Beyond the usual queer suspects, there were appearances by a couple of boys who have being keeping their names out of bold print lately. Fresh from diaper duty, County Commissioner Ted Wheeler looked lovely in a plunging, spaghetti-strapped number as he held on ever so-tight to wifey-poo Katrina, who sported an off-the-shoulder ensemble. Looking like a cross between Bruce Willis and a youngish Gerry Frank was Oregon Ballet Theatre's notorious former artistic director, the semi-reclusive James Canfield, who oddly enough was able to slide past the party's red-dress-only policy in a black tux and white shirt. Who let him in?

READY MADE When local retail maven Tacee Webb started a Fashion Design Camp for tweeners last summer (see "What I Did On My Summer Vacation," WW, Aug. 16, 2006), she never thought it would take off. But just seven months after the camp's inception, Webb received a call from a producer at the Rachael Ray Show begging to feature her brainchild. Three of the ecstatic campers were chosen to fly to NYC last Saturday for a taping of the show (they showed off their sewing skills on camera Tuesday, April 17) and a tour of Pratt, one of the Big Apple's esteemed design campuses. The show airs on KGW TV Channel 8 sometime later this month. Plus, this summer's installment of Fashion Design Camp (July 30-Aug. 3) takes place next to Cathedral Park in a 25,000-square-foot warehouse under the St. Johns Bridge, with three times as many campers as last year. And big surprise, the successful summer camp alternative has also expanded to Seattle this year—with plans to take over San Francisco in 2008! Visit fashiondesigncamp.com for more details.

SHOE FLY Holy World War II referential shoes, Batman! Scoop has heard word that our own Bwana Spoons, a.k.a. Lord of the Grass Hut (the East Burnside gallery), has been chosen by Converse as part of an upcoming shoe collaboration. Talk about hi-tops meet hi-fashion: The "Conversations" series, a reference to a Variety-style magazine that Converse passed around for WWII soldiers, is a joint international project between Yukinori Dehara (Japan), Cupco (Australia) and Lord Spoons (U.S.) with each artist designing his own shoe. On June 1, a limited edition of 900 shoes, designed by Bwana himself, will premiere on the Converse website, converse.org. Part pseudo-camouflage, part leafy-green cute, these shoes will be on sale for a whopping one hundred bucks a pair, but only on the website. Dripping with hipster coolness won't be all the bang you get for your buck, as the package includes a limited-edition zine and actual art in the shoe.

RICH BITCH VS SONDHEIM The former "Butcher of Broadway" will duke it out with everyone's favorite composer of cannibalistic musicals as part of Literary Arts' just-announced '07-'08 season. In a special event announced from the stage at Literary Arts' most recent reading (but not yet on sale to the public), former New York Times head theater critic Frank Rich and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, etc.) will match wits on March 11, 2008, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, in a benefit event for Lit Arts. Other speakers on next year's schedule: poet supreme Mary Oliver (Feb. 5) and recent Nobel Prize lit winner Orhan Pamuk (Oct. 16). More info at literary-arts.org.