Gossip should have no friends

[December 19th, 2007]

GHETTO GOURMET: It’s official—the area surrounding Northeast 30th Avenue and Killingsworth Street is Portland’s Gourmet Ghetto. That’s where former ripe Catering queenpin Naomi Pomeroy and her beau Micah Camden will debut a third restaurant, DOC, in spring 2008, just steps from Pomeroy’s meat palace Beast and Camden’s sushi lounge Yakuza . Named after the Italian organization that oversees wine appellations, DOC will feature Italian family-style offerings, including heaping bowls of handmade pasta. The exact location will be made known once Camden and Pomeroy sign the lease to their new digs in the coming days.

WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT, WILLIS? What makes you happy? That’s the question posed by the upcoming 20/20 Special Report (ABC-TV, Jan. 12, 2008). To find out, reporters scoured the planet in search of the answer and found part of it in Lake Oswego. That’s the home base of Thayer Cheatham Willis , an expert in the area of “wealth counseling” and the author of Navigating the Dark Side of Wealth: A Life Guide for Inheritors. Rather than state on 20/20 how to grow your portfolio, Willis talks about how people need to let go of the age-old pursuit of happiness—and money. “Wealth does not make happy,” says Willis, whose family founded forest-product giant Georgia-Pacific Corporation. “It’s not an automatic equation.” Huh...we’d still like to find out.

WALKIN’ HARD: Charlie Wadhams , son of Portlander Bill Wadhams , a member of the ’80s band Animotion , has contributed two songs to the John C. Reilly vehicle Walk Hard. Wadhams, who graduated from PDX’s Lincoln High School in 1996, was one of 30-odd musicians invited to submit songs to be played by Reilly’s fictional folk singer, Dewey Cox, in the biopic parody. Both Wadhams’ songs made the cut and even landed Charlie a role as the drummer in one of Cox’s bands in the film.

MINOR THREAT: Though the Oregon Liquor Control Commission voted last week against changes that would make it easier for minors in Oregon to see a freaking concert every now and again (read more), the fight isn’t over. All-ages proponent Cary Clarke isn’t letting a 3-2 vote trample his dreams of entertaining the kiddies while keeping them out of trouble. In a recent email, he notes that the OLCC commissioners will vote on a new draft of the rules regarding minors in February. “We’re not dead in the water. [The OLCC] approved a change that would allow alcohol to be brought into seated performance spaces,” he writes. This will help the Portland Center for Performing Arts to allow young’uns into shows and to make some bank via alcohol sales. Clarke hopes the decision will affect other seated venues, like the almost-always-21+ Mississippi Studios.