Gossip should have no friends

[March 19th, 2008]

»THE STUMPTOWN PROXY: Rumors that his film, The Heretic, is on hiatus haven’t stopped actor/director and now singer Tim Robbins from jammin’ about town. As first reported on wweek.com, not only was he spotted checking out the shaved goods near the stage of Old Town’s Magic Gardens , Robbins jumped onstage at downtown’s Kelly’s Olympian last Wednesday and sang a set with Beaverton-based band SpeedLimit and the Violations. Rock out!

»GOT MOJO? Tequila-fueled Oba wasn’t the only Pearl District watering hole Michael Jordan made a pass through last week after meeting with money makers at Nike. Trust , a lounge , opened its closed doors on Tuesday night for a little party for the b-ball legend. The ultra-exclusive shindig featured a slew of Nike executives, as well as Larry Miller , who used to the president of Nike’s Jordan brand and now is the man in charge of the Portland Trail Blazers. Oh yeah, there were really hot girls there, too.

»ANSWER THE PHONE! Add James Westby to the list of Portland movie directors making a national splash. The man behind the Film Geek camera learned on Sunday, March 9, that his new film The Auteur has been chosen for New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival. The comedy, about a porn maven with artistic ambitions, will premiere April 25 in the prestigious fest’s midnight program. “I’ve been making films for about 15 years,” Westby says, “and last week I got the phone call I’ve been waiting for that whole time. Premiering in New York is a dream come true.”

»PARANOID NUTS: Music has always been critical to the films of Gus Van Sant­—remember the late Elliott Smith on Oscar stage in 1997 singing “Miss Misery” from Good Will Hunting? Van Sant’s newest Paranoid Park features three more Portland acts: frantic indie-rock deconstructionists Menomena, electronic innovator Ethan Rose and, most surprisingly, NW hip-hop legend Cool Nutz. Yep, all on one soundtrack. Cool Nutz says he was “very excited” to contribute the song “I Heard That” to the film. Though the album was released in France in October 2007, it’s still only available as an import stateside—or through iTunes, which just began selling the album this week to coincide with Paranoid’s domestic release.

»GOODNIGHT, PORTLAND: After gay crooner Rufus Wainwright finished his concert at the Newmark Theatre Friday night, he dashed to dine at celeb central, 23Hoyt, a local fave of Jennifer Aniston and John Legend. He was joined there by restaurant owner Bruce Carey, Paige Powell, Ramsey McPhillips and John Parsons, among others. Another notable out on the local dining scene was Richard Thomas, a.k.a. “John-Boy Walton,” who was in P-town last week for the short run of Twelve Angry Men. When Thomas was away from the stage at the Keller Auditorium, he was spotted supping it up at Higgins and Dragonfish, as well as making a trek up the hill to Washington Park’s Japanese Gardens.