Gossip should have no friends.

[April 2nd, 2008]

ECO-SELTZER: Remember Peggy Seltzer—a.k.a. Margaret Jones —the Eugene resident who wrote a fake memoir about growin’ up in the ’hood? Turns out that her real life as an enviro activist might be more interesting than the life she made up. Between 2001 and 2002, Seltzer worked on the campaign to free Jeff Luers , an Earth Liberation Front-affiliated activist who was originally sentenced to 22 years, 8 months, in prison for setting fire to three SUVs in Eugene. But according to fellow Free Luers campaign worker Leeanne Siart, Peggy wasn’t that great at activism, either : “She basically dropped the ball on everything she was doing.” But wait—it gets better. WW has received unconfirmed reports from other sources at the campaign that Seltzer dated both Luers and his co-defendant, Craig “Critter” Marshall. So that’s a triple threat: bad writer, bad activist, bad girlfriend. So, why did Seltzer, who apparently had a pretty interesting life to begin with, feel like she had to make all that stuff up?

2-4-6 OH YEAH! A reliable source tells us Leif “Dreamboat” Norby , the most lusted-after man on stage in PDX, has been cast as Javert in Broadway Rose Theatre’s upcoming production of Les Misérables Norby was last seen taking it off in Lakewood’s The Full Monty, and we expect his turn as the stern French inspector will stoke the already-steamy cop-and-fugitive fantasies of Portland’s theater fans to a rolling boil. To the barricades!

SISTER ACT: Sisters Jessica and Sarah Holliday , co-owners of Staccato Gelato , are planning a mid-April opening of their second Staccato location, at 1540 SE Bybee Blvd. in Westmoreland. The corner space will be much larger, says Jessica Holliday, and will offer a “snacketeria” of salads, sandwiches and quiche in addition to a full palette of gelato flavors and, of course, doughnuts on the weekends. Yes!

TRI-RIFFIC: What’s the latest thing on three wheels? Rick Wilson’s Netherlands-built, coffee-slingin’, crêpe-cookin’ Bakfiets bike will soon be a permanent addition to Portland farmers markets, under the name Cafe Velo. A Zefiro alum who took a hiatus from food to work in tech while trotting the globe, Wilson has been secretly working on custom additions for his bike—like a zinc bar, a cooking area and a drip stand that will allow him to brew multiple cups of coffee at once—in his garage while the bike itself is shipped in. Expect Stumptown Coffee, and at the Thursday Ecotrust Market, Wilson will cook Mediterranean faves with market ingredients.

LIKE WATER FOR COFFEE: Local folk-rock band Weinland and PDX’s Badbeard’s MicroRoastery have combined forces to make “Weinmark,” a liquid realization of liquor-soaked singer-songwriter self-deprecation. The special dark-roast coffee will be treated to a misting of Maker’s Mark during the cooling of the beans. The roaster, Justin Kagan (a cellist with the Oregon Symphony by day), says, “This is the way they get all manner of crapola flavorings into roasted coffee.” He refers to the flavor, unofficially, as “boozetruffle.” A portion of Weinmark sales will even benefit local nonprofit p:ear, ’cause nothing says lovin’ like booze-misted coffee. Check out LocalCut.com later this week for footage of WW taking in the first proper “cupping” with Weinland frontman Adam Shearer himself.