JEFFERSON SMITH
This 38-year-old state rep gave the mayoral race a jolt of energy, diving in against ex-councilman Charlie Hales and New Seasons cofounder Eileen Brady. Even if the Bus Project founder becomes a third wheel, he can reprise the hit YouTube video he made in the Legislature by leading his rivals in a three-person “Rickroll.”

ROBERT TURNER
The chair of troubled Jeld-Wen needs a perception intervention. With his company staring down bankruptcy’s barrels, Turner zipped to Dallas on the corporate jet for a Ducks game. Have this slice of cake, à la Marie Antoinette, and we’ll talk.

ANGELA MATTOX
The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s new artistic director gets the head of the table. Mattox plans to keep PICA’s signature TBA Festival as global and experimental as ever. Welcome, Angela—we’ll school you on Portland’s parochial brand of weird. First: the Church of Elvis….

PATRICK DEWITT
A spot of sherry for Patrick, the Portland-based, Canadian-born novelist whose book The Sisters Brothers landed on the shortlist for Britain’s prestigious Man Booker Prize. By the time this reaches our readers, he’ll have won or not. Either way, he can be this party’s laureate.

JOHNNY DIABLO
Speaking of the arts, welcome Johnny Zukle (a.k.a. “Diablo”), owner of the “vegan strip club” Casa Diablo. Zukle stirred up Sellwood with plans for a new joint near quasi-iconic strip club/steak house the Acropolis. Johnny, we expect a meatless challenge to the classic A-crop Burger.

JESSICA GREEN
This University of Oregon biologist earned notice for her work on whether modern air-filtration systems kill too many “good” microbes. The Boston Globe placed Green among a new movement “to give our indoor environments the same scrutiny we give nature.” Cool, Jessica! We’re still hunting down our dust bunnies.