Scoop: Presidential Playlists and Ultralocal Honey

1. AGESANDOBAMAS: President Obama is an AgesandAges fan. The Portland band’s catchy, choral folk-pop tune “No Nostalgia” showed up on a Spotify playlist posted to the president’s re-election campaign Facebook page, much to the surprise of frontman Tim Perry, who told Rolling Stone that the nod was “the most random thing that’s happened in [his] life.” Perhaps Obama would be similarly surprised to learn that the song appears on a loose concept album about “the earlier days of a secluded commune.”

1. KICKSTART MY HEART: Is this the most Portlandy Kickstarter project that ever Portlanded? Beekeeper Damian Magista is trying to raise $5,000 on the crowd-funding website to make “micro-batch honey produced in urban neighborhood varieties.” Magista produces honey from beehives in four different Portland neighborhoods: Mount Tabor, Brooklyn, Powellhurst and Laurelhurst, each of which he says has its own “terroir,” or unique flavor profile based on the area. Magista tells WW that Mount Tabor tastes “bright, very exotic, like lots of tropical flowers,” while Laurelhurst is “really nutty and spicy; I think it’s a result of all the walnut and maple trees the bees are foraging on.” >> In other Kickstarter news, the Elevation Dock, an aluminium iPhone dock project by Portland designer Casey Hopkins that broke Kickstarter records by raising $165,350 in 24 hours, ended its funding round at just under $1.5 million. The docks will be machined and assembled entirely in Oregon.

1. THEATER VS. THE MAN: After a nine-month application process, Portland’s Bureau of Development Services concluded that Portland Playhouse cannot resume presenting plays at its King neighborhood converted church from which the company has been exiled since summer because theater, absurdly, falls under the category of “commercial, retail sales” rather than “community service.” Portland Playhouse and the King Neighborhood Association encourage the community to support the Playhouse at the City Council meeting at 3:30 pm Thursday, March 1, at City Hall.

1. GATE CLOSED: The Dragon Gate Seafood Buffet at Pioneer Place has closed. It’s the second big seafood buffet to fail at the downtown mall in as many years, proving mallgoers aren’t into fish when there’s perfectly good Sbarro’s around.

1. GRAMMY SNUB: Portland’s Decemberists left the Grammys empty-handed after being beaten twice (in the Best Song and Best Performance categories) by the Foo Fighters, but at least they looked nice on TV. >> In other TV news, the Wieden+Kennedy-produced Clint Eastwood Chrysler advert refuses to die—it received an SNL send-up on Feb. 11. Federale frontman Collin Hegna, who produced the music for the spot, told WW, “I didn’t realize the extent to which it would grow legs of its own. It obviously struck a chord.”

WWeek 2015