- SWASTIKA CHIC: An only-in-Portland battle between a punk-rock lifestyle magazine and a local activist resulted in the deletion of a Portland Mercury blog post last week. Merchandise from Pork magazine, which often prints swastikas and other Nazi symbols on its buttons and T-shirts to piss people off, is sold on consignment at Naked City Clothing on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard. Pork merchandise without swastikas got a fawning write-up from Merc contributor Katie Gunn, generating an angry email from a local activist, who wrote the newspaper and local Anti-Defamation League that "it's a full-blown, hate-mongering slap in the face to any reasonable Portlander." The Mercury subsequently removed the post. âThe author of the post requested its removal after deciding she didnât want to defend its subjectâs use of certain symbols,â wrote managing editor Marjorie Skinner. âWe obliged.â Naked City owner Julian Recanzone says the shop carries Pork publisher Sean Aabergâs merchandise because âwe love Seanâs artâ and âit has always sold well.â âBut swastikas, for any reason, just arenât our bag and so are not in the store,â Recanzone says.
- FEDERAL MATTER: Portland electro-R&B singer-producer Natasha Kmetoâs next album will be among the first releases from Federal Prism, a new label headed by TV on the Radioâs Dave Sitek. Sitekâwhose credits include work with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Janeâs Addictionâcalls Kmeto âhands down my favorite producer out there.â A release date for the record, titled Inevitable, has not been announced, but her manager, Aaron Meola, says it contains 10 songs, all written and produced by Kmeto. âThis is the first time sheâs recorded a whole album in a proper studio setting outside of her bedroom,â he says, âand we are pretty stoked on how itâs sounding.â
- MORE SEX: Southeast Division Street is getting a new sex shop, one thatâs very different from the porn cinema at 35th Avenue or the tawdry strip clubs further east. Female-friendly She Bop plans to open a location across the street from Pok Pok and a mere three blocks from the seedy Oregon Theatre. She Bop co-owner Jeneen Doumitt says customers have long been asking for a second store. The new space, still under construction, isnât much larger than the current shop in the Mississippi neighborhood. âWe wonât have a huge expansion of our offerings,â Doumitt says. âWe believe in quality over quantity.â Southeast Portlanders should be able to shop for vibrators and locally made lube by the end of the summer.
- ATTACK THE LOT: Sources at Hawthorne Boulevardâs Cartopia say the sale of the longtime food-cart pod has been finalized, meaning this will indeed be the last summer for the lot that includes Pyro Pizza, Potato Champion and Whiffies Fried Pies. The cartsâ leases expire in October, and the lot is expected to become mixed-use apartments. The carts plan to go out with a bang by hosting movies on Sunday nights for the rest of the summer. Thereâs a theme in the early movie choices: On June 22, the pod will play host to Attack the Block, while on June 29, the carts will show Independence Day.
- CORRECTION: Last weekâs Scoop column misstated the number of honors given in the first Pacific Northwest Cider Awards. Washington cideries actually won five of 11 categories.
WWeek 2015