Music It sounds like the plot to a Step It Up sequel: Backspace—the last remaining Portland all-ages music venue that, after nine-plus years in business, could conceivably be called a local institution—must raise $10,000 by early January or face eviction. According to club owner Eric Robison, the investment company that owns the building, Technology Arts Block LLC, has continually ...   More

Arts & Books Kickstart my Heart is a semi-regular blog series on Portland Kickstarter projects we don't hate. Most folks choose to spend their honeymoon lying on the beach, sipping wine or just having a whole lot of sex. Courtney Dillard and Matthew Webber want to spend their honeymoon eating breakfast. For five months.Their plan is to drive across America in a 1997 Ford Aerostar, having interviewing strangers ...   More

Features Kickstart my Heart is a semi-regular blog series on Portland Kickstarter projects we don't hate.Since 2005, webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja has been regaling readers with tales of a ninja who is also a doctor, fighting evil mimes, space dinosaurs, lobster men, and of course ninjas' natural enemies, pirates. Local start-up game studio Fat Cat GameWorks has taken to Kickstarter to turn ...   More

Food & Drink Kickstart my Heart is a semi-regular blog series on Portland Kickstarter projects we don't hate.At least once a week someone in WW's arts and culture section sighs loudly and says, "Oh, Portland." That was me yesterday, stumbling across Bee Local, a Portland project that described itself as "micro-batch honey produced in urban neighborhood varieties." I still think it's the most Portland Kickstarter ...   More

Arts & Books Kickstart my Heart is a semi-regular blog series on Portland Kickstarter projects we don't hate.Portland designer Casey Hopkins has just created the fastest-growing Kickstarter project to date: he hit his goal of $75,000 in eight hours, raised $165,350 in 24 hours, and is now sitting at $373,714—and he still has 52 more days of fundraising to go.His "Elevation Dock" project isn't especially mind ...   More

Arts & Books Kickstart my Heart is a semi-regular blog series on Portland Kickstarter projects we don't hate.Tom Kuzma and Gary Lachance are a couple of Canucks who, as the Vengaboys used to say, like to party. They've been throwing impromptu public dance parties around that country above the United States for two-and-a-half years, powered only by an iPod, a radio transmitter and, sometimes, a Nintendo Power Glove. ...   More

Arts & Books We're all generally big fans of Kickstarter, the "crowd-funding" website that allows people to follow through on brilliant and/or ridiculous project ideas through cash pledges from benevolent online donors. It probably comes as no surprise that Portland is one of Kickstarter's biggest markets, what with our hoards of underemployed creative types and militant support of all things local (even Sam Adams ...   More

Arts & Books Kickstart my Heart is a semi-regular blog series on Portland Kickstarter projects we don't hate.If you’ve ever considered constructing the realm of your favorite childhood video game out of your favorite childhood toy, Portland artist Zachary Pollock is about to beat you to it—provided he can raise $26,400 to purchase 780,000 Lego bricks. “By recreating level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. in ...   More