At the daily White House press briefing on Wednesday, President Obama’s press secretary Josh Earnest name-dropped Jimmy Buffett.

President Barack Obama and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell held a rare private meeting at the White House Wednesday, though bourbon was not on the menu.

“It’s an afternoon meeting,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained to reporters at the daily White House press briefing, adding “that may be Jimmy Buffett’s philosophy, but Jimmy Buffett’s not the president of the United States.”

The behind-closed-doors confab came as the Republican leader prepares to take control of the Senate in January and as Obama has said he’ll be “spending a lot more time” with McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner, even joking he’d welcome a drink with McConnell.

“Actually, I would enjoy having some Kentucky bourbon with Mitch McConnell,” Obama said at a post-election press conference, after Republicans seized control of the Senate and widened their hold on the House.

Obama and McConnell had a “good conversation about a variety of different issues where we might possibly find common ground,” McConnell told CNN.

“This was not the bourbon summit,” he said. “But I’m still hoping we’ll have it.”

Jimmy Buffett has been playing around with the music-streaming service Spotify, which recently became available in the US, and a couple weeks ago he visited their New York City office:

“I’ll tell you who did pop by last week and wanted to spend a couple of hours there–a very famous American performer, Jimmy Buffett,” Spotify investor Shakil Khan told Betabeat. Mr. Khan, known as “Shak” to his friends, was on the phone from London, but discussing Spotify’s new base in New York (in a charmingly posh British accent, we might add). ”Being based in the UK, I didn’t know who Jimmy Buffett was, but everyone was telling me margaritas and Hawaiian shirts and stuff,” added Mr. Khan, a serial entrepreneur who also works as Spotify’s head of special projects and advisor to founder Daniel Ek.

So how did a cutting-edge company like Spotify meet the Ur-chillaxer? “Jimmy’s people reached out to me a couple of weeks ago going, ‘Jimmy’s been playing around with Spotify and really likes it.’ I sent an email around to the staff saying any Jimmy Buffett fans in the house? Half the people were like, ‘Oh my god, do you know about Jimmy Buffett?!’ I said, shall we invite him up? He met some of the devs and they showed him some of the cool stuff that we’re working on. It was a great vibe because half the staff actually wore Hawaiian shirts the day he came in, which really made his day. He was like, ‘Wow you guys are really into what I’ve been preaching all these years.’”

Betabeat was still curious about how Jimmy Buffett had even heard of Spotify, all the way from Margaritaville. “I think one of his people in LA had been using it and said to him, ‘Hey Jimmy, you need to check this out.’ The first time you try it, you go, it can’’t be possible: How can you play music quicker on the internet than music on the hard drive? Obviously Jimmy is very savvy and business-minded and said this is where it’s headed, ‘I really want to know who uses this, what the ecosystem’s like.’ We had a great conversation. He embraces technology. He’s really into the future.”

On Thursday in Houston a ceremony was held for space shuttle workers commemorating the end of the shuttle era, and Jimmy Buffett (presumably via recorded message) was one of the celebrities who offered up their thanks:

“We’re here to celebrate an incredible 30-year run,” NASA Administrator and former shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden said, addressing the thousands of JSC workers and their families who came out for the “Salute Our Space Shuttle: Foundation for Our Future” celebration. “All of you need to leave here tonight with your chest stuck out as proud as you can be because we have done something that no one else was ever able to do and no one will ever do again.”

In addition to Bolden, the event included tributes delivered both in-person and by video from space shuttle program managers, astronauts and celebrities. Representatives of the Houston Astros and Aeros sports teams, actor Seth Green, singer Jimmy Buffett, Sesame Street’s Elmo and late night talk show host Jay Leno all offered their thanks for the shuttle.

“Thank you for your dedication, your inspiration and vision on the incredible space shuttle program,” Leno said in a video recorded from the set of “The Tonight Show.” “For over 30 years, you guys have amazed and educated, opened our eyes to the wonders of space travel and the benefits brought to our everyday lives.”

Jimmy was in attendance at the final space shuttle launch back in July. After the launch he played a show for shuttle workers outside of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

A recent poll by the Palm Beach Post asked residents to name their favorite Palm Beach icon and Jimmy Buffett came in third.

Who is your favorite iconic Palm Beach County person? — came down to three men: The Golden Bear, the Bandit and the Man from Margaritaville.

In the end, the Bear won out.

Jack Nicklaus won the Taking Your Pulse poll for favorite local icon with 30 percent of the vote. More than 1,700 votes were cast, making this the second most popular poll so far.

Burt Reynolds ended up in second place at 15.8 percent, while Jimmy Buffett took third at 10.3 percent.

Rounding out the top five are comic Larry The Cable Guy at 3.9 percent and radio personality Rush Limbaugh at 3.7 percent.

The final flight of the space shuttle program is set for this morning (weather permitting), and Jimmy Buffett is in attendance:

What can bring United States Attorney General Eric Holder, Geraldo Rivera and Kevin Sorbo, TV’s “Hercules,” together? While it may sound like a wacky new reality show, it’s actually NASA’s last-ever space shuttle launch.

The shuttle Atlantisis slated to blast off today (July 8th) at 11:26 a.m. EDT (1526 GMT) on the shuttle program’s final mission. NASA is retiring the iconic vehicles after 30 years of spaceflight to concentrate on sending astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to an asteroid and Mars.

Celebrities of widely varying star power are coming out to witness the historic event, according to NASA’s VIP guest list. Holden and Sorbo are expected to attend, for example. So are Florida Governor Rick Scott and motivational speaker Vernice “Fly Girl” Armour. Gloria Estefan and Jimmy Buffett are other notable names on the list, too.