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Portland Mercury

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Portland Art Museum's Rothko Pavilion Opens This Fall

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

The new pavilion's exterior is almost entirely glass... reminiscent of an Apple store. by Joe Streckert Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! The Portland Art Museum (PAM) has grown steadily throughout its lifetime. The original building from 1932 had a major add-on in 1939 and expanded again in 1970. In 2005, the Masonic Temple next to PAM became the museum’s Mark Building, which

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Nine Portland Dishes That Are Plated Works of Art

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

Finally, some fine art you can put in your mouth. by Andrea Damewood Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Food is the most immersive artform humans have managed to create–licking a Monet, for example, won’t tell you much and will probably get you arrested, but a big bite of burrata speaks volumes about life and beauty. While eating engages all senses, nothing primes the palate

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Performance Works Northwest Turns 25

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

Dancer-choreographer Linda Austin reflects on Portland’s experimental scene. by Lindsay Costello Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! In August, Performance Works Northwest marked its 25th anniversary with 25 hours of programming, a fitting tribute to the interdisciplinary spirit that defines the Foster-Powell arts space. The marathon weekend bounced from a dance aerobics

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It's Time to Appreciate Bike Play as Theater

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

I'm at the bike ride. I'm at the theater. I'm at the combination bike ride theater. by Suzette Smith Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Bike Play is one of the city’s unsung artistic cuties. Since its start in 2009, the Bike Summer/Pedalpalooza ride has drawn healthy crowds to its annual one or two weekend runs, filling parks and lesser-known neighborhood green spaces with

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Punchlines & Piledrivers Calls It in the Ring

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

In an empty comedy theater, Mack Lee is strutting around in a diaper and sipping from a baby bottle filled with champagne. by Courtney Vaughn Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! In an empty comedy theater, Mack Lee is strutting around in a diaper. The local comedian moves toward a camera, sipping from a baby bottle filled with champagne. An unlit cigarette rests on Lee’s bottom

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Normal Gossip Can Keep a Secret, They Just Don’t Want To

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

"You wanna hear something fuckin’ wild?” by Elinor Jones Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! A stained chair. A disgusting stew. A girls’ trip where someone buys a dumb lamp. You may not think you need to hear the backstory of such innocuous things, but if it’s told to you in lurid detail by Rachelle Hampton on the hit podcast Normal Gossip, you will change your

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Jock Jams Vol. 1 Turns 30 & Flirty!

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

Tracing sport, nostalgia, hip-hop hitting the mainstream, and the fall of Village People’s “YMCA.” by Cameron Crowell Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Sports fans everywhere know Gary Glitter’s bumbling guitar riff from “Rock and Roll Part 2,” culminating in a “Hey Go [insert team name] Go.” And when 2 Unlimited asks, “y’all ready for this?” in their

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Satyricon: An Oral History

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

From 1984-2011, the downtown dive was a venue where legends, locals, and total unknowns shared a stage. by Melissa Locker Before Michaela Watkins’s first shift behind the bar at Satyricon, the manager gave her the tour. “He said to me: ‘Okay, here’s the taps, here’s the keg, here’s the bat.’ And I was, like, the bat? And he’s like: ‘Yeah, the bat.’ I was like, am I gonna use a bat? He nodded: ‘You might need to use

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Book Review: Shared Homes Bring Hope and Chaos...

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

Leni Zumas’ new novel is a nice (and quietly subversive) story about a multigenerational, intentional community. by Suzette Smith Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! When Leni Zumas’ Red Clocks came out in 2018, the speculative novel was widely lauded, not just for Zumas’ quicksilver prose, but for the story’s dystopic setting: a United States of America where the practice

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Portland Zine Meetup Is Crafting Community

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

“We did partially move to Portland for the free photocopies,” says Manzano. “It was a big draw.” by Sarah Shay Mirk Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Under the fluorescent lights and cool air conditioning of the Lloyd Center mall food court, two dozen people spread collage supplies, paper, and pencils over tables that typically hold pretzels and cheap

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Stacey Abrams Has the Write Stuff

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

Stacey Abrams explains artificial intelligence through the lens of Coded Justice. by Melissa Locker Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Former Georgia State Representative and two-time gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams may be best known as a political activist, but when she’s not ticking off Republicans, she’s writing novels. Coded Justice, the third book in her Avery Keene

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Eleven Films to Argue About in Fall 2025

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

Fall 2025 is STACKED with films from the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, Kelly Reichardt, Lynne Ramsey, Chloé Zhao, Kathryn Bigelow, Yorgos Lanthimos, and more! by Dom Sinacola September A Big Bold Beautiful Journey: In the yawning aftermath of After Yang, writer/director Kogonada tries again with Colin Farrell, this time welcoming Margot Robbie to another potential wad of corn, giving it a horrific title, and

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Do This, Do That: Fall Arts 2025

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/11

Portland's grandest, thinkiest, most-engaging displays of art and culture! by Lindsay Costello Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt Through December 6 (VISUAL ART) Marie Watt’s balance of technical precision and expansive vision melds in larger-than-life textile processes and multimedia explorations. Storywork centers stories from her Seneca

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San Cha’s Inebria Me Reimagines Religious Ecstasy

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/10

The queer opera draws from mystic saints and ’90s telenovelas to tell a rare and radical love story. by Lindsay Costello At the pinnacle of San Cha’s opera Inebria me, an apparition in white emerged: Esperanza (Kyle Kidd), angelic and blood-smeared, clutching a red rose. Dolores (San Cha, the show’s librettist and composer) gazed at the spirit, her expression a blend of awe and longing, the unraveling

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Hear In Portland: Black and Loud Fest, Alana Rich’s...

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/10

Read all about what’s on the music forecast, Hear In Portland. by Jenni Moore It might seem strange to focus on music and arts at this particularly dystopian stage of American life. When the city is under threat of President Trump deploying National Guard troops to quell protesters who are “ruining” the city of Portland, which, according to the President's TV news diet, [checks notes] is now like living in

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Good Morning, News: Light Punishment for Super...

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/10

by Taylor Griggs If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no

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How to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month 2025 in...

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/09

El Festival de Mariachi, Portland Latin American Film Festival, and More by Bri Brey Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the US between September 15 and October 15, recognizing the contributions of Hispanic culture. The 30-day period also includes several independence days and national holidays (Fiestas Patrias) of countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Chile. If

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Mercury Music Picks: Dungeon Synth, NYC Rave, and...

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/09

Plus Lose Yr Mind, the baby making music of NxWorries, and PDX Pop Now! by Nolan Parker Writing about topics outside of music, and music-adjacent happenin's isn’t really in my wheelhouse, but good god damn was Drama Tops’ show Dads one of the most beautifully unhinged things I’ve ever seen! Their Time Based Arts festival appearances are now in the past, but if you EVER have the chance to see them here or in

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SAVAGE LOVE: Bad Romance

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/09

Breaking: Not all lesbians have gotten the memo that oral is part of the job description. by Dan Savage I’m an early 40s lesbian in the Vegas area and I’m sorry to report that not all lesbians have gotten the memo that oral comes standard. I have faced this issue since I began dating. I’ve met many women who require creativity and persistence to come — and you know what? It’s my pleasure. I’m not just willing, I’m

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Good Morning, News: DOJ Employee Gets Bamboozled, Joe...

Portland Mercury ·

2025/09/09

by Courtney Vaughn If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is

en-us

2,288 results