ONCE A YEAR, Portland transforms into a citywide, multi-day music festival, the likes of which make the Mercury as giddy as all get out.

Well, except for one tiny little detail. You see, it’s Portland’s other weekly paper that’s booking the bands, posting the billboards across town, making scads of money off the pricey-but-generally-worth-it wristbands, and basically running the entire show. As such, their coverage of MFNW might be a tad… ummm… how you say… biased? So, in the spirit of good, solid sportsmanship (or journalism—we sometimes get the two confused), we’re going to tell it like it is.

In the Mercury‘s Officially Unofficial Guide to MusicfestNW, we’re going to give you the honest-to-god truth about the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the pick of the litter. We’re also going to steer you well clear of the steaming turds and give you the lowdown on all the free shows you can see without a wristband. Since the Mercury‘s not in the business of selling you a ticket to the damn thing, you can rest assured in our completely impartial opinions. Now get out there and see some good music.

READ ON!

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Ned Lannamann is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. He writes about film, music, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, and other things.

3 replies on “The <i>Mercury</i>'s Officially Unofficial Guide to MusicfestNW”

  2. Mercury,
    So you’ve got a woman playing guitar on your MFNW cover. Great!
    But wait…
    She’s topless (and nice touch with the pussycat, too), which to me looks like you reinforcing the dangerous idea that women artists must be sexual objects before they can do things like get on the cover of a magazine. I mean, cool photo and all, but the context is what it has to be read within.
    Not only that, but you advertise an “uncensored pullout” within, further objectifying and turning this woman into a pinup rather than a symbol of creativity.
    I wonder how all of the female musicians performing at MFNW feel about being represented this way. They deserve better from a publication that claims to want to get the reader out to see “good music.” What does this totally objectifying photo have to do with that? Do boobies have some musical ability that I have failed to discover?
    It’s not difficult–think about what you are putting out on the newsstands and who sees it. I think you have a responsibility–especially to the youth of Portland that no doubt comprises the majority of your readership–to not degrade certain portions of the population.
    And just look at the political climate we’re living in this election season. Don’t you think women and girls have enough of this shit to deal with already?
    And you know what else stinks? That I worry about being labelled a “prude” or something for not liking your cover. So, if that’s anyone’s answer, that’s fine, I’ve already considered it. That sort of shaming doesn’t make me feel any different about it.

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