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Andrew Jankowski
Posted inVisual Art

The Price of the Ticket Is Cost-Conscious 

Oregon Contemporary’s 2026 artists’ biennial considers the personal and financial toll of what it costs to be an American.
Avatar photo by Andrew Jankowski

Despite the chaos caused by last year’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) funding cuts, The Price of the Ticket—Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial exhibition—opened on schedule. Crowds of art lovers—spectators, neighborhood residents, and working artists, et al.—cycled through the Kenton gallery’s three room layout to see how Oregon-tied artists responded to curator TK Smith’s prompt about […]

Posted inCulture

Who’s Playing Portland Pride 2026?

Pride Northwest announces three drag artist headliners playing its July waterfront festival this summer.
Avatar photo by Andrew Jankowski

Say it loud; say it proud: Portland’s Pride parade is in July! Since the hot idea dropped in 2023, Portland Pride celebrations have come to feel like two months of intensifying queerness that eventually explodes into the biggest annual parade in the whole state and a weekend of events and performances in Waterfront Park—all of […]

Posted inMusic

Getting High on Her Own Supply

For FKA twigs, dancing is just as important as singing on her Body High Tour.
Avatar photo by Andrew Jankowski

FKA twigs’ Body High Tour was delayed last year by a host of production-related problems including visa issues, but if anything, the London-based singer only delayed gratification for her “Twiglets.” By the time of her rescheduled Portland appearance on Saturday, April 4, FKA twigs—AKA Tahliah Barnett—was not only promoting her acclaimed album Eusexua, but its […]

Posted inTheater & Performance

We Picked Out Which Cast Member Is Which Golden Girl in Savannah Sipping Society

Triangle Productions adapts a Jones Hope Wooten script full of wordplay and wit.
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If Savannah Sipping Society feels like beloved ’80s TV sitcom The Golden Girls, there’s a reason for that. The playwright collective that wrote the 2016 comedy script, Jones Hope Wooten, includes one of the show’s writer-producers. That Wooten is Jamie Wooten. But no one owns the story of four middle-aged femmes who meet, by chance, […]

Posted inTheater & Performance

“Portland Nice” Is on Full Display in Carol Triffle’s Latest Musical Comedy

Nice People is here to change minds and spare feelings.
Avatar photo by Andrew Jankowski

We find many kinds of “nice” in Nice People, a new comedy-drama by Imago Theatre co-founder Carol Triffle. There’s performative niceness and a request that one character explain (nicely) that they are, in fact, not a threat (nice). Eventually, someone even earns the sought-after title of “nice girl.” (Must be nice.) This is Triffle’s 20th […]

Posted inMusic

Snakes on the Dance Floor

Swedish producer Cobrah turned Wonder Ballroom into a gay rave.
Avatar photo by Andrew Jankowski

The Wonder Ballroom has long been a springboard for queer pop icons launching into the stratosphere, from Durand Bernarr’s concert last spring ahead of his Grammy win to the local stop nearly 20 years ago of Lady Gaga’s Fame Ball tour.  Swedish producer and beatsmith Cobrah slithered into Wonder’s pantheon on Wednesday, April 1 during […]

Posted inTheater & Performance

Fertile Ground Celebrates 17 Years with 17 Days and Nearly 100 Plays

The new works theater festival takes audiences to the furthest bounds of space.
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Spring has sprung, and playwrights spent the winter ensuring that this year’s crop of plays for the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works would have Portland’s theater world buzzing. Nearly 100 productions and readings criss-cross the fest’s schedule—17 days for the 17th year—unfolding at theaters across the Portland area between April 10–26.  Outer space is […]

Posted inQueer

Blow Pony Rides Into the Sunset

The long-running LGBTQ+ dance party ends March 28.
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The long-running LGBTQ+ electronic dance party Blow Pony will saddle up for the last time on Saturday, March 28. Airick X—Blow Pony’s co-founder, who was known for several years as Airick Redwolf and Airick Heater—is retiring the party after uniting the queer community on the dance floor for 19 years, per a statement shared on […]

Posted inQueer Guide 2024

Cocktail-Coded

Northeast Portland neighborhood wine bar Bonne Chance built a queer clientele on allyship and Malört.
Avatar photo Andrew Jankowski

[Find the Mercury‘s Queer Guide in print—available in more than 500 spots citywide!—eds.] What makes a gay bar? Is it that little Progress Pride flag in the window? If that were the case, nearly every bar in Portland would feel queer-coded. No, what makes a gay bar is not simply the presence of Pride flags […]

Posted inQueer Guide 2024

Mona Chrome Is—Ironically Enough—a “Walking Crayon Box”

Gary Barnes sees drag as a way to combine their passions for painting, costume design, and dance—all at once!
Avatar photo Andrew Jankowski

[Find the Mercury‘s Queer Guide in print—available in more than 500 spots citywide!—eds.] RuPaul’s Drag Race has had so many seasons and spinoffs that an entire generation doesn’t remember a time before RuPaul sent scores of drag superstars sashaying away. Portland drag artist Gary Barnes, who performs as Mona Chrome, is a member of that […]

Posted inQueer Guide 2024

All Pride All the Time

There’s something happening every weekend, as we count down to Portland Pride!
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[Find the Mercury‘s Queer Guide in print—available in more than 500 spots citywide!—eds.] Pride is in July again this year, but the queer fun lasts all summer long (and beyond). That’s why our roundup of summer queer events gives you plenty of dance parties, drag shows, and more, as we count down to Pride Weekend. […]

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