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Aris Hunter Wales is the Mercury's resident, denim-clad rocker and Blazers beat writer. If he's not clenching a fist while lauding the loud and heavy, he can be found sitting on press row at a Trail Blazers' game wearing a crisp suit with neatly combed hair.
Descendents’ new record Hypercaffium Spazzinate features fewer fart jokes and more lyrics about credit scores.
You can see and feel it on the streets of Portland this week. There’s a lot more folks roaming around wearing red and black, they’re smiling a little bigger than everyone else, and they’re attitudes seem better. You could attribute the good vibes to that funny smelling smoke that wafts around everywhere all the time […]
BLACK SABBATH But Ozzy, what happens AFTER forever? Ross Halfin “I’M NOT SURE I know the difference between heavy rock and heavy metal, but it is good to be known as inventors of heavy metal rather than followers,” says Terence Michael Joseph “Geezer” Butler, the original bass player and primary lyricist for the almighty Black […]
The legendary band fades into the void.
LATINO METAL NIGHT Wes Cueto, AKA DJ Wes Craven. Jason Stares “IT’S A BROTHERHOOD. You could be dropped off in any random city, see some guy rocking the same shit you like, and as soon as you meet them, they’re your friend,” says local heavy metal DJ Jon “Chains” Grunstein Medina. He’s referring to the […]
It’s a headbanging catharsis.
JOHN CARPENTER Soundtracking your nightmares. Kyle Cassidy AS A DIRECTOR, John Carpenter singlehandedly destroyed the innocence and safety of babysitting with Halloween, created one of film’s meanest protagonists with Escape from New York‘s Snake Plissken, and with Nostradamus-like accuracy predicted the alien-controlled political puppet show we have today with They Live. As influential and groundbreaking […]
The director and composer still masters the sound of fear.
Photos courtesy trailblazers.com, Bruce Ely/Justin Tucker There’s been a lot of talk about putting an asterisk next to this year’s playoffs for the Blazers. Folks think that since both teams we’ve gone up against have been hobbled by injuries, us advancing and winning games should have a side note. I believe the Blazers 2016 playoff […]
The Astonishing is two hours and 10 minutes of sci-fi proggery.
If I’ve learned anything from my beautiful, intelligent wife, I’ve learned it’s best to look and act appropriately when attending a special occasion. So, I felt it was appropriate to wear a suit and tie to cover game three of the playoffs last night. To me, the playoffs are a special occasion. An international event […]
Aris Hunter Wales Taking an existing, delicious food and stuffing it with other delicious foods is never a bad idea. In that spirit, Via Chicago has taken a deep-dish, Chicago style “slice” of pizza and stuffed it to the gills with three kinds of cheese and fresh spinach. To create this gargantuan pizza, Via Chicago […]
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