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Corbin Smith
Posted inCulture

The Mercury’s Favorite Culture Moments of 2024

Doing something stupid in Ladds, dressing up for the movies, and finding catharsis at live shows, et al.
Avatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photo Cameron Crowell, Andrea Damewood, Melissa Locker, Ben Salmon, Dom Sinacola, Corbin Smith, HR Smith, Suzette Smith, and Joe Streckert

We went out a lot this year. We saw bands, rode bikes, ate snacks—all the stuff of life. This list is a hodgepodge of experience, pulling from our culture writing team—who are drawing from both wider and ultra local scenes. This year, we saw PAM CUT join Hollywood Theatre and Clinton Street as a spot […]

Posted inHoliday Guide 2024 🎅

Christmas Music for Every Mood

Four examples of music that take a decidedly
different spin on the holidays.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

[Editor’s note: Read all our holly jolly HOLIDAY GUIDE articles here. Looking for a print copy? Good! You can find it in more than 500 spots across Portland with this handy map!] Over the years, the recording industry has managed to create Christmas music for every mood. Thousands of sad piano takes on “The Christmas […]

Posted inCulture

Cosplay Break: Bask in the Charm of Costumed Fans at Kumoricon 2024

After 20 years, Oregon’s largest anime convention is still volunteer-led and bursting with enthusiastic energy.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

More than twelve thousand fans descended on Portland last weekend to celebrate 20 years of Kumoricon, Oregon’s largest convention for appreciators of anime and the content world that surrounds it. From Friday through Sunday attendees competed in video game tournaments, stood in as chess pieces in human-sized games, browsed the works of hundreds of artists […]

Posted inSports

How Portland’s Rose City Rollers Became Roller Derby Champions Again

With standout jammers and unmatched teamwork, Wheels of Justice dominates the track to claim Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s highest honor.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

On Sunday in beautiful Portland, Oregon, Rose City Rollers’ Wheels Of Justice—an all-star squad of the best of the best skaters in Portland’s longtime roller derby league—clinched a 141-104 victory over St. Louis, Missouri’s Arch Rival All-Stars and won the sport’s highest honor: the Hydra Trophy. The teams played neck and neck in a tight […]

Posted inFall Arts 2024

A Moment of Appreciation for Comedy in the Park and It’s New All-Day Festival

In its fourth year, Kickstand’s outdoor comedy experiment continues to expand!
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

In 2021, in that weird netherspace between vaccination distribution and the widespread sense that being inside was cool again, Dylan Reiff, the Artistic Director of Kickstand Comedy was looking for a way to get Portland’s robust comedy scene back up and performing again.  “We knew that there were opportunities to do something outside that was […]

Posted inComedy

A Moment of Appreciation for Comedy in the Park

In its fourth year, Kickstand’s outdoor comedy experiment continues to expand—with its first-ever, all-day fest!
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

In 2021, in that weird netherspace between vaccination distribution and the widespread sense that being inside was cool again, Dylan Reiff, the Artistic Director of Kickstand Comedy was looking for a way to get Portland’s robust comedy scene back up and performing again.  “We knew that there were opportunities to do something outside that was […]

Posted inSports

Portland Pickles’ Ten Cent Beer Night: Bad Idea Gone Good?

Big professional sporting events kind of suck now; it’s an open secret that neighborhood games with good snacks are what’s actually fun.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

In which local critic Corbin Smith ruminates on the Portland Pickles’ Ten Cent Beer Night and concludes that neighborhood games—especially those at Lents’ Walker Stadium—are superior to big professional sporting events where you have to carry your stuff in a clear plastic bag.

Posted inVisual Art

Future Now at Portland Art Museum Unboxes the Future of Sneakers

Avatar photo Corbin Smith

On March 30th, the Portland Art Museum will raise the curtain on Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks, a new exhibit about the various futures imaginable for the world’s most versatile sporting footwear. Our city is the touring exhibition’s first stop following its premiere at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. This feels appropriate […]

Posted inSpring Arts Preview 2024

Future Now at Portland Art Museum Unboxes the Future of Sneakers

Get comfy, folks; the future of sneakers is heady as all hell.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

On March 30th, the Portland Art Museum will raise the curtain on Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks, a new exhibit about the various futures imaginable for the world’s most versatile sporting footwear. Our city is the touring exhibition’s first stop following its premiere at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. This feels appropriate […]

Posted inFall Arts 2023

What Does Basketball Fashion Have to Do With Basketball?

Not a lot, but in Mitchell S. Jackson’s new book, Fly, it sure is fun to look at.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

How much does the profession of basketball intersect with the art of dressing? According to gritty NBA forward and notable fashion plate PJ Tucker, only so much. “They don’t even correlate to me,” says Tucker in an interview that appears in Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion, a new coffee table-style book by Portland-born […]

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