While Cary Clarke takes a much-deserved vacation traversing the globe, I’ll be filling in for him here at the local music news desk. —Ezra Ace Caraeff Last Friday, April 18, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) voted unanimously (4-0) to amend OAR 845-006-0340 Minor Postings, thus allowing minors access to limited 21-plus establishments that submit, […]
Ezra Ace Caraeff
Ezra Ace Caraeff is the former Music Editor for the Mercury, and spent nearly a third of his life working at the paper. More importantly, he is the owner of Olive, the Mercury’s unofficial office dog. His writing has appeared in The Fader, The Stranger, The Onion's A.V. Club, ESPN's TrueHoop network, and countless fanzines that are thankfully long out of print. He makes a mean tofu scramble and yes, Ace is really his middle name.
Posted inMovies & TV
Over There! In the Cave!
Morgan Spurlock’s Hunt for bin Laden
He never finds Osama bin Laden. Sorry that sentence was not preempted with a spoiler alert, but in Morgan Spurlock’s Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?, the least important character is the one in the title. In fact, from the get-go, you know Spurlock—in this first-person, haphazard global trek to find bin Laden—will […]
Posted inMusic
Girls to the Front
The Past, the Present, the New Bloods
The greatest aspect of the raised-fist inspirational punk rock performed by New Bloods is that the trio is actually more polite than they are angry. Their floor-stomping anthems are a textured mesh of populist folk tunes run through the filter of years of DIY punk, most often hosted in that most romanticized of venues: the […]
Posted inMusic
Our Town Could Be Your Life
Local Music News
While Cary Clarke takes a much-deserved vacation traversing the globe, I’ll be filling in for him here at the local music news desk. —Ezra Ace Caraeff Regarding the controversial issue of all-age minor postings in the state of Oregon, this Friday, April 18, is the day of reckoning. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) is […]
Posted inMusic
A Discontented Winter
Bundle up with A Weather
The timing couldn’t be worse for A Weather. Their brilliant and gloomy debut album of slouched-shoulder, hushed folk is set to see the light of day—during, well, the light of the day. The record, Cove, is the sound of another monochromatic Portland winter of rain-streaked windows and that permeating feeling that—no matter what you do—you’ll […]
Posted inMusic
Old Trees
Shelley Short: In Transit
Sounding like the gorgeous-voiced kid sister of Neko Case, Shelley Short treats folk music with a mere fleeting interest, liberally picking and choosing from the storied genre with great care on her third full-length, Water for the Day. The Portland- via-Chicago-via-Portland-via-Los Angeles-via-Portland (not necessarily in that order) singer/songwriter is always searching for a new locale […]
Posted inNews
Portland Wants Squatch!
Why We Should Trade Our Mascot for Seattle’s
THERE ARE 30 teams in the National Basketball Association—yet the Portland Trail Blazers have something that no one else does. It’s not Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, or a promising future of playoff victories—it’s that goddamn trail cat. The team’s mascot is a useless, fictional large-headed creature of unknown origin that goes by the name Blaze […]
Posted inMusic
Our Town Could Be Your Life
KPSU
[While Cary Clarke takes a much-deserved vacation traversing the globe, I’ll be filling in for him here at the local music news desk. —Ezra Ace Caraeff] Over the next few weeks, KPSU is undergoing an ambitious undertaking in which the radio station attempts to raise $10,000 for their annual pledge drive through a series of […]
Posted inMusic
Human Devotion
Not Indie. Not Hiphop. Just Astronautalis
There is a certain immeasurable level of devotion and passion that artists dedicate to their respective crafts. They sacrifice, work menial jobs, and arrange questionable housing arrangements with far too many roommates. In turn, their sacrifices result in improved artistic output and an opportunity to focus on their skills and improve in their respective field. […]
Posted inMusic
Our Town Could Be Your Life
Muxtape
[While Cary Clarke takes a much-deserved vacation traversing the globe, I’ll be filling in for him here at the local music news desk. —Ezra Ace Caraeff] It’s hard to make a tangible impact within the instant-gratification world of Web 2.0 (god, I hate that term), especially when it comes to anything related to music. Why […]
Posted inMusic
Our Town Could Be Your Life
Local Music News
While Cary Clarke takes a much-deserved vacation traversing the globe, I’ll be filling in for him here at the local music news desk. —Ezra Ace Caraeff For a city that pops its collar and boasts about its support for the arts community, Portland sure hasn’t been too friendly to the local music community as of […]
