While some might be content with a life of soy proteins and dietary supplements at home, Jason Bayless happily travels this country on a continuous loop in order to preach the gospel of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Jason accompanies punk bands in their travels and does his best to convert the […]
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 inMusic
Best. Band. Ever.
The Hot Snakes Cure the Jaded Masses
Hot Snakes Sun Oct 31 Bossanova 722 E Burnside At the annual CMJ music convention in New York this year, the buzz was not on some newfound hipster band, Brian Wilson talking about Smile, or the Vice after-party with all the coke. In fact, the band that people were talking about didn’t even bother to […]
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Last Call
The Final Testament of Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith From a Basement on the Hill (Anti)**** Available Tues Oct 19 You can’t ignore the obvious, no matter how hard you try. The tragic passing of Elliott Smith will forever haunt the release of his latest/final recording, From a Basement on the Hill. Haunted by all that could have been. Haunted by the […]
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Passion of the Pedro
David Bazan: The King of Kings
Pedro the Lion Fri July 9 Crystal Ballroom 1332 W. Burnside The whole Christian/Beard thing that Pedro the Lion has going is a dirty lie. It’s a cheap excuse; a hanging nail that music writers can’t help but get their sleeves caught on: “Look at the band! It’s a guy with a beard singing songs […]
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Age on Emotion
Not Doing it for the Kids
Audio Learning Center Fri April 2 Dante’s 1 SW 3rd Given the current average age of the emo rocker, Audio Learning Center is what would be considered an old band. In blunter terms, they are an ancient rock corpse, left to float aimlessly in a sea of fresh-faced pretty boys who have the band beat […]
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The South Will Rise Again
After it Stops by Piggy Wiggly for Beer
Drive-By Truckers Fri Feb 13 Dante’s 1 SW 3rd The Drive-By Truckers LOVE the South. In the parlance of their down-home, rootsy rock swagger, they name-check whiskey, farms, and George Wallace… and when they sing about Alabama, it’s like Christians singing about Heaven. In a world of Bubba Sparxxx and the Allman Brothers they are […]
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You Won’t Miss the Meat
Vegan Dining Goes Upscale
Calendula 3257 SE Hawthorne 490-8470 I feel the need to get this out of the way in the opening sentence: Calendula Café is owned by Craig Rosebraugh, a former spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front. Of course it doesn’t matter, but in a city where gossip might as well be the gospel, it needs to […]
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Homestyle for Herbivores
Soul Shack’s Got Your Back
Soul Shack 521 SW 9th Like most every twenty-something person I know here, I am not originally from Portland. Not too long ago I followed the example set by numerous other former Southern Californians and moved north. And for that, I’m very sorry. One of the first local customs that threw me for a loop, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Breaking Your Heart…
…by Making a Really Boring Film
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart dir. Jones Opens Fri Oct 4 Cinema 21 I fucking love Wilco. Let’s get that out of the way before I explain why I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Sam Jones’ documentary about the band, is such a mighty letdown. I am beyond a fan; I’m a […]
Posted inMovies & TV
24-Hour Narcissism
Once a Wanker, Always a Wanker
24 Hour Party People dir. Winterbottom Opens Fri Aug 30 Fox Tower For the sake of quick summaries, 24 Hour Party People is a film covering Manchester, England’s music scene–from the very first Sex Pistols shows that started it, to the last hit of Ecstasy that brought the whole thing down. Behind the scenes of […]
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Destruction of Everything
Hot Snakes: the Best Punk Band Alive
Hot Snakes Fri Aug 30 Berbati’s Pan Hot Snakes are the bloody dagger to the heart of all that is wrong with punk music today. From the fashion punk to the over-produced, Hot Topic-sponsored “rebellion,” Hot Snakes have their sights set on destroying the whole fucking thing and, in the process, taking themselves out in […]
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Laser Creed
Laser Creed, OMSI’s interpretive laser light show of Creed’s music, is the greatest musical experience in the history of sound for three reasons: God, Rock-n-Motherfuckin’ Roll, and big fat lasers! It’s like a wholesome Christian Tron, where the projected lasers duke it out, set to the uplifting God-Rock sounds of Creed, the bazillion-selling grunge band […]