Cool Nutz Verbal Porn (JusFamily Records) *** In the world of Portland hiphop, rapper/JusFamily records owner Cool Nutz has his shit together. First of all, Cool Nutz drives around in a giant black van that has a photograph of the members of Cool Nutz. It kind of looks like the McDonald’s semis that feature the […]
Katia Dunn
Posted inMusic
Good-bye, Irony
Crooked Fingers Cracks Himself Open
Crooked Fingers Sat Sept 15 Dante’s It’s not like Eric Bachmann went into the game trying to be ironic. “From the beginning, we never tried to make irony our whole focus or anything,” he explains casually; it’s clear when he talks about irony in his music, that he’s thought about it quite a bit. “But […]
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Hiphop’s Last Gasp
The Liquor Commission’s Chokehold on Hiphop Clubs
Last Thursday, Jezebel’s–a small club just on the east side of the Hawthorne bridge–saw its last night as an underground hiphop club. Due to increasing pressure from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), Jezebel’s will no longer host live DJs, as they’ve been doing on weeknights for the past two years. On the final night […]
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Mercury’s Rock Star Cribs
Yo yo yo! Where do Portland musicians go to chizzity-chill? Why their CRIBS, of course! Some of P-town’s best musicians let us into their homes, just so YOU, the fans, can see how REAL RAPPERS AND ROCK STARS live when they’re not in the studio, on tour, or filming commercials for their corporate sponsors! In […]
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No Fish, Go Fish
No Fish, Go Fish 634 N Killingsworth, 285-2751 There’s a certain heartbreaking charm about restaurants that are built with total sincerity–you can just tell that every decision has been sweated over, down to which kind of organic rosemary tastes better, or if six-grain bread is more complementary to the Caesar salad than nine-grain. The people […]
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WHAT GENDER AM I AGAIN?
Intersexuals Ask Doctors to Stop the Cutting
When I met Zachary for the first time, he doubted he could help me. “I am intersex,” he said, meaning he was born with gender-inspecific genitals. “But I’m not necessarily very active,” he explained. “I mean, I’m married. I have a job in the medical field. I look normal. You’d never know there was anything […]
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DRUNK AGAIN!
Get Liquored Up With Our Second Annual Drinking Issue
• BAR-CHETYPES! A Sociological Overview of Barflys, Lotharios, the Unemployed, and Other Fine Folks Who Frequent Our Favorite Place in the World–the Bar by John Dooley, Katia Dunn, Wm. Steven Humphrey, Julianne Shepherd and Katie Shimer • ONE NIGHT DRINKING The winning entry in our "Crap, I’m a Drunk!" essay contest. by Christiaan Taylor • […]
Posted inMusic
Honest Recreation
Staying True with Abstract Rude
Abstract Rude Sat Aug 18 Roseland “Culture is always recreating itself,” Abstract Rude says matter-of-factly. “If it didn’t recreate itself, it would die.” To hear Abstract explain it, you’d never question his logic. But in retrospect, his willingness–as an independent, underground MC–to embrace the imminent change in hiphop is actually surprising. “Right now, hiphop is […]
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Bar-chetypes!
A Sociological Overview of Barflys, Lotharios, the Unemployed, and Other Fine Folks Who Frequent Our Favorite Place in the World–the Bar
A ponderous question: Why are “bars” so unlike other business establishments? And why are the people you see in “bars” so very frightening and unlike anyone you’ve seen anywhere else (save the Greyhound bus station)? In order to rub salve on these concerns, the Mercury has set out to document and classify several bar archetypes–or […]
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Will They Sell Each Other Out?
Examiner Puts Bounty on Taggers
On the concrete side of a mini-mart on Northwest 19th, the tag “ADK” has been spray-painted in gold letters three or four times–it’s impossible not to notice it. Police think the culprit is a local crew consisting of somewhere between 10 and 23 people, and the tag has been seen as far east as Troutdale. […]
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The Skatepark’s Coming
Brought to You Courtesy of Starbucks
This week, city officials will meet to finalize details for the skatepark they plan to begin building in the next few months. The decision to build the park–which will be 50,000 square feet, located at the West end of the Steel Bridge, and bordered by First Ave on the West side–was finalized in early July, […]
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The Glory of Clean Holes
Oregon Toughens Piercing Laws
Last September, in the small town of Klamath Falls, seven people who had recently pierced their ears came down with infections so severe their ears were literally disfigured to the point of needing surgery and aggressive antibiotics. Through dirty needles and other unsanitary practices, they were infected with a bacteria called Pseudomonas Aeruginosa–a relative of […]