Support Smart, Local Journalism
Make a Small Monthly Donation

Give now
Avatar photo

Lindsay Costello

Lindsay is the Portland Mercury's staff writer, covering all things arts and culture. Send arts tips and pictures of birds to lindsay@portlandmercury.com.
Posted inMusic

Paradoxical Sound

Spencer Doran of Visible Cloaks on how abstract painting and video game audio design informed the electronic duoโ€™s new album, Paradessence.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

Since the Portland electronic duoโ€™s 2017 release Reassemblage, Visible Cloaksโ€™ Spencer Doran has kept busy. He composed the soundtrack for the 2023 adventure game SEASON: A letter to the future and curated the compilation Kankyล Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990, earning a Grammy nomination for the latter. On their new album […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for June 1-7

Your faves are here: This week’s all about strawberries, bikes, and books.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

It’s that time of year in which strawberries and long bike rides just make sense. Luckily for us, both are on the docket this week as Bike Summer (formerly Pedalpalooza) hosts a kickoff ride at Alberta Park and dozens of local food spots sling a certain fruity dessert for Strawberry Shortcake Week. It’s also Portland […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for May 25-31

Memorial Day week is boozy, birdy, and baseball-y.
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

Memorial Day is here, and with it, plenty of event momentum: floral installations bloom across downtown Portland, Pickles baseball returns, and the Mercury‘s got enough highballs lined up to make “just one cocktail” a relative improbability. Plussss, you can chase after woodpeckers, catch that new film with the freaky yellow trailer (Backrooms), or let comedian […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for May 18-24

Comedians with disabilities perform, a cat documentary screens, and Alysa Liu skates into town.
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

Your weekly reminder that things are, in fact, “going on” is here. Indie troubadour Kevin Morby heads into town on May 19 from the rustic Hudson Valley cabin where he recorded his new album, Little Wide Open. Local guitarist-composer Marisa Anderson also plays an album release show on May 21, revealing her expansive new album The Anthology […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

Do This, Do That: May-June 2026

A selection of the city’s coolest upcoming events.
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Music Issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if youโ€™re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.โ€”eds. Carlos Niรฑo & Friends MAY 16 (MUSIC) Carlos Niรฑo came to town on Andrรฉ […]

Posted inCalendar

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for May 11-17

This week: Florence + The Machine, jam-making, and the Mercury’s Music Issue launch party!
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

The Mercury‘s Music Issue hits the streets this week! To celebrate, we’re throwing a launch partyโ€”Isabeau Waiaโ€™u Walker, the Barbaras, Keeks, La Isla Electronica, and you are invited. Plus, comic book titans will post up at Lincoln Hall for the Comics Confluence Festival, weirdo legend Dynasty Handbag celebrates her memoir release with PICA performances, and […]

Posted inBooks

Jibz Cameron Becomes Dynasty Handbag

The artistโ€™s new memoir traces the evolution of her performance alter ego.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

The clearest way to explain Dynasty Handbagโ€™s act might be to quote the artist herself. โ€œI am not a wretched performance artist, or merely a comedian, or the ghastly clown, or simply an actor,” Jibz Cameron writes in her new memoir, Hell in a Handbag. โ€œI perform as this alter ego. I do songs sorta […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for May 4-10

Lo-fi indie, two cool comedians, and your Mother’s Day plans.
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

Dust off your A/C unit, it’s Do This, Do That!! This week’s events pair well with the sunshine: the St. Johns Bizarre brings Alan Sparhawk of Low to the neighborhood’s stage, the Portland Fire show up for their regular season opener, and two-time Mercury Genius of Comedy Neeraj Srinivasan slings some jokes. Plus, we’ve got […]

Posted inSecond Run Portland

Second Run Portland: Reality Be Damned

This month, two theaters present surreal screening series, and Bjรถrk appears in an atmospheric witchcraft fantasy.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

May Day carries an ancient connection to Floralia, a Roman festival that honored the blossom goddess Flora in early May. Itโ€™s only fitting that local cinemas would screen dreamy, surreal films this month, yeah? Two screening series at Clinton Street Theater and Tomorrow Theater wander toward the uncanny, offering opportunities to drift through the otherworlds […]

Posted inMovies & TV

Frederick Wisemanโ€™s Close-Up

A six-day, round-the-clock film marathon underscores the documentarianโ€™s deep impact.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

โ€œThere are not many filmmakers for whom you could create a six-day, round-the-clock marathon,โ€ said Brendan Nagle, who’s one-half of the avant-garde screening duo Spectrum Between. โ€œThe sheer volume of Frederick Wisemanโ€™s body of work really sets him apart.โ€ An upcoming marathon from April 29 to May 4 at Belmontโ€™s Sunnyside Community Center will screen […]

Posted inCalendar

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for April 27-May 3

This week: blooming lilacs, dog comedy, and peril in Bikini Bottom.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

Hello and welcome to one of the springiest weeks we’ve seen in quite some time! Sure, T.S. Eliot called April “the cruellest month,” but around here, it’s losing its grip with sunbreaks and lilacs coming on strong. On the docket: Mirah’s earnest, diaristic indie rock, a May Day march for workers’ rights, and the weekend’s […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for April 20-26

Earth Day puppets, $4 pizza slices, and can you pronounce Sunn O)))?
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

Weโ€™re back! This week, Making Earth Cool celebrates Earth Day with a costume parade on April 25, and the Mercuryโ€™s Pizza Week offers $4 one-of-a-kind slices across 70 locations. Plus, DJ Assault will pull up for the ass-jigglers among us, and Independent Bookstore Day brings cute prizes and swag to local shops. U ready? MONDAY, […]

Gift this article