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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 inDo This, Do That

Theย Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for June 22-28

It’s a very busy week, with fun events including bike rides, horror sleepovers, queer stuff, and more!
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Wm. Steven Humphrey and Lindsay Costello

This week’s entertainment choices have it all: films for every possible taste, air guitar shredders, queer events aplenty, festivals, bike rides, horror sleepovers, poetry, and of course, lots and lots of NACHOS! Let’s dive into the fun. MONDAY, JUNE 22 Portland Mercury Nacho Week Hurrah! Itโ€™s time for the Portland Mercuryโ€™s Nacho Week! Not only […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for June 15-21

A bike ride for cat lovers, a real-deal rodeo, and your Juneteenth plans are here.
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

That Portland summer you ordered is here, and this week, it arrives with bike rides of cat-loving, liberatory, and meet-cute varieties. Visual art shows at Nationale, Word Virus Books, and Gallery 114 offer some intriguing ways to hide from the heat, and the 8 Seconds Rodeo returns to showcase riders on the Black rodeo circuit […]

Posted inVisual Art

Artist David Hockney Has Died

Portlanders can view six decades of his work at Portland Art Museum through July.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

English artist David Hockney has died. He was 88. Hockney was an uncategorizable, multidisciplinary master of perspective whose fascination with new tools and technologies burned brightly right to the end. He was beloved for his vibrant landscape works and evocative portraits, butโ€”as evidenced by a two-floor exhibition of iPad paintings, Xeroxed prints, and Polaroid shots […]

Posted inQueer Issue 2026

Marisa Anderson on How to Listen in America

‘The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music’ reinterprets recordings from United States conflict zones.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

What follows is one of the many articles in theย Mercuryโ€˜s 2026 Queer Issue. Find a print copyย here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to youย here, and if youโ€™re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support usย here.โ€”eds. In 2022, Portland experimental guitarist Marisa Anderson visited the bohemian musicologist Harry Smithโ€™s archives […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

Do This, Do That: June-July 2026

A selection of the city’s coolest (and queerest!) upcoming events.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

What follows is one of the many articles in theย Mercuryโ€˜s 2026 Queer Issue. Find a print copyย here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to youย here, and if youโ€™re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support usย here.โ€”eds. Street Books Queer Book Drive JUNE (COMMUNITY) Portlandโ€™s favorite bikemobile lending library and harm […]

Posted inSecond Run Portland

Second Run Portland: A Film That Feels like a Painting and a Sapphic Classic

June’s revival screenings include Wim Wenders and Wong Kar-wai entries, plus a week of cinematic despair.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

Summer repertory screenings often turn toward nostalgic, well-trod territory. Thereโ€™s nothing wrong with that, but youโ€™ll probably notice that this monthโ€™s movies take a weirder (and often more interesting) route. Angels drift over a divided Berlin and lovers wander around Argentina. PAM CUTโ€™s new David Hockney-inspired series screens what is basically a moving painting. Aaaand, […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercuryโ€™s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for June 8-14

This week: queer soup, medieval bike theater, and Kickstand Comedy in the Park returns.
Avatar photoAvatar photo by Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

Summer feels like summer this week with the return of some of our favoritesโ€”Bike Play, Kickstand Comedy in the Park, and the Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance among them. If you’ve missed these before, now’s your chance; deets below, of course. Plus, the Portland Fire face the Las Vegas Aces for the first time and […]

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 […]

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