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Nolan Parker

Nolan Parker is the Mercury’s former music editor.
Posted inMusic

Slated to Open in 2027, Monqui and AEG’s New Venue Has Broken Ground at Lloyd Center

Can you dig it, Portland? Yes we can!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

It’s not every day there’s a groundbreaking for a new venue in Portland. In fact, we’ve never seen a groundbreaking like this in the Rose City. On Wednesday, October 22, local booking and promotion agency Monqui Presents, along with international bookers and promoters Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for their new Lloyd […]

Posted inCalendar

Happy Halloween! What to Do October 30-November 2

Do This, Do That and Mercury Music Picks go full Frankenstein with event recommendations for Halloweekend! 
Avatar photoAvatar photo Lindsay Costello and Nolan Parker

LINDSAY COSTELLO: What’re you up to this Halloweekend? NOLAN PARKER: Idk yet, there’s so much on! Papi’s got a Día de los Muertos gig on in NE and Nonbinary GF are headlining a medieval punk show at High Limit Room. She/her about town, Jenna Fletcher is also chirping about a queer dance party at White […]

Posted inNews

Trail Blazers’ Head Coach Chauncey Billups Arrested in Connection to Mafia-Backed Illegal Gambling

The latest details and what it means for the young team’s coming season.
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Of all the squares on Portland’s “Let’s Get Rid of Trail Blazer Head Coach Chauncey Billups” bingo card—Mafia ties, extortion, and illegal gambling perhaps weren’t on the top of the list. Last night—October 22, 2025—the Portland Trail Blazers played the Minnesota Timberwolves, losing the energetic home game 114 to 118. Though fashion icon Jerami Grant […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Whoopin’ It Up with ICP, Going Back for Seconds with Big Bite

Plus sacred choral music, Portland’s Omni Gardens, and Portland music news! 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

So who was at Turnstile, Amyl & The Sniffers, and Speed last Wednesday? Half the Mercury staff was there… it’s the kind of show that makes you never want to miss another show ever again. The lead dude in Sydney, Australia’s Speed was fucking strapped, looking like a kangaroo about to beat you down in […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Nonbinary Girlfriend Play Free Show, Duster Side Project Play Gaza Fundraiser

Plus an Improvisation Summit, getting Nourished by Time, and Portland music news! 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Whose idea was it to book Autechre, Nourished By Time, Lucinda Williams, and Fleshwater all on the same night? And then, the very next night, Turnstile, Amyl & The Sniffers, Speed, and Jane Remover?? At least those last four are on the same bill…. Having a friend visiting you from a city you used to […]

Posted inMusic

Dead Moon Night Rides Again

Celebrate Portland’s best rock & roll band on October 5 at Cherry Sprout Park.
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

At 6 PM on October 5, 2017—just 35 days before Fred Cole’s death—the City of Portland officially decreed the date, and all following October 5’s into perpetuity, an official City holiday: Dead Moon Night.  That first Dead Moon Night was celebrated with performances at City Hall, including appearances by Michael Hurley, Ural Thomas, Marissa Anderson, […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: 8th Annual Dead Moon Night, Karma Rivera Releases Debut Album

Plus Bijoux Cone, the sophisticated sleaze of Minus the Bear, and Portland music news!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Many life-giving shows have transpired since the last Mercury Music Picks two weeks ago: NxWorries at Crystal, Cosmic Tones Research Trio album release at Hollywood, The Barbaras album release at Showdown, my DJ set at Dream House (plug), Grandaddy at Rev. Hall, Sun Blood Stories at Bunk Bar, 45th Parallel Universe performing Philip Glass’ Quartets. […]

Posted inAlbum Review

Album Review: The Sophisticated Sleaze of Menos el Oso Turns 20

Minus the Bear’s opus gets the deluxe treatment, heralding massive US tour
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

In the mid-2000s, Seattle was exploding with bands pushing genre envelopes: Schoolyard Heroes, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground, Mon Frere, Idiot Pilot, These Arms Are Snakes, The Blood Brothers, and so many more.  Among them were Minus the Bear, a phoenix band rising from the ashes of beloved Seattle hardcore […]

Posted inAlbum Review

Album Review: The Barbaras Take Us For A Ride

Rollercoasters has it all: The ups and downs of yearning, self-awareness, and boobs! 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

In your teens and 20s, there’s a pervasive feeling that love and having your shit figured out will undoubtedly happen for you in some distant future, manifesting out of nowhere—or somewhere, depending on your style of falling in love and problem solving.  On Rollercoasters, The Barbaras remind us it’s okay—and often more fun—to not have […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Album Release Parties for The Cosmic Tones Research Trio and The Barbaras!

Plus Menopunkapalooza, Grandaddy, and lotsa good country.
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Four things to keep in mind as we move through the week: FREE PALESTINE, ARM TRANS WOMEN, LANDBACK, FUCK ICE. Tuesday, September 16 The Cosmic Tones Research Trio For fans of Sun Ra, Don Cherry, Dorothy Ashby  Cosmic Tones Research Trio—alto sax/composer Roman Norfleet, multi-instrumentalist Harlan Silverman, and pianist Kennedy Verrett—conjure astral jazz and healing […]

Posted inFall Arts 2025

Do This, Do That: Fall Arts 2025

Portland’s grandest, thinkiest, most-engaging displays of art and culture! 
Avatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photo Lindsay Costello, Wm. Steven Humphrey, Nolan Parker, and Suzette Smith

Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt Through December 6 (VISUAL ART) Marie Watt’s balance of technical precision and expansive vision melds in larger-than-life textile processes and multimedia explorations. Storywork centers stories from her Seneca Nation ancestry, pairing them with references to everything from […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Dungeon Synth, NYC Rave, and Zambia’s WITCH

Plus Lose Yr Mind, the baby making music of NxWorries, and PDX Pop Now!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Writing about topics outside of music, and music-adjacent happenin’s isn’t really in my wheelhouse, but good god damn was Drama Tops’ show Dads one of the most beautifully unhinged things I’ve ever seen! Their Time Based Arts festival appearances are now in the past, but if you EVER have the chance to see them here or […]

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