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Robert Ham

Robert Ham is the Mercury's former Copy Chief. He writes regularly about music, film, arts, sports, and tech. He lives semi-consciously in far SE Portland with his wife, child, and four ornery cats.
Posted inMovies & TV

Clinton Street Theater’s Hanabi Japanese Film Festival Celebrates Cult Cinema and Local Businesses

See Tampopo on the big screen, while snacking on goods from nearby Japanese convenience store Kashiwagi.
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In many regions of Japan, late summer is synonymous with hanabi festivals—celebratory fireworks displays that, in some towns, can go on for the better part of two hours—with vendors on hand to keep attendees fed with meals and snacks. Sadly, this tradition hasn’t made its way here, even with the Japanese diaspora already established throughout […]

Posted inQueer Guide 2023

Candid Ramblings Rhymes with Refreshing Directness

Being in Portland helped rapper Lakeeyscia Griffin find the confidence to write a song about her partner.
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Lakeeyscia Griffin, the 30-year-old Portland rapper who performs and records as Candid Ramblings, chooses her words very carefully. Both onstage and on her sparkling new LP Sublime Timing, phrases and metaphors burst forth from her 5’1” body like tiny torrents. But speaking over Zoom as she sought to recharge her creative batteries with a trip […]

Posted inMovies & TV

What Does MoviePass 2.0 Mean for Local Theaters?

Local cinemas may not have agreed to be part of this reincarnated movie subscription service—but they’re going along for the ride anyway.
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In 2011, an upstart start-up arrived on the scene with the intent of disrupting the traditional methods of moviegoing—before flaming out spectacularly eight years later.  While active, the folks behind MoviePass—a service that at one point allowed subscribers to watch a movie per day for a ridiculously low monthly fee—burned through millions of dollars and […]

Posted inMusic

Portland Radio Institution Intends to Move to Dishier Downtown Digs

We spoke with All Classical CEO Suzanne Nance about benefits of the move, like a new recording studio and additional space to foster classical-loving community.
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We spoke with All Classical CEO Suzanne Nance about the radio station’s intention to move downtown and the benefits of the new space, like a new recording studio and additional space to foster classical-loving community.

Riding high on ratings and approachable programming, one Portland radio station announced its intention to expand and move downtown. For the Mercury culture critic Robert Ham has the story.

Posted inMusic

Oregon Symphony 2023-24 Season: Cancellations, Crowd-Pleasers, and Comebacks

Budget cuts nixed the 2023 free Waterfront Concert, but the rest of the calendar is built to bring audiences back.
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Approachable programming like the cinematic Popcorn series returns in the recently announced Oregon Symphony 2023-24 calendar. But budget cuts nixed the annual free waterfront concert.

Approachable programming like the cinematic Popcorn series returns for another Oregon Symphony season calendar. But budget cuts nixed the annual free waterfront concert.

Posted inMusic

Remembering To Remember Benefits From Repeat Visits

The real gem of PICA’s new show is in the annex—the presentation is a wonder.
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Presenting sound art in a gallery setting is a unique challenge for any curator or designer. Variform, the long since closed art space run by acclaimed musician Patricia Wolf and her husband, was successful on that front by keeping visual distractions to a minimum—all the better to concentrate on the field recordings or drones pouring […]

Posted inSpring Arts Preview 2023

 Remembering To Remember Benefits From Repeat Visits

The real gem of PICA’s new show is in the annex—the presentation is a wonder.
Avatar photo Robert Ham

Presenting sound art in a gallery setting is a unique challenge for any curator or designer. Variform, the long since closed art space run by acclaimed musician Patricia Wolf and her husband, was successful on that front by keeping visual distractions to a minimum—all the better to concentrate on the field recordings or drones pouring […]

Posted inMusic

The Future of YACHT Rock

After a screening of The Computer Accent YACHT will play the album they used AI to create
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The Portland Art Museum’s rebrand of the Northwest Film Center this past spring—to PAM CUT or (deep breath) the Portland Art Museum’s Center for an Untold Tomorrow—was met with a fair amount of head scratching and eye rolling at the time, in spite of the organization’s laudable goals. And as a result, the center’s once […]

Posted inMovies & TV

Remembering Film Archivist and Former Clinton Street Theater Owner Dennis Nyback

The Mercury once described Nyback as “the P.T. Barnum of Cinema.”
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Last week, the curtain closed on the life of Dennis Nyback, the former owner of the Clinton Street Theater and one of the most fervent advocates of preserving and elevating the history of global cinema—in all its high and low glories. He quietly succumbed to cancer in his home near Mount Tabor on October 2. […]

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