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EverOut

Cheap & Easy Things To Do in Portland This Weekend: July 23-25, 2021

by EverOut Staff • Friday at 5:00 pm

Dont miss a free concert and sing-along with Portland favorites Pink Martini this Saturday in Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Don't miss a free concert and sing-along with Portland favorites Pink Martini this Saturday in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Courtesy of the artists

Another weekend of events is here to prove that you don't need a reserve of disposable income to go out on the town. See below for the latest batch of last-minute events under $10, from the Cart Blocks Grand Opening to a Pink Martini concert and sing-along, and from a waterfront performance by Espacio Flamenco to the St. John's Art Walk. 

FRIDAY

GEEK
Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!
Emerge from your cupboard under the stairs to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday at McMenamins, which will transform into Hogwarts to accommodate wizards, witches, and muggles alike. Expect costume contests, games, trivia, and a replica of Diagon Alley, plus screenings of all eight movies.
McMenamins Kennedy School, Northeast (free)

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News

Good Afternoon, News: Crews Make Progress on Bootleg Fire, COVID Cases on the Rise, and Old is Actually Good!

by Isabella Garcia • Friday at 4:13 pm

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Two people stand in a pile of burned scraps, looking down.
Bly residents Tim and Dee McCauley survey the charred wreckage of their chicken coup on July 22, 2021 in Bly, Oregon. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland / Getty Images

In local news:

• The security guard who shot and killed Freddy Nelson Jr. in a North Portland parking lot earlier this year was not licensed to carry a gun, an OPB investigation found. The incident is emblematic of a larger issue of Portland businesses turning to private security firms who can act like police officers, but with minimal oversight.

• Bold claim alert: Old is M. Night Shyamalan’s best work since The Sixth Sense.

• COVID cases are on the rise again—Oregon has seen a 208 percent increase in new daily cases since July 1. Oregon health officials attribute the rise in cases to the July 4th holiday, the relaxing of safety requirements amongst unvaccinated people, and the highly transmissible Delta variant.

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Food and Drink • News

Your Mercury Weekend Reading List: Catch Up on the Knowledge You May Have Missed!

by Wm. Steven Humphrey • Friday at 2:16 pm

Did you see this Mercury story about the Winterhawks? DAAAAAAMN!
"Did you see this Mercury story about the Winterhawks? DAAAAAAMN!" JGI/Jamie Grill / Getty Images

My, you are a BUSY BEE. So it's completely understandable that you may have missed some of the great reporting and stories the Mercury churned out this week! So while you're lounging about this weekend, sipping Lauquen Artes Mineral Water and stuffing your face with truffle crisps, catch up on the knowledge you need by reading some of these A+++ Mercury articles!

• Portland Native American Leaders Shut Out of Winterhawks Logo Change Discussions

• Venture to Vancouver for Standout Laotian Food 

• Two Southeast Portland Indie Movie Theaters Reopen Stronger Post-Pandemic

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Food and Drink • EverOut

This Week In Portland Food News: Grace Cafe Opens, The Cart Blocks Pod Arrives, and The Nacheaux Team Plans a Speakeasy

by EverOut Staff • Friday at 1:00 pm

The new restaurant Grace Cafe mixes influences from Korean, Middle Eastern, North African, and Japanese cuisine.
The new restaurant Grace Cafe mixes influences from Korean, Middle Eastern, North African, and Japanese cuisine. Grace Cafe

This week, a Michelin-starred restaurant alum from San Francisco and a former Top Chef contestant open Grace Cafe, the long-awaited Cart Blocks pod has its grand opening, and the Nacheaux team plots an upcoming speakeasy called Bourbon Street, featuring crawfish boils and beignets. Read on for all of that, plus fun events for this weekend, like Mercato Grove's Grand Opening Party. For more inspiration, check out our food and drink guide.

NEW OPENINGS AND RETURNS


Cart Blocks
Two years ago, over 50 carts were ousted from their home, the popular pod at Southwest 10th and Alder, to make way for the swanky Ritz-Carlton hotel. Then, this spring, City Council voted to use $269,000 to help relocate the displaced carts to the Ankeny Square in the North Park Blocks. Now, that plan is coming to fruition as the new pod celebrates its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony this Saturday, July 24. Over 20 of the carts that were previously forced out, including Drunken Noodle, Tito's Burritos, K-Bap, Love Verona, and Shanghai's Best, will be back in business. Meanwhile, ostensibly as a gesture recognizing the pod it displaced, the Ritz-Carlton has revealed plans for a food hall with up to nine vendors on its ground floor. 
Downtown

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News • Coronavirus

State, County Officials Urge Oregonians to Get Vaccines as COVID Cases Spike 200 Percent

by Isabella Garcia • Friday at 12:09 pm

A health care worker sits next to someone they just vaccinated.
County vaccination sites are offering $150 gift cards to people who get fully vaccinated. Motoya Nakamura / Multnomah County

Oregon health officials are attributing the recent spike in COVID-19 cases to the July 4th holiday, the relaxation of masking and safety requirements amongst unvaccinated people, and the rise of the Delta variant of the virus.

Since July 1, the day after Oregon lifted the majority of its COVID restrictions, the state has seen a 208 percent increase in daily COVID cases, a jump from 181 to 378. The state has also seen a 70 percent increase in hospitalizations since July 9. According to the most recent data from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), 92 percent of Oregonians who tested positive for COVID in June were not fully vaccinated.

State officials like Governor Kate Brown and OHA director Patrick Allen have repeatedly characterized COVID’s spread amongst vaccinated and unvaccinated people as the “tale of two pandemics.” According to OHA, vaccinated Oregonians are protected from the virus—and the virus variants, like the Delta strain—while unvaccinated people, many of whom are people of color, have a high risk of catching the COVID Delta variant, which is twice as transmissible as the original strain.

Multnomah County Health Officer Jennifer Vines told the Mercury that when the state reached Brown’s threshold for lifting safety requirements—70 percent of adults partially vaccinated, or June 31, whichever was sooner—Oregon was still far from reaching herd immunity, which is when enough of the population has been vaccinated that the virus can no longer spread through the community.

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Food and Drink

It's the Last Week to Enjoy Delish, $5 Frozen Cocktails in the SUMMER OF SLUSHIES!

by Mercury Promotions • Friday at 12:00 pm

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ALERT! Next week is your FINAL CHANCE to enjoy the coolest, most delicious event of the summer!

The Portland Mercury and Jim Beam proudly present the Summer of Slushies! Get boozy, frozen, custom-made slushies at your favorite bars during the month of July—and for only $5 each!

Check out all of these delicious concoctions RIGHT HERE! Want to find a delicious, cooling slushie near you? Check out our SLUSHIE MAP!

BUT HURRY, HURRY! The Summer of Slushies ends on JULY 31!

Want to receive the latest updates on Summer of Slushies and other exciting Mercury Food and Drink promotions? Don't miss out on any of the fun—sign up for our newsletter!

Movies & TV

M. Night Shyamalan Is a Good Filmmaker, Actually, and Old Is His Best Work Since The Sixth Sense.

by Chase Hutchinson • Friday at 10:59 am

Nikki Amuka-Bird as Patricia and Ken Leung as Jarin in Old.
Nikki Amuka-Bird as Patricia and Ken Leung as Jarin in Old. Courtesy of Universal Pictures

The varied career of M. Night Shyamalan has been a complicated yet fascinating one. He is a writer-director who can go from the initial highest of highs with films like 1999’s The Sixth Sense, to the lowest of lows with the baffling life-action The Last Airbender adaptation from 2010.

Through it all, there has remained the undeniable potential of his distinct vision that makes him a wholly original filmmaker whether you fully connect with him or not. That is why it is a joy to be able to say that not only is Old one of his best works of recent memory—it is one of the best films that he has made over his entire career. It is a film that almost entirely subsumes the senses as it captures you in its grasp.

The foremost reason for this is how in command Shyamalan is. He has taken an effectively straightforward story about a group of people who find themselves trapped on a secluded beach that begins to rapidly age them, and teased every last drop of existential dread out of it. The result is the rare film where a director utilizes all of the tools at his disposal to craft the most unsettling experience possible. Each technical element is expertly used to create an overwhelming sense of terror that feels like it is gradually melting your mind with every passing minute. Shyamalan’s flowing camera work deserves note for how unhinging it is.

In the case of the film’s tragic characters, every passing minute becomes an hour, an hour becomes a year, a year becomes a decade, and a decade becomes a lifetime. The film, adapted from the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters, focuses on the terrifying prospect of seeing your life pass by in the blink of an eye with seemingly no chance to stop it. That feeling of helplessness takes a toll on the characters, and Shyamalan excavates this growing panic with a delicate hand. As the characters move through the many stages of grief, you feel the inevitable sense of loss that is hurtling towards them.

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Pop Quiz PDX

POP QUIZ PDX: It's Your Weekly Fun, Sassy Quiz for July 23!

by Wm. Steven Humphrey • Friday at 10:00 am

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HEY SMARTY PANTS! Are your pants truly smart? Let's find out with the POP QUIZ PDX—our weekly quiz chock full of sassy, fun, multiple choice questions about what happened in Portland during the past week, along with a couple of rando questions just for laughs.

But first... HOW DID YOU DO ON LAST WEEK'S QUIZ? As it turns out, VERY GOOD! Especially on our weekly "Subjective Question," which, for the first time ever, was answered correctly by a clear majority of you! (*frantically waves arms in the air like Kermit the Frog*) YAYYYYYYY!

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OKAY, LET'S SEE HOW YOU DO THIS TIME! Take this week's quiz, make sure to scroll to the bottom to submit your answers, and you'll instantly get your score that will tell you in no uncertain terms HOW SMART YOU AM. Here's the scoring key (out of a possible 100 points).

100 points = "I am a goddamn genius!"
90 = "I am almost a goddamn genius."
80 = "I am achingly close to genius-ness."
70 = "I may not be a genius, but I'm pretty dang smart."
60 = "I am somewhat smart."
50 or below = "What am smart?"

Take this week's POP QUIZ PDX below, take our previous pop quizzes here, and come back next Friday for a brand spankin' new quiz! NOW... LET US DO THIS!

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News

Good Morning, News: New Report Issued on Violent Cops, Advice for Unvaxxed Counties, and Cleveland Team Changes Racist Name

by Wm. Steven Humphrey • Friday at 8:43 am

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

The CRC to present recommendations to City Council about cops repeated violence toward peaceful protesters.
The CRC to present recommendations to City Council about cops' repeated violence toward peaceful protesters. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! If I only once could hold you (no, no, no), and remember how it used to be. If only I could scold you and forget how it feels to be free. LET'S GO TO PRESS.

• A new report from the Citizen Review Committee (CRC) that will be presented to City Council has recommendations for Portland's police after their violent reaction to peaceful demonstrators over the past year, advising that cops should permanently ban tear gas and other chemical weapons, wear regular uniforms instead of military gear, and use force only as a last resort. They (correctly!) add that such tactics "heightens, agitates, or exacerbates existing tensions with the crowd such that it creates additional risks to the safety of officers and community members.”

• More details on the case of the person who was shot and wounded by a Portland cop at a NW Naito convenience store this week: The officer has been revealed to be Craig Lehman who is... well, how about that? The very same officer who was taken off the protest response team because he was under investigation for allegedly assaulting demonstrators and the press during last summer's protests. Such a small world! (Our Alex Zielinski has more.)

• As the delta variant (responsible for 50 percent of all new infections) sweeps through the state, Oregon health officials and Gov. Brown aren't ready to impose new statewide protective measures, BUT! They do recommend that the heavily infected counties "consider implementing temporary measures such as masks and physical distancing.” Now that some Republicans are finally (FINALLY!) recommending that everyone should get the vaccine, maybe they'll actually do it?

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News

Good Afternoon, News: Bad Cops on Parade, Bootleg Fire Grows to 400K Acres, and FBI Botched Kavanaugh Investigation

by Wm. Steven Humphrey • Thursday at 4:39 pm

During Kavanaughs pre-Supreme Court investigation, the FBI handed 4,500 tips over to Trumps White House.
During Kavanaugh's pre-Supreme Court investigation, the FBI handed 4,500 tips over to Trump's White House. Chip Somodevilla / Staff / Getty

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• More details on the case of the person who was shot and wounded by a Portland cop at a NW Naito convenience store this week: The officer has been revealed to be Craig Lehman who is... well, how about that? The very same officer who was taken off the protest response team because he was under investigation for allegedly assaulting demonstrators and the press during last summer's protests. Such a small world! (Our Alex Zielinski has more.)

• In more "bad cop" news (will it ever end?): The state Board on Public Safety Standards & Training has stripped West Linn Police Chief Terry Timeus of his police certification, and fired Sgt. Tony Reeves for their involvement in the wrongful, bullshit arrest of Portland's Michael Fesser as a favor to a "fishing buddy." UNNNGGGHHHH!

• Members of Portland's very secretive Arlington Club—which has been around since 1867 and whose membership is wildly wealthy and politically influential—tried to strong-arm D.A. Mike Schmidt into prosecuting protesters practicing their First Amendment rights, and while they weren't successful, this story really shows how persuasive these power brokers can be and how far their influence reaches. (*looks suspiciously toward Mayor Ted Wheeler*)

• Southern Oregon's Bootleg fire has grown to a mind-boggling 400,000 acres (!!), but firefighters are making progress and have the blaze 38 percent contained.

Continue reading »
Music

Summer Concerts Are Back on Sauvie Island

by Blair Stenvick • Thursday at 2:04 pm

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Sam Gehrke / courtesy topaz farm

When Kat Topaz and her husband Jim bought their farm on Sauvie Island in January 2020, they didn’t have any experience running a farm.

“We’ve been out here almost 10 years,” Topaz told the Mercury in a recent interview. “We were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if our next chapter meant we could work on Sauvie Island?... We started daydreaming about ‘What if we could have a farm?’”

But the space they ended up buying wasn’t only a farm: It was the former Kruger’s Farm space, known for its fresh produce market, onsite dining, a corn maze and pumpkin patch, and an annual summer music series.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and associated venue closures, the Topaz Farm crew had their hands full just figuring out how to run an organic, regenerative farm while turning a profit.

“We made so many mistakes,” Topaz recalled. “When we got the farm, we knew we didn’t know farming. But the community out here is so amazing—it was one of the reasons we wanted to stay.”

The farm also served as a much-needed escape for Portland families looking for an outdoor, COVID-safe way to get out of the house. Topaz observed that, “We probably survived as well as we did because our farm offered folks a little bit of normalcy.”

But as spring 2021 arrived, and it was still unclear when social distancing requirements would be lifted in Oregon, Topaz didn’t have plans to host concerts this summer. That changed quickly as Gov. Kate Brown set a goal for lifting restrictions by the end of June, and on July 1, Topaz Farm announced a summer concert lineup stacked with notable local names and buzzy up-and-comers. The first two shows, held the second and third Thursdays of July, featured the Banjo Killers with Tony Furtado and Scott Law, and local singer-songwriter Chris Pureka with Seattle’s Damien Jurado.

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News

Our Sister Site, Seattle's The Stranger, Is Hiring a Staff Writer!

by Stranger Staff • Thursday at 10:30 am

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[The Mercury's sister site in Seattle, The Stranger, is hiring a newsy-oriented staff writer to work in their fun, smart office. Could that person be YOU or someone you know? Check out their description below!—eds]

Good news: The Stranger is hiring!

We’re looking to add a full-time staff writer to our small, dynamic team. This position will primarily focus on covering City Hall as Seattle endeavors to replace its mayor, update its council, and steer itself out of the pandemic’s wreckage.

The Stranger transitioned from printing a bi-weekly newspaper to publishing online-only a year ago. As we work to revamp our digital products, we’re seeking applicants who can keep up with the quick pace of digital reporting. This staffer would work with editors to write features, shorter reported pieces, and national/local news roundups, but our ideal candidate would also want to leverage their talent to take charge of this beat.

Want to write strong, reported opinion pieces about Seattle politics and policy? Then please apply! Want to skip the takes and just report it straight with maybe a little snark here and there? Fine by us! Interested in specializing in criminal justice, housing, or labor issues? So are we! Above all, we want someone who’s hungry to break stories that get the city talking, and who’s excited to tell readers what their local elected officials are up to.

Currently, our team employs a hybrid model. We mostly work from home, but we tend to go into our Chinatown-International District office a few days a week to say hi and to collaborate on larger stories.

Ideally, we’d like applicants to possess the following qualities:

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News • Cops

UPDATED: Police Shoots, Injures Man in NW Portland

by Alex Zielinski • Thursday at 9:39 am

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MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND

Update: 7/22 8:30 am

The Portland officer responsible for shooting a man at the McCormick Pier Grocery & Deli Tuesday night has been identified as Craig Lehman. Lehman has worked for the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) for eight years. Lehman was one of the members of the PPB's Rapid Response Team who the city pulled from public-facing police work last summer due to Lehman being under investigation for allegedly assaulting members of the media or legal observers during the racial justice protests.

PPB has also identified the man injured by Lehman as Joshua Lyle Merritt. Merritt was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center Wednesday afternoon, according to the online inmate database. He's been charged with "menacing" and "unlawful use of a weapon."

Original story: 7/21 9:15 am

A Portland police officer shot and wounded a member of the public Tuesday evening at a convenience store in Northwest Portland.

According to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), officers were sent to respond to a call at 9:36 pm concerning an "unwanted person" at the McCormick Pier Grocery & Deli on NW Naito Parkway, just north of the Steel Bridge on-ramp. Officers were told that the person was a white man who "had taken food without paying then laid down on the floor refusing to leave."

Officers arrived at the store around 9:44 pm. Eight minutes later, an officer reportedly shot the unidentified person. By 10 pm, the injured man was in route to the hospital with a "non-life threatening wound," according to PPB.

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News

Good Morning, News: $600,000 Settlement for 2017 PPB Killing, Deep Pockets Try Influencing MultCo DA, and Everything is GREAT at the Olympics!

by Blair Stenvick • Thursday at 8:48 am

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt NATHAN HOWARD / GETTY IMAGES

Good morning, Portland! Reminder: There's only one week left in July, meaning there's only one week left to enjoy boozy $5 slushies. Please act accordingly!!!

Here are the headlines.

• You'll want to read this story about powerful Portland businessmen trying to convince District Attorney Mike Schmidt to prosecute more protesters arrested on bullshit charges. It's frustrating as hell, but ultimately gratifying:

• Here's another environmental phenomenon to worry about: Oregon is experiencing a "hypoxia season"—when oxygen levels drop to low levels in the ocean off the Oregon coast—that's much earlier than usual. That could mean trouble for both crabs and bottom-dwelling fish off the coast.

• Portland City Council unanimously approved a $600,000 settlement agreement Wednesday to the family of Terrell Johnson, a 24-year-old man killed by a Portland police officer in 2017. Johnson died on May 10, 2017, after being chased on foot by former PPB officer Samson Ajir from the SE Flavel MAX platform.

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Food and Drink • EverOut

Where to Pick Up Food for a Picnic in Portland for Summer 2021

by EverOut Staff • Wednesday at 4:00 pm

Be the envy of everyone at the park with a rotisserie chicken dinner from Arrosto.
Be the envy of everyone at the park with a rotisserie chicken dinner from Arrosto. Arrosto

We're well into the dog days of summer, and it's prime time for al fresco hangouts with friends. Not coincidentally, July is also National Picnic Month. We've got you covered with plenty of provisions perfect for a moveable feast, from fried chicken to charcuterie and cheese. We've even suggested some conveniently located sites for your picnic. All that's left for you to do is pack up your wicker basket and gingham blanket and scout out a location. For more inspiration, check out our food and drink guide.

Arrosto
This Mediterranean rotisserie chicken specialist inside Providore Fine Foods will provide you with all of the makings of a mouthwatering picnic. The Mercury's Andrea Damewood writes, "The three-plus pound, free-range, antibiotic-free chickens are smoked as they luxuriate in the rotisserie, the skin laced with lemon and rosemary oil. The result is a moist bird with infused skin that's made all the better with a bright orange Calabrian chili dipping sauce. For two hungry or three peckish adults, a half bird plus sides ($18) will get the job done. Add the sauce liberally to the meat and the side of golden potatoes roasted in chicken fat." Round out the meal with focaccia, a green salad, and cookies.
Kerns

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