Portland news organizations are already telling you how to vote in the high-stakes May ballot measure deciding who controls Portland’s water, sewer and stormwater systems (the Oregonian had its say on Saturday). But one local media company is voicing its opinion outside of the editorial pages. RB Pamplin Corporation—which owns a variety of local and […]
Portland
Posted inArtsy
No, the Mission Theater Isn’t Going First Run—But It Is Turning Back into a Movie Theater
via There’ve been rumors around town that McMenamins’ Mission Theater (1624 NW Glisan)—which used to be a church before it became Oregon’s first theater pub, showing second-run movies in addition to hosting live performances—is becoming a first-run theater. This would make sense, following McMenamins’ recent renovation of the Bagdad Theater, which transformed that venue from […]
Posted inFashion
Emilio Pucci, Reed College, and Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945
Back in December it was announced that the Portland Art Museum is gearing up for a major fashion exhibit, Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945, in February of 2015. Which is so. frickin’. far. away. In the meantime, Reed College’s Reed Magazine has published an article outlining the biography of one of the exhibits’ featured designers, […]
Posted inPortland
Watch Hometown Hero Ian Karmel on Conan
For a guy who admitted he had butterflies before going on—read more of his pre-show confessions (and see his Mercury T-shirt) here—hometown hero/comedian Ian Karmel made Portland proud on his first national standup appearance on Conan last night. YAYYYYY, IAN! Here’s his set:
Posted inMedia
Can You Hear the XRAY.FM Test Signal?
New radio station XRAY.FM is officially debuting on Saturday with a launch party at Mississippi Studios featuring Ural Thomas and the Pain and Old Light, and if you’ve been paying attention to the gradual roll-out (like listening online to the test stream) you probably know that the terrestrial broadcast isn’t going to be able to […]
Posted inArtsy
The Black Portlanders—and Its Promise of a “New Tale of Portland”—Hits Fundraising Goal!
Kalimah Abioto It’s been a great long while since Alison first published an interview with photographer Intisar Abioto and got her to explain the power behind her groundbreaking storytelling project, The Black Portlanders—May of 2013, in fact. There’s this culture in Portland that’s being branded now, and spread around the world, whether it’s through Portlandia […]
Posted inPortland
Everything You Need to Know About Google Fiber
GOOGLE FIBER Pictured above: You! Using Google Fiber! Or maybe it’s Johnny Mnemonic. Your call. Portland might get Google Fiber, which would be a pretty big deal—but amidst all the talk of blisteringly fast internet speeds, there are a lot of questions. How much would it cost? What would Google get out of it? Why […]
Posted inArtsy
Kickstarter, Games, and Portland
Monday morning, Kickstarter announced that the crowdfunding platform has received over $1 billion in pledges for projects around the world. $215 million of that has gone into games projects. That’s so much money, you guys. Kickstarter loves sharing its data, especially this data—but we went ahead and broke down some Portland-specific stats for you. First […]
Posted inPortland
The Perfect Name: A Blog Post Years in the Making
I fact check a lot of names in a given week at the Mercury. And well, sometimes there’s a name… well, it’s a name for a time ‘n’ place, it fits right in for a given person’s occupation. Over the years, I’ve collected these names of real-life people and the perfect jobs they hold, and […]
Posted inPortland
“Division Street”: A Theme Song for People Who Can’t Afford to Live Here Anymore
I spend probably too much time complaining about how I’m not sure I like Portland any more now that the city is becoming, in the immortal words of Mercury News Editor Denis Theriault, a “playground for finnicky rich people.” And hey look, these guys wrote a song about it! I know it’s dangerous to romanticize […]
Posted inSports
Be Part of a Historic Moment in Running Shoes with Carson Footwear
I’ve been waiting ever so patiently since I caught wind this past summer of Carson Footwear, a start-up based in Milwaukie (our Milwaukie) that’s in the development phase of producing running shoes right here. The company’s Everett Carson just wrote to let me know that they are about five weeks from launching their first shoe, […]
Posted inArtsy
Inside the Old Post Office/Soon-to-Be PNCA Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design
You might already be aware that the Pacific Northwest College of Art is in the midst of an impressive expansion (here’s my post on the new dorms from back in August), or that part of it includes Portland’s original US Post Office, the grand old lady at 511 NW Broadway that I, at least, had […]