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c3Category — Arts & Culture
Posted inMovies & TV

A Complete Unknown Satisfies Only Your Lowest Expectations for a Bob Dylan Biopic

Director James Mangold’s latest bit of Oscar bait has the vibrancy and depth of a Wikipedia article.
Avatar photo Dom Sinacola

Director James Mangold has made a Bob Dylan biopic that unfolds like an Oscar-bait bingo card, with Timothée Chalamet performing a functionally-solid impression of the icon as a rising teen star. Ultimately, “A Complete Unknown” provides no more thought on Dylan than a Wikipedia article.

Posted inBooks

The Mercury’s Favorite Books of 2024

On this list, revolutionary writings share space with Portland zombies and memories of the Barefoot Contessa
Avatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photo Andrea Damewood, Cameron Crowell, Melissa Locker, Suzette Smith, Blair Stenvick, and Joe Streckert

Portland as ground zero for a zombie plague. Bisexual exes on a romcom food and wine tour. And how pointless it is to try to guess what happens next in a MIranda July novel. It’s the Mercury’s favorite books of 2024!

Posted inNewsblast!

YOUR SUNDAY READING LIST: Professors on Strike, Holiday Gift Ideas, and the Best Cantonese Rice Rolls In Town

Avatar photo Wm. Steven Humphrey

GOOD MORNING, SUNDAY! It’s the perfect time to catch up on some of the great reporting and stories the Mercury churned out this week! (PRO TIP: If you despise being “the last to know,” then be one of the first to know by signing up for Mercury newsletters! All the latest stories shipped directly to […]

Posted inMusic

Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records Is Retiring From Booking Shows

He wants you to take up the mantle.
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

“To make good art or to do good community work, often a gauntlet is thrown down: You either don’t concern yourself with money and do good work, or you do shitty work and you’re interested in money. I just felt like I had to stop in order to avoid burnout and to maintain the quality of other things going down.”

Posted inThe Trash Report

THE TRASH REPORT: In Honor of Short Kings. Plus: Ingenius Legal Defense Strategies, Bears in Portland, and Portland in Song

Enjoy this classic edition of The Trash Report from our garbage can archives!
Avatar photo Elinor Jones

[Our Elinor Jones is taking a well-deserved trash-free vacation this week, so please enjoy this CLASSIC edition of The Trash Report from May 22, 2023!—eds.] Hello, my sweet baby Trash Pandas! If nobody has told you yet today, you are a darling goblin whose mere existence dramatically increases global average human sexiness by several points, and […]

Posted inNewsblast!

YOUR SUNDAY READING LIST: A New Type of Protest, the Drag Queen of Your Nightmares, and Take the Mercury Sex Survey!

Avatar photo Wm. Steven Humphrey

GOOD MORNING, SUNDAY! It’s the perfect time to catch up on some of the great reporting and stories the Mercury churned out this week! (PRO TIP: If you despise being “the last to know,” then be one of the first to know by signing up for Mercury newsletters! All the latest stories shipped directly to […]

Posted inHear In Portland

Hear in Portland: PDX Jazz’s Once-In-A-Lifetime Erykah Badu Concert

Plus, Cool Nutz planned a Christmas-themed hip-hop “Festivale,” and Ural Thomas plays his own 85th birthday party.
Avatar photo Jenni Moore

This week’s Hear in Portland touts two local music events to check out this month—in between all of December’s holiday revelry and frantic shopping. We’ve got a birthday show for an 85-year-old local music treasure and a two-day Christmas-themed hip-hop “festivale.” Also, ICYMI, neo soul icon Erykah Badu’s special Portland concert—as part of the 2025 […]

Posted inTheater & Performance

Portland Drag Queen, Sue from Corporate, Bids the Scene “Sue Long” For Now

Sue delivers talking points on how many wigs it takes to move cross-country, and why nothing is scarier than corporate culture.
Avatar photo HR Smith

Lovers of local drag have likely heard that our city’s bedazzled micromanager Sue from Corporate will soon leave Portland for the cobblestoned streets of Savannah, Georgia.  The lifelong Oregonian and regular visage at horror-themed drag shows and her now-defunct Corporate Takeover showcase at Local Lounge, Sue from Corporate’s devotion to the bit—that she’s a high-powered […]

Posted inThe Trash Report

THE TRASH REPORT: On Casseroles and Capitalism

Eat up, trash pandas! It’s a buffet of the week’s trashiest gossip.
Avatar photo Elinor Jones

Hello my sweet angel baby Trash Pandas! Welcome back to the Trash Report. I’m Elinor Jones, currently recovering from the annual macaroni and cheese cookout I host with my friends. Ever eaten six kinds of macaroni and cheese in one sitting? There are worse things than a cheap rum hangover, and it’s being 40 and […]

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