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Posted inSecond Run Portland

Second Run Portland: Iranian Docufiction, Soviet Sci-Fi, and Catherine O’Hara’s Impact

This month’s rep screening schedule is stacked.
Avatar photo by Lindsay Costello

Hello, reader. I am once again requesting you go to the movies, and here’s why: This month, we’ve got Soviet sci-fi, eerie animation, and some of the 20th century’s directorial greats represented (Robert Altman, Akira Kurosawa, Abbas Kiarostami, and the list goes onnnn). Also, have you read Suzette Smith’s picks for the upcoming Portland Panorama […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Hardcore Shortiez Destroy HLR, Larry Brings His Flask to Showdown, and It’s Spring Break in Kenton

Plus, Portland Music News and New Music Portland!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Okay, so who saw Sessa last night at Showdown? Was Sessa’s charming stage presence, irresistible Portuguese vocals, and the whole band’s groovy sunshine energy to blame for the entire room falling in love with the musicians from São Paulo? Yes. The originals Gal Costa and Marcos Valle would be proud knowing of the work Sessa […]

Posted inSports

Anatomy of a March Madness Upset

Two days of Moda Center Madness inside the student section of High Point University, the school no one in Portland knew about.
Avatar photo Cameron Crowell

High Point University (12-seed) is down one with under a minute to go playing the heavily favored University of Wisconsin (5-seed). The High Point Panthers have yet to win a single game in the March Madness NCAA men’s basketball tournament since the tournament’s 1939 conception.  Star guard Nick Boyd dribbles the ball up the court […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for March 23-29

Thrifting, zines, and comedy geniuses abound this week.
Avatar photoAvatar photo Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

You’ve heard of comedians, but did you know there are, like, comedy geniuses? A whole roster of ’em will post up at Revolution Hall to prove it this week at the Mercury’s Undisputable Geniuses of Comedy 2026. Plus, zinesters will show off their DIY wares at Reed College, Parker Posey defines chic in Party Girl, and […]

Posted inMusic

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for Portland’s Music Venues

Independent music venues look for an upturn and answers after a recent spate of closures.
Avatar photo Ryan J. Prado

Whether you’re an avid reader of these pages, or just a Portlander with a discerning live music landscape radar, it’s been hard to avoid story after story of independent live music venue closures and fundamental business model changes to some of the city’s most esteemed entertainment sites.  Over the past 18 months, venerable establishments like […]

Posted inMusic

The Sun Ra Arkestra Descends Upon Hollywood Theatre

The nearly yearly occurance has become a pilgrimage for both the Arkestra and Portland. 
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

He is a miracle of the highest order, a grand eccentric, and true genius of the cosmos. A peerless 20th century composer, a poet, a brilliant pianist, a live performance visionary, one of the greatest to ever have lived. A man who may or may not have tripped to Saturn, where the doomed pettiness of […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Bijoux Cone’s Homecoming, and Canadian Piss and Brazil’s Sessa Are in Town

Plus Portland Music News and New Music Portland! 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Wow y’all, who was at Mavis Staples over the weekend? The diva—at 86 years young—is still a firecracker on stage, doing little dances and hitting her notes better than any imitators could ever dream. A heartfelt congratulations to the Portland Jazz Festival for holding it all the way down again in 2026. Looking forward to […]

Posted inQueer

Blow Pony Rides Into the Sunset

The long-running LGBTQ+ dance party ends March 28.
Avatar photo Andrew Jankowski

The long-running LGBTQ+ electronic dance party Blow Pony will saddle up for the last time on Saturday, March 28. Airick X—Blow Pony’s co-founder, who was known for several years as Airick Redwolf and Airick Heater—is retiring the party after uniting the queer community on the dance floor for 19 years, per a statement shared on […]

Posted inVisual Art

Your New Favorite Cat Painting Is Joseph Jones’ “Pink T-shirt”

On view at Adams and Ollman, Jones’ paintings and Carolee Schneeman’s video channel interspecies love.
Avatar photo Lindsay Costello

Images of cats tend to serve as landing pads for emotional projection. How you interpret them says something interesting about your inner landscape. In a new exhibition at Adams and Ollman, London-born artist Joseph Jones studies the curious humanity embedded in the feline image. Building composites from his extensive archive of cat photos—the artist estimates […]

Posted inSports

True Basketball Sickos Descend on Portland

NCAA March Madness kicks off this week with games at Moda Center 
Avatar photo Cameron Crowell

March Madness is here. If you are a true basketball sicko you’ve probably already called out of work to watch the first two rounds of National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) tournament play, starting Thursday, March 19. If you’re not a basketball sicko and just looking for some high octane fun, play hooky and watch along. […]

Posted inDo This, Do That

The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for March 16-22

Espresso martinis, experimental ceramics, and Elliott Smith’s impact.
Avatar photoAvatar photo Lindsay Costello and Mercury Staff

The spring equinox falls on March 20! Let’s lean into the new light, shall we? This week, rock mother Toody Cole scorches Star Theater, Jacqueline Novak turns comedy a little more esoteric, and, in the words of Mercury writer Melissa Locker, Jessie Rose Vala’s ceramics show is “really fucking cool.” March is also Espresso Martini […]

Posted inSpin Cycle

Introducing Spin Cycle, the Mercury’s New Album Review Column

Three albums to lock in with every two weeks: local, international, whatever we want! 
Avatar photo Ryan J. Prado

Welcome to Spin Cycle! It’s the biweekly aural hygiene you deserve in a handy-dandy cheat sheet format for albums of particular note from Portland and beyond! The Rose City is not unlike a homing beacon for discerning audiophiles, semi-professional appreciators of physical media, and folks who spend three-quarters of their waking lives with headphones fastened […]

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