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! Good morning, Portland! Summer is goin’ out with a bang! Today we’re in […]
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Posted inNews
Sen. Merkley: US Aid Fuels Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Following a recent trip to Israel and the West Bank, Oregon senator says US and its allies have a moral obligation to stop providing military support for the war in Gaza
Sen. Jeff Merkley isn’t mincing words on the complicity of the United States in the ongoing decimation of Gaza. “This is horrific, and we are complicit in it,” Merkley said in an interview last week with the Mercury. “We are complicit because we provide the bombs, we provide the rifles, we provide the shells, we provide […]
Posted inAlbum Review
Album Review: Portland Band Obedient Refuses Complicity on Rastafarsi
No edits, no clicktracks, just 22 minutes of raw feminist punk.
As punk rock emerged in the 1970s, it was an act of defiance, rebellion, and disobedience. A middle finger to the status quo, scaring the normies. Eventually, like everything else, it got co-opted by capitalism—becoming a lifestyle brand, packaged, and sold to the masses for safe consumption. But every now and then, a band comes […]
Posted inDo This, Do That
The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for September 15-21
Your end-of-summer plans include healing jazz, slime sculptures, and a trippy Hungarian film.
I don’t want to alarm you, but autumn is almost here, people. September 15-21 is the last week before the equinox, and fortunately for us, Portland has plenty of creative and apparently candlelit events planned. On the docket are astral jazz, Sasha Fishman’s slime sculptures, and vampire baseball set to a live orchestra. Plus, you’ll […]
Posted inBooks
Book Review: Shared Homes Bring Hope and Chaos in Wolf Bells
Leni Zumas’ new novel is a nice (and quietly subversive) story about
a multigenerational, intentional community.
Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! When Leni Zumas’ Red Clocks came out in 2018, the speculative novel was widely lauded, not just for Zumas’ quicksilver prose, but for the story’s dystopic setting: a United States of America where the practice of abortion has been criminalized. Now, in the […]
Posted inThe Trash Report
THE TRASH REPORT: Twilight, Bald Guys, and Gossip are Definitely Art
A particularly artsy roundup of the week’s hottest (and trashiest) gossip!
Hello, Trash Pandas! I’m Elinor Jones. Welcome to this very special Trash Report for our extremely special Fall Arts Guide. Did you know that gossipping about celebrities and current events counts as “art?” It’s true! As such, this is basically art school. Congratulations on following your dreams. I’m your professor, Bob Ross, and we’re about […]
Posted inTBA
In Horizon, Nothing Stays Still For Long
Tahni Holt and Emma Lutz-Higgins delivered a relational dance of boulders, breath, and light.
Toward the end of Tahni Holt and Emma Lutz-Higgins’ Time-Based Art Festival performance Horizon, something clicked. Eurythmics’ “Love is a Stranger” swelled from the warehouse speakers at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art as Holt scooted across the stage, hidden beneath a hollow sculpture of a boulder. (Imagine a rock crawling across the ground in slow-motion.) […]
Posted inGood Morning, News!
Good Morning, News: Expand Sunday Parkways, Oregon Honors (Ugh!) Charlie Kirk, and Blazers Stay Alive Thanks to… Panda Express?
If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and […]
Posted inNewsblast!
YOUR SUNDAY READING LIST: Transportation Woes, Your House Is Full of Spiders, and Our New Fall Arts Guide Has Arrived! 🎉
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 inStreet View
Street View: Sundays Are For Open Streets
Inspired by similar events in Latin America, Portland hosted its first Sunday Parkways event in 2008. Nearly 20 years later, the city has yet to fully commit to the open streets concept.
In the early 1970s, bike activists in Bogotá, Colombia convinced their city leaders to close two major thoroughfares to car traffic, giving the space to people riding bikes and walking for one day. Thus began the tradition of Bogotá’s world-renowned Ciclovía (cycleway) events, which now occur every Sunday and on most holidays, transforming more than […]
Posted inEverOut
The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Portland This Weekend: Sept 12–14, 2025
Belmont Street Fair, Downtown Sunday Parkways, and More Cheap & Easy Events Under $15
It’s been A Week to say the least, so we’re more than ready to take a load off and then some. After you’ve decompressed, join us at cheap and cheerful events from the Belmont Street Fair to Downtown Portland Sunday Parkways and from El Grito to The Immigrant Story Live. For more ideas, check out […]
Posted inPhoto Essay
Photo Essay: Imagination and Craft Combine at Rose City Comic Con
How comic conventions have moved from the basement into prime time.
This past weekend, the Rose City Comic Con—Portland’s biggest annual comics and pop culture show—brought an estimated 65,000 attendees to the Oregon Convention Center for a weekend of “stuff.” What is “stuff?” It’s everything. It’s comic books—like the name of the event suggests—but it’s also anime, collectables, some Pokemon cards, a room full of old-ass […]