The Creative Music Guild’s Improvisation Summit Celebrates This Year’s Strangest, Most Inspired Sounds
The Creative Music Guild Improvisation Summit has returned for its fourteenth trip around the sun, and it’s off to a rip-roaring start. The festivities kicked off last Tuesday at Half Court Studio with a stacked lineup of Brooklyn-based saxophonist Caroline Davis and local experimental music staples YAWA and Mike Gamble, who plunged listeners headfirst into uncharted sonic territory. From avant-garde alto sax explorations to textured soundscapes and adventurous compositions, the sonic blueprint has officially been laid for the weeks ahead. And if you’re not convinced yet, let me assure you: It’s one for the books. The Summit gathers some of…
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The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for Oct 19-25
Although it’s suspiciously sunny outside, the goths are still out in full force, channeling the season with darkwave roller skating at Oaks Park and creepy, crow-centric theater staged in a 120-year old home. Izaak Opatz shows up this week to rail against tech overlords through his signature dirtwave, and immune system-nourishing opportunities are also on the schedule with a radicchio-themed event and the Portland Fermentation Festival. Plus, if this time of year pumps up your nostalgia, a Lost Boys parody and a Twin Peaks reunion have your emotional bases covered. MONDAY, OCTOBER 19 Izaak Opatz Izaak Opatz spent years bullseyeing…
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THE TRASH REPORT: Male Homophobes Love Men, Trump’s Girlies Go Bye-Bye, and I’m Like a Bird: Controversial, but Ultimately NOT For Sale
Hi, and happy mid-October, Trash Pandas! It’s me, Elinor Jones, here again to talk about the latest news and gossip with all of you, because you deserve it (in a nice way.) I went to a pumpkin patch over the weekend, because when you’re a parent sometimes you have to spend a perfect fall afternoon waiting in line for apple cider, despite having some at home and dodging clueless adults in ugly clothes staging full-on photo shoots on the hay bales that children are trying to play on. When I say I’m a fall girlie, I mean it’s the color…
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Good Morning, News: Local Candidates Funded by GOP Donors, Big Turnout for No Kings, and Ukraine Bombs Russian Data Centers
If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution to the Mercury, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support! GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Expect a cool day with the high popping up to a crisp 60 degrees under cloudy-to-eventually sunny skies. It’s turning into prime Halloween weather—which means it’s the perfect time to check out the Mercury’s Halloweeeeen print issue (on the streets now in more than 500 locations citywide), and to get your tickets now for the Mercury’s super fun “Scream Queen” Halloween dance and costume…
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Update: Police ID Man Shot By Officer Downtown as Eric Hurtado
Updated: 6:05 pm October 19 The family of a man shot and killed by police downtown Thursday, October 15 is grieving and seeking more answers after the death of a loved one they say needed mental health treatment. Family members of Eric Hurtado, 36, gathered downtown on Sunday to grieve and remember him. Hurtado was killed on October 15 after police say he used a box cutter to assault and injure two people. According to Portland Police Bureau reports, Central Precinct officers were dispatched to the 700 Block of Southwest Alder Street shortly after 4:30 pm on reports of a…
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Laika’s Wildwood Sessions Showcases Local Music Magic
There is magic echoing in the Portland wilderness. Through the city’s leaf-laden and lending-library-laced streets, over the bridge, and through the woods, lies the glow of Colin Meloy’s fantastical nature-filled fantasy novel-turned-Laika-animated-masterpiece: Wildwood. On the precipice of the film’s October 23 launch comes its musical accompaniment, the Wildwood Sessions. Out Friday, October 16, Wildwood Sessions is not a soundtrack, but more of a world-extender and 13-track album that heavily features Portland-based musicians including Aminé, Portugal. The Man, New Constellations, Meloy’s own musical project the Decemberists, and many more. Acting as an emotional conduit, the sessions allowed artists to traverse the…
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Don’t Miss the Mercury’s Scream Queen Halloween Dance Party & Costume Contest!
GET READY FOR A NIGHT OF THRILLS AND CHILLS with the Mercury’s Scream Queen Halloween dance party and costume contest at the horrifically fun Alberta Abbey on October 31! When the trick or treating ends, stay up late with the Mercury and friends, and dance ‘til you drop with DJ Residual Sugar spinning tunes guaranteed to raise (and shake) the dead! 💀 Who knows when Halloween will fall on a Saturday again (in seven years, but 🤷♂️), so DO NOT MISS your chance to reign supreme as the Mercury’s Scream Queen costume contest winner. The most creative, spine-tingling costume will…
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Portland Book Festival Is Now a Major Food Event, Too
Portland’s biggest literary festival is, like previous years, not to be missed. Some of the most famous names on this year’s lineup include actor Ke Huy Quan of The Goonies and Everything Everywhere All at Once, who will be presenting his new memoir, and lead singer Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, who will talk about his book Wildwood in anticipation of its upcoming film adaptation by Laika Studios. This year, Portland Book Festival (PBF) also expands its lineup of culinary events, making it a must-attend for food lovers. From November 6-8, book-authoring chefs and food people from across the country…
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The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Portland This Weekend: Oct 16–18, 2026
We’re here to help you make the most of your weekend by suggesting low-fuss events from the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta to a Vote Early – No Kings Rally and from Holman’s Dolly Day to Bread Fest. For more ideas, check out our top picks of the week. FRIDAY READINGS & TALKS Joey Clift with Gabe ColhoffJoey Clift, a Cowlitz comedian and writer, brings Native history to life in his new book, We’ve Been Here the Whole Time!: A Not So Sacred Guide to All Things Native America. Tackling everything from persistent misconceptions and stereotypes to sports mascots, ancestry…
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The Mercury’s 2026 Portland Haunted House Reviews
October is a time for costumes, pumpkin spice, and recreational anxiety and terror. Haunted houses are a major place to find two—if not all three—of such seasonal mainstays. And this year Portland has three big attractions: One transforms a local landmark into a haunted fairground, another offers slick, high-end screams, and a third is a family-friendly haunt for small children and scaredy cats. Which will spark panic for you? Oaks Park Scaregrounds Vibe: What if Oaks Park was haunted? Carnivals, circuses, and theme parks all make terrific scenes for terror. This is long established; think Carnival of Souls (1962), Terrifier…
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Good Morning, News: Children Killed in Bend Mass Shooting, Police Shoot Assault Suspect in Portland, US DOJ Sues City Over Mask Ban For Cops
If you appreciate the Mercury‘s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good morning, Portland! It may be officially fall, as the leaves have started to drop from the trees and temperatures are again reaching the high 70s. Not your typical fall weather, but by all means you can sense a change in the air. It’s back in the 60s starting Saturday. Let’s get to the news today, most of which is devastating, infuriating, and may…
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Ticket Alert: Leon Bridges, Giggly Squad, and More Portland Events Going On Sale This Week
Ready for a fresh batch of tickets? Smooth soul singer Leon Bridges takes his vibrant record Happiness Anytime on the road next summer. Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo keep it real with the Giggly Squad podcast live tour, covering pop culture and sharing personal anecdotes. Plus, country rock legend Emmylou Harris has been tapped to headline the 2027 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events. ON SALE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 MUSIC 2027 Biamp Portland Jazz FestivalVarious locations (Mar 4–13, 2027) CleopatrickAladdin Theater (May 13, 2027) Dogs In A PileRevolution Hall (Jan 9,…
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POP QUIZ PDX: The Week in BLUNDERS
CALLING ALL SMARTY-TROUSERS! It’s time to put that brainy-brain to the test with this edition of POP QUIZ PDX—our local, sassy-ass trivia quiz. And this week we’ll see how much YOU know about the BIGGEST BLUNDERS (political or otherwise) of the past week or so! (Don’t worry, I didn’t include your personal fuck-ups… because I am an angel. 😇) But first, let’s check in on the most surprising answer from last week’s special Pop Quiz PDX about ranked choice voting! When asked to rank which fast food mascots you’d most like to have sex with, most of you ranked… Little Caesar…
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You Can See Everything Gets Too Close
You Can See Everything is a reflection of its own making. Co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, it’s a nearly three-hour documentary about Elizabeth Holmes that struggles under the moral weight of being a three-hour documentary about Elizabeth Holmes. You Can See Everything is basically a chamber drama chronicling the making of You Can See Everything. Documentary is a genre typically rife with self-reference. Take recently released The History of Concrete, wherein writer-director John Wilson assembles the film as it plays out on screen, telling the titular history of concrete by figuring out how one even does that. Fielder actually appears…
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FREE TICKETS THURSDAY: Win Tix to Michael Lewis, Jake Xerxes Fussell, the Aces, and MORE!
Who’s ready to have some fun? Well, the Mercury is here to help with FREE TICKETS to see some of Portland’s best concerts and events; our way of saying thanks to our great readers and spread the word about some fantastic upcoming performances! (Psst… if you want to say thanks to the Mercury, please consider making a small monthly contribution to keep us alive and kickin’!) And oh boy, do we have some fun events coming at ya this week! CHECK IT OUT! (Note: This contest is active from October 15 through October 19). You can find our contest rules here. Join Fresh Cut Flowers at the Whitsell…
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