It seems like matcha is in everything these days, from tiramisu to soft serve to overnight oats (looking at you, NYT Cooking). But what about straight-up matcha for matcha’s sake? Enter Mako Matcha Mill, where matcha itself is the focus—not the cloud foams, fruit flavors, or swirls of soft serve that often accompany it.

Mako Matcha Mill opened in mid-February at 414 SW 13th Avenue in the former Cacao space. Owners Edison Zeng and Emily Dewey source their tea directly from farmers, and because they're not relying on middlemen, they can offer most drinks for around $4, a much lower price point than other cafes. They’re also involved in the tea process at multiple stages, from visiting farms in Japan to milling to brewing—and they want to let the product shine.

‘We want to represent their tea in a good light, in the way it’s supposed to be consumed,” says Zeng. “If we’re mixing it with too many things like strawberry syrup, then that becomes the star of the show, and that’s not what we’re about.”

These are deeply worrisome times. Stability, democracy, countries, our neighbors—all seem less permanent than they once were. Sam Holcroft’s complex and frightening 2023 play A Mirror reflects this uncertainty. The play isn’t timely, nor is it meant to be. It’s more like a kaleidoscope—as is our current, fractured reality. We can look at this play and ask ourselves: Where do we stand? As artists, allies, soldiers, or simply as moral agents.

That’s a big lift, but this is a big play.

On March 5, the Portland Design Commission unanimously accepted the Revised Primary Master Plan for the Lloyd Center Mall, pushing the massive project one small step forward.

The commission's approval is defined by the city’s zoning code and limited to matters like infrastructure capacity for future development and transportation. They weren't deciding building demolition, or approving what buildings will be developed.

The report from Portland Permitting and Development (PPD) focused on issues like whether certain thoroughfares within the development area would have fire access and ADA requirements for frontages and crossings. Another major issue was how to maintain sewer connections while demolishing the mall.

Ready for the time jump that is spring forward this Sunday? Before Monday's rough wake up call, spend time at weekend events from the Portland Small Press & Art Book Fair to Cargo's Global Day of Unplugging Portland Style and from the 10th Annual Lunar New Year Dragon Dance and Celebration to the Portland Mercury's Sandwich Week. For more ideas, check out our top picks of the week.

FRIDAY

COMEDY

Dead Comics Society
After the closure of Rogue’s Eastside Pub last fall (the entire brewery abruptly and permanently ceased operations in December), the monthly Dead Comics Society stand-up showcase, which has been a Portland mainstay since 2017, has been left without a home. Luckily for the local comedy scene and hungry audiences, Framework Studio has stepped in to accommodate as hosts Chase Brockett and Gina Marie Christopher bring in some of Portland’s top talent for a night of drinks and laughs. The March edition features Shain Brenden, Andy Iwancio, Dan Weber, Ameerah Sanders, and Undisputable Genius of Comedy Nariko Ott, who will lend his hosting skills to the Mercury’s annual comedy show at Revolution Hall later this month. Long live Dead Comics Society! BRI BREY
(Framework Studio, Hosford-Abernethy, $15 in advance/$20 at the door)

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! It's going to be chilly (high 40s) and rainy today. At least, that's what the forecast says. It's what it said yesterday, too, but it wasn't actually that rainy yesterday, and I rode my bike without wearing gloves. Sometimes the weather people don't know everything, and you have to figure stuff out on your own. Bring a raincoat just in case, always. 

Actress-director Maggie Gyllenhaal may be the first person to go from playing a woman blown up in an IMAX movie (The Dark Knight, 2008) to being the woman actually directing an IMAX movie (The Bride!, 2026). Watching the result on the big screen feels like riding shotgun in a stolen car—like someone cramming a lifetime of big-movie big-Hollywood big-monster big-gore fandom into 126 minutes. 

The plot goes something like this: Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) pays a visit to Dr. Corneilus Euphronia (Annette Bening) in 1930s Chicago. He’s heard she’s been doing a lot of experiments with dead animals, and so he’s fairly sure that she could revive a dead lady for him to hang out with. He is, he explains, very, very lonely. Specifically, he says: “There is a whole garden of pleasure to which I have not had access.” 

Euphronia laughs in his face. “Give me a break, Frank,” she says. “Everyone’s lonely.”

Film adaptations of novels tend to get a bad rap, and with Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights landing last month, suddenly everyone holds a strong stance for or against them. Take a breath, dear reader. Perhaps within the tranquil confines of your local cinema…? Because this month, indie screens zero in on film-literature crossovers that hit, actually. On the docket are Karel Zeman’s inventive Jules Verne-inspired animation, La Llorona’s folkloric roots, and Agnès Varda’s approach to cinécriture. (More on that below.) 

“If you live in LA, you get attacked by the spores 
And the spores come in through your ears, and they lay eggs in your brain, and they make you start thinking that movies with guys with spandex are the only movies that you can make,” Bruce Campbell tells the Mercury. 

After years on the inside of Hollywood—first in the Evil Dead franchise and then on many, many seasons of the USA Network spy drama, Burn Notice—Campbell felt ready for something different. He wanted to make a movie, but was tired of all the red tape, budgets, and notes that come with working within the traditional studio system.

“Who needs all those notes?” Campbell asked. “I got tired of that. Really, really tired of that. And I'm like, man, if you're in the arts, you should do everything you can to protect your art.”

So Campbell knew he wanted to make a movie, and he knew he didn’t want to go through the big Hollywood machine.“There was a question that my wife and I would always pose,” he says. “Could you do something where you make it off the grid, and then you distribute it off the grid?”

He’s hoping the answer is yes, because he just wrote, directed, and starred in Ernie & Emma, which was self-financed and so far self-distributed. It was produced with his wife, Ida Gearon, and features Cerina Vincent, Robin McAlpine, Emma Raimi, and Campbell’s longtime colleague Ted Raimi, playing a persnickety dance instructor.

We’re serving up another fresh batch of tickets. Lo-fi R&B singer Joji will support his recently released album, Piss in the Wind, on tour. English virtual band Gorillaz winds down the North American leg of their Mountain Tour in Portland. Plus, modern-day cowboy Charley Crockett plays a show on the Edgefield lawn this summer.

ON SALE FRIDAY, MARCH 6

MUSIC

Brent Gunter: Trade Winds Premiere Concert
Newmark Theatre (Fri May 15)

Charley Crockett – Age of the Ram Tour
Edgefield (Tues July 14)

Haute & Freddy’s Big Disgrace Tour
Wonder Ballroom (Sat Sept 12)

In the years since 2021, when Multnomah County began collecting its Preschool for All tax,  much has been made about the effect the program may be having on county income demographics. County data from 2022 and 2023 showed a decrease in the number of high-income earners paying the tax, prompting some to fear the universal preschool initiative was driving wealthy Portlanders out of town. 

Recently-released statistics, however, show the number of high-income households paying the tax increased by roughly 14 percent in 2024 compared to the year prior. While there’s still not enough data available to support sweeping conclusions about Preschool for All (PFA), the 2024 data suggests the number of high-income earners in Multnomah County bounced back after a dip in 2022 and 2023. That dip may have been caused in part by people filing their taxes late, or experiencing fluctuations in income. 

The Preschool for All program was adopted by county voters in 2020 and went into effect in 2021. It’s funded with a marginal income tax on Multnomah County’s highest earners, starting with a 1.5 percent tax on earnings above $125,000 (single filers) or $200,000 (joint filers). The tax rate increases to 3 percent for earnings above $250,000 for single filers, and $400,000 for those filing jointly. 

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!

• Enter to WIN TWO FREE TICKETS to Lala Lala on March 17 at Polaris Hall!

Lala Lala plays Polaris Hall on March 17th, with @lotsofhands! LA-via-Chicago indie rock artist Lala Lala returns to Portland with catchy guitar-pop songs from her brand-new album, Heaven 2! Get your tickets now or enter to win a free pair!

Polaris Hall, 635 N Killingsworth Ct, Tues March 17, 8 pm, $28.10, All Ages

• Enter to WIN TWO FREE TICKETS to Umphrey's McGee on March 17 at Revolution Hall!

Upmhrey’s McGee plays Revolution Hall on March 17th & 19th! Indiana-based veteran jam band Umphrey’s McGee shares cohesive riffs and catchy melodies when they return to Portland for two nights on the ‘Sky’s The Limit’ Tour! Get your tickets now or enter to win a free pair!

Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, Tues March 17 and Thurs March 19, 8 pm, $46.32, 21+

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!

[In an extremely Charge Nurse Dana Evans voice] Good Morning, Portland! We're looking at rain. A little less today and on Saturday, but rain for the foreseeable future... in a general sense. Y'know, this is what we buy the good coats for. [chomps nicotine gum] Let's sink into some news!

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• This might be the last year for Lloyd Center Mall. There’s a plan for what’s next, but a community that’s grown in the mall in recent years isn’t happy with it or the process of deciding Lloyd Center’s future. As the city’s Design Commission is expected to deliver a decision today, March 5, on elements within the plan that it has authority over, the board doesn’t decide demolitions or whether features like the skating rink will persist into the future. For the Mercury Joe Streckert catches us up on the story.

• You may vaguely recall that last year Multnomah Co. DA Nathan Vasquez slammed County Circuit Judge Adrian Brown with a judicial ban that effectively barred any of his office's serious felony trials from her courtroom—the only felony trials that would enter her courtroom. The dubious directive arrived with vacuous reasoning—the sort of no-nothing explanation we receive far too complacently from elected officials. But now, ten months along, the DA finally offered the Oregonian more forthright reasons: he claims Brown bungled half-dozen cases ranging from misdemeanors to murders, and in doing so developed an eyebrow-raising reputation. And he didn't even know about the Teams messages.

This might be the last year for Lloyd Center. There’s a plan for what’s next, but a community that’s grown in the mall in recent years isn’t happy with it or the process of deciding Lloyd Center’s future.

Urban Renaissance, the real estate development group that partly owns the mall, has a vision for what comes after demolition. The group’s Lloyd Center Central City Master Plan wipes the venerable mall from the map in favor of development that will be familiar to most Portlanders: an intersecting street grid with green space and mixed-used architecture.

One of the plan’s central points is that Lloyd Center is “inward facing” and “auto-oriented.” The current structure interrupts the street grid and continuity of the neighborhood, and shows the outside world massive concrete walls instead of human-scaled shops and apartments. Future development would potentially change that, replacing the Lloyd Center “superblock” with a more conventional grid.

However, many of the people and businesses who have made Lloyd Center their workplace and/or third place are not happy with the plan.

Happy birthday to Taylor Griggs, one of the extremely hardworking newsies on the Mercury payroll.

Wednesday, March 4

Bloodshot Bill / Tomorrow’s Goners / Amy Beth and Thee Creeps

For fans of the Tandoori Knights, King Lollipop, Kid Congo

If you’re missing the days of wringing out your t-shirt on SE Grand after seeing Ty Segall almost drown in other people’s sweat at East End, 1) you’re in good company, and 2) this is the show for you. Montreal Madman Bloodshot Bill continues holding it down in the style of Y2K rockabilly punk, running around with the likes of King Khan and local heroes Guantanamo Baywatch. And though East End is no more, that energy is still harnessable at North Portland darling Turn! Turn! Turn! Get loose or get lost! (Turn Turn Turn, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)

Tortoise / Spacemoth

For fans of Ui, Jeff Parker, the Durutti Column

Playing two nights at Aladdin supporting the late-2025 release of their Touch album are Chicago’s Tortoise. Not not jazz, and not not krautrock, Tortoise have been delivering and defining cool since the early-’90s. Is this what the Grateful Dead would sound like if they were good? Hard to say, but Tortoise are real good and real hard to define with any certainty. Replacing SML as the opener, Spacemoth pulls up sounding like she sat between Broadcast and The Fiery Furnaces in Stereolab’s class. (Aladdin Theater, 8 pm, more info here, all ages)