News Yesterday 3:55 PM

As Oregonians Take to the Streets to Protest Trump Policies, Oregon’s Attorney General is Turning to the Courts

Oregon has signed on to five multi-state lawsuits challenging recent presidential executive orders on birthright citizenship, DOGE, federal funding, and health care. 

As protesters descended on the Oregon State Capitol last week to protest a litany of executive orders from the Trump administration, Oregon’s elected leaders were pushing back on Trump in a different way.

Since Trump’s inauguration, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced the state had joined five multi-state lawsuits seeking to block several of the president’s directives. 

On January 21, Oregon joined three other states in a court filing to halt Trump's plans to end birthright citizenship. A week later, Rayfield’s office joined 22 other states in litigation challenging a freeze on federal funds.

Continue reading »
Hear In Portland Yesterday 10:00 AM

Hear in Portland: Dreckig's EP Release for Eclipse

Plus, a new concert series in a Portland laundry room and Lo Steele spends Valentine's Day at the Fixin’ To!

I’m not sure whether to say Happy Black History Month, Happy Valentine’s Day, or Happy Apocalypse, so I guess I’m saying all of the above. The world is cold, dark, and strange—and yet, we still need to find some joy in the madness. No matter what February 2025 has in store, at least we know we can count on a trio of must-see local shows! We suggest taking a break from making your call-to-action checklist—we’re all doing that, right?—and getting out into that chill.


MUST SEE: 

Upcoming local event(s) featuring local artist(s).    

Lo Steele

Neo soul singer-songwriter Lauren 'Lo' Steele recently chopped off all her hair and moved to Chicago, but she’ll always be a Portland girl at heart. We were so stoked on Steele’s electrifyingly sultry performance at Pickathon 2024, and are still obsessed with her hearty soul vocals, as well as her stunning debut project Happy Girl. Lucky for us, she’s already back in town and will perform a Valentine’s Day set at the Fixin’ To. Also gracing the lineup is vocalist-string queen Alexis Mahler, who dropped a romantic song called "Clementine" last February—which we’re hoping will be on the setlist—and Shelby Natasha, an alt-folk artist out of Seattle. (The Fixin’ To, 8218 N Lombard, Fri Feb 14, 8 pm,  $15, tickets here, 21+)

Continue reading »

Are you in love? In lust? In a complicated situationship that started because of a drunken and convenient New Year's Eve kiss, but now you're ready to take things to the next level by publicly declaring your adoration in the permanency of newsprint?

Good news, the Mercury's reader Valentines are back, and you still have time to submit your valentine online!

That's right, we've been collecting all of your little love notes—150 characters max—and crammed the first wave into our big LOVE & SEX print issue (now available at 500 spots citywide). BUT! Even if you missed the deadline to be in our print issue, don't fret... ALL your valentines—as long as they aren't mean or nonsense—will appear online throughout the Valentine season.

💘 So what are you waiting for? Declare your love in the Mercury now! 💘

(And while you're expressing your love, if you don't mind, can you help support the Mercury by making a $5 contribution so we can keep bringing you lots of news, events, and fun? No pressure, of course. But you DO love us, right?)

*Disclaimer: One per customer, please. Duplicates, mean-spirited valentines, and nonsensical gibberish will be rejected. No last names, please. All acceptable valentines received will appear online. 😃 Emojis will not be printed ☹️.

— Advertisement —

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 gonna be another cold yet suspiciously sunny day today, but we're in for a pattern shift and could see snow tomorrow. Seriously though, it's freaking cold out, and emergency warming shelters will be open in Multnomah County through at least this afternoon (I suspect that will be extended, as it's barely supposed to get above freezing tomorrow). TriMet won't turn away passengers headed to warming shelters for lack of fare during the cold weather emergency. 

Let's get to the news! 

Continue reading »
board games Tue 4:20 PM

Gaming the System

Board game creators from across the Pacific Northwest descend on Portland to test (and hopefully realize) their design dreams.

The board games most of us grew up with aren't very good. Risk is sloppy, minimalistic, chance based, and it takes too long, Monopoly makes you a slave to dice rolls and outsized punitive nonsense. Battleship is an exercise in profound randomness—less a game than a way for time to structurally dribble away. The modern, mass-produced versions of these games are products of a design-by-committee process that emphasizes easy entry over anything else. A minute to learn, a lifetime to be dissatisfied by.

Since the mid-’60s, designers in Europe have been making games that tend to be more intricate, more concerned with resource management than direct conflict, and rooted in gameplay mechanics based on history and economics. For a long time, this ethic was foreign to the American player, stuck rutting in the gutter of Parker Brothers garbage. 

But in mid-’00s the proliferation of German powerhouse Settler of Catan and other big Eurogames such as Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, and Dominion changed the way board games were designed in America. The easy, benign ethic was out on its ass, and the personalized, boutique ethic was in. European games tend to be designed by one or two people working from a personal vision. This makes the experience of playing them more particular: A Eurogame puts you in conversation with your opponents the way Monopoly does, but also with the designer’s idea about how the game is supposed to make you think and feel.

Today, this ethos is alive in the Pacific Northwest, where working designers pursue their own personal visions to design games that transport you and your friends to a different world.

Continue reading »
Music Tue 3:30 PM

PDX Live Concerts Take Over the Square Again This August

Featuring Jamie xx, returning favs the Roots, and beloved Portland band STRFKR!

Welp, the team at True West have done it again, folks! Yesterday they dropped the full line-up of PDX Live shows they’ll be hosting at the the Square, AKA Pioneer Courthouse Square, in August, and it’s a real doozy, per usual. Find the line-up and ticket links below. If you’re even thinking about checking out one of the shows, jump on tickets fast as they never last too long. 

Public on-sale begins this Friday, February 14, at 10 am–Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all 🫀

Continue reading »
— Advertisement —
Savage Love Tue 10:21 AM

SAVAGE LOVE: Low and Slow

"How do I stop pushing Daddies away with my neediness?"

Dear Readers: When I open a column with “Dear Readers,” it’s usually to let you know I’m taking a week off. But this is a brand-new column! All new questions, all new answers. But I intentionally dug through the mail for relatively simple questions because I’m just fried from the news. So, if you wrote in this week about a particularly thorny interpersonal conflict that would require me to think hard before attempting to saw the baby in half… you’re not going to find your letter. All the questions below are easy pitches — low, slow, and over the plate — because those were the only ones I felt capable of taking a swing at after the week we’ve all had. — Dan


 I’m a newly-out gay man who is also exploring kink and leather for the first time. It has been fun, especially because I love daddies, and some wonderful older men have been my guides to this brave new world of rubber and slings. However, a few have ghosted me because I end up texting too much due to the fact that I’m worried they’re losing interest. I’m realizing this is a red flag to others. I’m needy but it’s rooted in the fact that this is all new to me AND since I feel late to the party, I need to move things along quickly to make up for lost time. How do I parent myself through this situation and stop pushing Daddies away with my neediness?

Boy Losing Opportunities With Incessant Texting

If you’ve gotten unambiguous “you’re too intense/you’re too much/you’re too needy” feedback from multiple guys — verbal and/or non-verbal — you should be able to correct course. I mean, you may have just come out, BLOWIT, but you’re a grown-ass man and a grown-ass man can resolve to do things differently. So, how about you identify a friend whose phone you can blow up with messages about your latest sexual adventure? Then after blowing up your friend’s phone for 24 hours, you can send a single thank-you text to the nice guy who set up his sling for you and let him know you’d love to take another ride. Playing it cool is not to be confused with playing games. People who play games lie about their interest or their availability in order get things they want from people who wouldn’t give them those things — their time, their attention, their holes — if they knew the truth. When you play it cool, you’re being honest about your feelings (“I had so much fun and would love to meet up again”) but you’re being thoughtful, considerate, and strategic about when and how you express them.

Continue reading »

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! Expect sunny skies today, but don’t let the sunshine fool you. Tonight we’ll see temps drop into the low 30s, then plunge into the 20s before sunrise Wednesday. If you or someone you know needs shelter, here’s an updated list of emergency warming shelter availability.

In Local News: 

• Portland City Council is kicking off meetings for its brand new policy committees this week. For local political geeks, this is a big deal. Committee meetings, much like Congressional committees, will be formative for new city policy proposals and in-depth discussions before proposals hit the City Council agenda. For those of you normies who don’t religiously read local government agendas, don’t fret. The Mercury nerds will be popping in and spitting out CliffsNotes on any important business (or hot gossip) that takes place. 

 

Continue reading »
Music Mon 3:52 PM

Say “I DO!” To Live Music and All-Nighters This Valentine’s Day Weekend

Queer hip-hop, black metal, and underground raves make for a packed V-Day weekend  in Portland!

“Everyday the 14th!” or so claims Cupid Valentino, AKA André 3000, on one of the sexiest Outkast tracks out there. Saint Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday this year, an excellent excuse for Portland (and you) to pop off extra hard all weekend in a month that can otherwise feel a bit sleepy. There’s a lot to choose from, so we here at the Mercury have compiled a list of our favorite live music gigs happening from February 14-16, throwing in a couple all-nighters if you wanna pull double duty and dance after the shows. It doesn’t matter if you’re boo’d up, single and ready to mingle, or your polycule is looking for some fun, these shows are for everyone!


Friday, February 14

Karma Rivera / Nonbinary Girlfriend

For Fans Of Princess Nokia, Ms Nina, Bijoux Cone

You like queer hip-hop out of Portland by a strong femme emcee named Karma Rivera? I know that’s right! If you’ve been sleeping on Rivera, you’ve got some ’splanin’ to do! Her silk-smooth brand of hip-hop cross-pollinates the raw sexy of reggaeton beats with flow and vocabulary that can go round for round with any of ‘em. Opening this mixed bill is the Portland indie darling, Nonbinary Girlfriend. Both of these local acts, in my humble opinion, will be blowing up shortly–seeing them in this intimate setting will absolutely be a “you had to be there” moment. DJ Aspen will be there doing vibe curation on the ones and twos. (Show Bar, 1300 SE Stark, Fri Feb 14, 8 pm, $15, tickets here, 21+)

Continue reading »
— Advertisement —
Comedy Mon 11:55 AM

Get Your Tix Now for Portland's Biggest Night of Laughs—The Undisputable Geniuses of Comedy 2025! 🤣

Featuring host Adam Pasi, Portland's best stand-ups, and super special guest Mohanad Elshieky!

Let's celebrate, because... IT'S BACK! The biggest night of Portland comedy is returning to Revolution Hall on Thursday, March 20! 

You like laughing your guts out, right? Then you won't want to miss the Portland Mercury’s Undisputable Geniuses of Comedy 2025, featuring Portland’s funniest people (and hilarious up-and-comers) all on one stage.

Stand-up comedians, sketch comedy, and crazy stuff that defies explanation... all provided by Portland’s local undisputable geniuses!

Featuring top-notch stand-up from: Shain Brenden, Ally J Ward, Ben Harkins, Gabby Poccia, Lee H. Tillman, Andrea Menchaca, Devi Kirsch, plus sketch comedy from The Aces!

 Hosted by the always hilarious ADAM PASI, with super special guest MOHANAD ELSHIEKY!

THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 8 PM
Revolution Hall
(1300 SE Stark)
$20, 21+
These shows always sell out, so don’t delay!

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW AT MERCTICKETS.COM!

Trust us—you won’t want to miss the undisputable fun of the Portland Mercury’s... UNDISPUTABLE GENIUSES OF COMEDY 2025!

If your love language is quality time, then grab a special someone and bond at sensational events from Nikki Glaser: Alive And Unwell Tour to a talk with Masha Gessen and from Mount Eerie to Y La Bamba. For more ideas, check out our Valentine's Day guide.

MONDAY

FILM

Maurice
Hollywood Theatre's Thank God It's Queer series will set an Edwardian scene to gear up for V-Day this year. Maurice, the hottest genteel gay romance you probably haven't heard of, is based on E.M. Forster’s "wildly queer" posthumous novel and follows two Cambridge boys who secretly fall in love. The main character here is, of course, Hugh Grant's floppy hair, but I'm also enticed by the film's misty, melancholic soundtrack. LINDSAY COSTELLO
(Hollywood Theatre, Hollywood District)

Read on EverOut »
Love/Sex 2025 ❤️🍆🍑 Mon 9:29 AM

THE TRASH REPORT: All's Fair In Love and Trash

Ready to believe in love? Then don't read this compendium of recent celebrity breakups!

[Read all of the articles in our Love/Sex issue HERE! Looking for a print copy? Look at this handy-dandy map!—eds.]

What’s happening, hot stuffs? Welcome to this very special Trash Report for our LOVE/SEX issue. Some may say that love is a many-splendored thing. Others may say: love is a bitch. If you’re down and out during this red heart season, come sit next to me, and let’s gossip about some famous people who have recently seen the business end of a breakup Post-it.

•••••

The most devastating breakup of 2024 was, of course, Bennifer 2.0, AKA the second falling out of love of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. I’m not going to lie: this one hurt. When Jen and Ben reconciled during those dark days of early COVID, and we got the paparazzi pictures of him smoking outside, like he just gotten laid ten kinds of sideways, with his face to the sun as if he’d found a newly restored faith in God—we needed that! It gave us hope that things were going to be okay. It was a pandemic balm not unlike being able to buy a really big thing of toilet paper, having a friend who knew how to make bread, or not dying. It makes me so mad because we know Ben Affleck dragged her back and then he’s the one who decided he couldn’t hang; like, yeah, J.Lo is probably a hard person to be married to, but that’s why none of us are trying to do it! She didn’t deserve that! The hubris of white men!!

•••••

Phew. Okay, in lower stakes breakups: Tori Spelling and her husband Dean McDermott called it quits last year after 16 years of marriage. In addition to her breakout role as Donna Martin in Beverly Hills 90210, Tori has made a name for herself by naming stuff after herself; such vanity projects include titles Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, So NoTORIous, True Tori, Tori & Dean: Cabin Fever, Tori & Dean: Inn Love, and sTORI Telling, among others. I don’t know if Tori will want to do a reality series based on her divorce, but if she does, she’s got a TON of options! Might I suggest The True sTORI, Uncharted TerriTORI, The DiTOR(i)ce, or TORIrreconcilable Differences? And then if Dean wants in on his own show, it could be called Dean McDersplit.

Continue reading »

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 arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋

Alert! Alert! Valentine's Day is THIS FRIDAY, so you have two tasks: Send your shmoopie-woopie a FREE Mercury VALENTINE for all the world to see, and read our very romantic, entertaining, and horny LOVE/SEX Issue, currently on these streets in more than 500 spots citywide. It's got everything: your reader valentines, self-care tips, horny books, how to find love (on a bike), an interview with a sex worker, the hilariously (un)scientific SEX SURVEY poll results, and lots more! And now? Prepare to fall in love (and/or get very horny for) today's NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• ICYMI, last week our new City Council raked Michael Jordan, Portland’s interim city administrator, over the coals due to a lack of communication with the council and turning a blind eye to the city's open-armed invitation to Zenith to continue their dangerous oil transportation practices, and whose very existence threatens every person in Portland. (More on that here.) That said, the council still overwhelmingly agreed to allow Jordan to stay on the job until the end of 2025—but it is NOT an auspicious start to his relationship with council. Our Courtney Vaughn has the juicy deets.

Gender Reveal presents Gender Ordeal: Gender on Wheels is a variety show featuring the star power of show-host Tuck Woodstock, cartoonist Mattie Lubchansky, and author Calvin Kasulke. As titles go, this one really seems to convey the vibe: multi-part, goofy, about gender.

[image or embed]

— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 2:34 PM

• Get ready for the shock of your life: Two Oregon Republican representatives—one of whom owns part of a trucking business—have introduced legislation that threatens to defang Oregon’s ACT regulations, which aims to increase the number of zero-emission trucks on the road. Trucking business leaders, like GOP Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (whose family owns Boshart Trucking, Inc), would rather torpedo the progressive, environment-saving regulations to... well... save themselves money at the expense of everyone else on the planet. Our Taylor Griggs has more.

Continue reading »

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 your email's in-box... and then... YOUR HEAD.)


• Providence Relents After Ordering Nursing Instructors to Cross Picket Lines

Last month, a community college nursing instructor got an alarming mandate from Providence: Cross picket lines during the strike, or risk her job supervising students at Providence sites. After an attorney intervened, Providence backed off.

Oregon Nurses Association

• POP QUIZ PDX!

In this week's hilarious trivia quiz, we ask "WHAT SHOULD WE STICK IN THAT HOLE?" Find out more about this mysterious (and deep) hole, as well as local elephants, ancient fashion, and more in POP QUIZ PDX! See how well YOU score!

triloks / iStock / Getty Images Plus

• New Seasons Employees Remain on Strike Over “Unjust” Firing of Longtime Employee

Unionized workers at a handful of News Seasons Market locations remain on strike after the sudden and unexpected firing of a longtime cashier. Before the strike, the company had tentatively agreed not to terminate anyone without just cause.

Cameron Crowell
Continue reading »
Comedy Feb 7 1:05 PM

Gender Ordeal Is a Trans Power Trio Comedy Tour

The Gender Reveal podcast tour is a variety show featuring the star power of show-host Tuck Woodstock, cartoonist Mattie Lubchansky, and author Calvin Kasulke.

Gender Ordeal: Gender on Wheels is a powerhouse of trans comedy talent. It's a road-version of Tuck Woodstock's Gender Reveal podcast. It's a variety show that fits "six or seven" segments into a tight 90-minute evening with the show's host, cartoonist Mattie Lubchansky, and author Calvin Kasulke.

The live show format isn't really like Woodstock's thoughtful interview podcast, though it is still aiming to "get a little bit closer to understanding what the hell gender is."

"All the segments are pretty indescribable," Woodstock told the Mercury, "other than the part where I do 10 minutes of stand-up… which is like… yeah, that's what that is."

In the far away yesteryear of 2017, Woodstock—a journalist and then-Portlander—started a podcast about gender. He borrowed its name from a bizarre cultural practice where people communicate the gender of their yet-to-be-born children by doing things like exploding objects with pink or blue fireworks (occasionally starting a wildfire in the process). 

Woodstock turned the concept on its head, unwinding personal stories through interviews with trans professionals, activists, and politicians about not just gender but certainly gender. In the years that followed, Gender Reveal gave rise to Gender Conceal: a paid tier show for subscribers, which supports the pod and also introduces more comedic, off-the-cuff material.

Gender Ordeal follows this naming convention and is essentially a variety show that Woodstock has taken on tour to Brooklyn (he now lives in a New York borough), Boston, Philly, and Washington DC before bringing it, polished and primed, to discerning West Coast audiences.

Continue reading »