Suzette Smith

Everyone knows Portland Pride starts in June—despite the parade kicking up zir heels in July. Pride is already here, and the Merc is keeping a rolling calendar of event picks you might love. In this installment: a dedicated meet-up for queer Asians at a wife-and-wife owned wine bar, bingo from Tomorrow Theater's ORIGINAL bingo queen Violet Hex, a queer disco dance night at Kenton Club? This list will grow! Send us your party plans! Wednesday,...

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TINLEY PARK, ILLINOIS - APRIL 08: A worker shows off Glock 19 Donald Trump commemorative 9mm pistol being offered for sale at Freddie Bear Sports on April 08, 2021 in Tinley Park, Illinois. President Joe Biden today announced gun control measures which included stricter controls on the purchase of homemade firearms, commonly referred to as Ghost Guns and he made a push for national Red Flag legislation and other measures. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Portland's recently created Office of Arts & Culture announced a new process for city-funded small grant awards Wednesday night, along with the three nonprofits it has chosen to distribute funds. From 1995 to 2023, small grants of less than $5,000 were distributed by arts funding nonprofit the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC). However, last year Dan Ryan's office announced the city would not renew its contract with RACC and would use a competitive proposal...

The forecast for this year's Pickathon looks temperate compared to the past two scorchers, but the line-up is looking hotter than ever. Here are nine picks from the Mercury's music nerds. See you in the forest! Sitting at your desk waiting to fuck off and get in a field? Here are the Mercury's music picks for Pickathon 2024. Fight us in the comments. I love talking about music.

In his own words, Matt Slessler credits his start at Pabst Blue Ribbon to someone handing his number to a visiting company rep, saying: "Hey, talk to this guy. He hangs out in bars," Slessler says with a laugh, "which was a great calling card at the time." That was 2001, nearly a decade before the blue-ribboned silver can's resurgence, and Pabst had noticed that Portland bore a fondness for its crisp, unassuming, middle-sweet lager....

No one is talking about how they’re going to knock down the skybridge, and that sounds so cool. Live Nation Competitor AEG Teams Up With Monqui to Building a Music Venue by Portland’s Abandoned Art Mall Music Venue at the Mall? Monqui and AEG Team Up to Compete with Live Nation Portland Grab DEMOLISH THE SKYBRIDGE I mean

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: I’m writing the news in a cafe where someone is ordering “something vegan” for a teenager, and they’re getting one of everything. If I could elicit a tenth of...

Oaks Park reopened without incident after Friday’s amusement ride rescue The Outsiders wins for best musical Should social media have warning labels?

[Find the Mercury's Queer Guide in print—available in more than 500 spots citywide!—eds.] International exhibition the Venice Biennale is one of the most prestigious places to present contemporary visual art in the world, and artist Jeffrey Gibson currently represents the US with the space in which to place me. Gibson’s work fills the US pavilion with dazzling, fluorescent patterns, text that speaks to the history of forced displacement, perpetrated upon Indigenous communities by colonialist settlers,...

Every Pride is exciting. Every Pride has something new. Yes, there are constants: hotties in short shorts. But even that rubric is evolving: hotties bursting from body norms, coveralls hemmed to high heaven. Last year, Pride Northwest—the nonprofit that plans Portland’s Pride Parade and the accompanying waterfront festivities—moved the city’s summertime celebrations of queerness from June to July. The years before that saw even greater disruptions as queer communities measured pandemic safety, celebrated remotely, and...