Slideshow, Portland Mercury 
The party in power
By Anonymous They only offer victims of climate change, gun violence and inadequate health care (intentionally denied if you’re pregnant) their thoughts and prayers while giving tax cuts to billionaires. How the fuck are they getting away with this? How do we stop them?
By Anonymous Words fail on how our shared communal welfare status quo, as imperfect as it is, could be so trashed further this week. I guess that other people never had a brother like mine, who, on the brink of the worst kind of psychiatric crisis, mainly due to being broke, made such a turnaround once he obtained the Oregon Health Plan and food stamps. I guess that other people never had a brother with the onset of liver and heart disease, with a quite part-time job and parental care-giving…who couldn’t have met the new requirement of 80 work hours/month for either benefit for those under 65. Before there was no work requirement for the near elderly, and was limited to those under 55 (with some exceptions & differences by state). I guess the fact that Social Security, even back in its better staffed days, could take over a year to decide that disabled claimants were impaired enough to get benefits, escapes the notice of Congressional bozos. For these clowns have just made it harder to get any relief for those caught in the Social Security Appeal limbo. Our state may attempt to meet the shortfall to keep Obamacare “expanded Medicaid” (aka part of the Oregon Health Plan) going for low-income folks, but will it be possible? Buried in the “beautiful” bill’s small print is a massive cost shift to the states on such benefits—yikes! I’d never heard of Medicare Rights Center till now: their July 3rd report won’t help me sleep tonight (https://www.medicarerights.org/medicare-watch/2025/07/03/final-house-vote-looms-on-devastating-health-and-food-assistance-cuts). Living here in bleeding heart liberal hell, words really fail.
The Biggest Pride Month 2025 Events in Portland
Dollapalooza, Portland Pride Waterfront Festival, and More by EverOut Staff Hey queers! Ready for Pride Month 2.0? July brings Portland's flagship Pride Waterfront Festival, when the Pride Parade sashays through the streets. Since there are a whole bunch of other gag-worthy Pride events happening around town, we've highlighted fierce fetes like Dollapalooza: Dolls4Ever and The Sports Bra's Pride Block Party so you can lock in your plans. Pattie Gonia Presents: SAVE HER! - An Environmental Drag ShowEnvironmentalist, drag queen, and community organizer Pattie Gonia is mother, but she's also on a quest to save Mother Earth. Pattie blends the campiness of drag with actual camp-inspired lewks, so you can expect some outdoorsy slay at this solution-seeking, climate change-centric show. The lineup also includes drag royalty VERA!, Sequoia, Nini Coco, and SURPRISE LOCAL GUESTS who "will leave you saying 'it’s getting hot in here.'" JANEY WONGRevolution Hall, Buckman (Thurs July 17)
Put it away
By Anonymous I see you, morning, afternoon, evening. You have a dog, walking through the neighborhood. Your dog sniffs, strains forward, trots, taking in everything around it. But you? You are transfixed to your phone. You squander a time to connect with your pet, to watch for people or other dogs that you might need to avoid, to just be outside and notice your current moment. Put your phone away and truly be with another living creature in the time you have together.
The Truman Show
By Anonymous So here's the thing, we need to move as quickly as we can right now to resolve the open matter. The question is what do you want to tell yourself after a tragedy happens? That you pushed back on those trying to raise the alarm and coordinate an appropriate response, or that you did everything you could to prevent your communities participation in war crimes? Your concern for your fellow man and your community is admirable, but where do you draw the line about what humans are considered your own.
Hell Is Full of Clowns
Inspired by Dante's Inferno, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble's new play is a tour of Divine Comedy. by Suzette Smith The best part of Aw, Hell is the walking tour at the beginning—it's not a long trek, though it is heavy on rules: No sinning. No laughing. No touching, but the monsters can touch you. Ancient Roman poet Virgil meets the audience at the entrance to Hell—currently located in the Reed College Performing Arts Building. He's uniformed in a trench coat, boxers, knee-high, striped tube socks, and an ill-fitting bald cap, and barks an introduction via a wearable voice amplifier, addressing everyone in the audience as Dante. As a group, we are Dante Alighieri, the 14th-century poet who wrote an oft-referenced outline of Hell called the Divine Comedy. Plenty remember the Divine Comedy's concentric, punishing rings—lust people go here, greed people go there—but the sweet little story of a sin-filled poet making his way through the underworld is largely forgotten. Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE) color brightly outside the lines with their interpretation of a clown Inferno, but surprisingly maintain some of Dante's most touching notes of regret, unearned grace, and undying hope. Left. to right: Damaris Webb as an unrepentant lover, Cristi Miles as super cute demon. OWEN CAREY Over the course of the "Inferno tour," Virgil is played by every member of the cast: PETE members Rebecca Lingafelter, Damaris Webb, Roo Welsh, Cristi Miles, and Amber Whitehall, along with Emily Newton, a celebrated comedic performer and internationally known clown. Performers swap fluidly and speedily between countless roles for the varied skits that make up the rest of the journey. Costumed in a ballgown of what appeared to be tinfoil and shiny, flexible ductwork, Whitehall was powerful as sorrowful Beatrice: a personification of divine love. She also got some of the biggest laughs as a comically-shrieking seducer forced to perform a self-flaying striptease. Given PETE's lauded prowess in physical theater, it's surprising that the troupe only recently brought in Newton—along with clown dramaturg Sasha Blocker—to collaborate. Lingafelter estimated it's been about six months, during a one-off, post-show clown panel. Indicative of this new partnership, Aw, Hell is very heavy on toilet humor. Silly String jizz, erotic pantomime, and general pantslessness pervade the work—though not for want of Virgil's attempts to extort pants from audience members. But these things are not so outside of PETE's toolbox. During the company's 2024 staging of A Seagull, Whitehall and this show's director Jacob Coleman engaged in a conversation about relationship control, while crawling over one another in an acrobatic double-roll on top of a table. It was suggestive and penetrating and clearly the climax, stealing the fire from that work's inevitable gunshot. Aw, Hell's Sunday night clown panel helped illuminate just how clowning fills out the work's layers. You'll find maybe one red nose (and it's not squeaky). The cast's clowning shows up more in moments of ironic stage presence, drawn out comedic bits, and easy-to-miss audience interaction. PETE aren't dragging people out of seats, but they're talking to us and playing with buffoonery at our responses. Most noticeable: Someone in the room let fly an awe-inspiring, deadly fart in the show's last 20 minutes, and it led to some ad-libbed material about an infernal storm that awaits those engaged in carnal passions, where you can also shamelessly fart as much as you like. The majority of Aw, Hell's 100-minute run is presented in a theater setting with the audience sitting around a stage overlaid with a projected rotating spiral, and scenes are punctuated with flashing lights. If those sound like dealbreakers for you, don't ignore your worries—they made us pretty queasy. It was one of the things that didn't work for us, even as we respect the clown journey PETE has embarked upon. If you can, linger in the brief hell house corridor, where various Virgils guard doors to areas like Limbo and "the blood pool." We appreciated the note about Hell's burning sands being under construction (as a necessary expansion to accommodate crowds of recent DOGE employee additions) and wished for more dense, fleeting material like it. Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble presents Aw, Hell at Reed College Performing Arts Building, 3017 SE Woodstock, shows through Sat July 12, $25-45, tickets and showtimes at petensemble.org/aw-hell.
The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Portland This Fourth of July Weekend: July 4–6, 2025
Waterfront Fireworks, Summer of Slushies, and More Cheap & Easy Events Under $15 by EverOut Staff Look, the United States is a hot mess, but at least we get a three-day weekend out of its birthday. Make the most of it at events from the Waterfront Fireworks to the Portland Mercury's Summer of Slushies. For more suggestions, check out our top event picks of the week and our July events guide. FRIDAY COMEDY Kickstand Comedy in The Park 2025Kickstand Comedy intentionally scheduled its Comedy in the Park Pride event on the Fourth of July as a "bold, joyful act of resistance in a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under attack across the country." They invite folks to join them in "reclaim[ing] 'freedom' with laughter, love, and community," so grab your pals with a sense of humor and drop your blankets early—the free stand-up show has been known to draw crowds of 4,000 or more. A lineup of much-loved funnybones will head to the stage after local laughers Rachelle Cochran and Julia Corral get the crowd going. LINDSAY COSTELLO (Laurelhurst Park, Laurelhurst, free)
Shoofly Vegan Bakery Staff Cease Efforts to Buy the Business, Starting Their Own Instead
Amid paycheck disputes and a staff walkout that shuttered the SE Portland cafe, former Shoofly workers say they've signed a lease on a new space. by Courtney Vaughn Negotiations have ceased between the owner and former employees of Shoofly Vegan Bakery for staff to potentially buy the business, both parties say. The former staffers are now in the process of opening their own business. Staff at the Southeast Portland bakery and cafe walked off the job on Friday, May 2, claiming many of their paychecks were late for what they said was the second pay period in a row–a claim the owner denies. They’ve since been locked out of the building, and haven’t returned to work. The bakery has been closed since the employee walkout. Immediately after the bakery’s closure, the employees banded together with ambitions of buying Shoofly from the current owner, Tien Vominh. Vominh purchased Shoofly from its original owner back in February. The bakery and cafe operated in a ground floor space of the Ford Building on Division Street. Both Vominh and the now former staff said they had been meeting periodically to discuss those plans, but after weeks of stalled conversations, they've moved on. Correspondence shared with the Mercury shows an erosion in attempts to negotiate terms for a sale of the business. In the most recent letter, staff said they’re no longer interested in negotiating, citing a breakdown in communication. “They submitted an offer, I accepted, and they later informed me they did not have the necessary funds,” Vominh told the Mercury via email on June 12, noting the group didn't reach out to the building's owners regarding a potential lease until early June. “You asked me to front the cost of your acquisition by giving you access to my space, ingredients, equipment, license, vendor accounts, furnishings—the entire business—without actually buying it,” Vominh wrote to the group on June 5. The former employees dispute that, saying they initially offered to sublet the bakery from Vominh so they could have access to the equipment and work space, as one proposed solution during conversations about them taking over the business. In email exchanges between the two parties, a former employee responding on behalf of the group alluded to Vominh skipping out on a number of scheduled meetings. The staffer said the group’s offer was in earnest, but they didn’t think Vominh was serious about selling to them. “This is a very strange and uncertain time for all of us and we do not have the security that you do,” a representative for the staff wrote to Vominh. “We truly are trying to handle this as professionally and respectfully as we are able to, and all we want is a fair, equitable, and swift resolution.” A transfer of ownership may not be in the cards, but most of the former workers have stuck together, holding regular fundraising bake sales at various locations around Portland since the walkout in early May. They’re now in the process of starting their own business, Catscratch Co-Op Vegan Bakery. “We have signed our lease,” Alex McCaulley, a former staffer, told the Mercury, noting the crew is still setting up the space on NE Halsey Street. The bake sale funds have helped the former Shoofly staffers replace lost wages and get startup capital for their new worker-owned business. To date, they’ve raised just over $22,400 through a GoFundMe fundraiser. McCaulley says so far, the bake sales have been successful, but Shoofly staff had to contend with a slow process to claim unemployment benefits. McCaulley’s role was unique. She started out working for Vominh’s other business, Bluebird Bakers, last year. Bluebird Bakers is a wholesale cookie company that distributes its products to several local grocery stores and cafes. Vominh bought Bluebird from its original owners last year, before the Shoofly purchase. Eventually, McCaulley began working shifts at both businesses, but when Shoofly operations came to a halt, her weekly hours were reduced. In late May, McCaulley says Vominh told her her pay would transition from a salary to an hourly rate, meaning it would be cut to reflect reduced hours. “This was going to be a $600 reduction per paycheck,” she said. “I could not possibly live on that pay.” McCaulley quit the job. Shoofly staff aren’t the only ones who’ve found themselves at odds with their former employer. McCaulley is one of two former Bluebird employees who described a tenuous work atmosphere. McCaulley said it wasn't uncommon for staff of Bluebird to receive their paychecks late. She alleges it happened about half a dozen times during her nine-month stint there. Another former employee who spoke to the Mercury on background due to fear of professional retaliation, said they left after a pattern of mistreatment by Vominh. The ex-Bluebird employee also described a pattern of late, sometimes inaccurate paychecks. “It happened the entire time I worked with him,” the former staffer claimed, describing an environment that they say quickly became toxic and hostile. The former Bluebird staffer told the Mercury they had to consult BOLI to get their final paycheck. Vominh didn’t directly address questions about the alleged toxic work environment, but broadly described his former staffers’ complaints about payroll issues and workplace hostility as “false accounts and allegations.” "I was born and raised in Portland, and as a small business owner from the Vietnamese community, I know how important it is to honor the people and places we serve," Vominh said in a statement he released to media outlets in May. "I'm saddened by how things have unfolded." He denies employee claims of late pay, noting he submitted paychecks via a third-party company called Paychex for same-day deposit on Fridays. Whether the payments hit the bank accounts that same day was beyond his control, he said. “The timing of deposits depends on each employee’s bank. No wages have been withheld—ever,” Vominh's statement notes. He provided employee payroll records to the Mercury, noting “Paychex has confirmed that all transfers were received by the respective banks.” Records show five wage and hour complaints were filed with Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries against Shoofly Bakery between April and early May. Two of them are listed as paid/closed. The other three complaints are still pending. It’s unclear whether BOLI has received complaints about Bluebird Bakers. What comes next? It's unclear when or if Shoofly will reopen. Vominh declined to answer questions about the bakery’s future. The windows of the cafe are now papered over, though the signage is still there. As for the former staff, they say they’re preparing their new bakery site. “Right now the property manager is altering the space a bit for us.” McCaulley says, noting they hope to open Catscratch Co-Op within a few weeks.
FREE TICKETS THURSDAY: Enter to Win Free Tix to See Leo Kottke, Robert Randolph, Watchhouse, and MORE!
By Mercury Promotions 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 FREE TICKETS to see Leo Kottke on July 11 at Aladdin Theater! Georgia-born acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke returns to the Aladdin, sharing beautiful country-blues music from across his Grammy-nominated discography. Get your tickets now or enter to win a free pair! Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, Fri July 11, 7 pm, $56.30, all ages • Enter to WIN FREE TICKETS to see Robert Randolph on July 17 at Aladdin Theater! Pedal steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph shares ecstatic blues-rock from his brand-new album, Preacher Kids! Get your tickets now or enter to win a free pair! Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, Thurs July 17, 7 pm, $38.08, all ages • Enter to WIN FREE TICKETS to see Watchhouse on July 18 + 19 at Revolution Hall (one pair each night)! Formerly known as Mandolin Orange, experimental folk-rock duo Watchhouse shares new tunes when they visit on the ‘Rituals Tour!’ Get your tickets now or enter to win a free pair! Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, Fri + Sat July 18 + 19, 8 pm, $50.17, 21+ • Enter to WIN FREE TICKETS to see Tanner Usrey on July 18 at Mississippi Studios! Texas-born singer, songwriter, and guitarist Tanner Usrey brings country grit, rock ‘n’ roll energy, and Americana eloquence to Portland on ‘The Bad Love Tour!’ Get your tickets now or enter to win a free pair! Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, Fri July 18, 8 pm, $28.10, 21+ GOOD LUCK! Winners will be notified on Monday, and check back next week for more FREE TIX from the Mercury!
I feel sick
By Anonymous We’re living in the beginning of the new holocaust. I guess some on the other side are still denying the last one, or at least wearing those “six million - not enough” shirts. It has been the standard definition of evil as long as most of us have been alive, but apparently not all all of us. Remember that actor from the mandolorian that got fired because she compared vaccines and mask mandates to gestapo stuff? Doesn’t seem to have much to say right now. American Holocaust. What a nightmare
Good Morning, News: Hakeem Jeffries Determined to Derail a July 4 Budget Bill Signing Using a 'Magic Minute' Filibuster
By Courtney Vaughn 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! There's plenty to look forward to. Today, we're in for gorgeous weather today, with a high of 78 and a very gentle breeze. 😎 Tomorrow is a federal holiday, which means a lot of us have the day off, (including this fine newsletter) but don't feel bad if you skip America's birthday bash this year. She's been a real nasty troll. Grab your iced coffee, matcha, bourbon, or whatever gets you through the morning and scroll with us to catch up on the latest headlines. In LOCAL NEWS:• Police have identified the man arrested Tuesday for allegedly shooting and killing another man Tuesday afternoon in a central area of downtown. The suspect, 26-year-old Hassan M. Muse, was arrested just minutes after police arrived on scene. The shooting took place around 3:30 pm near SW 10th and Yamhill–right near the Multnomah County Central Library and roughly a block from Director Park. The central downtown area where the shooting occurred typically sees a fair amount of foot traffic. On Thursday, the Central Library announced it would remain closed until Saturday, July 5, in light of the shooting, which library employees witnessed.The Portland Police Bureau doesn’t have much info yet. Police say they responded to a report of a shooting and found an injured man who was transported to a hospital, but died. They also found a suspect just minutes later, chased him on foot, and within 10 minutes, they confronted Muse and arrested him near SW 4th and Alder (near Pioneer Place Mall, for those tracking). The victim hasn’t been identified yet. • A well-known vineyard management company owner in Newberg who was whisked away by ICE agents last month without cause was moved out of Oregon to two different holding facilities without notice to his family or attorneys, according to reporting in Street Roots. The practice is apparently common- the federal agency claims it has no obligation to notify a detainee’s family or legal counsel when a person has been arrested, or even when they get moved to another state, as was the case with Moisés Sotelo, who ICE says has a years-old DUI conviction, despite no records of that in Oregon’s court systems. Note: a previous version of this newsletter incorrectly identified Sotelo as a winemaker. He owns a vineyard management company called Novo Start. The Mercury regrets the error. • From our 2025 Queer Guide: Portland dancer Allie Hankins on manipulating her audience and why haunting belongs to lesbians. Portland dancer Allie Hankins on how she manipulates her audience and why haunting belongs to lesbians.[image or embed] — Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM • If you were thinking about cooling off with a movie this weekend, maybe read Dom Sinacola’s hilarious and sobering review of Jurassic World Rebirth before choosing which flick to watch. The movie franchise that started with 1993’s Jurassic Park is still going, unfortunately. And if you came of age in the ‘90s and were hoping for a summer blockbuster that conjured up some warm, fuzzy nostalgia, this ain't it. Instead, it’s an overwrought attempt to keep sucking marrow from a bone. As Sinacola writes: “In the place of discerning taste and nuanced discourse, there is only the knowledge that there will always be another Jurassic movie, another summer blockbuster overrun by more immense and scarier monsters than the last one, motivated by one more fictional rich asshole ignoring history to spit in God’s face, accompanied by one more A-list actor with an eight-figure price attached to their dignity. At the end of my screening for Rebirth, a movie that sucked shit, the audience clapped.” Up for a cathartic screed about the execrable vestiges of the film industry? Because Mercury critic @sinacolad.bsky.social did not like Jurassic World Rebirth.[image or embed] — Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 1, 2025 at 4:46 PM Here's a brief intention setter before we jump into national news: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rufus Goodboy (@rufusgoodboy) IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:• Republican House members have set a self-imposed deadline to approve President Trump's "big beautiful bill," which passed the Senate earlier this week. In an attempt to deliver the bill to Trump's desk for a July 4 signing, the House engaged in its own dramatic, late-night vote, which included phone calls from Trump to Republican holdouts, group prayer sessions on the floor, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson taking photos of the bill's remaining Republican critics. Supporters of the "botched BBL" finally had the votes to begin debate of the bill early Thursday morning. • House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries deployed his "magic minute," delivering an hourslong speech to delay the bill. As we write this, he's passed into the seven hour mark. It's not a filibuster; it's a "magic minute." Anyway, this is largely ceremonial—an attempt to deny Trump the pomp of an Independence Day-themed signing. • Love these exhausted scenes from the Senate's Tuesday vote-a-rama (actually called that?!), captured by your friend and mine, photojournalist Nathan Howard. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nathan Howard (@nathanhowardphoto) • The endless classy behavior from the Trump administration continues with a pause on deliveries of air defense missiles and other weapons that were intended for Ukraine, Associated Press reports. Officials told AP that the "pause" was due to concerns that US stockpiles might be too low. Uh, are we about to missiles someone? Because the Supreme Court has been pretty u go girl and there are no checks other than cheques for the Trump administration. • New details came to light this week, regarding the treatment of Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia in the El Salvador "megaprison" the government unlawfully sent him to in March. Updates to the lawsuit filed by his family describe beatings, sleep deprivation, and other cruel torture. Abrego Garcia returned to the US last month—under the theater of charging him with federal human smuggling charges—but has remained imprisoned because his own attorneys say they fear he would be immediately deported again. • Sorry about all this crime'n news. Washington State University grad student Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the crimes he is accused of—stabbing and killing four University of Idaho students after he broke into their home in November 2022. At the time of the murders Kohberger was studying criminal justice, and the killings appeared to have been meticulously planned for months. Kohberger's plea allowed him to bypass a possible death penalty sentence. • Sean Combs (who performs as/is known as Puff Daddy) received a mixed verdict from a Manhattan jury yesterday. While he has been convicted of two counts of transporting people for prostitution, the jury acquitted Combs of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He remains imprisoned as he awaits sentencing, after a judge denied his bond request. The judge said he hadn't proven that he isn't a danger to any person or the community. • Today in no fate but what we make, wonderful music wonks turned rockstars Deerhoof announced they are taking their music off Spotify! See Deerhoof live when you can, and at all other times listen to the wind. • Sending you into the three-day weekend with this warm weather pep talk. "Photoshop is a capitalist lie, like trickle down economics. Ignore both. Your body is tool, not a decoration." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Anya (@anyasaysstuff)
What is your least favorite holiday?
By Anonymous 4th of July fireworks desecrate the air, earth and waters of turtle island. The holiday is in commemoration of imperialism. It was an epiphany, seeing the tragedy of Independence Day, and then feeling the immediate pressure to conform, to integrate, to serve the empire.- your local eco-feminist
Album Review: Swinging's Debut Album Is a Drift Worth Following
My Bed Is A Boat is a lush, emotionally exacting release from the Portland band. by Lindsay Costello As part of a design contest for students who attend the local after-school music program School of Rock, nine-year-old Jeju painted a field of blue. In the center, a yellow rectangle swims, along with the title of Swinging’s new release, My Bed Is A Boat, in capital letters. The winning cover feels conversant with the Portland band’s debut album. It’s subtle yet feeling, watery and expansive. Swinging’s current lineup features songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Ash Vale, multiinstrumentalist engineer Finn Snead, and bassist Zoe Chamberlain. Their sound lives under the loose umbrellas of slowcore, post-country, and chamber folk, and the band has found a loving audience in those who sway or stand still at shows, eyes open, receptive. True to their name, Swinging’s first album swings, wavering between vulnerability and resolve, nostalgia and forward motion. But like a pendulum caught in midair, the messages of My Bed Is A Boat linger in the murky middle ground of remembering, too. What happens when you’re no longer living in the past, but haven’t moved on, either? My Bed Is a Boat is never quite moody but always wandering, like fog rolling over a familiar landscape. The album’s sound shifts between the hollow, echoing quality of a message shouted down a tunnel and the lush, cacophonous textures of sonic collage. Vale’s lyrics are diaristic and vulnerable, often delivered in straightforward language that evokes a kind of Artist’s Way morning-pages intimacy. Their voice, deep and painfully pure at first, softens like wool as I listen and fits smoothly into the album’s emotional terrain. The band describes Vale’s lyrics as “conversational, rambling, and ecological,” and they are right about this. On “Forerunner,” Vale sings simply, “kissing the dog on the nose.” Vale often addresses a “you,” a choice that feels both like an open invitation and an extended love letter to a specific person, someone just out of view. The result is a shared intimacy throughout the album. And if Swinging’s bed is a boat, one could interpret their lyrics as dreams, composed of fragmented recollections and sensory shards. This boat-bed is a guiding image for the album’s whole approach. It’s oceanic and deeply engaged in the process. Vale’s voice stays within a narrow register, which, paired with Snead’s production, lends the album a somber, ethereal hush. On “I Knew It,” their voice sounds steady and wounded all at once: “There’s more than an ounce of care there, there’s honey for the oatmeal, there’s a wave crashing toward me like the tide, dear.” Midway through the album, “Nehalem Bay” is hyper-local and richly felt, too, calling in images of coastal pine and jewelweed surrounding the scent of smoke, all of which dissolves into a swelling racket of shoegaze-esque fuzz. Although much of My Bed Is A Boat feels grounded in the rivers and mountains of the Pacific Northwest, “Athens, Ohio” stands out as one of the most fully realized tracks on the record. It opens with a laugh, then unfolds into daydreams of barn owls, thunderstorms, slain rabbits, and vernal pools. Swinging leads us to the backwoods of Ohio, where ponds are shaded by hickory and red-winged blackbirds “fly in from every direction,” but they don’t leave us there. “I drove away in the dawn light, the barred owl decomposed, the vernal pool is all dried up,” Vale sings. The pendulum swings from rootedness to release. As easily as we arrived, we get back in the car with them, and we leave that place. The interlude “(I Carry It With Me)” is a two-minute lull of soft, hope-filled plucking that melts into field recordings—crows cawing, crackles, the low roar of atmosphere. It’s so fleeting you might miss it, but maybe that’s part of the point. Lived experience flows like water between our fingers. The band’s narrative clarity draws from country sensibilities, but filters these through atmospheric washes and synth layers. You’ll dig it if you’re interested in the storytelling of Smog, the naturescapes of Mount Eerie, or the atmospheric weight of Grouper. There are echoes of Claire Rousay, too, in the album’s blend of field recordings and droning texture. Like its title, My Bed Is a Boat offers refuge for those still floating between places, whether it’s the Pacific Coast, the midwest, or somewhere more distant. The album doesn’t overstay its welcome; its 34 minutes feel carefully measured, sweeping but spare, built of restraint and intuition. It’s a debut of rare emotional lucidity. And what should the listener do, then, with the weight of their own memories? The answer, Swinging argues, is simple. Don’t escape. Immerse yourself. Swinging’s My Bed Is A Boat was released June 27 and can be found on Bandcamp.
Good Morning, News: Portland Judge vs. ICE Barbie, Good/Bad News for Sean Combs, and Could We Get More "Dame Time"?
By Wm. Steven Humphrey 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!👋 Following a few morning clouds, expect more sunny skies and decidedly cooler temps as the high drops to 80 degrees today—BUT! Don't you think that's still warm enough to enjoy the Mercury's SUMMER OF SLUSHIES? Go get those boozy, frozen cocktails courtesy of your fave Portland bars—and don't forget, they're only $10 each! (By the way that was a rhetorical question... it's definitely warm enough to enjoy a slushie! Now? Let's slush up some NEWS.) IN LOCAL NEWS: • U.S. District Judge Michael Simon has ordered the federal government to immediately release a 24-year-old asylum seeker, identified as Y-Z-L-H, who was kidnapped by ICE agents in the hallway of Portland Immigration Court in early June, and then transported to a Tacoma detention center. The asylee's lawyers argued that ICE agents had failed to provide any proof of a crime before unlawfully snatching him up... so why did they? The only reason the assistant US attorney could provide for their actions is that they were told to do so by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (AKA "ICE Barbie") who according to the Trump administration, "doesn't need a reason." Holy shit. • By the way, if you haven't read this banger of a story from our Courtney Vaughn, hop to it already! A Portland-area father is among several asylum seekers in Oregon who's been arrested and targeted for deportation without cause. Attorneys say asylees are being summoned to check in with ICE, only to be detained and transported. One man was threatened with deportation to Sudan if he didn't comply.[image or embed] — Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 1, 2025 at 7:12 AM • And the fallout continues for the Oregon legislature after they failed to pass an extremely necessary transportation bill before their session ended last Friday. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson noted that the lawmakers' failure to act could result in our city losing a whopping $11 million in funds which are desperately needed for street repair, and could lead to up to 50 transportation workers being laid off. Absolutely terrible news for Portland's Bureau of Transportation, which was already in a deep budget hole (to the tune of $6 billion) and are hanging on by their fingernails. So forget your dream of safe sidewalks, and learn to love your local potholes, I guess! • In sporty-sports news, beloved former Blazer Damian Lillard has been waived by the Milwaukee Bucks and is now an unrestricted free agent, as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles tendon and will probably miss the upcoming season. Should the Blazers snap him up? Some think "yes," some think "no"—but most importantly, what do YOU think? • If you're wondering what shows to attend this weekend, our resident music scene expert, Nolan Parker, has all the picks you've been looking for, including Bijoux Cone at Mississippi Studios, IX of Swords at the Lollipop Shoppe, and tonight, Shanea at Holocene! MISS AT YOUR PERIL. For your dinner reading: I took a big word dump on this toilet of a movie[image or embed] — Dom (@sinacolad.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 4:49 PM • Speaking of movies (and the people who love them... I'm talking about YOU), don't miss our Lindsay Costello's new column, Second Run Portland, which lists the absolute best returning movies to see this coming month at our city's top-notch independent cinemas! IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS: • Breaking news: REPUBLICANS HATE YOU. Yesterday the GOP shitheads of the Senate passed King Fool's "Big, Beautiful Bill"—you know, the one that will kick 17 million Americans off their insurance, cut $1 trillion from Medicaid, defund Planned Parenthood, practically end nutritional assistance for 2 million children, and give YUGE tax cuts to their billionaire benefactors, while putting our country trillions in debt. And now it goes back to a GOP-controlled House for a final vote, where lawmakers are rushing back in order to pass the bill before the completely arbitrary July 4 deadline. There are some conservative holdouts who are butt-hurt about the changes made in the Senate—so expect a few fireworks, but because they are spineless weasels, they will most likely follow the orders of their dark lord and master. A federal judge has moved swiftly to block Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s efforts to end the protected status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants ahead of schedule, just days after the decision was announced.[image or embed] — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 6:05 AM • Good and bad news for music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs: A jury has found Combs not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering, but chose to convict him on two lesser charges of transporting people for prostitution, which is a federal felony, each carrying a maximum ten-year prison sentence. Attorneys are currently arguing whether Combs should immediately be released, or if he still poses a threat to the public—or at least to the many women he's been accused of abusing. • WOMP-WOMP! Breaking: Tesla’s global sales tumbled for the second quarter in a row, leaving the carmaker in a deep hole to dig out from to avoid consecutive annual declines[image or embed] — Bloomberg News (@bloomberg.com) July 2, 2025 at 6:22 AM • Back to the topic of "spineless weasels": Paramount (which owns the CBS network) announced they will pay President Trump $16 million to settle the lawsuit he has against them, over last October's 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. King Fool alleged the show edited the interview to show favoritism to Harris—but he's probably just angry that, in comparison to his former opponent, he consistently looks like a fucking moron. Anyway, I'm sure the following sentence has nothing to do with their decision: "Paramount is simultaneously seeking approval from his administration for its proposed merger with Skydance Media." Spineless weasels. • In much better news, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down a 176-year-old ban on abortion in the state. The ban was lifted in 1972 when Roe v Wade went into effect, but following the US Supreme Court's most recent decision on the medical procedure, shithead conservatives were screaming that the original, older ban was once again the law of the land. Not that it matters to Republicans, but a solid 62 percent majority of Wisconsin voters are in favor of legal abortion. • And finally... I had the same thing for breakfast as this guy. @nursinghomecomfessions What did you have for breakfast this morning? #nursinghomeconfessions #ai ♬ original sound - nursinghomeconfessions
Second Run Portland: Days of Heaven Glows Again in 35mm
Plus, a queer twist on yakuza inheritance and Chantal Akerman’s mother-daughter meditation hit Portland screens this month. by Lindsay Costello It’s no secret that Portland is a film town. We’re lucky to have a constellation of independent cinemas and DIY programmers keeping the big screens weird, smart, and surprising. But too often, the most interesting films disappear beneath a steaming pile of streaming services and endless reboots. Second Run Portland is a new film column that digs into the city’s screening calendars to spotlight deeper cuts, one-off gems, and films that didn’t get their due the first time around. Each month, I’ll round up what movies are worth leaving your laptop for, and tell you why. This time: a queer rewrite of yakuza mythos, a few canon classics, and dreamy, experimental selections without billion-dollar budgets. Don’t forget to turn your phone off when the lights go down. Church of Film: The Clan’s Heir is a Transwoman For fans of Takashi Miike, Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses (1969). Veteran V-cinema actor, sexagenarian boxer, and perennial cool guy in sunglasses Hitoshi Ozawa is also a director. The Clan’s Heir is a Transwoman (2013) plays like a lo-fi passion project, but it’s also a surprising, queer-centered take on the yakuza genre. In the aftermath of a yakuza boss’s death, his clan sets out to locate his successor, leading them to a queer bar—and to Nana, a trans woman who turns out to be the boss’s heir. A weirdly heartwarming question emerges: Will a trans woman be accepted into the hypermasculine world of Japanese organized crime?! The ever-reliable cinema series Church of Film describes Clan’s Heir as a “sensitive tear-jerker.” I believe it. (Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton, Wed July 2, 7 pm, $10, tickets here, not rated) News From Home For fans of Agnès Varda, Maya Deren, Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970). When one hears the name Chantal Akerman, it’s typically in reference to the Belgian director’s film Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, a three-and-a-half hour, avant-garde, slow cinema classic that was awarded the number one slot on Sight & Sound's 2022 critics' poll of the greatest films of all time. (That’s a big deal—it surpassed both Vertigo and Citizen Kane for the first time in decades, and was the only film directed by a woman to ever reach a top ten position in the poll.) News From Home (1977) is a lesser-known Akerman entry, but maintains her staunchly experimental spirit. Its emphasis on spatial immersion and texture is best viewed on a big screen. Akerman’s mother Natalia lands at the heart of much of her oeuvre–from narratives that center maternal figures (Les Rendez-vous d’Anna, Letters Home) to her final work, No Home Movie, a documentary tracking Natalia’s last living months. News From Home is no exception. The film is composed of long takes of ’70s-era New York City, interspersed with voiceovers of Akerman reading letters from her mother in Belgium. The effect is a psychogeographical drift, both inventive and spare. (Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, Mon July 7, 7:30 pm, $12, tickets here, not rated) Days of Heaven in 35mm For fans of love triangles, biblical plagues, Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas (1984). If Andrew Wyeth’s painting "Christina’s World" were put to celluloid, it might become Days of Heaven: sun-soaked, light dappling strangely across wheat fields, evoking all of the loneliness and simmering longing of old, weird Americana. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Terrence Malick’s 1978 pastoral might be the most beautiful film ever made. Every frame is painterly. Emerging from the twilight of the auteur-driven New Hollywood era, Days of Heaven exemplifies the movement’s fusion of visual poetry and emotional restraint. Malick’s spiritual reverence for natural light shines; cinematographer Néstor Almendros shot most of the film in the golden glows of dawn and dusk, limiting production time to around 20 minutes a day. You might’ve seen Malick’s Badlands, which predates Days of Heaven by five years and feels like an exercise in developing this film’s mythic central tensions. If so, Days of Heaven is required viewing. Or maybe you’ve never seen a Malick film, in which case this 35mm screening is the perfect opportunity to experience the rapture of his work where it belongs: in a dark theater, as light moves across the prairie. (Hollywood Theatre, Fri July 18, 7:30 pm, $12, tickets here, PG) Certain Women For fans of Hong Sang-soo, Aki Kaurismäki, Andrea Arnold’s Cow (2021). Oregon’s favorite director Kelly Reichardt is best known for her Pacific Northwest-based storytelling (Old Joy, Showing Up, Wendy and Lucy, the list goes on), but as a fellow Portlander-by-way-of-Florida, I feel a special kinship with her slow cinema style—it mirrors the languid, heat-heavy pace of an afternoon in her hometown Miami. Certain Women (2016) is a particularly beloved Reichardt film, shifting away from the PNW into the stillness of small-town Montana. Its landscape feels both boundless and quietly suffocating on screen. Adapted from three Maile Maloy short stories, the film follows a stacked cast (Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, and Lily Gladstone in her breakout role) as they navigate the shifts and fissures in their self-image. Certain Women is restrained and subtle, as all Reichardt films are. But therein lies the key to her storytelling: It occupies a space beyond Hollywood bluntness and the solipsism of some indie fare, instead revealing a secret third thing. (Tomorrow Theater, 3530 SE Division, Sat July 19, 7 pm, $15, tickets here, R) The Thing For fans of The X-Files, the Annie Dillard essay “An Expedition to the Pole,” the Dyatlov Pass incident. One of my core movie-watching memories is seeing Drew Barrymore get slashed by Ghostface in Scream when I was six years old. On top of scaring me beyond what I thought possible, the film planted a deeper question I’ve never quite shaken: What if the danger isn’t out there, but already inside? John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) pulses with the same fear, but swaps the suburban home invasion for corporeal terror. The danger’s not just inside the house. It’s inside the body. At an Antarctic research station, a pack of puffer-coated research scientists shelter a stray sled dog. Unfortunately the little dude isn't what he seems, and Kurt Russell and Keith David wind up battling a shape-shifting alien. Not unlike the far reaches of space, no one can hear you scream at the South Pole, and that level of isolation and claustrophobia is central to The Thing’s tension. Predictably, Ennio Morricone’s score owns, amplifying the dread with a mix of synthy darkness and nerve-plucking orchestral compositions. The Thing is fun to watch during the summer, when a frigid no-man's-land feels especially far away. Bask in its bone-chilling special effects and Cinemagic’s air conditioning at the same time. (Cinemagic, 2021 SE Hawthorne, July 25-26, 9:10 pm, $7-$9, tickets here, R) Election For fans of 4.0 GPAs, Michael Patrick Jann’s Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), Wes Anderson’s Rushmore (1998). As sharp as a freshly clicked mechanical pencil, Alexander Payne’s Election (1999) follows peppy Omaha high schooler Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) and a social studies teacher (Matthew Broderick) who desperately needs therapy. Witherspoon is “iconic” here, exhibiting pluck and drive and every other vaguely neurotic mannerism that has come to define her on-screen persona. Payne’s signature dark humor is fine-tuned by a backing cast of nonprofessional actors and a surprisingly tender eye for the petty failings of his characters. That said, there are aspects of this film that don’t pass the 21st-century sniff test. Tracy is groomed by the school’s geography teacher in a subplot played off as a throwaway joke, and in 2020, Payne was accused of sexual misconduct. These developments add a strange aftertaste to the film’s already biting cocktail of male delusion. But if you can stomach the sour notes, Election still stands as an interesting dissection of ambition and the men who find women to be a liiittle too much. (Tomorrow Theater, Thurs July 31, 7 pm, $15, tickets here, R) For more screenings, check out the film listings at EverOut.