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Portland Mercury The Stranger EverOut Savage Love Hump Bold Type Tickets The Latest News Culture Music Performance Food & Drink I, Anonymous Savage Love Pop Quiz PDX Top Events Today and This Week Live Music • Arts • Food • & More! Support Portland Mercury Masthead Ad Info & Rates Jobs at Portland Mercury Contact Privacy Policy Terms of Use Takedown Policy Log In Sign Up All contents © Index Newspapers LLC PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286 Vote Quick ’n’ Easy with Our VOTER CHEAT SHEET! ? The Mercury’s May Election Endorsements are Here! ? Say Nice Things About Portland... Again! ? Election Today 2:00 PM The May Primary Election Is May 21—Let the Mercury Help You Fill Out Your Ballot! Our endorsements and Voter Cheat Sheet are the best in town! SO LET’S GET VOTING! Wm. Steven Humphrey Welcome to a very busy and spicy May primary election! And this one has it all—a battle for both the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners (which could have big-time future ramifications) and Multnomah County DA, two Dems fighting to regain Oregon’s 5th Congressional District from Republican hands, a handful of measures, a crowded race to fill the seat of retiring US Rep. Blumenauer, and more! "DANG," you might be saying to yourself, "How am I supposed to research all these races myself, and make a logical, ethical choice?" We’ll tell you how... with the Mercury ’s May 2024 endorsements! We’ve been working our buttz off for months, interviewing candidates, digging deep into their pasts and voting records, and writing our fingers to the bone so we can present these endorsements—which we have to admit are pretty darn good and trustworthy. (Plus you know they’re correct if all the local conservatives are furious about them... AND THEY ARE! ?) And if you don’t have time to read all our thoughtful, well-researched endorsements before you vote, check out our handy-dandy Voter Cheat Sheet™ for your ballot filling-out needs! Reminder that election day is May 21 , and mailed ballots must be postmarked no later than May 21 in order to be counted. Here are your local ballot drop locations. And one last thing... our small but mighty editorial staff works our asses off for you, and we love it. Plus we spent months compiling this information while also continuing to give you the smart journalism and fun you’ve grown accustomed to on a daily basis, and trust us when we say that is A LOT of work. So if you use our endorsements or cheat sheet to fill out your ballot, will you consider dropping us a $5 (or more if you’re feeling generous) contribution which will keep us happy and healthy for a long time to come? PLEASE AND THANK YOU, YOU’RE THE BEST! ❤️ Savage Love Today 11:51 AM SAVAGE LOVE: Frozen "I’ve never been able to orgasm, and my current sexual relationship stinks. So why should I continue trying?" Dan Savage I’m a 40-year-old woman , he’s a 35-year-old man, we’ve been together for fifteen years. We met young, and I was his first serious partner. In the beginning, sex was fun, but I’ve never had an orgasm with anyone, ever. We had a ton of other things in common and we stayed together because it mostly worked. Fifteen years later, I have two big issues: I can’t orgasm — that’s issue number one — and even if I could accept that, the sex I have with my partner is unsatisfying and has been for years. He’s a caring partner, but he’s not good in bed. My attempts to explain to him what gets me excited were ignored. When I finally told him I couldn’t keep having unsatisfying sex, his self-esteem in bed was completely destroyed. Now we don’t have sex at all. Neither of us wants to end the relationship. We still cuddle, and we’re a great team. We have shared hobbies that take up 95% of our time (mountain sports), no kids (by choice), a decent income (finally!), and an otherwise rewarding life. We’ve also never demanded monogamy from each other but living in a small town in rural Canada makes seeking out other partners extremely complicated. I sometimes wonder if exploring my sexuality with someone else — maybe even a woman (I’m pretty sure I’m bi) — might help me get my playfulness back and inspire me to try again with my partner. We talk about these things very openly, so it wouldn’t be cheating. Has that ever worked? Continue reading » Good Morning, News! Today 9:03 AM Good Morning, News: No Criminal Charges for OLCC Bourbongate Employees, Phone Jail For Grant High Students, and Baltimore Blew Up a Bridge Yesterday Courtney Vaughn GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Go outside and enjoy the 75 degree weather today. We’re in for a high of 77, with temps cooling back down at night to the low 60s. We love to see it. In LOCAL NEWS: Remember when state leaders found out that Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission’s director and other employees were snagging coveted and sometimes rare bottles of bourbon like Pappy Van Winkle, all for themselves? Well, the Oregon Department of Justice is not recommending criminal charges for the #Bourbongate employees who had expensive bottles of bourbon set aside. A report released Monday details how OLCC employees would have coveted bottles of bourbon sent to liquor stores where only they could purchase them, rather than allowing the liquor to be sold to the general public. Investigators noted there was no policy explicitly prohibiting or allowing the practice, but the OLCC has since adopted a policy preventing the set aside” scheme. Despite getting access to banking records, state investigators still didn’t have enough evidence to prove wrongdoing, but an Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigation will take place soon. Frankly, I’m more surprised that so many people love bourbon. Who are these OLCC employees? A buncha cowboys? Men in suits with slicked back hair? (Please do not come for me, I’m just a trashy gal who never developed a taste for brown liquor.) This double pistol celebration was well earned. Full court putt for a 23 year old bottle of Pappy Van Winkle… pic.twitter.com/LYeCNv7ZWy — Shooter McGavin (@ShooterMcGavin_) January 8, 2024 Continue reading » — Advertisement — Music Yesterday 3:00 PM Popular Music From Parenthetical Girls Zac Pennington and Prudence Rees-Lee’s album Minor Works includes a 17-piece Russian chamber orchestra that was recorded via Zoom. Melissa Locker When we tell you Popular Music is one of the most creative bands out there, you’ll just have to believe us. That’s because you can’t Google the band. Go ahead and try. See? So you’ll just have to accept it when we say they are well worth the trip to Holocene this Friday, May 17. Yeah, yeah, we know that our SEO is really troubled,” says Popular Music’s Zac Pennington. "It’s impossible to Google ourselves, but that is probably healthy." So here’s what Google won’t tell you: Popular Music is the Melborne, Australia-based duo of Prudence Rees-Lee and Pennington, who is formerly of Portland’s own Parenthetical Girls and also a former music editor of this here publication. (You can Google that last one to read his " Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Cremaster Cycle ," and more.) It will not surprise you to hear Popular Music "burst out of pandemic times;" Pennington explains he found himself in a bit of a creative rut during COVID lockdown. He was living in Los Angeles, having lowered the curtains on the band for which he was best known, Parenthetical Girls, as he left the Pacific Northwest in 2014. Continue reading » EverOut Yesterday 11:00 AM The Top 44 Events in Portland This Week: May 13–19, 2024 The Postal Service & Death Cab For Cutie, Celeste Barber, and More EverOut Staff Buckle up, buttercups. This week is another wild ride, with event highlights from The Postal Service & Death Cab For Cutie to Lizzy McAlpine and from ALOK to Celeste Barber . MONDAY LIVE MUSIC Lizzy McAlpine: The Older Tour You might know Philly native Lizzy McAlpine from her breakthrough hit single "Ceilings," which went viral on TikTok in spring 2022. (The song sparked a trend in which users lip-synced to...