Category: Portland, Oregon Local News

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Good Morning, Portland! WEATHER NICE? WHAT IS THIS. 😧 LADDERS AND LADLES WE ARE IN THE FEBRUARY FAKEOUT.

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• The man accused of shooting two Portland police officers on the night of January 19 let loose a brief but largely nonsensical political tirade at his arraignment Wednesday morning. Eric Oelkers was indicted on 12 counts, including attempted aggravated murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a gun. According to the Oregonian, he referenced artificial intelligence and suggested authorities were using “neurological transmitters” against him. “This entire process is an unconstitutional and illegal insurrection,” Oelkers said. “Trump knows it. Trump’s coming.”

• On Wednesday, a federal judge barred federal immigration officers in Oregon from arresting people they identify as immigrants without a warrant or without finding that the person is likely to flee or escape. If you remember the Associated Press scoop from two weeks ago that found federal agents had been instructed to arrest people based on administrative warrants under certain conditions, without getting a judicial warrant from a judge, it’s a little bonkers to consider that agents in Oregon have been arresting people without even that. While federal immigration officers can still make warrantless arrests if they believe someone is a flight risk, they have a clear set of factors to consider, as recently outlined by ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. Let me sum up: Some sanity returned but not much sanity.

• Representative Maxine Dexter says she will travel to Texas to visit a family who were forcibly detained by federal immigration agents while seeking medical help for their seven-year-old daughter at Adventist Health Center on January 16. The family was not allowed to see a doctor and instead taken to Washington and then  flown to Texas. They’ve spent the last two weeks in South Texas Family Residential Center, 70 miles south of San Antonio. Dexter said she wanted to check conditions at the facility and that she’s concerned about a measles outbreak at the detention center.

• Today in I don’t like that, Black-owned newspaper The Skanner shuttered on January 30. The newspaper became a solely online publication in 2020, and when you visit the web address, currently, there isn’t even a trace of the work anymore—just a basic 404. The paper’s co-founder Bobbie Dore Foster told the Oregonian that The Skanner closed “due to the changing technology and readers choosing social media for their news.”

• A Portland-based psychiatrist and author appears to have met and worked with Jeffrey Epstein from 2015 to 2017. Records released by the DOJ indicate Dr. Paul Conti was commissioned by Epstein to provide psychiatric treatment to a young woman within Epstein’s inner circle. Conti has been praised by celebrities like Lady Gaga for his work around trauma healing. It’s unclear whether he knew about Epstein’s sex trafficking activities at the time. News editor Courtney Vaughn summed up what we know at this time.

•  US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is asking a federal judge to force Nike to turn over more documents and records about its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. According to documents filed on Wednesday, the commission has been investigating the Beaverton-headquartered athletic apparel corporation since May 2024 in response to allegations of systemic discrimination against white employees. While one may look at that date and think: oh, so before the Trump administration, the Oregonian‘s Matt Kish notes that the investigation began after America First Legal, a conservative legal group founded by top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, sent the commission complaints against Nike.

• It’s bill season in the Oregon State Legislature, so you’re about to hear HOW THINGS COULD BE, but it’s also important to pay attention if you want/don’t want Waymos blanketing the city. Is Oregon really ready for driverless cars? Have we matured since we tossed all those scooters in the river? (No.) Are we keeping our cats inside, safe from potential Waymos? (Also no.) HB 4085, a bill currently under consideration in the state House Transportation Committee,  would allow companies—not just Waymo, but certainly Waymo—to let loose their driverless carmies, offering ride and deliver services.

• The week’s Mercury Music Picks are here with concerts to fill your early February calendars. We celebrate two music birthdays this week, Miami reggaetón princess MJ Nebreda is in town, and “You Got Gold” starts its Cinema 21 run. Plus the new New Music Portland section of MMP is unreasonable dense! 😳

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Fortunately or unfortunately, I think we’re going to be reading the Epstein files for a while.

In the Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, there are several instances of unredacted names of Epstein’s accusers, raising concerns about privacy. n.pr/4tgh06T

[image or embed]

— NPR (@npr.org) February 3, 2026 at 3:19 AM

• The New Start treaty between Russia and the US expires Thursday, meaning that while both nations already keep nuclear weapon reserves far exceeding the amount necessary to obliterate all life on our planet… everyone can commence stockpiling again. The 2010 treaty set mutual limits on the two countries’ respective nuclear arsenals.

• On Wednesday, US border czar Tom Homan announced he’s moving 700 federal agents out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. NPR’s Meg Anderson pointed out on Up First that leaves around 2,300 federal agents in the state and isn’t really a significant change. Furthermore, this may signal the department’s desire to attack another city.

• OpenAI said in a blog post that ChatGPT is fielding one million prompts about local news every week. 🙁 And if you believe everything OpenAI says, you might just love AI news!

• The 2026 Winter Olympics kick off tomorrow in Northern Italy, specifically Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. This year they front-loaded the figure skating so look lively if you watch to watch the only important sport at the Olympics—which is: figure skating and by just one person. The other sports are fine but not as good, sorry.

• I know this was weighing pretty heavily on all our minds, but it DOES appear that Universal Studios will allow Spanish figure skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate to perform to music from 2015 American animated comedy film Minions. Sabate has performed to this program all season, thinking that he had gone through the proper channels to gain permission. But last Friday the massive entertainment company pumped the brakes asking for more details about the music… and also he’s wearing a blue-and-yellow Minions-themed outfit? That’ll cost ya. It appears everything is going forward however, with just one last piece of approval needed from Pharrell Williams.

• Now, before we go. Just want to get everyone on the same page.

Well, well, well… back again I see. Interested in availing yourself of Portland’s music news of the day, are we? Needing to fill your early February dance cards, or wanting insight on new releases here in Portland? And you’ve returned to Mercury Music Picks knowing you’ll satiate all your music knowledge desires within these words. Your cunning precedes you, gentle reader. 

Take care of yourselves and your communities out there, y’all. This includes our unhoused and immigrant neighbors, our Palestinian and trans siblings, community members experiencing disabilities, and more. The government isn’t going to tend your fields, but it will harvest your crops. Build bonds and frameworks of care for one another and for yourself. I love you.  

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Friday, February 6

Arrington de Dionyso / Cliffwalker / Tai Woodville 

For fans of Soriah, Be Present Art Group, Experimental Dental School

If you seek a beacon of light in the PNW’s many DIY scenes, look no further than Arrington de Dionyso. The evergreen champion of sound exploration is a music elder, having founded the K Records band Old Time Relijun in the ’90s, of which Phil Elverum was at one point a member. Outside of OTR, which is already a freaky force to be reckoned with, de Dionyso’s solo research has taken him to new dimensions. Tuvan throat singing, Eastern drones, and circular breath work are but pieces of the Dionysian puzzle. The serene mallet work of Cliffwalker, and acoustic meanderings of Tai Woodville swaddle us in preparation of the powerful mystery that is an Arrington performance. (Turn! Turn! Turn!, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)

Dante’s 26th Anniversary ft. The Mummies / Nasalrod / Hopeless Jack

For fans of King Khan, Murder City Devils, Dead Moon

After their 25th anniversary shows last year with Satan’s Pilgrims and Guantanamo Baywatch, Dante’s needed another feral lineup for their 26th to keep the energy going. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the surfy garage rockers in The Mummies make feral look domesticated. WE NEED MORE THEMED BANDS! Up Sam the Sham! Up The Locust! Up Unga Dunga! Anyways, Chairman and the Nasalrod gang are about to kick higher than the Sinferno dancers in the middle slot, with Hopeless Jack strumming us in the right direction as the opener. Don’t blow a gasket daddy-o, get down to the new sound at Dante’s swingin’ 26th! (Dante’s, 9 pm, more info here, 21+)

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Friday, February 6 – Thursday, February 12

You Got Gold

For fans of Justin Townes Earle, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson

It is one of my greatest personal disappointments not to have seen John Prine live before he split for that great juke joint in the sky in 2020 due to complications from COVID-19. You Got Gold is a celebration of life concert film, filmed at the Ryman Auditorium in 2022. Featuring just a few of Prine’s admirers and collaborators: Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, and Dwight Yoakam, among others. His duet album In Spite of Ourselves is one of the the most moving pieces of recorded music in music history, on which Lucinda Williams is a featured duettist. This should be a special run at the westside favorite. (Cinema 21, various times, more info here, all ages)

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Saturday, February 7

Self Group Collective 16th BDay Bash

For fans of Throbbing Gristle, Arrington de Dionyso, Unwound

The anarcho-DIY punks behind Self Group Collective have been doing it for 16 years! Where does the time go? Releasing albums by Sama Dams, Modern Folk, and Self Group comrade Kelli Schaefer, Self Group Collective is also deeply embedded in the mutual aid landscape of Portland. In fact, on top of Yardsss’ post-everything experimentation, the acid freakout-jazz that is Halfbird, and the newly minted mathy post-hardcore of Mids that will all be on stage this night, Self Group is also hosting a bunch of mutual aid and direct action orgs tabling the event AND screening It’s Revolution or Death Part III: Reclaiming the World Wherever We Stand. How TF do they do it all? Don’t forget to bring cold weather supply items for our unhoused and housing-insecure neighbors, collected by Sunnyside Shower Project (Blackwater, 7 pm, more info here, all ages)

Gouge Away / Dry Socket / Violencia / Tolls / The Names of Our Friends / Cherub Chains

For fans of Mannequin Pussy, Labrat, Cerce

Did y’all see Gouge Away tear it the fuck up at Project Pabst last year? They opened the entire festival, perfectly setting the weekend’s dial to LFG. Now half Portland-based, Gouge Away are one of the city’s most powerful hardcore bands. Oh, you knew that already…. Well then, try tucking into “Rigged Survival,” the new single from another of our toughest acts, Dry Socket. Hopefully the single is heralding a new Dry Socket LP, it’s been a couple years since we’ve been destroyed by one of their full lengths. Tijuana’s Violencia are undoubtedly the power violence shredders of our dreams, and be prepared to pay the fee when post-hardcore juggernauts Tolls take the stage. Because this is a hardcore show, there are six bands on the bill. Coming in first place are Portland screamo punishers The Names of Our Friends, and Seattle’s hardest bruisers, Cherub Chains. (High Limit Room, 7 pm, more info here, all ages)

MJ Nebreda / Leah York / Meowhouse / Patrona 

For fans of Ms Nina / La Goony Chonga / Safety Trance 

When the real ones at Portland’s premiere Latinx booking crew Global Based brought MJ Nebreda through town a couple years ago, it was all reggaetón and sweat and so many huns (non-gendered) throwing so much ass. I had trouble walking home at 2 am because I left my cheeks at Holocene. The Miami-based, Peruvian-Venezuelan producer and DJ serves a deep dancefloor dish, no utensils needed—and the shes, gays, and theys plan to eat. Seattle’s champion of Latinx beats Leah York is in town for the throwdown, along with Portland’s Meowhouse and Patrona (Holocene, 9 pm, more info here, 21+)

IM NOT PRETTY Listening Party

Ahead of they/them/their album release party at Coffin Club on Friday the 13th, Portland’s angriest indie outfit, Nonbinary Girlfriend host a super secret listening party at new rock & roll watering hole, Trouble Bar. The new album, IM NOT PRETTY has the experience of many lives lived and many understandings of self breathing through its songs—frontman James cracking himself open as a means to collective processing and healing. But shh, you didn’t hear it from us 🤫 (Trouble Bar, 7 pm, more info here, 21+)

Also very worth it…

Girl Chow / Trigger Fae / Dogs By Desgn / Perel Mother / Pavement Puppy / Michael Cera Bathroom Poster at High Limit Room – Feb 4, more info here

House of Warmth / Veradas / Gvth Dvddy at The Six – Feb 6, more info here

Byron the Aquarius / Dano / DJ Dissolve at Process – Feb 6, more info here

Horsebag / Worm Commons / Punchin’ Onions at Wyrd Hut – Feb 6, more info here

Hope & Light: Mystical Choral Chamber Music by Arvo Pärt, Tikey Zes, Michael Adamis, Ivan Moody, and John Taverner at St. Mary’s Cathedral – Feb 7, more info here

Robyn Hitchcock at Wonder Ballroom – Feb 7, more info here

Pati Rojas / Bad Assets / Brooklyn Del & The Revelators at Showdown Saloon – Feb 7, more info here

Dyke Nite ft. DJ Aspen / Stas THEE Boss / DJ Ashe at Nova PDX – Feb 7, more info here 

Tispur / Behalf / Stonecrop at Turn! Turn! Turn! – Feb 7, more info here

DJ Dread at Alleyway – Feb 8, more info here 

Tradie / Postrich Bear / Cowboys at Swan Dive – Feb 8, more info here

Numbskull Revolution at Clinton Street Theater – Feb 10, more info here

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New Music Portland:

In this house, we love a music video. Portland bands and artists, MAKE MORE MUSIC VIDEOS! Get absolutely unhinged with it. Ask your A/V friends to shoot something with you, DIY that shit and make it yourself! Have you seen Nasalrod’s video for “The Maker” yet? 1) It rips so incredibly hard, and 2) It features shoot locations all over Portland, with cameos from some of our city’s greatest rocka rollas. A perfect Portland music video. You’ve heard of the BBC, but do you know The Big Box Set? Reach out to BBS and play inside one of their incredible hand-built sets in NE Portland! Audio and visual go hang-in-hand, my loves. Let’s get to gettin’!

The fine folks in Ages and Ages are gearing up to release their new Fine Thanks and You album March 6. Lucky for us they’ve shared their charming video for “Wild Ride” as an appetizer to the full meal. Is parlour-pop a thing? It is now. 

Not to be dramatic, but the new Barry Walker Jr. album Paleo Sol will absolutely be on my Best Portland Album’s of 2026 list. Divinity delivered as ambient pedal steel. No vocals, only Sol. 

Related: Read about the music author and Mercury writer Alison Jean Cole takes with her on her rockhouding expeditions. Hint: It’s ambient pedal and lap steel. 

Portland composer Derek Hunter Wilson is slated to share his sparsely gorgeous third solo record via Beacon Sound on February 20. Sculptures is the pianist’s ode to the big water and shorelines of the PNW. I have it on good authority that Mercury staff writer Lindsay Costello will be sharing a full Sculptures album review with us shortly.  

Emil Amos of Holy Sons, Grails, Om, Lilacs & Champagne, et al. has collaborated with Steve Moore—AKA Zombi—for the Giallo inspired LP Zone Blue as a followup to Amos’ 2023 Zone Black. The new Zone drops March 27, grab some opium and enjoy. 

Related: Read our reviews of Holy Sons’ two 2025 albums, Lost Decade IV and Puritan Themes. 

Ahead of his new Retribution album out later this month, Mic Crenshaw dropped a music video for “Afrika.” Shot between Zanzibar, Arusha, Tanzania, and Portland, the video is a beautiful, wild ride through the stunning visuals and cultures of the respective shoot locations. Heads-up: GZA’s February 9 Hawthorne Theatre date, for which Crenshaw is opening, has been rescheduled. New date TBA. 

Portland space rock explorers Natural Magic released their new album II in late January. It grooves and flows along like so many Tangerine Dream songs. Get lost in the atmospherics with some mushroom tea and a sunny day. 

Roman Norfleet & Be Present Art Group have emerged in the last years as creators of sacred sounds and energy, bearing torches for ancestors past, present, and future. Lead by Norfleet, the living music collective share their new Unreleased EP February 16. There is, as of the writing of this article, now traces of Unreleased online, keep an eye on the Group’s Bandcamp for updates. 

Country rockers Silver Horse just dropped their sweet little four song EP, check it out! 

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Portland Music News: 

Founder, owner, and smiling face behind the counter of Music Millennium, Terry Currier is calling it quits and heading into—hopefully—a life of leisure. But not before launching a search for the next owner of Portland’s longest-running record store (57 years!). Currier, being the Portland music champion he is says, “It’s time to find a successor to keep Music Millennium going for many years to come. I’ve turned down every offer from developers that have called over the years wanting to buy the building. I want that building to [be] part of Portland’s landscape forever. Plus, I want Music Millennium to be in it for just as many years.” A real ride-or-die Currier is. The Mercury wishes Currier all the best in whatever he gets up to in his post Music Millennium endeavors. 

You think you got what it takes to join the PDX Pop Now! Listening Committee? Then do it! It’s fun and you get to be part of shaping the festival and who ends up on this year’s compilation. Join today! 

Well, well, well… back again I see. Interested in availing yourself of Portland’s music news of the day, are we? Needing to fill your early February dance cards, or wanting insight on new releases here in Portland? And you’ve returned to Mercury Music Picks knowing you’ll satiate all your music knowledge desires within these words. Your cunning precedes you, gentle reader. 

Take care of yourselves and your communities out there, y’all. This includes our unhoused and immigrant neighbors, our Palestinian and trans siblings, community members experiencing disabilities, and more. The government isn’t going to tend your fields, but it will harvest your crops. Build bonds and frameworks of care for one another and for yourself. I love you.  

---

Friday, February 6

Arrington de Dionyso / Cliffwalker / Tai Woodville 

For fans of Soriah, Be Present Art Group, Experimental Dental School

If you seek a beacon of light in the PNW’s many DIY scenes, look no further than Arrington de Dionyso. The evergreen champion of sound exploration is a music elder, having founded the K Records band Old Time Relijun in the ’90s, of which Phil Elverum was at one point a member. Outside of OTR, which is already a freaky force to be reckoned with, de Dionyso’s solo research has taken him to new dimensions. Tuvan throat singing, Eastern drones, and circular breath work are but pieces of the Dionysian puzzle. The serene mallet work of Cliffwalker, and acoustic meanderings of Tai Woodville swaddle us in preparation of the powerful mystery that is an Arrington performance. (Turn! Turn! Turn!, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)

Dante’s 26th Anniversary ft. The Mummies / Nasalrod / Hopeless Jack

For fans of King Khan, Murder City Devils, Dead Moon

After their 25th anniversary shows last year with Satan’s Pilgrims and Guantanamo Baywatch, Dante’s needed another feral lineup for their 26th to keep the energy going. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the surfy garage rockers in The Mummies make feral look domesticated. WE NEED MORE THEMED BANDS! Up Sam the Sham! Up The Locust! Up Unga Dunga! Anyways, Chairman and the Nasalrod gang are about to kick higher than the Sinferno dancers in the middle slot, with Hopeless Jack strumming us in the right direction as the opener. Don’t blow a gasket daddy-o, get down to the new sound at Dante’s swingin’ 26th! (Dante’s, 9 pm, more info here, 21+)

---

Friday, February 6 – Thursday, February 12

You Got Gold

For fans of Justin Townes Earle, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson

It is one of my greatest personal disappointments not to have seen John Prine live before he split for that great juke joint in the sky in 2020 due to complications from COVID-19. You Got Gold is a celebration of life concert film, filmed at the Ryman Auditorium in 2022. Featuring just a few of Prine’s admirers and collaborators: Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, and Dwight Yoakam, among others. His duet album In Spite of Ourselves is one of the the most moving pieces of recorded music in music history, on which Lucinda Williams is a featured duettist. This should be a special run at the westside favorite. (Cinema 21, various times, more info here, all ages)

---

Saturday, February 7

Self Group Collective 16th BDay Bash

For fans of Throbbing Gristle, Arrington de Dionyso, Unwound

The anarcho-DIY punks behind Self Group Collective have been doing it for 16 years! Where does the time go? Releasing albums by Sama Dams, Modern Folk, and Self Group comrade Kelli Schaefer, Self Group Collective is also deeply embedded in the mutual aid landscape of Portland. In fact, on top of Yardsss’ post-everything experimentation, the acid freakout-jazz that is Halfbird, and the newly minted mathy post-hardcore of Mids that will all be on stage this night, Self Group is also hosting a bunch of mutual aid and direct action orgs tabling the event AND screening It’s Revolution or Death Part III: Reclaiming the World Wherever We Stand. How TF do they do it all? Don’t forget to bring cold weather supply items for our unhoused and housing-insecure neighbors, collected by Sunnyside Shower Project (Blackwater, 7 pm, more info here, all ages)

Gouge Away / Dry Socket / Violencia / Tolls / The Names of Our Friends / Cherub Chains

For fans of Mannequin Pussy, Labrat, Cerce

Did y’all see Gouge Away tear it the fuck up at Project Pabst last year? They opened the entire festival, perfectly setting the weekend’s dial to LFG. Now half Portland-based, Gouge Away are one of the city’s most powerful hardcore bands. Oh, you knew that already…. Well then, try tucking into “Rigged Survival,” the new single from another of our toughest acts, Dry Socket. Hopefully the single is heralding a new Dry Socket LP, it’s been a couple years since we’ve been destroyed by one of their full lengths. Tijuana’s Violencia are undoubtedly the power violence shredders of our dreams, and be prepared to pay the fee when post-hardcore juggernauts Tolls take the stage. Because this is a hardcore show, there are six bands on the bill. Coming in first place are Portland screamo punishers The Names of Our Friends, and Seattle’s hardest bruisers, Cherub Chains. (High Limit Room, 7 pm, more info here, all ages)

MJ Nebreda / Leah York / Meowhouse / Patrona 

For fans of Ms Nina / La Goony Chonga / Safety Trance 

When the real ones at Portland’s premiere Latinx booking crew Global Based brought MJ Nebreda through town a couple years ago, it was all reggaetón and sweat and so many huns (non-gendered) throwing so much ass. I had trouble walking home at 2 am because I left my cheeks at Holocene. The Miami-based, Peruvian-Venezuelan producer and DJ serves a deep dancefloor dish, no utensils needed—and the shes, gays, and theys plan to eat. Seattle’s champion of Latinx beats Leah York is in town for the throwdown, along with Portland’s Meowhouse and Patrona (Holocene, 9 pm, more info here, 21+)

IM NOT PRETTY Listening Party

Ahead of they/them/their album release party at Coffin Club on Friday the 13th, Portland’s angriest indie outfit, Nonbinary Girlfriend host a super secret listening party at new rock & roll watering hole, Trouble Bar. The new album, IM NOT PRETTY has the experience of many lives lived and many understandings of self breathing through its songs—frontman James cracking himself open as a means to collective processing and healing. But shh, you didn’t hear it from us 🤫 (Trouble Bar, 7 pm, more info here, 21+)

Also very worth it…

Girl Chow / Trigger Fae / Dogs By Desgn / Perel Mother / Pavement Puppy / Michael Cera Bathroom Poster at High Limit Room – Feb 4, more info here

House of Warmth / Veradas / Gvth Dvddy at The Six – Feb 6, more info here

Byron the Aquarius / Dano / DJ Dissolve at Process – Feb 6, more info here

Horsebag / Worm Commons / Punchin’ Onions at Wyrd Hut – Feb 6, more info here

Hope & Light: Mystical Choral Chamber Music by Arvo Pärt, Tikey Zes, Michael Adamis, Ivan Moody, and John Taverner at St. Mary’s Cathedral – Feb 7, more info here

Robyn Hitchcock at Wonder Ballroom – Feb 7, more info here

Pati Rojas / Bad Assets / Brooklyn Del & The Revelators at Showdown Saloon – Feb 7, more info here

Dyke Nite ft. DJ Aspen / Stas THEE Boss / DJ Ashe at Nova PDX – Feb 7, more info here 

Tispur / Behalf / Stonecrop at Turn! Turn! Turn! – Feb 7, more info here

DJ Dread at Alleyway – Feb 8, more info here 

Tradie / Postrich Bear / Cowboys at Swan Dive – Feb 8, more info here

Numbskull Revolution at Clinton Street Theater – Feb 10, more info here

---

New Music Portland:

In this house, we love a music video. Portland bands and artists, MAKE MORE MUSIC VIDEOS! Get absolutely unhinged with it. Ask your A/V friends to shoot something with you, DIY that shit and make it yourself! Have you seen Nasalrod’s video for “The Maker” yet? 1) It rips so incredibly hard, and 2) It features shoot locations all over Portland, with cameos from some of our city’s greatest rocka rollas. A perfect Portland music video. You’ve heard of the BBC, but do you know The Big Box Set? Reach out to BBS and play inside one of their incredible hand-built sets in NE Portland! Audio and visual go hang-in-hand, my loves. Let’s get to gettin’!

The fine folks in Ages and Ages are gearing up to release their new Fine Thanks and You album March 6. Lucky for us they’ve shared their charming video for “Wild Ride” as an appetizer to the full meal. Is parlour-pop a thing? It is now. 

Not to be dramatic, but the new Barry Walker Jr. album Paleo Sol will absolutely be on my Best Portland Album’s of 2026 list. Divinity delivered as ambient pedal steel. No vocals, only Sol. 

Related: Read about the music author and Mercury writer Alison Jean Cole takes with her on her rockhouding expeditions. Hint: It’s ambient pedal and lap steel. 

Portland composer Derek Hunter Wilson is slated to share his sparsely gorgeous third solo record via Beacon Sound on February 20. Sculptures is the pianist’s ode to the big water and shorelines of the PNW. I have it on good authority that Mercury staff writer Lindsay Costello will be sharing a full Sculptures album review with us shortly.  

Emil Amos of Holy Sons, Grails, Om, Lilacs & Champagne, et al. has collaborated with Steve Moore—AKA Zombi—for the Giallo inspired LP Zone Blue as a followup to Amos’ 2023 Zone Black. The new Zone drops March 27, grab some opium and enjoy. 

Related: Read our reviews of Holy Sons’ two 2025 albums, Lost Decade IV and Puritan Themes. 

Ahead of his new Retribution album out later this month, Mic Crenshaw dropped a music video for “Afrika.” Shot between Zanzibar, Arusha, Tanzania, and Portland, the video is a beautiful, wild ride through the stunning visuals and cultures of the respective shoot locations. Heads-up: GZA’s February 9 Hawthorne Theatre date, for which Crenshaw is opening, has been rescheduled. New date TBA. 

Portland space rock explorers Natural Magic released their new album II in late January. It grooves and flows along like so many Tangerine Dream songs. Get lost in the atmospherics with some mushroom tea and a sunny day. 

Roman Norfleet & Be Present Art Group have emerged in the last years as creators of sacred sounds and energy, bearing torches for ancestors past, present, and future. Lead by Norfleet, the living music collective share their new Unreleased EP February 16. There is, as of the writing of this article, now traces of Unreleased online, keep an eye on the Group’s Bandcamp for updates. 

Country rockers Silver Horse just dropped their sweet little four song EP, check it out! 

---

Portland Music News: 

Founder, owner, and smiling face behind the counter of Music Millennium, Terry Currier is calling it quits and heading into—hopefully—a life of leisure. But not before launching a search for the next owner of Portland’s longest-running record store (57 years!). Currier, being the Portland music champion he is says, “It’s time to find a successor to keep Music Millennium going for many years to come. I’ve turned down every offer from developers that have called over the years wanting to buy the building. I want that building to [be] part of Portland’s landscape forever. Plus, I want Music Millennium to be in it for just as many years.” A real ride-or-die Currier is. The Mercury wishes Currier all the best in whatever he gets up to in his post Music Millennium endeavors. 

You think you got what it takes to join the PDX Pop Now! Listening Committee? Then do it! It’s fun and you get to be part of shaping the festival and who ends up on this year’s compilation. Join today! 

In 2015, a Portland-based psychiatrist wrote a curious email to Jeffrey Epstein.

“Jeffrey, I found the time spent with you to be enjoyable and fascinating, and I appreciate your hospitality.”

The email came from Dr. Paul M. Conti, a psychiatrist and author in Portland who’s been praised by clients like Lady Gaga and Tommy Hilfiger for his breakthrough work on healing trauma. 

Dr. Conti appears to have met and coordinated with Jeffrey Epstein off and on about a decade ago. The US Department of Justice’s recent release of additional documents related to the sex trafficker and convicted sex offender shows email correspondence from 2015 to 2017 between Epstein and Conti. The emails indicate Epstein was introduced to Conti by a mutual acquaintance, and Epstein arranged for him to treat a female friend of his during Conti’s occasional trips to New York. 

Conti and Epstein communicated via email in 2015 via Dr. Peter Attia, a renowned health and longevity researcher, influencer, and author who’s made frequent guest appearances as a contributor to CBS News. Records indicate Conti was introduced to Epstein by Attia before the emails about psychiatric care began. 

“Jeffrey has a friend he’d like you to possibly help with,” Attia wrote to Conti on October 8, 2015. Two hours later, Epstein notified Conti that he’d passed Conti’s email address on to someone he described as “a tiny woman, weighs [redacted] pounds, is taking 30 mg cymbalta, has trouble getting motivated, suffers anxiety, and is not doing well.”

“thanks bill me of course,” Epstein added.

The records aren’t an indication of wrongdoing, and Conti hasn’t been accused of any crimes. But the physician’s involvement with a convicted sex offender raises questions about whether Conti was legitimately treating and billing patients in accordance with privacy laws and medical ethics, and whether he knew about Epstein’s sex trafficking activities at the time.

Conti didn’t respond to the Mercury’s inquiries and requests for comment. His medical practice, Pacific Premier Group, also did not return the Mercury’s requests for a phone call Tuesday. 

Conti treats patients throughout the United States, including in New York and Oregon, the location of his primary practice, according to his online bio. He was licensed with the Oregon Medical Board in 2007 and continues to work as a psychiatrist in Portland through Pacific Premier Group, a practice he founded in 2014.

While the records don’t paint a definitive picture of Conti’s involvement with Epstein or the relationship between Epstein and the patient, a 2016 email exchange suggests Epstein may have been providing living arrangements for her. The emails show an unidentified woman gave Epstein the rundown on her therapy appointments with Conti “every 2-3 weeks,” her school schedule, and consultations with a doctor about freezing her eggs. 

Note: Excerpts included in this story have been edited to remove symbols and characters that were likely errors introduced in the files during retrieval and conversion.

Epstein told the woman he “might be giving up the [apartments]” and needed to discuss plans with her. 

“I am applying for internships so that I will have some work, but that can be sorted around whether you need me. Thought it best to apply anyway,” the woman told Epstein in March 2016. “I understand completely. Maybe it will be less stress for you. And less risk. I’ll move in with you. Just joking… I will have to find something.”

Another email from an unknown sender to Epstein in 2016 suggests Conti was at least aware of Epstein’s lifestyle, influence, and leverage over others.

“Conti said that the fact that Jeffrey can have anyone around him and that he chooses me speaks volumes to his character 😄😄 ( I thought it was he other way around)( we are lucky to have each other,” the sender wrote.

Around the same time, Epstein sent an email to an unknown sender about an acquaintance of Conti’s from Harvard.

“Conti wants to set me up with him in link below rick/Richard gerson,” the sender replied to Epstein. “I am s0000 nervous, he’s like a real adult 😳”

Authorities first began investigating Epstein, the financier and investor, in 2005 after police got reports of underage girls being hired to work at his mansion to give sexual massages.

After working out a questionable deal with federal prosecutors to avoid a federal criminal case, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of soliciting prostitution and another count of soliciting prostitution from a minor. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail, but managed to serve the bulk of his sentence under a work release program that allowed him to come and go from custody. He was later indicted on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019. Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell about a month after his arrest. His death was ruled a suicide.

Epstein’s emails not only shed light on his prolific operations, they unveiled several powerful, high-profile clients and cronies from the likes of Donald Trump and Bill Gates, to the former Prince Andrew. Multiple messages between Epstein and his celebrity clientele were coded with euphemisms for the purposes of arranging sexual encounters with women–many of them underage. 

Conti’s name and email correspondence appears in three heavily redacted data sets released by the US Department of Justice. According to the records, Dr. Conti corresponded with Epstein between 2015 and 2017 regarding psychiatric treatment that Epstein arranged and agreed to pay for on behalf of a young woman. The emails made no mention of consent on behalf of the patient to arrange care or release sensitive medical information to Epstein. Several of the messages were interspersed with personal, friendly greetings to Epstein from Conti.

What the records show

Conti’s response to the initial email exchange suggests he maintained a more personal relationship with Epstein. 

“Jeffrey, I found the time spent with you to be enjoyable and fascinating, and I appreciate your hospitality. I welcome helping your friend if I can. Would you like to set something up through assistants, or let me know a few days/times that would work for you? Thanks very much,” Conti wrote.

Conti again replied to Epstein noting he’d made contact with the female friend and would arrange an appointment with her during an upcoming trip to New York. “I appreciate your trust, and will take the best care of her that I can,” Conti told Epstein.

The two corresponded via email again on October 20 to discuss a treatment plan, billing rates, and appointment length for a patient who was later referred to in different emails as “Susan.” Conti confirmed Epstein would pay for everything privately at a rate of $1,500 for a 90-minute intake, and $800 per hour thereafter. Conti concluded the email with a personal note to Epstein. “And, as its [sic] no surprise that you are a fascinating guy to talk to, if you are interested in meeting again under whatever circumstances you might prefer, please let me know!” Conti wrote.

Conti’s name appears again in an email sent from an unknown sender to Epstein on October 20 with the subject “thank you.”

“Just saw Paul conti, he was amazing! Spoke to me for 2.5 hours and wouldn’t charge me. Thank you Jeffrey 💖” the sender wrote to Epstein.

Records show Conti and Epstein corresponded briefly again on October 21 and October 27.

“Thank you for your confidence regarding [redacted.] I absolutely believe that I know how to both understand and help her, and will do my best,” Conti wrote to Epstein. “Please email or call any time … Given the financial cycle of a small business, I usually invoice monthly. If that sounds okay, I can forward it on to you however you prefer. I will be in New York again the week of November 8, and I believe my assistant has already scheduled. Hope you are well.”

Epstein responded with a terse reply: “what ever you and [redacted] work out ok with me.”

Other communication suggests the patient in question may have been a college student, or someone around that age. On October 23, Epstein received an email from a sender, presumably the person he arranged treatment for. 

“Thank you my dear Jeffrey, I met with him this morning and I must say that I never imagined speaking to someone could calm me like it does. He gave me [redacted]… They are called [redacted]. Not a long term fix but work instantly on my [redacted] so I think they can be helpful for now,” the sender wrote. “….He is really smart and helps me to see things in a very different light and he is very kind and empathetic. My concern is the cost and that I feel uncomfortable putting this on you. Two things I can do is speak to aetna(my school medical aid) and ask my mother if she would be able to assist in some way.”

Epstein replied, “I’m not worried about the money no problem.”

Conti reached out to Epstein again on November 1 to check in. 

The subject of health insurance never came up in initial emails between Epstein and Conti about billing rates. Epstein readily agreed to pay for the young woman’s treatment out of his own pocket, though messages from November 2015 show Conti’s executive assistant at Pacific Premier reached out to a person named Susan via email with receipts for visits with Dr. Conti. The trove of files contains several digital documents with inconsistent redactions, but the name Susan was used again in at least one other email exchange between Conti and Epstein. The recipient replied a few days later noting she was trying to submit receipts to Aetna, her health insurer. 

At one point, Richard Kahn of HBRK Associates–an accounting firm associated with Epstein’s financial transactions–also got involved to ask about insurance reimbursement and payment processing. Bella Klein, one of Epstein’s accountants, advised Kahn that “technical issues” were slowing down payment processing, but more information would be known the following week.

Conti reached out to Epstein again in early November to discuss the woman’s treatment and billing, and then again a few weeks later.

“I hope that you are well, and continuing your habit of intensely engaging in life!” Conti wrote to Epstein on November 16, 2015. “I just want you to know that I believe [redacted] has done a lot of good work in just a few sessions,” Conti wrote to Epstein. “The key, as often if not always, [is] self-understanding, so that intentional choices can be made in the context of clarity (or as close to clarity as humans can get.) Please let me know if you have any questions/concerns, and I will continue to do the best that I can for her.” The email includes Conti’s professional signature, including his name, employer, and the address where he practices in Portland.

The Mercury consulted with licensed mental health professionals on background who suggested the arrangement is somewhat unusual. The informal communication about services rendered, and frequent discussion of private patient information and treatment plans with Epstein suggests an atypical scenario. Physicians are required by law to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which prohibits doctors from disclosing patients’ medical information or treatment plans to others without the patient’s knowledge or consent. It’s not clear from the emails whether the patient granted that consent.

Perhaps more unusual is an email Conti sent to Epstein in 2016, in which Conti appeared to reach out to Epstein unprompted to solicit new clients and update him on what he described as a new consulting business. 

“I hope that you are well. I’m not sure if you remember me; I’m the psychiatrist who visited you about this time last year with Peter Attia (who, as you may know, is now on Easter Island digging around for bacteria, further proving that he is anything but your average human being!) I appreciate that you supported my work with Susan, and I do believe that I have been helpful to her. She is such a lovely person, and it is a pleasure to work with her,” Conti wrote. “I don’t want to bug you, and am just checking in with you, in case you have anyone else you might want me to work with. I am also doing business consulting around executive assessment, hiring decisions, problem solving, and performance optimization—probably not something you need, but I figure it can’t hurt to let you know! Please let me know if any of the above is of interest.”

The Oregon Medical Board declined to answer specific questions about professional standards and conduct, but a spokesperson indicated the Board relies on the American Medical Association’s Code of Ethics for licensed physicians. Oregon also maintains its own statements of philosophy regarding the practice of medicine. 

State and national rules dictate how physicians should advertise their services and handle patient referrals to and from other doctors. Oregon laws stipulate that “employing any person to solicit patients for the licensee” aside from a professional organization is grounds for license suspension, but the statutes don’t mention whether a licensed physician can solicit clients directly from friends or acquaintances. 

The American Psychiatric Association could not be reached for comment or questions about its professional standards. 

In November 2016, Conti’s name appears in a cryptic email to Epstein from an unknown sender who said: “Rick texted saying ‘Paul (conti) says great things about you’” followed by “Conti says we are both good, kind people and he’s only [done] this once before in 15 year career.”

The context of that email is unclear. 

The DOJ records released last week also show Conti and Epstein connected again in June 2017 via Conti’s executive assistant at Pacific Premier Group. The assistant reached out to Epstein to arrange a time for him and Dr. Conti to talk by phone. It appears to be one of the last times the two emailed each other.

“Chat?” Epstein wrote to Conti in an email with no other message. 

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Good morning, Portland! Ignore what Punxsutawney Phil predicted earlier this week because it doesn’t feel much like winter. Today, we can expect partly sunny skies and a high of 61 degrees with a low of 42.

IN LOCAL NEWS: 

• Among those whose name appears in the Epstein files is a Portland-based psychiatrist. Dr. Paul Conti apparently corresponded with and met Epstein during the span of two years from 2015 to 2017. Emails between the two men indicate Epstein solicited the help of Dr. Conti to treat a friend. Emailing back and forth with a creepy sex trafficker and convicted sex offender doesn’t make a person guilty of anything, but some of Conti’s behavior (like emailing Epstein out of the blue in 2017 to ask if he has anyone else he wants Conti to treat) raises red flags. Other Portland-related documents in the files include FBI news briefings from 2020.

• Yesterday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security, prohibiting agents in Portland from using crowd control munitions like tear gas on protesters in retaliation for non-violently demonstrating outside the ICE facility, unless they can prove an “imminent threat of physical harm” to a law enforcement officer. The TRO is effective for two weeks, and stems from a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Oregon on behalf of five people, including independent journalists, protesters, and the infamous “Portland chicken” (AKA Jack Dickinson). “In a well-functioning constitutional democratic republic, free speech, courageous newsgathering, and nonviolent protest are all permitted, respected, and even celebrated. In an authoritarian regime, that is not the case,” Judge Michael Simon wrote in his order granting the TRO.

• Tomorrow, Portland City Council is scheduled to consider removing two people from the new Community Board for Police Accountability. The board, which isn’t operational yet, was initiated after voters approved a measure in 2020 for a new, truly independent police oversight body with the authority to investigate and terminate officers for misconduct. Two of the people who were appointed to serve on the board back in June are now being recommended for removal over what the city says is “bias for or against police.” One of the two members says she was deemed ineligible to serve over past social media posts from years ago indicating her disapproval and distrust of police. She questions why the city didn’t make that determination before she was selected by a nominating committee (which includes police) and asked to undergo hours of training.

• Bummer news for Belmont: 

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• We know Trump is prone to saying outlandish shit, but the question is always whether he’ll act on any of it. The president went on Dan Bongino’s podcast where he suggested the federal government should handle elections. In case you’re wondering, Bongino is a former deputy director of the FBI, who, like many other insufferable dudes, felt he needed a podcast.) The thought of Trump getting any closer to federal elections after creating a new species of conspiracy theorists who still insist the 2020 election was rigged, is a big YIKES. 

• Former First Lady Jill Biden’s ex-husband has been charged with murdering his wife. William Stevenson, 77, of Delaware, was married to Biden from 1970 to 1975. He’s currently in jail on first-degree murder charges for the death of his wife, 64-year-old Linda Stevenson, on Dec. 28. Former President Joe Biden married Jill after his first wife, Neilia, and his young daughter died in a car crash in December 1972. According to the AP, police were called to the Stevenson home after a reported “domestic dispute.” Linda Stevenson was found unresponsive at the home. Imagine if Jill had stayed with this creep instead of hitting it off with Joe. 

• After Trump imposed travel bans on several African countries, many of those countries are responding by banning Americans from entering. Niger, Chad, Mali, and Burkina Faso have each announced reciprocal travel bans on Americans. It’s unlikely that US citizens are lining up in droves to visit the far-away countries, but some folks likely have family in those regions, or travel there for work. Are we taking bets yet on how long it will be before European countries start banning us?

• The national erosion of journalism continues. 

BREAKING: The Washington Post eliminates its sports department and reduces overseas journalists in large-scale cuts, an AP source says.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) February 4, 2026 at 6:34 AM

Stressed out? Take a cue from the capybaras and draw a bath.