Tender Loving Empire Expands

Portland’s beloved purveyor of music and miscellanea Tender Loving Empire is living up to its name with the announcement of a  new retail location, the third store in the expanding Empire set to open on NW 23^rd Avenue in August. The company has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the apartment of Jared and Brianne Mees. First came the downtown store, and  late last year new digs on Southeast Hawthorne were opened. The newest, 900-square-foot addition to the Empire at 525 Northwest 23rd will house releases from TLE’s record label, as well as the kind of art, prints, jewelry and clothing already found in their downtown and Southeast locations. The new store's local music section will also feature a listening station with vinyl records and CDs from Portland’s music scene. Added bonus: TLE promises regular trunk shows for local artists and crafters at the new Northwest location. 

Portland Center Stage Play Gets Off-Broadway Premiere

In a drama-worthy tale of a Portland production making it big nationally, Portland Center Stage’s Threesome is to open in New York in its Off-Broadway premiere later this month. Threesome was originally developed at PCS’s annual JAW (Just Add Water) playwrights festival in 2013 by Seattle playwright Yussef El Guindi. Directed by PCS Artistic Director Chris Coleman in a co-production with ACT Seattle, Threesome opened in Portland in January 2015 and ran in Seattle last month. Now it’s been selected to kick off 59E59 Theater's 5A Season on July 22, as the first of five new plays presented from celebrated theater makers across the United States. Way to put us on the map, PCS!

Hand2Mouth Needs Your Help to Build a Time Machine

Portland's Hand2Mouth Theatre Company is “building a time machine” and asking for Portlanders to help. The company’s upcoming show, Time, A Fair Hustler, mines Gus Van Sant’s 25-year-old film My Own Private Idaho, to find out where the characters that peopled the cult classic have ended up. To do so, the company says it’s had to build a script and a set that allows for the time shifts their story requires. Enter the Kickstarter, with rewards that include a Portland-inspired mixtape compiled by the Dandy Warhols’ Peter Holmstrom, and a roadtrip with cast member Jason Rouse.

Mississippi Street Fair's Artsy Side

It’s all things Mississippi this weekend so get the annual street fair on your calendar, people. Expect some 200 vendors, alongside oodles of musical entertainment in the form of 40 plus bands on the fair's six stages. And if you stick around long enough after the free entertainment winds down, there are  two more shows at Mississippi Studios to keep you entertained, being Late Night Action with Alex Falcone (foodie edition!) and Mrs Presents Queen with DJ Beyonda. Speaking of free stuff, you can even win tickets to these later shows from Mississippi Studios as part of its weekly newsletter giveaway. The trick is to email [email protected] with the show name in the subject field, and including your full name and email address in the body of the email. To increase your odds of bagging the goods, sign up to their newsletter and email as soon as you get it. Winners are notified by email immediately.