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FILM
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If there’s such a thing as a “legend” in the film archivist and historian community, Dennis Nyback was that man—he screened original film programs worldwide while operating Seattle’s Rosebud Movie Palace and Pike St. Cinema, and also renovated Portland’s historic Clinton Street Theater in the ’90s. This 16mm tribute to a true PNW force of cinematic nature spotlights flicks straight from Nyback’s recently rediscovered archives, which includes “thousands of titles assembled over 40 years of personal curation” and spans 120 years of movie history. LC
(Hollywood Theatre, Hollywood District)
LIVE MUSIC
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NYC-based indie-pop duo Cults sound like stepping into an Urban Outfitters circa 2011, in the best way possible. Their debut self-titled album saw mainstream success with songs like “Go Outside” and “Bad Things,” which likely played alongside bands like Sleigh Bells, Phantogram, and Metric on your lime green iPod nano. AV
(Wonder Ballroom, Eliot)
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Alabama-based artist Ethel Cain (aka Hayden Silas Anhedönia) will bring her ethereal Gregorian chant-inspired indie pop to town in support of her critically acclaimed album, Preacher’s Daughter. The concept album draws on her personal experience as the daughter of a deacon while crafting a fictionalized horror narrative centered around the character of Ethel Cain (spoiler alert: closing track “Stranger” reveals that she runs away from home only to be murdered and eaten by a cannibalistic psychopath.) AV
(Pioneer Courthouse Square, Downtown)
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Feminist rock icon Pat Benatar and her husband, guitarist Neil Giraldo, will once again grace the Northwest with their presence for an evening of ’80s classics such as “Love is a Battlefield” and “Heartbreaker.” Just don’t expect “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” which she has stopped performing in protest of gun violence. Don’t miss a breathtaking performance from the new wave outfit Berlin. AV
(Keller Auditorium, Downtown)
LIVE MUSIC
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It isn’t rare to see Doug Martsch’s ever-evolving indie rock troupe Built to Spill on a local marquee, but it is rare to see them perform an older album in its entirety. They will perform my personal favorite, There’s Nothing Wrong With Love, on the album’s 30th anniversary. I can’t wait to hear them play lovelorn anthems like “Big Dipper,” “Car,” and “Dystopian Dream Girl.” Dreamy Hoboken rockers Yo La Tengo will join the bill with tracks from their newly released album, This Stupid World. AV
(Pioneer Courthouse Square, Downtown)
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The Schnitz’s free block party-esque summer music series is back for its 17th year with an impressive program of local talent performing in the middle of Main Street. The series will continue this week with a performance from world music DJ duo Anjali and the Incredible Kid, featuring the Gulabi Gang Dancers. AV
(SW Main Street between SW Broadway and SW Park, South Park Blocks)
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I live in a perpetual state of fear that Boy George won’t get the praise he deserves until he is no longer around to bask in it. This week, trek down to Eugene and give the queer pop icon his flowers and you’ll get to hear Culture Club classics like “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me” performed live. New wave icons Squeeze will be there too (I don’t have anything nice to say about them, so I’ll leave it at that). AV
(Cuthbert Amphitheater, Eugene)
READINGS & TALKS
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I don’t ask for much. Maybe some blissful, uninterrupted reading time. And maybe that reading time is spent beneath the blue skies of a scenic Sauvie Island farm. And maybe I’m shaded by the dense limbs of a 500-year-old Oregon white oak. And perhaps, as I read, I’m listening to live background strumming by ukulele master Chris Lydgate. Maybe there’s a gentle breeze. Maybe birds are flitting between the white oak’s wide branches. Maybe farm-fresh food and drinks are available. Is that so much to ask?! Apparently not, because Topaz Farm has it all covered. Local writer/editor Audrey Van Buskirk will host this outdoor reading party, which invites bookworms of all types (“singletons, date nights, groups of friends, and families (minors welcome as long as they can happily read quietly for two hours)”) to enjoy the silence, the scenery, and a complimentary drink. LC
(Topaz Farm, Sauvie Island)
LIVE MUSIC
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This year, Topaz Farm is amping up its Americana Harvest Fest series with a mix of nationally and internationally renowned folk, country, and bluegrass artists on Thursday nights until the end of August. Bring your own blanket or lawn chair to lounge on the pastoral farm surrounded by farm animals, fruit fields, freshly grilled food, and a beer garden. The series continues this week with an intimate evening of folk music from Margo Cilker. AV
(Topaz Farm, Sauvie Island)
COMEDY
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Reliably hilarious Comedy Bang! Bang! probably predates your fave podcast—funnyman Scott Aukerman has hosted the show for over 13 years. Blending interviews, improv, and silly, surreal antics, Comedy Bang! Bang! has heard from guests like Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, and Seth Rogen, so you know the jokes will be on point for this live performance. Best part? It’ll be entirely improvised. LC
(Revolution Hall, Buckman)
FOOD & DRINK
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Imagine: You’re spending late summer swathed in breezy linen clothes in the south of France, sipping rosé in a lavender field while surrounded by friends. Even if you don’t have the spare cash to jet off to Provence at a moment’s notice to make this romantic vision a reality, you can at least play pretend with Olympia Provisions’ feast, which will be served at a communal table on the restaurant’s loading dock. Dine on a charcuterie spread, grand aioli (a bountiful meal of cold and hot seafood, potatoes, eggs, and vegetables, served with creamy aioli for dipping), and a traditional Provençal dessert, all complemented by a steady flow of blush-pink wine. JB
(Olympia Provisions SE, Buckman)
LIVE MUSIC
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TBH, I’ve been pissed at Dave Grohl ever since heinsinuated that Taylor Swift doesn’t sing live, which is rich coming from a man whose performances don’t require choreography. Nevertheless, the Foo Fighters’ debut self-titled album will always occupy a special place in my heart. The album is right up there with ’90s slacker rock favs like Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque and Sebadoh’s Bakesale, showcasing peak pop songwriting on tracks like “Big Me” and “This Is A Call.” Their All or Nothing At All tour will mark the return of live music at Providence Park for the first time in nearly 20 years. Chrissie Hynde’s iconic rock quartet the Pretenders and indie rock star Alex G will support. AV
(Providence Park, Goose Hollow)
PERFORMANCE
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From last year’s psychedelic GLOOP at PICA’s Time-Based Arts Festival to The Weight of the World and It Girl Halloween parties, Portland’s premier drag clown Carla Rossi, aka Two-Spirit Grand Ronde/Siletz artist Anthony Hudson, has been earning her title all around town lately. And guess what? Now Dr. Carla needs your money. Cough it up, people. She might not have…you know…a degree in counseling, but she does have a couch and a full bar. And for this night of improvisational drag comedy, she’ll be joined by Svetlana Trantastic to welcome a “special celebrity client,” multimedia performance artist Pepper Pepper, to plop down on the sofa for some psychological optimizing. LC
(Tomorrow Theater, Richmond)
READINGS & TALKS
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Willy Vlautin was born in Reno, but his artistic output found its footing in the Pacific Northwest—for over 20 years, he’s been the singer-songwriter and guitarist for the Portland-grown alt-country band Richmond Fontaine. The experience still informs his writing style and character development in fiction. (His last novel, The Night Always Comes, explored gentrification, greed, and opportunism within Portland’s housing crisis, lending a needed voice to an issue that impacts us all in one way or another.) His new tome, The Horse, centers the working class again but adds in fantastical elements and dream sequences that might pique the interest of new readers. Vlautin will chat about it with Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers. LC
(Powell’s City of Books, Pearl District)
COMMUNITY
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The third Saturday of August means it’s time for Multnomah Days, Multnomah Village’s annual open-air, family-friendly street festival with musical acts, street entertainers, over 100 art and vendor booths, a kids’ zone, and food carts with outdoor street dining. Between two stages of performers and a community parade, there will be plenty to capture your attention along the charming neighborhood’s main thoroughfare. JW
(Multnomah Village, Multnomah)
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Started in the summer of 1997, the PDX Adult Soapbox Derby brings thousands of spectators to watch costumed riders zoom down an extinct volcano in homemade “cars” bedecked like beer carts, a cup of noodles, Mater from Cars, and other quirky designs. The questionably road-safe event is a hallmark of Portland summer that celebrates the intersection of engineering and art. The mid-mountain viewing alley, lovingly referred to as “Blood Alley,” is where spectators can find a BYO beer garden and concession stands with food and drink for purchase. SL
(Mt. Tabor Park, Mt. Tabor)
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At this event hosted in partnership with Portland Fruit Tree Project and Urban Gleaners, neighbors all over Portland will cut down on food waste and foster community by sharing the bounties of their gardens, including fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, and eggs, for free. They’ll heap their harvests on a table or in a box, and participants can find givers’ locations on an interactive map. Grab a cute basket, plot your path, and delight in gathering an abundance of backyard produce and connecting with neighbors. JB
(Various locations)
LIVE MUSIC
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I first became acquainted with Alabaman singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield (aka Waxahatchee) through her fifth album Saint Cloud—I’ll admit, I was late to the party. My love of jangly Camera Obscura-esque tracks like “Can’t Do Much” compelled me to give the entire album a listen, but it was reflective folk-rock songs like “St Cloud” and “Lilacs” that made me a fan. After four years of playing the album to death, Waxahatchee has finally dropped a follow-up! She will return to Seattle to support her sixth album, Tigers Blood, which leans deeper into a country sound with love songs that she describes as “gritty and unromantic.” AV
(Pioneer Courthouse Square, Downtown)
LIVE MUSIC
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Canadian indie pop jewels Alvvays will perform songs off of their critically acclaimed third album, Blue Rev, whose release overcame several delays due to demos and flooding damage. They will be joined by New Zealand indie pop outfit the Beths. AV
(Pioneer Courthouse Square, Downtown)
COMMUNITY
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Google doesn’t often classify movies as “family/horror,” but Coraline is one of the few flicks that fits the bill. The 2009 LAIKA film, which follows an audacious 11-year-old who finds an alternate world populated by strange characters (including a button-eyed Other Mother), is based on the creepiest, most addictive Neil Gaiman book I read as a seventh-grader. If the book/movie’s lanky black cat elicits your nostalgia, I recommend spending an afternoon with Coraline’s Curious Cat Trail, LAIKA’s path of six-foot Cat sculptures stationed throughout downtown Portland. LC
(Various locations, Monday–Sunday)
EXHIBIT
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The World Forestry Center is throwing open the doors to its wood-filled Discovery Museum all summer long, offering special programming—including storytimes, forest crafts, science and wildfire preparedness talks, and an art exhibition,Tree People—that’s bound to leave you more arboreally inclined than you were before. Learn about the Northwest’s forests and their role “as a habitat, a place for recreation and reflection, a critical resource, and more” through an engaging variety of events; they’re all included with the cost of admission. LC
(World Forestry Center & Discovery Museum, Washington Park, Wednesday–Sunday)
FILM
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If your experience with the similarly hyped stylish horror Longlegs left something to be desired, you might try Cuckoo—some of my favorite headlines for the film include “Hunter Schafer has wurst brat summer in kooky Alps horror film” (The Washington Post) and “As weird horror films go, Cuckoo is a lulu” (Chicago Sun Times). The film follows a young woman who travels to a resort town in the German Alps with her family, where she starts hearing weird noises and seeing shit. Cuckoo‘s trailer also features a character ominously playing a flute, which is scarier than I expected. I’m gonna give it a shot. LC
(Cinema 21, Nob Hill, Monday–Thursday)
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I’d pay to watch Colman Domingo fold laundry for two hours, so Sing Sing is hardly a tough sell, but the film also sounds like mesmerizing Oscar fodder. Domingo stars as a wrongfully incarcerated prisoner at the notorious Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where he finds his calling by acting in a therapeutic theater group. (The film’s story is based on the Rehabilitation Through Arts (RTA) program, which has been operational at Sing Sing since ’96.) Sing Sing also offers a refreshingly empathetic lens: Many of the actors in the A24 film are formerly incarcerated participants in the real-life RTA program. LC
(Hollywood Theatre, Hollywood District, Monday–Thursday)
OUTDOORS
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If you’ve never visited Leach Botanical Garden, you might’ve driven by it many times without noticing. The lush 16-acre space is tucked somewhat unexpectedly between a Franz Bakery Outlet, a Dairy Queen, and a Shell gas station off SE 112nd Ave. In effect, it’s something like an “urban oasis”—there’s a historic manor house, concerts, classes, and over 2,000 plant species on site. I like to wander among the nicely maintained pathways and murmur things like “I should have been a groundskeeper” and “Imagine being a little bird who lives here!” to myself. Anyway, you should go! This weekend-long 40th-anniversary celebration is a good opportunity, with a botanical art fundraiser, site tours, arborist talks, and live flute music on the agenda. LC
(Leach Botanical Garden, Pleasant Valley, Saturday–Sunday)
PERFORMANCE
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The Original Practice Shakespeare Festival brings its productionsoutdoors each summer, interpreting the Bard’s work in the classic First Folio style (that means limited rehearsal, an onstage prompter, and a fast-paced, improvisational feel). “Shakespeare should feel a little dangerous,” the fest’s promotional materials explain, and nothing sounds more dangerous to me than hopping on stage in front of a crowd to perform a barely rehearsed Elizabethan play. Check out the calendar for dates and locations of plays performed in parks across the city, including tales of heartbreak, murder, ghosts, and political intrigue this month (Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet). LC
(Washington Park Amphitheatre, Friday–Saturday)
VISUAL ART
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I last wrote about Brianna Spencer’s work during her 2023 solo exhibition at Chefas Projects, Can You Get Me Something From the Store?, which expanded on her enduring interest in California culture, street art, and motherhood with confident forms and vibrant, joyful compositions. Spencer tragically passed in March, leaving her partner George, her baby daughter Ene, and a treasure trove of colorful artworks that remain true to her warm, wonder-eyed aesthetic. If you haven’t seen Spencer’s work before, I can promise that you will become a forever fan after viewing this show. And if you’re already a lover of Spencer’s work, Moon Eyes is for you—the memorial exhibition will celebrate her life through her art. LC
(Chefas Projects, Central Eastside, Wednesday–Saturday; closing)
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South Korea-based artist Dongwook Lee drew the name for this solo exhibition from the German language: “Wozu” translates to “what for.” The title makes sense. Lee’s work embodies an “inner collision” we might all experience—that clamorous internal battle between ego, truth, fictions, and realities. Wozu‘s stark black-and-white compositions are painterly and gestural; nude bodies tangle, reach, resist, and collide. And while the exhibition’s promotional materials mention everything from Norse mythology to the Tower of Babel, Lee’s imagery is imbued with a mythical quality that feels totally original. LC
(Blue Sky Gallery, Pearl District, Wednesday–Saturday)
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Ever think about how every person you’ve ever seen in a stock image—be it in a photo frame, a poster at the doctor’s office, or an instruction manual for a plane crash—is going to die someday? Me neither! That just occurred to me for the first time about 30 seconds ago. Eli Craven’s work seems to suggest he’s considered it at least once or twice, though. Falling somewhere between bizarre, surreal, clinical, and erotic, the artist’s photographs encapsulate the mundanity of a stock image and the persistence of underlying human emotions. Craven’s interplay of distortion and subtle censorship feels as intriguing as it is eerie. LC
(Blue Sky Gallery, Pearl District, Wednesday–Saturday)
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I’m a long-time fan of Emma Gerigscott’s painting practice, which often focuses on four-legged friends (or two-legged: Her last solo exhibition at Froelick took a refreshing dip into a duck pond). The artist’s summer series of paintings on water-resistant Tyvek are glowy and contemplative, featuring horses, another duck, and elongated human forms. Yet-to-be-revealed paper compositions and plaster sculptures will supplement the works. LC
(Froelick Gallery, Pearl District, Tuesday–Saturday)
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I’m in Georgia O’Keeffe’s camp when it comes to the summer heat, but that doesn’t mean everyone else shouldn’t enjoy the season. “Summer amplifies our sense of aliveness, of being in the world among other beings…Temperaments become whimsical yet cognizant—we are uniquely attuned to the exterior and we want to revel in it, to enjoy one another,” ILY2 posits. The gallery’s new group exhibition was designed to be viewed in the sunshine during its summer closure. Gone Fishin’ is installed in ILY2’s windows, so you can stroll by and see pieces by Emma Kohlmann, Morgan Buck, Tanner Lind, Bonnie Lucas, and many others. The show should provide more than enough artistic inspiration to tide you over before the gallery’s fall and winter exhibitions. LC
(ILY2, Pearl District, Wednesday–Saturday)
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You may have already spotted Berlin-based illustrator and designer Jay Daniel Wright’s work on the cover of a magazine, or online—his clients include the New York Times, OkCupid, and the New Yorker. Trained as a carpenter, Wright’s artistic process still applies those skills. His three-dimensional sculptures are both playful and perfectly articulated. And although it appears soft, smudgy, and childlike, Wright’s heartfelt work also explores difficult themes; Desire Path “translates a difficult childhood spent around parent addiction, violence, and poverty on a council estate in the midlands of England.” LC
(Nucleus House, Alberta, Saturday–Sunday)
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American artist Jennifer Levonian, who currently lives and works in Spain, presents this fresh solo exhibition at Adams and Ollman, where visitors will find her “new stop-motion animation and an installation of drawings used in the animation’s making.” Levonian’s Speed Reader is ultra-colorful, self-referential, and more than a little surreal, like an updated version of Suzan Pitt’s ’79 experimental short Asparagus. Levonian’s work also eyes American culture and class, creating absurdist hyperbole with hand-drawn backgrounds and puppets. The results feel both utterly strange and heartbreakingly familiar. LC
(Adams and Ollman, Northwest Portland, Wednesday–Saturday)
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Joy Feasley’s latest solo exhibition pairs an installation of sculptural candles with spare, pensive flashe and oil paintings on linen. Her Sadness Makes Her Smile reflects on the experience of shared grief; the artist’s ceramic and glass candle forms “take the form of vigil candles, symbolic holders of a memory,” and are “meant to be named and bear a memory forward.” Paired with her ethereal paintings, the effect feels dreamlike and mysterious, like a plume of smoke after a flickering flame is snuffed out. LC
(Adams and Ollman, Northwest Portland, Wednesday–Saturday)
EverOut Staff
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