One of your most important missions this week is to find a copy of the Mercury's 2025 Queer Guide, but that'll take you what, a few minutes? That leaves you with roughly 10,076 minutes to fill. Read on for why you should spend at least a few of them listening to hip-hop revolutionaries, watching comedy sets from a picnic blanket, and screaming along to “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” on July 4. It beats blowing your fingers off with fireworks.
Monday, June 30
Bajala x Mad Man: Mariscos & Drinks
The forecast is in the high 80s today, so I'm more than sold on an opportunity to eat fresh seafood without having to bust my ass in the kitchen. Mind you, a lot of restaurants are closed on Mondays, so this collaborative pop-up between taco slingers Bajala and West Indian-inspired chef Mad Man comes at the perfect time. They'll set up at Bar Cala to whip up mouthwatering cold dishes like calamansi scallop ceviche, citrus and chile oil hamachi crudo, and aguachile with apple, cucumber, and jicama. Say less—I'm already there. (Bar Cala, 2703 NE Alberta, 5–10 pm, more info here) JANEY WONG
Thank God It's Queer: All About My Mother
If you were rightfully disappointed by last year’s Emilia Pérez, I’d like to point you toward Pedro Almodóvar’s Oscar-snagging '99 melodrama, which follows the stories of a trans sex worker, a grieving mother, and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun. All About My Mother's cast—including a young Penélope Cruz—is damn near impossible to look away from, and the film’s pinkish-red palette pulses against the surreal flourishes of Antoni Gaudí’s Modernista Catalan architecture. (Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7 pm, $10–$12, R, tickets here) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Tuesday, July 1
Jonathan Richman
I first came under the spell of Jonathan Richman after seeing a clip from his performance of “Vampire Girl” on Late Night With Conan O'Brien in 1993. Richman croons about intriguing goth girls with an almost child-like spirit, strumming his hollow-body electric guitar with a huge grin while shaking his hips and maintaining intense eye contact with the crowd. The result of this performance should be kind of fucked up, but it’s undeniably charming and refreshingly authentic. This “so wrong it’s right” contradiction is what makes Richman an enduring counterculture icon and godfather of punk rock. His music has influenced a long list of music legends, including Brian Eno, Joan Jett, and David Bowie. The modern-day Buddy Holly, striped-shirt icon, Velvet Underground fanboy, man, myth, and legend is coming to the Portland for two nights alongside his trusty sidekick, drummer Tommy Larkins. (Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, July 1–2, 8 pm, $38.08, all ages, tickets here) AUDREY VANN
Wu-Tang Clan / Run The Jewels
Certainly nuthing ta fuck wit if you’re a cop, or a racist, or a busta, Wu-Tang Clan very much should be fucked wit if you’re a fan of hard-hitting revolutionary hip-hop. The Staten Island crew formed in 1992 with a roster including RZA, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Raekwon, and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard—some of the most influential names in rap and hip-hop to this day. Opening are icons of the genre in their own right, Run The Jewels. The pit during RTJ is gonna be bonkers, fuck around and find out… (Moda Center, 1 Center Court, 8 pm, $59.85–$306.10, all ages, tickets here) NOLAN PARKER
Also worth it:
What is Your Ancestral Performance Art? at Bishop & Wilde, 7 pm, more info here
Wednesday, July 2
Church of Film: The Clan’s Heir is a Transwoman
Hitoshi Ozawa—veteran V-cinema actor, sexagenarian boxer, and perennial cool guy in sunglasses—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’ 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’ heir. A weirdly heartwarming question is posed: 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, 7 pm, $10, not rated, tickets here) LC
Shanea / Tony Horses / Pale Violet
Perhaps best known as the bassist of Portland favorite Dustbunny, Shanea has been quietly crafting a solo catalog of hushed bedroom indie-pop anchored by their singular world-building. Their 2024 debut album Root Rot is a beautiful maze of texture you won’t know you’re lost in until the last song has ended, a maze you will want to revisit over and over. Perfectly paired openers on this all-Portland bill are Tony Horses and Pale Violet—one of which released a powerful album earlier this year, with the other really needing to release their debut full length ❤️🔥. (Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 8 pm, $15.28, 21+, tickets here) NP
Thursday, July 3
Pace Taylor: Last Call at the Rainbow Cafe
In recent years, Portland artist Pace Taylor’s figurative work in soft pastel and graphite has been featured in exhibitions in Los Angeles and Paris, gaining a devoted following for their saturated hues and emotional charge. Elegant, sculptural bodies and sidelong glances mingle in settings like nightclubs or bedrooms, bringing focus to a recurring theme that Taylor explains as “the collision between intimacy and isolation, and how you can have both of those things in the same moment.” In place of their usual party scenes and domestic tableaux, their new solo show Last Call at the Rainbow Cafe Taylor has built a kaleidoscopic landscape that incorporates shreds of Americana, recontextualized within a decidedly queer aesthetic. (Nationale, 15 SE 22nd, through Sun Aug 10, more info here) MARTHA DAGHLIAN
Aw, Hell
A clever, hilarious walking tour through Dante's Inferno, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE)'s Aw, Hell invites us under an existential big top for the lust-filled circus that is 14th-century writer Dante Alighieri's view of the afterlife. PETE's imagining only asks the audience to walk for less than 10 minutes, through an ADA-friendly haunted hallway of Satan's fiery domain. Most of the 100-minute show is presented in a theater setting, with the audience sitting around a stage overlaid with a projected rotating spiral and punctuated with flashing lights (if those are dealbreakers for you). Cleverness and clowning abounds, as does toilet humor—it's a PETE production, so regardless of how you feel about clowns, you can trust this company for a good time. (Reed College Performing Arts Building, 3017 SE Woodstock, through Sat July 12, $45, more info here) SUZETTE SMITH
Friday, July 4
FIREWORKS!!!
Look. Some of you need to get it through your skulls that there is a BAN on the sale and personal use of fireworks in Portland. However, trust me when I say that the huge fireworks shows all around the area are far superior to your stupid firecrackers, M-80s, and whistling, banging bullshit that scares the living daylights out of our pets. For example, the largest such show explodes from the Waterfront Blues Festival (which can be enjoyed from the riverbanks, Portland’s many bridges, Mount Tabor, or by breaking into your office’s roof). There’s also the smaller, but also impressive Oaks Park Fourth of July Spectacular, and if you live further east, the Happy Valley 4th of July Family Festival, which sounds like it would be perfect except for the “family” aspect. Sorry, screaming children are almost as annoying as illegal fireworks. FIGHT ME. (Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Oaks Amusement Park, and Happy Valley Park, all events start at 10 pm, free, all ages) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Emo Night at Holocene
Not in the mood to celebrate an America that’s currently in the clutches of insecure, mentally deficient bozos who create cruel, blatantly stupid policy in retaliation for their fathers not saying “I love you” enough? Then feel free to go DEEP into your feelings with Holocene’s regular Emo Night—which beautifully lands on July 4 this year. Block out the incessant bangs and whistles of your thoughtless neighbors’ illegal fireworks and dance the night away to the music of My Chemical Romance, Panic! At the Disco, Sunny Day Real Estate, and more. (Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 9 pm, $23.37, 21+, tickets here) WSH
Kickstand Comedy in the Park
Let’s be real, Portland summer doesn’t take itself seriously until July. That’s when the rain clears and the sun decides to settle in. Summer also marks the joyful return of Kickstand Comedy in the Park. Where else can you see a free comedy show AND simultaneously relax in a park on a summer evening? (No, that family bbq where your cousin cracks jokes doesn’t count.) Grab a friend, bring a blanket, and mosey over to Laurelhurst Park to get some laughs in before the holiday sky booms make the city go nuts. (Laurelhurst Park, SE César E Chávez and Stark, most Fridays through September 5, 6 pm blankets drop, 6:30 pm show, free, all ages, more info here) COURTNEY VAUGHN
Saturday, July 5
Bijoux Cone / Pool Boys / Ghost Piss
When she’s not touring the world with Gossip or down in Brazil playing solo sets and DJing, Bijoux Cone can be found casing the streets of Portland, making some of the city’s best music. Her most recent LP, Love Is Trash, is one of my favorite albums of the last five years—it’s real, it’s camp, it’s stoned, it’s pure summer! Bijoux, if you’re reading this can you please put out another record? We miss you! Portland’s Pool Boys will be delivering their dreamy, surfy harmonies in the middle slot, while Brooklyn’s Ghost Piss open this mother up with their indie electro-pop à la the Blow and Nouvelle Vague. (Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9 pm, $19.12, 21+, tickets here) NP
Also worth it:
Revolutions per Movie: Live with Julie Klausner at Clinton Street Theater, 6 pm, tickets here
Sunday, July 6
IX of Swords / Left On Read / Warnoutjoy / House of Warmth
One cup slacker rock, three sprigs shoegaze, a dash of ’90s emo, bake at 666 degrees, and what have you got? A sharable helping of Portland’s IX of Swords! The band released their lush wall-of-sound full length I Can’t Imagine How it Felt to Live last summer—it’s been on heavy rotation since. Left On Read released their Bomb in the Garden EP earlier this year and, if we’re lucky, will be playing it in full. The track “Second Thoughts” features crushingly screamed vocals that'll get you every time. The internet is insinuating that Warnoutjoy is a new band, what their music is saying tells us they know what they’re here to do (very much hoping they’ve got a full record coming down the pipeline). Opening this transcendent bill is House of Warmth, listen to their new track “Buffy, Heavy” and you’ll understand. (Lollipop Shoppe, 736 SE Grand, 9 pm, $12.51–$15.71, 21+, tickets here) NP
K. Trevor Wilson
If you love the downhome Canadian silliness of Letterkenny, then you should check out the standup comedy of K. Trevor Wilson (who plays the much-beloved character “Squirrely Dan” on the show, famous for his bafflingly funny and idiosyncratic speech patterns...such as his catchphrase “That’s what I appreciates about you”). His standup act is no less idiosyncratic, as he sports a dry, droll delivery on subjects that range from embarrassing personal stories, Canadian road signs, and the always-entertaining topics of poo-poo, pee-pee, and of course, taints. (Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th, July 3-6, various times, $32.99-$44.99, 21+, tickets here) WSH
Also worth it:
Behind the Shoji: Annual Summer Marketplace at Portland Japanese Garden, June 21–September 1, more info here
Looking for even more events happening this week? Head on over to EverOut!
