It’s a great week to be queer about town. On July 21, queer variety wrestling show House of Danger brings violent chaos (sans hypermasculinity) to Swan Dive, and on July 24, queer line dancing boot-scoots around Crystal Ballroom. Plus, a queer BIPOC comedy showcase hosted by former Mercury Genius of Comedy Julia Corral hits Kickstand on July 25. Phew! Ocean Vuong will pay us a visit to ground everyone’s summer antics in some poetic profundity, and on July 26, musical experimenters Moment bring more ambience to Leach Botanical Garden.
MONDAY, JULY 20
Sayaka Ganz: Reclaimed Creations
Creating treasure out of trash, internationally acclaimed artist Sayaka Ganz repurposes plastic garbage and everyday objects into large-scale sculptures. Assembled from thousands of discarded individual objects, Ganz brings playful movement to her animal creations, which include soaring birds and galloping horses, using her style of “3D impressionism” as a tool to spark environmental reflection. Eighteen of her assemblages will be on display at this traveling exhibit landing at OMSI, “reveal[ing] beauty in what others might consider waste.” (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, 1945 SE Water, daily 9:30 am-5:30 pm through Sep 30, $22.50, 13 and under $15.50, more info, all ages) BRI BREY
TUESDAY, JULY 21
House of Danger Queer Wrestling Variety Show
Wrestling is already pretty gay—see the story from our June queer issue on how pro wrestling is basically drag written by local comedian Riley McCarthy, who also emcees for House of Danger. Mercury news editor Coutney Vaughn also notes that queer wrestling events offer a place to shed hypermasculinity and gender norms and really lean into the drama, DIY, and camp of it all. This edition of the monthly House of Danger promises a battle between two former lovers, as well as drag shows and a gender reveal party. Why not treat yourself to a little violent chaos this week? (Swan Dive, 727 SE Grand, July 21-22, 8 pm, $18, more info, 21+) KATHERINE CHEW HAMILTON
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22
Ocean Vuong in Conversation with Dao Strom
You likely already know this, but Ocean Vuong made major waves in 2019 with the release of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, an epistolary novel; he’s also a celebrated poet, whose collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds won the T. S. Eliot Prize. The MacArthur Genius, American Book Award winner, and onetime Boston Market server will discuss his new book, The Emperor of Gladness, with Portland interdisciplinary poet/writer Dao Strom. Before the event, I recommend (re)visiting Vuong’s tear-inducing March 2020 interview with Krista Tippett, in which he casually says things like “I want to take off the shoes of my voice, so that I can enter a place with care, so that I can do the work I need to,” and “When the apocalypse comes, what will you put into the vessel for the future?” (Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, 7:30 pm, $13.62+, more info, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Black Milk
It’s easy to have a conversation about the best rappers of all time, but if you have one about the most underrated rappers, Detroit’s own Black Milk deserves to be in it, if only because he’s a classic double-threat. Not only is he a spectacular, soulful rapper whose flow can be downright hypnotic, but he’s a kickass producer trusted by everyone from Slum Village and GZA to Danny Brown and Your Old Droog. Just give 2014’s If There’s a Hell Below or this year’s CEREMONIAL a spin, and you’ll get why it’s a coup that he’s playing somewhere as small as Jack London Revue. This ticket is $30 you won’t soon regret. (Jack London Revue, 529 SW 4th, 8 pm, $31.39, more info, 21+) HOLLY HAZELWOOD
THURSDAY, JULY 23
Portland Sketchfest
Sketchfest spotlights the best in local and national sketch comedy troupes, and the festival’s curation is always sharp, on point, and improves year over year. In this edition, the surefire bets to see are Portland’s own the Aces, D&D, Lone Wolves, and Phil Schallberger (whose video-assisted sketches are a wonder to behold), but we’re also very interested in checking out Hot Dog Tony (Greensboro, NC), Collette Gregory (Chicago), Dad Skeleton (San Diego), and the terminally cute Spoucho (Columbus, OH). But no matter which night you pick, you’ll be entertained… so why not attend all of ‘em? (Siren Theater, 3913 N Mississippi, through July 25, $18-$95, more info, all ages) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
FRIDAY, JULY 24
Line ‘em Up: Queer Line Dancing
It’s time for some good ol’ fashioned boot scootin’ boogie, and in case you haven’t noticed, country line dancing is making a big comeback here in Portland—particularly among the queer community. So if you’re looking for a safe, inclusive space to try out (or learn) line dancing technique, the fine folks at Stomptown are putting together lots of events just like this one for you to give it a go. And the best part is that absolutely no skill is required to join the fun, and multiple lessons will be given throughout the night, so really… what do you have to lose? Get your “do-si-do” on! (Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 7 pm, $11-$28.10, more info, all ages) WSH
JAW New Play Festival
Since 1999, Portland Center Stage (PCS) has invited the public to hear new, in-progress plays, presented after a week of thorough workshopping with a dedicated artistic team. What began as the West Coast version of New York Theater Workshop’s Just Add Water (JAW) fest has come to include other community-focused, local-lifting events like free artist lab workshops and a showcase of works by teenage playwrights. It’s a little hard to imagine attending if you’re not in the theater world to some extent, but it’s pretty cool that there’s a musical in the mix this year. Holly Harmon and Lolly Ward’s Cessair: The Birth of Ireland opens the fest on Friday, and if you’re won over, you can attend a musical crafting workshop taught by the two on Saturday afternoon. (Ellyn Bye Studio at Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th, July 24-26, more info, FREE, all ages) SUZETTE SMITH
Colleen Green, Mini Blinds, Nothings
It takes a lot to crawl out of the shadow of the album that put you on the map. Six years after LA-based hooksmith Colleen Green’s seminal pop-punk record I Want to Grow Up dominated the indie nerd landscape, she came back from a break with her last album, 2021’s still-excellent-but-misunderstood Cool. Equal opportunity Greeniacs can see her playing the record in full at one of her five anniversary shows right here at Mississippi Studios, with local dream-poppers Mini Blinds and Vin Christopher’s solo project Nothings helping to get the crowd limbered up. (Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9 pm, $22.35, more info, 21+) HH
SATURDAY, JULY 25
Marielle V Jakobsons, David Wesley Golightly, Marcus Fischer
Thanks be to Holocene for planning these ambient early shows where fans of meditative tones can slip in, bliss out, and exit in time for the magic hour of summer dusk. Sure, you can get experimental music fans to attend something at night, but why would you want to when they’re only too happy to step outside conventional ideas of showtime? Oakland’s Marielle V Jakobsons graces Portland with her minimal, sweet-sounding string and synth compositions as she travels through on a slight tour with pianist David Wesley Golightly. Local experimental pride of the city Marcus Fischer opens the show. (Holocene, 1001 SE Morrsion, 5 pm, $19.32, more info, 21+) SS
World Naked Bike Ride
The most famous Bike Summer ride of them all is back: the World Naked Bike Ride, a 22-year-old Portland tradition. It’s nudity with a purpose—protesting reliance on fossil fuels—and as many as 10,000 people show up, riding at dusk wearing as much or as little clothing (or body paint) as they prefer. (But for everyone’s sake, please wear underwear if you’re gonna ride a Biketown bike.) It’s loud, it’s crowded, there are lots of flashing lights, and it’s fun to watch drivers get annoyed—a quintessential Portland bucket list item. (Wilshire Park, 4116 NE 33rd, meet 6:30 pm, ride 8:30 pm, FREE, more info) KATHERINE CHEW HAMILTON
House Party: A Queer BIPOC Comedy Showcase
Happy one-year anniversary to one of the best queer comedy showcases in town, House Party. Hosted by former Mercury Genius of Comedy, Julia Corral, along with Brian Govender and Lindy Tongol, this show is reliably jam-packed with great local stand-ups who also happen to be queer and BIPOC. Along with your hosts, this pee-your-pants edition of House Party will feature fresh stand-up from Colette Gregory, Lewis Sequeria, Naomi Dixon, and Sabrena Contreras. As Corral puts it, “House Party is about creating the kind of room we wished existed when we first started comedy”—a very good reason to celebrate and support it… while of course, laughing your guts out. (Kickstand Comedy, 1006 SE Hawthorne, 8:30 pm, $15, more info, 21+) WSH
SUNDAY, JULY 26
Elbow Room Garage Sale
The hardworking artists of Elbow Room, a local arts organization providing material support, mentorship, and studio space to artists experiencing intellectual and developmental disabilities, will show off their multimedia wares at Jodie Cavalier and Alley Frey’s Old-Fashioned Garage Gallery. Drop by to support the artists and snag “original art, merch, books, tapes, and more.” (Old-Fashioned Garage Gallery, 2406 NE 12th, 10 am-3 pm, FREE, more info, all ages) LC
Moment: The Cosmic Tones Research Trio, Patricia Wolf, Pete Swanson and Ilyas Ahmed, Foote/Dickow, DJ Carly Barton
It’s difficult to overstate the impact of Moment’s experimental music curation—the decentralized music series simply does not miss, having organized sets by Golden Retriever, Ana Roxanne, and Purelink just in the past year (to name a few). They’re heightening our expectations for adventurous, abstract sounds in the city and keeping it very chill in the process, filling interesting and somewhat unexpected venues like Leach Botanical Garden and Leaven Community Center. This week, Moment returns to the garden to show it some support, offering a fundraiser show along the aerial tree walk with performances by healing jazzists the Cosmic Tones Research Trio, industry vets Foote/Dickow, Patricia Wolf (each track on her new album, Yarrow, looks at a different aspect of a plant’s life cycle), Pete Swanson (of Yellow Swans) and Ilyas Ahmed, and DJ Carly Barton. (Leach Botanical Garden, 6704 SE 122nd, 4:30 pm, SOLD OUT, more info, all ages) LC
Also worth it:
Pop-Up Record Fair, Pal’s Hayden Island, more info
Shop new and used vinyl from buzzy Pacific Northwest labels and shops—Sahel Sounds, Passenger Seat Records, and Vinyl Archaeologist among them—while DJ Cuica and Action Slacks curate the mood. Expect solid food and drink specials, too.
Looking for even more events happening this week? Head on over to EverOut!
