Only one weekend left to go before July 2016 goes in the books, and considering what an ungodly shitshow the year continues to be, every weekend—and all the opportunities to seize any fleeting moments of bliss we might find within—becomes that much more important. July is definitely going out with a slam dunk, courtesy the Rigsketball Music Fest, Portland's unique blend of street hoops and local music. You couldn't get more action-packed unless you were Raiders of the Lost Ark—which just so happens to be celebrating its 35th anniversary on theater screens this weekend! And that's not even getting into all the stuff adhering to dearly departed local legend Tom Peterson's undeniable motto, "Free is a very good price!" There's a free new theater festival, a free "The Willamette river is pretty damn great" festival, a free "Books are the best, aren't they?" festival, and a free "Stop sleeping on Lents we got a frickin' Chicken Beauty Pageant!" festival. Oh, and Harry Potter is returning to bookshelves, too. Make the most of the good times while you can: Choose wisely from the menu below.
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Friday, Jul 29
Raiders of the Lost Ark
don’t just remember the exact theater—I remember the exact seat I sat in when I saw Steven Spielberg’s 1981 classic, Raiders of the Lost Ark, for the first time. That’s how magical of an experience it was. And now here’s our chance to relive that magic, with these special 35th anniversary screenings of Raiders, projected in glorious 35mm at the Hollywood Theatre, and digitally at the Academy Theater. Maybe this time around, when Indy throws the idol, Satipo will throw the whip. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Various Theaters, see Movie Times for showtimes and locations
Marisa Anderson, Mouth Painter
Marisa Anderson brings her distinct and haunting blend of folk, blues, and country to the scenic roof deck at Revolution Hall. Read our review of Marisa Anderson’s Into the Light.
Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark #110, 7pm, $10-12
JAW Festival
Amid streaming, on-demand entertainment, schlepping to the actual theater can seem chore-like. But buck up, and put on some pants, because tonight, Portland Center Stage’s JAW Festival kicks off a weekend of new theater from writers like Mia Chung, whose You for Me for You was one of this year’s best locally produced plays. MEGAN BURBANK
Portland Center Stage, 8pm, free, all ages
Kevin Nealon
One of the funnier performers from one of the greatest eras of Saturday Night Live, Nealon moved on from the Weekend Update desk to do multiple stand-up specials, and steal the show almost every week on Showtime's Weeds.
Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th, 7:30pm, 10pm, $25-30
The Italian Girl in Algiers
The Portland Opera presents a production of Gioachino Rossini's classic dramma giocoso, The Italian Girl in Algiers. Read our preview.
Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 7:30pm, $35-200
The Wesley Crushers, The PDX Broadsides
As if one of these bands being named after Wil Wheaton's dipshit character in Star Trek: The Next Generation wasn't a big enough hint—this is a night full of nerd rock for fans (and creators) of comic books, hosted by the Mercury's own Erik Henriksen and former Arts editor Alison Hallett. Any donations at the door will go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
NXT Industries, 1302 SE Martin Luther King Jr., 7pm, free
Ozomatli
Since forming in 1995, eclectic LA six-piece Ozomatli has become known as the Dioses del Baile (Gods of Dance). Their music pulls from modern and classic Latin, hip-hop, urban, and other world music, and they’re highly lauded for their political activism. They’re also great live—anyone who started college at the University of Oregon in 2006 will probably remember the outdoor concert/dance party they put on in the quad. The band’s last album was 2014’s A Place in the Sun, but they’re ramping up to release another sometime this year. Fun fact: Ozomatli appears in an episode of Sex and the City—the one where the girls are out dancing at a salsa club and Carrie ends up being late to her “Single and Fabulous” photo shoot the next morning, and looking like a hot mess. That could be you! JENNI MOORE
Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, 9pm, $27-30
Blesst Chest, Hot Victory, Plankton Wat
Blesst Chest makes bizarro, acid-washed, fuzzed-out, groovy tunes that sound like Ratatat's cool prog-rock parent, lacking the sophisticated production of today's young 'uns but wailing hard like it's 1977. CIARA DOLAN Read our story on Blesst Chest
Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9pm, $5
Cool American, Broken Beak, Robot Boy, Alien Boy
Local indie-pop outfit Cool American play an all ages release show for their brand new album, You Can Win A Few, the full-fledged follow-up to front-man Nathan Tucker's excellent collection of demos and B-sides, Better Luck Next Year. Read our review of Cool American’s Better Luck Next Year.
Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton, 7:30pm, $5, all ages
Rakta, Didi, The Stops, The Lonely
Rakta gets their name from a Hindi word meaning red, blood, passion, and power—apt descriptors of the band’s sepulchral sound. The four women from São Paulo, Brazil, are on tour supporting their recent EP, III, on Iron Lung Records. Rakta’s spectral, cavernous punk is drenched in reverb and swirling organs, drawing from the goth end of the anarcho/peace punk spectrum (with hints of Xmal Deutschland and Rubella Ballet), hypnotic death rock, and psychedelic garage rock. With an inventiveness that keeps them from sounding derivative or retro, Rakta’s freeform experimentalism sets them apart from the recent wave of post-punk/darkwave bands. DANIELA SERNA
Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway, 8pm, $8
Portland Psych Fest
For its second year of existence, the Portland Psych Fest will deliver a heaping helping of tasty nuggets this weekend at the Star Theater. There’s Spindrift, the veteran LA band that’s been making strummy country-psych for imaginary (and real) spaghetti westerns since Ennio Morricone was in his 60s. There’s Plastic Crimewave Syndicate, the super-fuzzed power trio fronted by Chicago underground/psychedelic legend Steve Kraków, AKA Plastic Crimewave himself. And from the Bay Area comes the Asteroid #4, a killer quintet with a knack for sturdy jams that jangle and simmer and soar off into space. They might be the best of the bunch, and that’s saying something! BEN SALMON
Star Theater, 13 NW 6th, 8pm, $20-35
Saturday, Jul 30
Porltand Thorns vs. Seattle Reign
It’s Portland vs. Seattle, so you know you’ve got to lend your full support, even if it were a game of competitive underwater basket weaving. But this is soccer, and soccer matters here. You should check out the Portland Thorns as they play their last game before a hiatus during the Summer Olympics. They’re in a neck-and-neck battle for the top spot in the league with just six regular season games left. DOUG BROWN
Providence Park, 1844 SW Morrison, 7:30pm, $10-40, all ages
Rigsketball Music Fest 2016
If you don’t know what Rigsketball is, perhaps an explanation is in order. Thirty-two teams, mostly made up of local bands, vie for dominance in an ad hoc basketball tournament—only instead of playing on a regulation court, the hoop is attached to the back of a tour van. But this year the Rigsketball tourney will feature two separate vans each sporting its own hoop. Today is the grand finals, and fittingly, it’s much more than a game—it’s a free, all-ages, daylong mini-music fest with performances from Magic Sword, Mic Capes, Aan, Chugger, the Lower 48, Ah God, Fog Father, and Laura Palmer’s Death Parade! Plus they’re attempting to set a Guinness world record for the largest-ever game of horse (you’re invited to play!), and there’s a rumor that Mayor-Elect Ted Wheeler might stop by, along with lots more surprises. Rigsketball is the brainchild of mayoral candidate/rocker-about-town Bim Ditson, and it’s become a delightful collision of sports and music that in its own way defines what makes Portland so wonderfully weird. NED LANNAMANN
Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water, 2pm, free
Weezer, Panic at the Disco, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
With 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright in the End and yet another self-titled album earlier this year (this one, their fourth Weezer, is white), it seems like Weezer is finally out of the woods. Or, at the very least, they’re comfortable with their spot in the contemporary pop-rock landscape, offering up noisy, melodic tunes that are as comfortable and exciting as a jumbo package of tube socks. The White Album has some nice enough moments—like the Beach Boys shuffle of “(Girl We Got a) Good Thing” and a would-be theme song for The O.C. that kicks off the album called “California Kids”—but it still feels like Weezer is making up for lost ground, trying to right the wrongs of garbage like “Beverly Hills” and that album with the dude from Lost on the cover. Maybe the lesson here is that it’s time to stop expecting more from Weezer; this is their eighth at-bat since Pinkerton, and rather than reach for the pennant, they seem more than content to go home with another participation ribbon. NED LANNAMANN
Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, 6pm, $57.50
Killer of Sheep
Charles Burnett's gritty 1977 portrait of a Watts ghetto, has a lot to live up to--namely, its own hype. Burnett made Killer of Sheep as a UCLA film student for $10,000, using friends and neighbors as actors and shooting on weekends for over a year. The resulting film has been heralded by the National Society of Film Critics as one of the 100 Essential Films of all time, and was called "one of the most striking debuts in movie history" by GQ. Not only does Killer of Sheep live up to its own mythology, but transcends it as a fascinating, melancholy, and entertaining work of art and social realism. CHAS BOWIE
Fifth Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall, 7pm, $3-4
100 Watt Horse, Sunbathe, Husky Boys
Atlanta's 100 Watt Horse bring their ambient folk and pop to the Know stage.
The Know, 2026 NE Alberta, 8pm
NW Book Festival
For the eighth year straight, Pioneer Courthouse Square is transformed into a tent city in tribute of the almighty book, populated by many authors and vendors sharing their love of the written word across all genres.
Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th, 11am, free, all ages
Bae Cliche: Back Yard Benefit
A comedy showcase with live music and spoken word all in the mix for added enjoyment, all to benefit Black Lives Matter and the crowdfunding campaigns for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11th, 7pm
Satan's Pilgrims, The Boss Martians, The Sellwoods
The influential Portland surf rock band return to action with a show at the Doug Fir Lounge.
Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9pm, $11-12
The Great Outdoors
Of all the movies John Hughes has either written or directed (or both), 1988's The Great Outdoors is probably the least, holding down the bottom of his filmography with Baby's Day Out when it's even remembered at all. Which is kind of unfair to this mildly mean-spirited-yet-goofy family comedy. It quickly became a basic-cable staple in the '90s, allowing audiences to savor the antagonistic interplay between John Candy and Dan Aykroyd reminiscent of Porky and Daffy cartoons, and enjoy the subplot about a vengeful bear with a raw ass. But above everything else, The Great Outdoors should be championed for finally revealing the dark truth behind one of America's favorite processed foods: Hot dogs are made out of lips and assholes.
Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, 3pm, $2
Sunday, Jul 31
Lents Street Fair
If you’re yearning for some of that old-school Portland weirdness—the kind that is less twee and more real—then do not miss the annual extravaganza known as the Lents Street Fair! They have food, a beer garden (and a root beer garden for the kids), music, bouncy castles, the world-famous Lents goats (formerly the Belmont goats), and the much beloved highlight—the Chicken Beauty Contest. It does not get much more “real” than this. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY For more information, visit lentsstreetfair.com
Lents International Farmers Market, SE 92nd & Foster, 12pm, free, all ages
Modest Mouse, Brand New
Good News for People Who Love Bad News was the first CD I ever bought, after bringing my crumpled-up collection of ones and fives I’d saved inside my coconut-carved monkey bank to Tower Records. It was 2005 and “Float On” and “Ocean Breathes Salty” were probably played twice an hour on the local alt-rock station, yet my dad still let me play it the whole drive home. That CD led me to The Moon & Antarctica, The Lonesome Crowded West, and This Is aLong Drive...—a well of songs from an era where Isaac Brock could not write a bad song, whether they were sinister stories of self-destructive modern cowboys stuck in a 19th century mindset, or existential reflections made while night swimming. Brock and drummer Jeremiah Green’s signature chaotic bursts of energy balanced with soft, pretty jams were perhaps the peak of maximalist guitar-pop. CAMERON CROWELL
Moda Center, 1 Center Court, 7:30pm, $39.50-54.50
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Release Party
Nine years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, us muggles are finally learning what happened next—with the new play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, J.K. Rowling tells the story of a grown-up Harry... and one of his children, Albus. (Awww.) For those of us who can’t make it to London to see the production, Powell’s has the script—available at 12:01 am. I’ll crucio anyone who gets in my way. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 12:01am, free, all ages
Hustle & Drone, Astro Tan, Earth World
I’ve spent a lot of time pondering the age-old question: “If your life were spent fighting ghosts, ghouls, and creepy crawlies, Scooby-Doo style, what would you want the soundtrack to be?” I have an answer, and that answer is Hustle and Drone. Their dark electro-pop is giving the genre a good name, with songs that are percussive, creepy, and catchy without ever feeling cheap. After taking a break from live performances to write their follow-up to 2014’s Holyland, it seems like there’s a strong possibility that this show might feature new material. I’ll let that be your mystery to solve. JENNA FLETCHER
Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 8:30pm, $5
Willamette River Festival
An all-day celebration of the (somewhat-kinda-unfairly-maybe) maligned Willamette, and a thank you to the people putting in work to clean it up for the rest of us—a thank you in the form of live music, artisan ice cream, walking tours, a beer garden, and much more.
Cathedral Park, N Edison & Pittsburg, 12pm, free, all ages
4th Annual Crawfish Boil
Interurban and pFriem join forces to throw a good ol' fashioned crawfish boil, which isn't just taking little tiny lobsters and throwing them in a pot—although that does happen. A crawfish boil is more like an all-day party where all manner of delicious food is served up courtesy Chef Johnny Henry, including shrimp, ham sliders, oysters, crab po' boys, biscuits, boar chops and baskets of crawfish by the pound, all paired with pFriem Family Brewing's tasty brews.
Interurban, 4057 N Mississippi, 3pm
The Lower 48, Monarques
There's a fine line in the Portland independent music scene between Mountain Goats- and Decemberists-inspired, thoughtful music, and hip-dad contemporary. The Lower 48 treads lightly, and their high-intensity, '60s-influenced power pop (all the way down to their matching suits) thankfully falls into the first category. These Minneapolis transplants have been hard at work playing shows in Portland bars for several years now, and they have refined their sound from bland folk to a much richer-sounding psych-pop. Powered by clean guitar riffs, quick, sometimes jazzy drum beats, and beautifully executed vocal harmonies, the Lower 48's musical presence is manicured without crossing into bubblegum territory—or broccolini for all those healthy dads. CAMERON CROWELL
Rontoms, 600 E Burnside, 8pm, free
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
Norwegian artist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten exhibits the kind of flexibility that all great musicians should aspire to. As a bassist in the Thing and various other jazz projects, he enjoys scraping and plucking out scattered free jazz expressions with the same spirit he gives to beautifully rendered ballads and post-bop swing. In recent years Flaten’s interests have also extended to the wide world of modular synths, where he has experimented with challenging and melodious squiggles and drones. He arrives in town this week to perform improvised sets on both instruments, while also giving a lecture and a Q&A about his art and the art of freeform music. ROBERT HAM
S1, 4148 NE Hancock, 6pm, $15-20
Flogging Molly, Frank Turner
Anchored by Irish expatriate Dave King, this Southern California–based band is a somewhat motley crew of heavy-metal devotees, skaters, and traditional instrumentalists. Fans of Irish rockers the Pogues—or any one up for a good, rousing party—will appreciate Flogging Molly's unique blend of traditional Celtic arrangements and bruised-up punk.
Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Road, 6:30pm, $35-65, all ages