Uprising! of OBT
Sat-Sun 7pm Chamber-folk veterans Weinland and Laura Gibson will fuse their reedy croons with the swoops and leaps of ballet dancers from OBT, to elevate both art forms into a swoon-inducing crescendo. While these folk-fusion events are myriad lately in Portland—in the world, they are relatively rare. Get over to The Aladdin Theater and catch one while you can.

Here’s soom footage of a prior Uprising! event, which featured the music of Horsefeathers:

Sauvie Island Barn Dance
Sat 5:30pm If the aforementioned ballet-folk-fusion proves too "cityfied" for your down-home style, take a short scenic drive to Sauvie Island, for the Annual Barn Dance. This time-honored summer event provides a live hootenany band (think fiddles, banjos, possibly some washboard/jug-type claptrap) and all the hay-bale authenticity you can handle. Can’t dance? Not to worry. They’ll have a competent square-dance caller, to help you do-si-do it.

Filmusik: Gulliver’s Travels
Fri 7pm The cheeky opera-kitschfilm collab is back, this time syncing not only song, but also voice acting and Foley (aka, film noisemaking) to the 1930’s animated feature film. Originally penned as a parable about bureaucracy and small-mindedness, this story has taken on a more whimsical life as a fairy tale. Filmusik will likely lighten it up even further.

Backspace Gallery
Through July 31 There doesn’t have to be good art on the walls, for me to enjoy my coffee. Coffee shops know this, and so often when they see me coming, they whisk all the good art off the walls and tack up something unremarkable. However: yesterday as I happened into Backspace, I noticed several starkly beautiful pieces by Alexandra Becker-Black. Large expanses of white space and delicate splashes of monochromatic watercolor combined for surprisingly fresh depictions of the most classic subject: the female nude. Part of a show that will disappear at the close of July, these works seem worth visiting—even if you aren’t looking for a latte.

Fred?
Sun, 11:30am According to its creator, brand-new stop-motion film Fred will premiere at the Living Room Theaters this Sunday at 11:30 am. But when reached by phone, the box office could not confirm the screening. LAIKA (Coraline) alum Misha Klein, whose credits also include Celebrity Deathmatch and Robot Chicken, spent 10 years tinkering with the film, but wrapped it in at Portland’s Studio 13 last winter, and then allegedly took a long-deserved nap on the floor. The lead puppet, Fred, is a reluctant stage performer, harried by an angry boss and riddled with his own self-doubt. With the comic pathos of a hobo clown, Fred anguishes over his stage-fright and awaits his cue. Will the show go on?