Film

Wes's World: Wes Anderson and His Influences
Saturday–Sunday, Whitsell Auditorium
Lovers of all things twee, rejoice! Track the evolution of one of modern filmmaking's most distinctive aesthetics with screenings of every Anderson film from 1996's Bottle Rocket through 2012's Moonrise Kingdom, paired with the works that influenced every high school hipster's favorite director. Rushmore screens this weekend, paired with Harold and Maude on Saturday and Jules and Jim on Sunday. Before heading out to the screenings, take our Wes Anderson quiz  to test your knowledge of Wes's World.

Sports

World Cup Viewing Party
Sunday, Pioneer Courthouse Square
Every four years, the world stops what it’s doing to watch soccer’s greatest drama. The World Cup’s 64 games can be savage or sublimely beautiful: underdogs can topple giants, nations can avenge centuries-old grudges, the greats of old fade away and new legends are born. Now the games come to a close with the final match, and Portland's living room is the place to watch it happen. See whether Argentina, fresh off a nail-biting penalty shot finish against Netherlands, can take down Germany, who stomped Brazil 7 to 1. 

Soccer a bit of a mystery to you? Wondering who's rooting for who? Read our profile on a few local soccer fanatics, plus guides to watching the games.

Special Events

Mississippi Street Fair
Saturday, Mississippi Neighborhood
Pretty much just what it sounds like—North Portland’s trendiest stretch throws a band- and booth-drenched fair to match its Southeast counterparts, with proceeds benefiting Boise-Eliot Elementary School and neighborhood charities.

Portland Bastille Day Festival
Saturday, Director's Park
Some 8,000 visitors turned out last year to sample continental cuisine at this fabulous French fete, as well as French-themed music, kids’ activities, arts and crafts, and the Portland Waiters Race—a one-mile speed-walk in which racers carry a serving tray loaded with glassware and crockery.

Theater

The Book of Mormon
Thursday–Sunday, Keller Auditorium
This Broadway sensation and winner of nine Tonys, including best musical, is Portland's hottest ticket in recent memory. Concocted by a dream team of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker and Avenue Q cocreator Robert Lopez, the musical comedy skewers organized religion (and the musical form itself) through a story about several Mormon missionaries who go like babes in the woods to spread the good word in Uganda, only to run up against female-phobic warlords, resolutely secular natives, and their own doubts. Read our review of The Book of Mormon here.

CoHo Summerfest: Fishing for My Father
Thursday–Sunday, CoHo Theatre
CoHo Summerfest brings four Portland-based playwrights of starkly differing styles together for a month of solo shows. The second weekend features Chris Harder's Fishing for My Father, a performance that combines monologues, original music, and recorded community interviews to tell the story of one outdoorsman's struggle to learn the meaning of fatherhood.

Portland Shakespeare Project: The Tempest
Thursday–Sunday, Artists Repertory Theatre
The story of the exiled duke of Milan is somehow both one of Shakespeare’s most curious plays and the one you’re least likely to have thought about since you read it in high school. Magic, romantic intrigue, colonialism, Freudian psychology (before Freud!)—it might be time for another look.

Concerts

Portland Cello Project's Extreme Dance Party
Thursday–Saturday, Ecotrust Natural Capital Center and Doug Fir Lounge
If bumping and grinding isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cellos, well, Portland’s premier genre-mashing string ensemble aims to change that during this two-day bash at Doug Fir. If you missed out on tickets to the sold-out Doug Fir shows, or if you want to bring the kids, come to the free, all-ages show on Thursday at the Ecotrust Natural Capital Center in the Pearl.

Carolina Chocolate Drops
Saturday, Oregon Zoo
The Grammy-winning old-time string quartet offer banjo and fiddle renditions of everything from traditional Piedmont numbers to Blu Cantrell’s early-2000s R&B gem “Hit ’Em Up Style.” Local old-school-reinterpeter Sally Ford's new band opens.

Dance

Dance+
Thursday–Saturday, Conduit Dance
It’s the third year for this curated performance series from local contemporary dance incubator Conduit, bringing together emerging and established local dancers to collaborate on new works. This weekend includes locals Paul Clay, Todd Barton, Jen Hackworth, Meghann Gilligan, and Seattle's Anna Conner.

Books & Talks

PNCA Summer Lecture Series: Rhea L. Combs
Thursday, Museum of Contemporary Craft
Rhea L. Combs was the interim dean of multicultural affairs at Reed College before disembarking to become the curator of film and photography at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture. As The lecture is part of a summer series hosted by PNCA, all of which are free and open to the public.

Ian Doescher
Saturday, Powell's Books at Ceder Hills Crossing
Is anyone surprised that the guy who adapted the original Star Wars trilogy into blank verse in the style of the Bard lives in Portland? This month he rounds out his trilogy with The Jedi Doth Return. Read our interview with Doescher about The Empire Striketh Back, plus his monologue for Exogorth, the giant space slug that emerges from an asteroid to try to eat the Millenium Falcon!

Classical 

Oregon Bach Festival: Duke Ellington and the Harlem Jazz Craze
Saturday, Newmark Theatre
Eugene’s world-class celebration of Johann Sebastian Bach’s legacy and work is nice enough to save us a drive by bringing some of the best offerings through Portland. For the last of Portland's performances, Bach shares the spotlight with Duke Ellington, the famed Harlem Renaissance composer. Emceed by Jaime Bernstein, Portland's own Art Abrams Swing Machine will perform, led by conductor Michael Barrett.

Chamber Music Northwest: Emerson String Quartet
Saturday, Kaul Auditorium
With nine Grammys, three Gramophone awards and more than 30 recordings, the Emerson String Quartet is one of the most recognized names in contemporary classical music. Their performance at Kaul Auditorium will be their first of two nights with Chamber Music Northwest's Summer Fest, but tickets are going fast and their night at Lincoln Performance Hall has already sold out.

Worth a Trip

Oregon Country Fair
Friday–Sunday, Veneta
In today’s megafestival climate (we’re looking at you, Sasquatch), OCF has thrived by continuing to be what it’s always been: the original counterculture mecca. Funky, colorful, sustainable, and nonprofit, it’s everything the bloated festival economy isn’t.