Top Things to Do in Portland this Weekend: July 30–Aug 2
Lake Street Dive performing at the Pickathon Woods Stage. Photo credit: ELI DUKE.
From prix fixe to Pickathon & beyond, it’s your weekend itinerary—plus more picks below!— courtesy of Portland Monthly’s 2015 Summer Guide:
Prep for the rustic Happy Valley hoedown we know as Pickathon by treating yourself to a classy dose of Friday fine dining at the sleekly modern Holdfast, which offers a nine-course tasting menu with the kind of exquisite small plates and wine pairings you probably won’t find at Pendarvis Farm’s annual roots music jamboree. Saturday morning, get thee Pickathon-bound and (cowboy boots donned and tent pitched) find a choice spot to lay your blanket near the Mountain View stage, where you can wait for just about everyone you know to amble by. Come nightfall, tick off a show at the fairy-tale Woods Stage, and indulge in some late-night stomping in the Lucky Barn. En route home on Sunday, take a detour by Powell Butte Nature Park for a rousing hike to the summit of this extinct volcano, where, if the day is clearer than your head, you’ll be treated to eye-popping views of Mounts Hood, St. Helens, Adams, and Jefferson. Back in town, slough off that festival grime with a leisurely dip in the Kennedy School’s winningly old-school soaking pool—unless, in your post-Pickathon glow, you’d feel more at home in the clothing-optional bathhouse up the street at Common Ground.
MUSIC
The Fourth Wall. Photo by Paul Laxer.
The Fourth Wall
Sunday at 9 pm, Mississippi Studios
Recent Portland transplants The Fourth Wall—drawn here by praise from The Shins and Menomena—have a new album out this Friday on Bug Hunt (Tender Loving Empire’s sister imprint). Lovely Violence is the quartet’s second album, but the first since they moved here from Hawaii. Sneak peek here!
BOOKS & TALKS
Rinker Buck
Thursday at 3 pm, Powell's City of Books
The author of Flight of Passage and his kid brother take on the Oregon Trail … the old fashioned way. Buck’s new memoir The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey recounts their adventurous and heartfelt trip from Montana, mule-drawn covered wagon and all. We chat with the author in advance of his reading.
Photo credit Zak Mulligan.
Jessica Walsh
Friday at 7:00 pm, Revolution Hall
Her relationship experiment "40 Days of Dating" was viewed by millions. Two years and one happy ending later, New York designer and internet star Jessica Walsh arrives, new book in hand, to Portland.
FILM
Top Down Film Festival: The Tenth Victim
Thursday at 9 pm, parking structure rooftop at the Hotel deLuxe
Decades before Michael Douglas hunted humans in The Game, Ursula Andress, armed with a high-caliber shotgun, chased down Marcello Mastroianni in Elio Petri’s 1965 sci-fi flick.
Portland 48 Hour Film Project
Friday–Sunday, Hollywood Theatre
How tight will your crew be after pulling together a movie—from concept to credits—in just over two days? Each year, genres are picked from a hat on kickoff night, with all films screened for the public (imagine the tweaked-out energy!) that Sunday. This global competition enters its 15th year ready to roll.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Redbull's Flugtag: back in portland after a seven-year hiatus—with more Winnebagos, we hope? Photo credit: Jason–G
Redbull Flugtag
Saturday at 11 am, Tom McCall Waterfront Park
A 28-foot flight deck launches you—and your handbuilt taco, pterodactyl, Winnebago, or what have you—high above the sparkling Willamette River. (Until you and your craft inevitably succumb to gravity, and take a bath.) Flight distance is just one criteria in this judged competition; showmanship is another, explaining why the quirky annual event draws such massive crowds.
THEATER
Gus Van Sant's grit: could it be gone? Hand2Mouth Theatre's Time, A Fair Hustler, opens this weekend.
OPENING Time, A Fair Hustler
Friday–Sunday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Artists Repertory Theatre
Where among today’s condos and food carts would we find the hustlers, thieves, and Rat Kings of Gus Van Sant’s 1991 Portland classic My Own Private Idaho? This mixed-media premiere from Hand2Mouth Theatre reconvenes the film’s characters to tackle questions of history, nostalgia, and survival.
CLOSING The Elixir of Love
Thursday & Saturday at 7:30 pm, Keller Auditorium
Snake oil, cowpokes, and echoes of Tristan and Isolde: this Wild West version of Gaetano Donizetti’s 1832 love story caps the Portland Opera’s golden anniversary season with a 10-gallon hat and plenty of bel canto from stars Matthew Grills and Katrina Galka.
VISUAL ARTS
Theory of Achievement
Saturday & Sunday from 3–6 pm, Yale Union
In a curious gallery swap, three curators from Parisian gallery Castillo/Corales are temporarily occupying this Southeast gallery—their group show features New York’s Jason Simon, Lily van der Stokker, and LA-based Richard Hawkins, who will be giving a talk at the gallery Sunday evening. (Yale Union’s executive director and curator, meanwhile, are in the French capital for a simultaneous sister show.)
WORTH A TRIP
Pickathon
Friday–Sunday, Pendarvis Farm
Family friendly, no plastic, all pickin’—the 18th annual music fest isn’t yet car-free, but its energy is positively solar. Onstage this year are headliners including Tune-Yards, Ty Segall, Leon Bridges, Cloud Nothings, Heartless Bastards, even Tuareg desert blues band Tinariwen. (Get in the mood with Portland Monthly's ultimate Pickathon playlist.)
