Comedy

Back Fence PDX: Russian Roulette

7:30 p.m. Sat, Curious Comedy Theater, $16–20
In this off-the-cuff storytelling show, participants spin a wheel for a prompt and then craft a true five-minute tale. Tellers tonight include former Live Wire host and generally hilarious Portlander Courtenay Hameister, crowd favorite Shannon Balcom Graves, comedian Jay Flewelling, and more.

Ron Funches

7:30 p.m. Sat, Revolution Hall, $25
The onetime Portlander—a jolly delight of a comedian and a supremely huggable human being—brings his Funch-A-Mania tour to town.

Solomon Georgio

7 and 9 p.m. Sun, Mississippi Studios, $10
Born to Ethiopian refugees in Sudan, Georgio arrived in the US at age 4. Now he parlays his identity as a gay African immigrant into irreverent stand-up, riffing on everything from famine to Los Angeles foodies.

Dance

Ten Tiny Dances

10 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Sun, Downtown Beaverton, FREE
Way before the tiny trend swept Portland, this much-loved performance series was putting dance troupes on four-by-four-foot squares. This annual event offers 10 different pieces—ranging from hip-hop to contemporary to traditional Aztecan dance—popping up on shrimpy stages across downtown Beaverton.

Film

David Lynch: A Retrospective

Various times Fri–Sat, NW Film Center, $9
The NW Film Center surveys the work of the cinematic great behind the likes of Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Elephant Man, and Blue Velvet. Film critic Pauline Kael called the Missoula-born director the “first popular surrealist,” and he’s spent four decades working with the best in the business, from composer Angelo Badalamenti to actor Laura Dern. This monthlong series offers films directed by Lynch, as well as work that inspired him.

Music

The Districts

9 p.m. Thu, Doug Fir Lounge, $15–17
One of those high-school bands that actually makes it, this Pennsylvania-born foursome formed in 2009 and has gone onto play big stages (even if the Guardian sniffed that they're "hit-and-miss plaid-clad rock"). Their third full-length album, Popular Manipulations, drops in August.

Chamber Music Northwest Summer Festival

Various times and venues thru July 30, prices vary
With more than 60 concerts over the course of five weeks, the 47th annual festival aims to satisfy both chamber music purists—yes, there’s plenty of Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schumann—and those looking for something spicier, whether jazz-inspired pieces or new work riffing on Twin Peaks. This year’s fest also features a week devoted to women composers. Plus, we take a closer look at this year’s female focus.

Visual Art

OPENING Monroe Hodder

11 a.m.–5 p.m. Thu–Sat, Butters Gallery, FREE
Hodder’s abstract oil paintings are boldly geometrical and color-saturated—a vibrant explosion of line and hue.

OPENING Sage Sohier and Nakeya Brown

Noon–5 p.m. Thu–Sun, Blue Sky Gallery, FREE
In Witness to Beauty, Sohier photographs her mother—who was a fashion model in the late ’40s—performing beautification rituals, as well as in re-creations of tender family portraits. DC-based photographer Brown likewise explores womanhood and glamour in her work, chomping into the complexities of blackness and power in her series The Refutation of “Good” Hair, on show alongside other work. 

OPENING Mako Miyamoto

7–10 p.m. Fri, 1–6 p.m. Sat, Stephanie Chefas Projects, FREE
Do you think fine art is missing something? Not enough Wookiees, for example? Mako Miyamoto agrees, which is why the Portland photographer stages portraits of people in Chewbacca masks, shot against lush, dreamy landscapes. In this series, Further West, Miyamoto for the first time also reveals (gasp!) human faces. 

OPENING Jennifer Steinkamp

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat–Sun, Portland Art Museum, $19.99
The acclaimed video installation artist brings several large-scale projections to town—glowing animations of trees, flowers, and vines that swirl across the gallery walls.

Special Events

Mississippi Street Fair

10 a.m.–9 p.m., N Mississippi Ave, FREE
From Skidmore to Fremont, N Mississippi Avenue will be packed with locals and tourists for Portland’s biggest street fair. Expect 200-plus vendors and sponsors, including Por Qué No, Ecliptic Brewing, and Paxton Gate.