Books & Talks

Glynnis MacNicol

7:30 p.m. Thu, Powell's Books on Hawthorne, FREE
In her new memoir, No One Tells You This, Glynnis MacNicol describes navigating the first year of her 40s as a successful writer with an accomplished life, all the while acutely aware of the fact she is unmarried and child-free. Finding her path in a world where women are not supposed to end up “alone,” MacNicol serves up commentary on the complexities of living as a modern woman who makes her own rules.

Sara Bir

7:30 p.m. Thu, Powell's City of Books, FREE
Curious how to best use the fallen apples at the local orchard or the overwhelming bounty from those wild blackberry bushes that seem to siege the city each year? Join Ohio-based chef Sara Bir as she shares tips and tricks from her new guide on finding and preparing unusual and wild fruits, The Fruit Forager’s Companion: Ferments, Desserts, Main Dishes and More from Your Neighborhood and Beyond. Among the nearly 100 recipes: habanero crabapple jelly and fermented cranberry relish.

Comedy

Portland Queer Comedy Festival

Various times Thu–Sun, various venues, prices vary
After last year’s inaugural fest received glowing reviews (including from a little ol’ outlet called the New York Times), the Portland Queer Comedy Festival returns with more top-notch LGBTQ stand-up comics and allies. The impressive lineup includes San Fransisco-based stand-up comic Irene Tu, character actor/humorist Jason Stuart (currently appearing in Birth of a Nation), and Last Comic Standing finalist James Adomian. A portion of proceeds will benefit local and national nonprofits.

Music

Cathedral Park Jazz Festival

Various times Fri–Sun, Cathedral Park, FREE
For three days every July, just below the St. Johns Bridge, you’ll find the longest-running jazz and blues festival west of the Mississippi. The fest, now in its 38th year, invites audiences to spread their picnic blankets and enjoy tunes from 15 bands, many of them local, with a Saturday lineup dominated by women.

Bombino

9 p.m. Fri, Star Theater, $25
The phenomenally skilled Tuareg musician just released a new album, Deran, which showcases his bluesy guitar lines and warm, slightly gravelly vocals.

PDX Pop Now!

Noon–11 p.m. Sat–Sun, AudioCinema, FREE
Fifteen years in, the mandate at this beloved music fest hasn’t changed: all ages, 100 percent local, entirely free. Highlights this time around include ethereal folk outfit Lenore, rapper Donte Thomas, and fiery instrumental trio Máscaras.

Father John Misty

6:30 p.m. Sat, McMenamins Edgefield, $40–45
The singer-songwriter (real name: Joshua Tillman) comes to grace the alfresco Edgefield stage. His self-described genre is “post-modern, self-reflexive, semi-ironic, renunciation of originality,” which doesn’t mean a whole lot, but does pretty well encapsulate the folk-rock provocateur’s satirical bent. Blitzen Trapper opens.

Marisa Anderson

8 p.m. Sat, The Old Church, $15
Using instruments like a requinto jarocho (a Mexican string instrument shaped like a guitar) and a Wurlitzer electric piano, the Portland-based, classically trained guitar virtuoso makes intricate American folk medleys. Anderson will perform compositions from her newest album, Cloud Corner, which was heavily influenced by 20^th-century classical and West African guitar techniques, and includes a melancholic ode to the Angel’s Rest trail, burned during last year’s Eagle Creek fire.

Bebel Gilberto

7:30 p.m. Sun, Winningstad Theatre, $40
In 2000, the Brazilian vocalist sashayed onto the world stage with her hit CD, Tanto Tiempo. Now she brings her honeyed voice and unique mix of jazz, electronics, and bossa nova to Portland.

Theater

La Cenerentola

7:30 p.m. Thu & Sat, Newmark Theatre, $35–200
Escape into a faraway land where true love prevails with Portland Opera’s production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, arguably the most famous operatic interpretation of the Cinderella fairy tale. The opera follows a chambermaid’s journey from rags to riches, with many impressive crescendos and arias (and zero singing mice) along the way.

OPENING Out of Sterno

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, Siren Theater, $15–20
Set in an Alice in Wonderland-like world, Deborah Zoe Laufer’s comedy revolves around a woman named Dotty whose husband has prohibited her from leaving home for seven years. See how Dotty fares after receiving a call from an unknown woman and embarking on her first-ever journey into the city of Sterno.

CLOSING CoHo Summerfest

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sun, CoHo Theater, $20
The monthlong performance festival ends with Philip's Glass Menagerie, which somehow draws together Tennessee Williams, drag, and the music of Philip Glass.

Visual Art

OPENING Diverse Voices

10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, FREE
Seven mid-career artists, all hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, present multimedia work in this new exhibit. From techno pop-inspired ceramic sculptures to crochet paintings, the pieces explore the notion of materiality through experimental artistic processes.

R. B. Kitaj

11 a.m.–5 p.m. Thu, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Fri, noon–5 p.m. Sat–Sun, Oregon Jewish Museum, $8
Known for his strong figurative work as well as his role in the British Pop Art movement—he was good friends with David Hockney—Kitaj had a tumultuous career before his 2007 suicide at the age of 74. A Jew Etc., Etc. collects work from the last 20 years of his life, a time when Kitaj was exploring Jewish heritage and identity in his art.

The Shape of Speed

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thu & Sun, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Sat–Sun, Portland Art Museum, $19.99
Take a joyful ride back in time and see some of the finest streamlined automobiles and two-wheelers from the 1930s. Throughout the summer, PAM will display 19 rare US and European vehicles and motorcycles—including a classic 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt and the unrivaled BMW R7 Concept Motorcycle—all of which show how auto designers back in the day were able to incorporate the concept of aerodynamic efficiency into car manufacturing.