Books & Talks

Genevieve Hudson

7:30 p.m. Thu, Powell's City of Books, FREE
Released in July by local indie publisher Future Tense Books, Pretend We Live Here is the first collection of short stories by Genevieve Hudson, an Amsterdam-based writer and Portland State alum (and former Portland Monthly intern). The coming-of-age tales explore queerness, lust, and exclusion as characters struggle to find a home—in their own bodies, with others, and in society more broadly—due to their “nonconforming” identities. Local bestselling author Leni Zumas (Red Clocks) joins Hudson in conversation.

Comedy

Margaret Cho

8 p.m. Thu, 7:30 & 10 p.m. Fri–Sat, 7:30 p.m. Sun, Helium Comedy Club, $30–38
The indomitable comedian, actress, and singer-songwriter returns to town, likely armed with politically outspoken jokes and sweet stories about her Korean mother.

Film 

Top Down Rooftop Cinema

9 p.m. Thu, Portland State's PS2 parking structure, $9–12
Need a respite from lackluster summer blockbusters? Find it at the NW Film Center’s annual alfresco summertime film series, which ends this week with John Carpenter's Escape from New York.

Music

Superorganism

8:30 p.m. Thu, Wonder Ballroom, $17–20
What is this kooky eight-person ear-worm pop production unit with a teenage singer who exudes a paradoxically zippy ennui? Find out at the Wonder Ballroom.

Jade Bird

9 p.m. Fri, Doug Fir Lounge, $14–16
This 20-year old British singer-songwriter is a genre-bending up-and-comer, one minute breaking hearts with an Americana-inspired ballad and the next unleashing her powerful pipes in a punk-fueled track.

Oregon Symphony at the Zoo

7 p.m. Sat, Oregon Zoo, $35–95
Carlos Kalmar conducts the Oregon Symphony in a variety of classical standbys, culminating in Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture."

Theater

Miss Murder

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, Shoebox Theater, $10
Looking to inject some blood and gore into your weekend? Theatre Vertigo puts on an evening of monologues from the perspective of female serial killers, including "Giggling Granny" Nannie Doss and Aileen Wuornos (portrayed by Charlize Theron in Monster).

Renée's Queer Cabaret 

7:30 p.m. Thu, Artists Repertory Theatre, pay-what-you-will
Portland actor and singer-songwriter Renée Muzquiz hosts the first of a series of "resistance variety shows," bringing together a slew of local artists from drag, music, and comedy for a genre-busting evening. The goal, Muzquiz says, is to "focus on the intimate humor, joys, and vulnerabilities of living on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum."

Visual Art

OPENING Stratum

Noon–6 p.m. Sat–Sun, Ori Gallery, FREE
North Portland’s Ori Gallery, which spotlights work by queer and trans artists of color, presents a new group exhibit that considers tattooing through the lens of race and gender. What is the significance of body modification for those with marginalized identities? How can tattooing bring about healing or self-reclamation? With work by Raychelle Duazo, Lilian Dirrebes, Emma Kates-Shaw, and Adam Ponto, Stratum aims to showcase tattooers “as artists, storytellers, and activists.”

CLOSING Michael Abramson

Noon–5 p.m. Thu–Sun, Blue Sky Gallery, FREE
In a compilation of black-and-white gelatin silver prints known as Light: On the South Side photographer Michael Abramson captured the spirit and style of black nightclubs on Chicago’s South Side during the 1970s.

CLOSING Leonard Ruder

11 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Thu–Fri, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat, Augen Gallery, FREE
Outside his day job as a custodian in a local school district, the late Portland-based artist Leonard Ruder pursued his passion for painting. PAINTINGS 1970–1990 highlights approximately two decades’ worth of Ruder’s abstract and geometric paintings, reflecting his appreciation for science, architecture, and philosophy.

CLOSING 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.