Books & Talks

Clementine Ford in Conversation with Lindy West

7:30 p.m. Fri, Powell's City of Books, FREE
The Australian writer—whose new book, Fight Like a Girl, blends reporting, memoir, and opinion to comment on feminism in the wake of #MeToo—hashes it out with the indomitable Lindy West. By the end of the evening, we suspect gender inequity will be solved.

John Kerry

7:30 p.m. Sun, Powell's City of Books, $35
The former Secretary of State, presidential candidate, and five-term senator stops by Powell's with his new book, Every Day Is Extra. He'll be in joined in conversation by Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

Comedy

W. Kamau Bell

7 and 10 p.m. Sat, Aladdin Theater, $30
Whether chatting with Ku Klux Klansmen on his CNN show United Shades of America, puzzling out how to explain racism to his mixed-race daughters on This American Life, or riffing on free speech in his Netflix special Private School Negro, Bell is everywhere these days. Onstage, he’s an affable performer who delights in stoking discomfort in his audience.

Film

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

7:30 p.m. Fri, 7 p.m. Sat and Sun, 4:30 p.m. Sun, Sept 14–16, Whitsell Auditorium, $5–15
Arwen Curry's new documentary about the late, great Portland writer Ursula K. Le Guin gets its US premiere at the Northwest Film Center. Curry and her team filmed Le Guin for the last decade of her life, with the author musing on anarchism, feminism, gender constructs, love, marriage, and, above all, writing. Curry will attend for post-screening Q&As. Read more on the film here. 

Director's Uncut: An Evening with John Cameron Mitchell

8 p.m. Sat, Revolution Hall, $25–85
The storied director hits Rev Hall for screenings of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and How to Talk to Girls at Parties, complete with live commentary. Plus: intermission features live performances of songs from both movies, and some sort of new musical collaboration.

Music

Angel Olsen

8 p.m. Thu, Newmark Theatre, $31–41
The Missouri-raised singer-songwriter is much more than a tortured indie-folk star, as made blisteringly clear by her 2016 album, My Woman, which balances synth, grunge, and playful beats. She followed it up in 2017 with Phases, a sampler of demos, covers, and B-sides.

Madeleine Peyroux

8 p.m. Sun, Revolution Hall, $49
The one-time Parisian busker is known for her uncanny ability to channel Billie Holiday. On her latest album, 2016′s Secular Hymns, she covered a wide range of composers, including 19th-century songwriter Stephen Foster and more contemporary troubadours like Tom Waites and Townes Van Zandt.

Blood Orange

8 p.m. Sun, Roseland Theater, SOLD OUT
The New York Times has called Dev Hynes (who records under the name Blood Orange) an "R&B miracle worker," an apt descriptor for this remarkable artist. Don't have tickets to tonight's sold-out show? We recommend sprawling yourself on the ground while listening to his latest album, last month's Negro Swan.

Theater & Performance

TBA 2018

Various times and locations thru Sun, prices vary
Portland’s annual contemporary art and performance festival returns, curated jointly for the first time by PICA’s crack team of artistic directors: Roya Amirsoleymani, Erin Boberg Doughton, and Kristan Kennedy. In the fest's final weekend, expect fictional talk shows, musings on love (and lovers), and dizzying displays of technical theater.

Radiant Vermin

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, CoHo Theater, $25–32
Scott Yarbrough—Third Rail’s founding artistic director, who stepped down at the end of last season—helms Philip Ridley’s macabre comedy about the housing crisis, materialism, and morality. How far would you go for the perfect home?

Skeleton Crew

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sun, 2 p.m. Sat–Sun, Artists Repertory Theatre, $30–60
Artists Rep opens its season with Dominique Morisseau’s Obie-winning play about the collapse of Detroit’s auto industry. Set in 2008 at one of the city’s last auto plants, the LA Times described it as “a powerful drama about workers, the value of their work and what happens to society when that work is taken away.”

Visual Art

OPENING Vaginal Davis

11 a.m.–5 p.m. Thu–Sat, Adams & Ollman, FREE
Vaginal Davis’s work has been described as “terrorist drag” for the way the Los Angeles-born, Berlin-based artist rejects sanitized versions of drag and questions rather than conceals her identity: intersex, queer, biracial (“blatino,” in her own words). Here, in an exhibit titled An Invitation to the Dance, she showcases mixed-media paintings of dancers (made with the likes of nail polish, cocoa butter, and eye shadow), a 1995 video work, and a site-specific mural.

The Shape of Speed

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thu & Sun, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Fri–Sat, 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.

Stratum

Noon–6 p.m. Thu–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.”