Events are back, baby! This week brings live (!) music from Blossom, a rooftop roller disco, and more. 

Music

Blossom at The Lot at Zidell Yards 

6:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m., Thursday, June 10, The Lot at Zidell Yards, 3030 S Moody Avenue, tickets $70–$210  

R&B/jazz/soul singer Blossom performs this Thursday night at The Lot at Zidell Yards, a live event for which attendees can purchase tickets in two-, four-, and six-person seating pods. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Blossom started playing music in her uncle’s steel drum band and has flourished in the Pacific Northwest where her self-described neo sensual sounds have found a whole new audience. VIP seating pods available.  

Cardioid + Nick Delffs at the Lot at Zidell Yards

6:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m., Saturday, June 12, The Lot at Zidell Yards, 3030 S Moody Avenue, $70–$210

Opened by longtime Portland musician Nick Delffs, Cardioid brings her synth-doused dream pop sound to The Lot at Zidell Yards this Saturday, for which attendees can purchase tickets in two-, four-, and six-person seating pods. Cardioid is the creative project of Lizzy Ellison (previously of Portland’s Radiation City), describing her music as “fantasy metal,” and referencing the fabled metal, mithril, from Lord of the Rings in her autobiographical yet dreamlike music. VIP seating pods available. 

Polka Dot Downtown

12 p.m. daily (plus additional times, see here) through August, Pioneer Courthouse Square, FREE  

Portland artist Bill Will has unleashed a set of more than 100 colorful 12-foot vinyl dots throughout downtown, setting a wide variety of stages for local musicians and artists. The dots were created last summer, and designed to provide a safe entertainment space for Portlanders to enjoy local music during the pandemic. Upcoming performers at Pioneer Courthouse Square include jazz pianist Stephanie Cooke, rock/funk/blues hybrid the Colin Trio, Americana performers the JT Wise Duo, jazz vocalist LaRhonda Steele, pop singer JoAnna Lee, acoustic blues guitarist Ben Rice, R&B vocalist Jermaine, funk instrumentalists Machado Mijiga, and the indie-pop duo Fox and Bones. 

Special Events

Double Dipped Brunch

Sundays through June 27, Local Lounge, $10 plus food

Who doesn’t love a little entertainment with brunch? To that end, MLK queer bar Local Lounge presents Double Dipped, a weekly brunch drag show. Previous Double Dipped performers include the former amateur winner of Local Lounge’s Lavish Pucker Pageant Anne J. Tifah and renowned local drag performer, Blondie. The Local invites anyone and everyone to sit down and enjoy a mimosa or two while local drag performers do their thing.

Soul Walk hosted by Calvin Walker and Paul Knauls, Sr. 

Rooftop Roller Disco

5 – 8:30 p.m., Saturday, June 12, Parking Garage at Lloyd Center, 9th Ave between Halsey and Multnomah, tickets $9 – $25

The Rose City Rollers are holding an in person roller disco featuring DJ Count Daddy – founder of Rise and Roll Disco—at Lloyd Center. For $25 you get an entry ticket as well as gear rentals, or if you are already a skating professional and have your own gear, its $9 for entry. Organizers expect the event to sell out, so buy tickets soon! If you miss this opportunity or are unsteady on your skates, check out other Rose City Rollers’ events this summer—comedy specials in the park or their other skating pop-ups like SKATEMOBILE—on their website.

Vanport Mosaic Festival

Thurs May 26–Weds June 30, Various locations & prices

The Vanport Mosaic Festival, a mix of in-person and virtual events this year around the theme "We the People," launched last week and runs through the end of June. Highlights from this weekend include an intergenerational conversation about activism, art, and Richard Brown's new book This Is Not For You, and the Albina Soul Walk, a musical stroll into the neighborhood's history.

Visual Art

Ansel Adams in Our Time

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Weds–Sun. through August 1, Portland Art Museum, $17–20

This exhibition (originally from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston) revitalizes the work of legendary landscape photographer Ansel Adams, successfully reminding us that his legacy spans far beyond postcards. Putting Adams’ photographs—particularly shots of the Bay Area and the Southwest—in conversation with contemporary images of the same landscapes, the show underlines his considerable influence on our collective understanding of the West. And crucially, it treats the contemporary work as more than just a foil, with enough variety per room to hold down several individual shows. 

I Am My Story: Voices of Hope

 12–5 p.m. Weds–Fri & Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat, through August 22, Oregon Historical Society, FREE–$10

The latest collaboration between The Immigrant Story and Oregon Historical Society focuses on six women who’ve come to Oregon from Burundi, Congo, and Eritrea. Featuring their portraits, words, and photographs of the objects they brought with them from Africa to Oregon, the exhibition is an extension of Jim Lomasson’s What We Carried series.