Summer isn't over yet, of course, but even if you can't feel fall hiding around the corner, it is there, and getting impatient. So it's on you to seriously savor what opportunities for summer fun that remain, and "savor" is probably the best word for what this weekend has to offer: Pickathon sprawls out all over Pendarvis Farm for what many of its performers consider to be the best music festival in the country, Spiritsfest sees Portland Saturday Market putting its feet up and indulging in some day drinking on the waterfront, OMSI spices up the weekend with a celebration of the Northwest's best hot sauce scientists, there's some low-key fests of the comics and cannabis varieties, and while the Stumptown Improv Fest keeps going strong, there's sketch comedy gold to be had as well. Build yourself the best possible weekend from the menu below.
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Friday, Aug 5
Stumptown Improv Festival
If you’re not paying attention to Portland’s improv scene, you’re doing it wrong—it’s one of the city’s most uniquely delightful and quickly growing arts communities, and the Stumptown Improv Festival is one of your best chances to see as much improv as you can handle—both local and imported—in one jam-packed weekend. After last year’s sold-out shows and packed performances, this summer the fest has a shiny, new, (and importantly, bigger) venue—Artists Repertory Theatre—and a stacked lineup. There shouldn’t be any duds on the docket, but you especially can’t go wrong with up-and-coming local jokesters Tunnel, Bang + Burn’s relentlessly hilarious mini-action-movies on demand, the improbably named and consistently great J Names Improv, local legends the Liberators, and the clever Canadian ladies of Virginia Jack, whose performance style is less comedy bro, more bookish cat enthusiast. MEGAN BURBANK
Artists Repertory Theater, 1515 SW Morrison, 7pm, $14-17 single shows, $37-40 fest pass
Pickathon
It’s Pickathon time! The Portland area’s loveliest and funnest music fest returns in all its sunny glory with a JAM-PACKED lineup for 2016. Soak in the laidback vibes with headliners like Jeff Tweedy and Beach House, check out indie-rock faves like a reunited Wolf People and the evergreen Yo La Tengo, and get freaky with metalers Vhöl and local R&B sensation Chanti Darling. NED LANNAMANN For a complete schedule, click here.
Pendarvis Farm, 16581 SE Hagen, 11am, $110-290
Club Nitty Gritty: Benefit for Freeform Portland
If you're looking for a dance night that sets the evening on fire, check out Club Nitty Gritty, hosted by the always down for a good time DJ Action Slacks (Shannon Wiberg). Expect righteous choices in down-home dirty soul—the kind with raw sax and voices that wail, scratch, and have plenty of grime. You know, the kind you miss from Portland’s days of yore. (And tonight is a benefit for Freeform Portland radio 90.3 FM!) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
(The World Famous) Kenton Club, 2025 N Kilpatrick, 9pm, $5
Lisa Prank, Cockeye
Lisa Prank is Seattle musician Robin Edwards’ ebullient punk solo project. The moniker is a punny riff on school supplies demigoddess Lisa Frank—if the name doesn’t ring a bell, surely you’d recognize her psychedelic animal stickers, a staple of ’90s middle school culture. It’s a fitting tribute, since Edwards’ new full-length debut Adult Teen is rainbow unicorn-hued power-pop that’s steeped in nostalgia as she realizes that “Luv is Dumb.” CIARA DOLAN
Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9pm, $10-12
Gran Ritmos: Nicola Cruz, Natural Magic, 2TABS
Nicola Cruz is a producer, musician, and DJ who makes music born out of a deep respect for indigenous South American mysticism and a strong background in house music. Born in France and based in Quito, Ecuador, he draws inspiration from the landscapes, cultures, and rhythms in the heart of the Andes. His self-recorded and self-produced EP Prender El Alma came out in 2015 on ZZK Records, home of like-minded artists Chancha Via Circuito and El Búho, a fitting imprint for his experimentations in indigenous instrumentation and deep house meditations on cosmology. Portland’s irreverent purveyors of outsider-Balearic-psychedelic frequencies Natural Magic open alongside 2Tabs, the new project from Gran Ritmos’ own Coast2c and Michael Bruce. DANIELA SERNA
Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 9pm, $10-12
Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Musgraves comes in many ways from the same country tradition that gave us Loretta Lynn—self-made female country singers who write their own songs and often have a non-mainstream feminist bent to their lyrics. Musgraves gets a lot of credit for her “progressive” songs, but, while they might’ve been progressive in 1966, in 2016 they seem just quaint. You’re cool with marijuana? You don’t say! You’re okay with girls kissing girls? That’s, like, so brave! Her 2013 major-label debut, the Grammy-winning Same Trailer Different Park, introduced the young country-pop singer (emphasis on pop) with an ear for catchy hooks and clever turns-of-phrase. Her follow-up, last year’s Pageant Material, by-and-large follows the same formula—rocking the boat, but trying not to get wet. Even while asserting self-confidence and empowerment in a male-dominated industry, she remains frustratingly polite. Musgraves has already proven she can write a catchy tune; here’s hoping she soon takes the kid gloves off. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY
Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 7:30pm, $32
Wonderland
A new configuration of old sketch comedy favorites in a showcase for twisted ridiculousness live on-stage, from practiced purveyors of absurdity Jason Rouse, Lori Ferraro, Ted Douglass, Andrew Harris, and Tony St. Clair
Siren Theater, 315 NW Davis, 7:30pm, $18-25
Oregon Burlesque Festival
The art of the peel is carefully practiced here in Portland, and for three nights at Dante's, every aspect of it will be celebrated, from the legends of burlesque's past to the stars of its present.
Dante's, 350 W Burnside, 9pm, $20-60
Drowse, Sabonis, Dragging an Ox Through Water, Lubec
What started out as Sloths guitarist Kyle Bates’ unassuming bedroom-recording project has evolved into one of Portland’s best and most dynamic heavy bands. Bates’ first official release under the Drowse moniker was last year’s Soon Asleep, a collection of harrowing and washed-out elegies that came with a 40-page, hand-illustrated memoir chronicling the musician’s struggles with mental illness. New EP Memory Bed sees Bates delving deeper into more traditional singer/songwriter territory, a shift best exemplified by the delicate, quintessentially Pacific Northwestern sonics of “Break” and “Memory.” Bates is rounded out live by some of the best Portland musicians of the last several years, including Sloths bandmate Alec van Stavern, Pardee Shorts’ Kevin Gwozdz, ambient artist Taylor Malsey, and former GrandFather guitarist Parker Johnson. MORGAN TROPER
High Water Mark, 6800 NE Martin Luther King Jr., 8pm, $7
Wavves, Steep Leans, PartyBaby
San Diego four-piece Wavves sounds exactly how a California band named after ocean swells should sound: full of fuzzy, shimmery indie surf-rock. But their lyrical content is often darker than those labels connote, as frontman Nathan Williams tackles subjects like self-loathing and addiction with a tired, anxious, sardonic tongue. 2015’s V was inspired by a breakup and worsening bad habits, but took the tone a little too far—Williams’ self-pitying lyrics seem intended to alienate rather than commiserate. But Wavves’ musicianship and talent endures, with hooks that’ll satisfy when you’re feeling real wry and fuck-it-all. FIONA GABRIELLE WOODMAN
Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE Cesar E. Chavez, 8pm, $20-23
Hey Lover, White Glove, Manglor Mountain
Despite its aquatic title, Hey Lover's new record, Sinking Ships sounds like the band rigged their garage with jet packs and shot it into the stratosphere. CIARA DOLAN
Starday Tavern, 6517 SE Foster, 9pm
Suicide Squad
Superhero flick Suicide Squad—or, more accurately, supervillain flick Suicide Squad—has a big task: convincing audiences that movies based on DC Comics' characters can be anywhere near as fun those starring Marvel characters. Thankfully, all signs point toward Suicide Squad being the opposite of the boring, bewildering Batman v. Superman. There'll be action! Jokes! Harley Quinn! The Fresh Prince! And the Joker? Sure, the Joker. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Various Theaters, see Movie Times for showtimes and locations
Takahiro Yamamoto & Shin Kawasaki, Coordination, Sad Horse
Takahiro Yamamoto and Shin Kawasaki blend movement and music with a night of dance and guitar performance at Turn! Turn! Turn!
Turn! Turn! Turn!, 8 NE Killingsworth, 8pm, $5
Saturday, Aug 6
Portland Hot Sauce Expo
Good hot sauce makes life just a little bit better, doesn’t it? If you think so, head to the hottest show in Portland for the first ever Portland Hot Sauce Expo, where you’ll enjoy food and sauce samples, craft beer, and “some of the most insane eating challenges known to mankind.” Don’t miss Saturday’s ghost pepper spicy pizza contest, or Sunday’s bloody Mary mix-down and the Guinness Book of Records’ reaper pepper eating challenge. DOUG BROWN
OMSI, 1945 SE Water, 10am, all ages
Galaxy Dance Festival
A three-day outdoor festival highlighting new works and performances from a multitude of Northwest dancers and companies, including AWOL Dance, Fuse Dance Force, PDX Dance Collective, Polaris, and more, across an eclectic mix of styles and genres. Click here for a list of free events and classes.
Director Park, 815 SW Park, 11am, free, all ages
The Deer Hunter
Life is unfair. One good example of this fundamental truth is recently deceased director Michael Cimino, whose name tends to summon knee-jerk references to Heaven's Gate, one of the film industry's all-time bombs. But the only reason he fell so far was due to dramatic heights he scaled in The Deer Hunter, two and-a-half hours of blunt force post-Vietnam trauma in film form, featuring career highlights from world-class actors such as Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep, and the farewell performance of John Cazale. Yeah, everyone knows about the Russian Roulette scene—but there's so much more to this film than just that sequence. BOBBY ROBERTS
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7pm, $9
Sleeping Beauties, Golden Pelicans, Bobby Peru
Orlando-based quartet Golden Pelicans bring their snot-nosed blend of heavy punk rock to the Know.
The Know, 2026 NE Alberta, 8:50pm, $7
Omni, Alto!
If you dig the sound of an electric guitar slicing through a prickly pop-rock song, Omni is your new favorite band. No joke. The Atlanta trio’s debut full-length Deluxe—released in July on Trouble in Mind Records—is a compact collection of catchy post-punk songs with sharp corners and stony attitude. Drummer Billy Mitchell pushes Omni along like a laser-guided rhythm robot. Philip Frobos’ basslines snap like a rubber band stretched to its limit, and his dead-eyed vocals ably straddle a line between memorable and amelodic. Each member is a vital part of Omni’s admixture. But it’s Frankie Broyles’ guitar—sharp, jangling, rubbery, and weird—that puts Deluxe into a higher sonic tax bracket. His sound should be bronzed and inducted into the Post-Punk Hall of Fame. Joining Omni on tonight’s bill are globally-inspired experimental locals Alto!, whose excellent LP3 also came out on Trouble in Mind earlier this year. BEN SALMON
Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9pm, $8-10
Stand Up for Art
Equal Mics and Triada collaborate to bring you this comedy show for a cause, benefitting p:ear, with stand-up sets from Adam Pasi, Jason Traeger, Ali Reingold, Sarah Everett, Molly Elwood, and Brittany Osland.
Triada, 222 N Fremont, 4pm, free
Landlines, Sad Horse, The Century, Abronia, The Toads
Landlines' basement pop takes on many forms. It's often complex and muscular, with songs exploding at once and sounding like a lo-fi take on Television's guitar masterpiece Marquee Moon. Other times, the band's musical tilt-a-whirl slows down to a languid crawl so you can better parse the wry, Stephen Malkmus–inspired wordplay. JACKSON HATHORN
The Spare Room, 4830 NE 42nd, 9pm, $8
Don't Think Twice
One member's overnight success upends an improv group, forcing its thirtysomething theater kids to reassess their careers, their futures, and their simmering resentment. What makes Mike Birbiglia’s Don’t Think Twice such a smart, universal comedy is the core friendship of the group: You can feel the genuine waves of affection coming off Birbiglia & Co. They’ve got each other’s backs, even as their relationships start to go sideways. It’s beyond refreshing to see a comedy where friends aren’t pitted against each other to manufacture conflict. COURTNEY FERGUSON
Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st, 4:15pm, 7pm, 9:15pm, $6.50-9.50
Spiritsfest
Portland Saturday Market gets a little tipsy for the weekend with a party for the Northwest's finest distillers and the lovely drinks they bestow upon us, featuring booths highlighting unique foods and signature cocktails from specially selected vendors.
Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 1020 SW Naito, 11am
Sunday, Aug 7
Portland Timbers vs. Sporting Kansas City
The Timbers welcome Sporting Kansas City back to Providence Park for the first time since last season’s playoff meeting. That instant classic went down to a heart-stopping 11-round penalty kick shootout, and sparked the Timbers on the way to winning their first MLS Cup. With the team in dire need of a similar jolt, let’s hope they can conjure up another dose of that magic today.
Providence Park, 1844 SW Morrison, 1pm, $35-170, all ages
Hustle & Drone, Fanno Creek
When you get a chance to hear Portland electro-pop trio Hustle & Drone show off their latest adventures in dance, you should probably take it.
Rontoms, 600 E Burnside, 8pm, free
Second Annual Artists Alley Comics Fest
Featuring over fifty creators and artists showcasing some of the best independent comics currently on the market, as well as original artworks, shirts, stickers, and more.
Spritely Bean, 5829 SE Powell, 11am, free, all ages
Indo Expo
A trade expo for growers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and you: the person consuming all manner of smokey treats. Including seminars and panels to help educate consumers and providers on the navigation of this wide-open frontier that is legal cannabis. Click here for more information.
Portland Expo Center, 2060 N Marine
Sunday Assembly Revival
The return of the completely secular church-like experience, featuring inspirational speaking, live music, and an opportunity to enjoy all the positive aspects of being religiously devout without having to actually be in any religion at all! Hosted by Dr. Will Baumgardner, with guests Meysha Harville, ate21, Without Apology, and Asha Sawyer.
Oaks Amusement Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, 1:30pm, all ages
The Princess Bride
This movie is 100% pure charm in film form. That's not to say Rob Reiner's adaptation of William Goldman's bestselling novel isn't also shot through with moments of real romance ("As you wish") and cathartic satisfaction ("I want my father back you sonofabitch.") but the reason this movie occupies such a precious place for so many is the charm radiating off its styrofoamy sets, through a score that sounds like it's coming out of a Casio keyboard's single built-in-speaker, humming under dialog written so beautifully the actors can't help but smile at the magic flowing out of their mouths. It proves you don't need $200 million and two years of post-production to realize pure imagination. Not when you've got a big heart and all the charm in the world. BOBBY ROBERTS
Academy Theater, 7818 SE Stark, 11:50am, 4:45pm, 9:30pm, $3-4, all ages