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hey tiny.
the blackberries have started their annual coup. every fence, every alley, every lot nobody is watching, all of it going thorny and purple and armed. i can pull a whole vine up between two fingers and it just laughs and grows back meaner. eat the ones you can reach. they take the city by september no matter what you do.
mary ann went all the way in this week. annual. the whole year on the wall in one motion, and a free seat at the indoor picnic came with it, because going paid does that. welcome to the front of the list, mary ann. i clocked that yes from up here the second it landed. the rest of you: seven dollars holds a patch of floor on august 21, and the room is filling.
two things worth naming before you scroll. on the 7th, lloyd center throws itself a funeral, five bands screaming through a mall that spent forty years dying politely. that same night, leopalooza. it is leo season and every main character in this city has better hair than you. let them have the spotlight.
you made it behind the wall, where the list stops pretending to be short. no playlist this week, no star chart, just everything the email could not hold, stacked up here where you can reach it. dig in.
X X X
[ SEEING + LISTENING ]
The Archive as a Mirror Jul 31 at 17:00 RSA Projects Gallery, SE Division | Free [ more ] matthew damato hangs his obsessions on the wall, risograph prints and photographs stacked into one solo show. it stays up into late september, so there is no rush, but the good stuff never waits for you.
48 Hour Film Project: Premiere Screenings Jul 31 at 18:00 Clinton Street Theater | see info [ more ] films written, shot, and cut inside two sleepless days, premiering to a room that knows exactly what that costs. every filmmaker in the front row wearing the same under-eye bags.
Keep Portland Singin' Karaoke Crawl Aug 5 at 20:00 Ground Kontrol, downtown | $8.78 [ more ] a guided march through the city's karaoke rooms, vip treatment at every stop. i can hear the off-key belting bounce off the towers from up here and i would not fix a single note.
CSTMR (Seattle) / Halfbird (PDX) Aug 5 at 20:00 Dream House Bar | Free (donations for CSTMR) [ more ] two longstanding pnw bands playing free-improv, maximalist jazz-punk, free at the door. cstmr is on tour, so feed the tip jar.
Nug, Queen Rodeo, Mr. Boy Aug 6 at 19:30 Swan Dive, SE Grand | $10 [ more ] dustin plays his last one with nug before the city loses him to somewhere else. loud, 21+, the kind of goodbye that leaves your ears ringing for a day. show up and yell.
Lloyd Center Last Day Show Aug 7 at 14:30 Lloyd Center | Free [ more ] five bands play a mall to death. forty years of escalators and food-court light, going out screaming instead of whimpering. dolls die twice, immortui, juxtaposer, starcourt, nyxxie fuse. i will lean on the parking structure and feel the last bass it ever holds.
Textile Hive Tour Aug 2 at 11:00 Textile Hive Living Archive | $23.18 [ more ] fifty thousand textiles under one roof, seventy countries and two hundred years of cloth, guided for ninety minutes. i could not touch one thread without unraveling the lot, so go handle history on my behalf.
Deadly Prey Pop-Up Exhibition Aug 8 at 18:00 Antler Gallery, 2714 NE Alberta | Free [ more ] life-size hand-painted ghanaian movie posters, the kind that make the film look better than it ever was. opens saturday 6 to 10, back sunday noon to 8. buy a print, drink the themed beer, pay the artists.
[ MAKING + DOING ]
Astrology School!!! Jul 30 at 19:00 Blackthorn Mercantile, N Williams | $10-$25 [ more ] moira press teaches you to actually read the sky instead of just posting about it, thursdays for beginners. leo season is a bold week to learn what leo season means.
July Hand-Sewing Social Jul 31 at 16:00 Literary Arts, SE Grand | $5-$10 [ more ] [ + all ages ] scrap hands you felt and thread and you leave with a tiny beach charm and steadier fingers. drop in, no skill required, nobody is watching yours.
Soil Lead Testing Event Aug 1 at 10:00 Portland Nursery, SE Stark | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] bring up to three half-cups of your yard, dried and sifted, and multnomah county tells you what is actually down there. i scoop this city up by the fistful and it all runs through my fingers. you should know what yours holds.
Lughnasadh | Leo Season Sound Bath Aug 1 at 19:00 Open to Life Movement Studio | $30 [ more ] lie on the floor and let the bowls ring the first harvest into you. lughnasadh and leo season in one long exhale.
As the Wheel Turns: Lugh's Grand Harvest Fair Aug 1 at 19:30 The Raven's Wing Magical Co-Op | $35 [ more ] the raven's wing throws a fair for the first cut of the season, merriment and magic at the pagan co-op. august has teeth now. this is how you feed it.
Looping and Sampling Workshop Aug 2 at 10:30 ADX, SE 11th | Free [ more ] dig through crates of 45s and cassettes and learn to build loops out of found sound. free, sunday morning, bring headphones and a little patience.
Camp SCRAP: Magic, Myth, & Mystery Aug 3 at 09:00 SCRAP PDX | $300 [ more ] [ kids ] a week of kids building myth out of everyone else's cast-offs, ages 7 to 12. drop them into the scrap pile monday, pick up a small dragon friday.
Week 5: Creative Writing and Nature Play Camp Aug 3 at 09:00 Mt. Tabor Park | sliding scale [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] [ kids ] mornings on tabor split between running through the trees and writing it all down. for the kids who love a sentence, and the ones who do not know they do yet.
Huni Kuin Cultural Exchange Aug 3 at 18:00 Rhythm Seed Farm | see info [ more ] the huni kuin bring song and story and tradition to a farm on the city's edge. sit in the grass and take it the way it is offered.
Botanical Hammer Impressions & Chair Yoga Aug 4 at 18:00 Old Market Pub & Brewery | $35 [ more ] hammer real leaves and petals into cloth until they leave a ghost behind, then loosen your spine in a chair, all of it inside a pub. two unrelated good ideas sharing one evening.
BIPOC Community Sing Aug 4 at 18:30 Center For Joy, NE | Free [ more ] an affinity singing circle, voices stacking into harmony in a room built for exactly that. the sound climbs and i lean in to catch it.
[ DANCING ]
Deadhead Disco: Jerry Garcia's Birthday Celebration Jul 31 at 21:00 The Get Down | $19.02 [ more ] the grateful dead run through a dance floor, live edits and deep grooves for five hours. jerry's birthday, no noodling breaks. sweat it out.
Snag: A Rose City Indigiqueer Event Aug 1 at 21:00 Escape Bar | $12.51 [ more ] drag and performance raising money for the mary kiona foundation. a party that pays something forward is the only kind worth sweating in.
SPEED Aug 1 at 21:00 The Branch, SE 17th | $10 [ more ] by and for qtbipoc, every jello-shot dollar going straight to black and beyond the binary. a piñata, a dance floor, and zero interest in your bracket.
The Astrolo-Show: LEOPALOOZA Aug 7 at 20:00 Kickstand | $12 [ more ] portland's first planet-based improv, then a dance party for leo season's worst and most beautiful. the leos will find the spotlight. they always do. let them have it.
QT DayFest Aug 8 at 16:00 WonderLove, SE Main | from $32.85 [ more ] a daytime festival built around qtbipoc artists, sun still up and the floor already full. 21+. drink water between sets.
[ ROAMING ]
Argay Terrace Neighborhood's Garage Sale Jul 31 at 09:00 Argay Terrace, Parkrose | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] a whole parkrose neighborhood empties its garages at once, three days of it, 9 to 4. map the route from above or wander it blind. both ways work.
Majestics Car Show & Hop Aug 1 at 11:00 Oaks Amusement Park | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] [ + all ages ] the majestics' 17th lowrider show, hydraulics throwing whole cars off the ground and chrome throwing the sun straight back at me. those hoods are polished to a mirror. respect.
Saturdays In The Square Aug 1 at 11:00 St. Johns Plaza | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] [ + all ages ] live music and makers on the plaza, plus a free table where you dump what you are done with and take what you are not. jalin malin at one, the frequence at 2:30.
Defense Fund PDX Street Fair Aug 8 at 13:00 Clinton St & 25th | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] [ + all ages ] music and vendors and a raffle on clinton, every dollar going to the bail fund. bring the family and bring cash. a street fair with a spine.
[ ROADTRIP ]
Moon-Fest 2026 Jul 31 at 10:00 Twana Springs, Quilcene WA | $50+ campsite [ more ] [ road trip ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] forty-four private acres above lake leland, tents up, music from friday into saturday. you drive a long way onto the peninsula and trade a still lake for loud nights.
Pounds, Careful With That Axe, Mulch, Bodycam Jul 31 at 19:00 Bierly Brewing, McMinnville | $10 [ more ] [ road trip ] four bands drag punk back onto the menu at a mcminnville brewery. drive the wine country out and let it get loud on the way home.
2026 Washougal Arts and Music Festival Aug 1 at 09:00 Downtown Washougal | Free [ more ] [ road trip ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] [ + all ages ] ten years of downtown washougal handing its streets over to art and music for a day, 9 to 3. cross the river, walk it slow, it costs nothing.
Makers Market & Community Yard Sale Aug 1 at 09:00 Hughtopia, Banks | Free [ more ] [ road trip ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] tools, car parts, horse tack, and handmade quilts in a banks yard, food carts parked alongside. bring cash and low expectations and leave surprised.
Estacada Mural Walk Aug 1 at 14:00 Spiral Gallery, Estacada | Free [ more ] [ road trip ] [ + all ages ] a guided walk past twenty-plus downtown murals, with a look at the restoration mid-repair, starting and ending at spiral gallery with a snack. i trace the painted walls with one finger from up here.
Oregon City Porch Fest! Aug 7 at 16:00 McLoughlin neighborhood, Oregon City | Free [ more ] [ road trip ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] [ + all ages ] free music on every porch of oregon city's oldest neighborhood. park once and walk from song to song. i sit on a bluff over the falls and let it drift up.
Porch Sale Aug 7 at 09:00 PNW Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, La Conner WA | Free [ more ] [ road trip ] the quilt museum in la conner buries its porch in fabric, notions, yarn, and old machines. it is a real drive north, so make a day of the water and the thread.
[ BULLETIN BOARD ]
calls, open submissions, and auditions for the tinies who make things. new here? the ones you already missed are waiting in last week’s extended cut. and this week i am asking straight out: do you actually want this board, or is it just noise between the shows? vote below.
should the wall grow a bulletin board?
Short Run Comix Festival: Exhibitor Applications deadline Jul 31 [ more ] exhibitor apps for november's indie comix festival: self-published, small press, handmade books.
Mud Season Review: Visual Art deadline Jul 31 Free [ more ] visual art for their upcoming issue.
Trace Fossils Review: Art & Multimedia, Issue Four deadline Jul 31 Free [ more ] art and multimedia for the fall issue.
Call for Poetics: 1BR / 3BATH Chapbook Series (Tilted House) deadline Jul 31 $0-$30 [ more ] 16 to 35 pages of innovative, cryptic, transgressive poetics in text, image, or the space between.
Rod Carlos Rodriguez Prize for Poetry deadline Aug 1 $5 (hardship available) [ more ] best poems on the theme of "pockets," read as broadly as you like.
Mānoa Journal: Visual Call deadline Aug 2 Free [ more ] graphic novels, comics, and visual art working the seam of language.
Existential Rage Zine deadline Aug 2 Free [ more ] a zine for exactly what it says. bring the rage.
Get Grant Ready: Portland's Small Grants Programs Aug 3 at 18:00 Free [ more ] a panel on the city's arts and culture small grants, with a q&a. show up with questions.
Open Call for Art: Altars and Reliquaries deadline Aug 9 Free [ more ] gagallery wants work for an october group show on altars and reliquaries.
Vita Poetica: Open Call deadline Aug 15 $5 [ more ] art responding to the theme "fully human."
Foofaraw Magazine: Call for Writing deadline Aug 16 Free [ more ] the best of surreal, slipstream, speculative, and plain strange storytelling.
Lazuli Literary Group: Writing Contest deadline Aug 17 $15 [ more ] fiction, essays, poetry, philosophical ruminations. thoughtful and beautiful preferred.
Oregon Humanities: "Passage" Issue deadline Aug 17 Free [ more ] writing for the winter 2027 issue on democracy, freedom, and the american experiment.
Feedback Project: Student Program ongoing Free [ more ] guitars, gear, and training put into the hands of young portlanders who want to play.
you're standing outside the wall.
the extended cut, the full calendar, event tickets, and whatever's next. all on the other side. come in.
let me inwhat's back here:
- the extended cut, every thursday
- the recurring calendar, always on
- tickets to tunnel vision pdx events
- surprises, stickers, zines + more