Once again, we've rounded up our top picks for the best things to do online through the weekend to help you keep your schedule full of ways to stay entertained without leaving your couch. Read on below for details on virtual events ranging from a Crafty Wonderland Virtual Market Past Event Like List to Leila Buck's interactive play American Dreams Past Event Like List , and from a Powell's event with Lindy West Past Event Like List to the Eastern Oregon Film Fest Past Event Like List . For non-virtual things to do, peruse our complete in-person and streaming calendars. Plus, look out for a roundup of socially distanced things to do in the flesh this weekend.
Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Multi-Day
MONDAY
MUSIC
Laura Veirs
Past Event
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Portland singer-songwriter Laura Veirs sits most comfortably in the indie-folk camp, but her songs' breezy, forward movement suggests her appreciation for good old four-four pop. Maybe she'll play her great song "Riptide" off her 2004 album Carbon Glacier (which helped score Lynn Shelton's My Effortless Brilliance) in this livestreamed performance.
READINGS & TALKS
Octavia E. Butler, Visionary Fiction, and Social Change
Past Event
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Pull up the Deschutes Library's YouTube channel for a livestreamed conversation with writer and educator Walidah Imarisha, who will explore the idea of "visionary fiction" and social justice in the works of science-fiction legend Octavia Butler.
See Also: Multi-Day Events
TUESDAY
GEEK
Virtual OMSI Science Pub: Why Mushrooms Matter: Ethnomycology Through the Ages
Past Event
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Peter McCoy, founder of Portland's mycology school and mushroom farm Mycologos, will enlighten you on the integral role of mushrooms and other fungi in preserving our ecosystem.
READINGS & TALKS
Alice Hoffman in Conversation with Ann Leary
Past Event
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Even if your knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials only extends as far as your annual viewing of Practical Magic, you've probably heard of the fictional Owens sisters, who come from a long line of witches. Alice Hoffman traces the family's bloodline in her new novel centering around Maria Owens, who learns about the "Unnamed Arts" from her adopted mother. The author will be joined in conversation by Ann Leary, the author of The Children and Outtakes From a Marriage.
See Also: Multi-Day Events
WEDNESDAY
MUSIC
Portland Opera presents Live at the Hampton Opera Center
Past Event
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Portland Opera will bring you a lineup of performances streamed live from Southeast's Hampton Opera Center, which you can watch (for free!) on Vimeo and YouTube. Soprano Katrina Galka will kick things off tonight.
READINGS & TALKS
Native Story Hour
Past Event
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Join Karen Kitchen (Osage Nation) for a story hour featuring songs and books from Native cultures.
Silent Reading Party
Remind
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A lot of people are taking the opportunity to turn the online version of The Stranger's super-successful words 'n' vibes experience into a weekly online destination, a respite from (waves hands exasperatedly at basically everything) and an opportunity to simply... slow up, sit down, and just listen to live piano music while sinking into a good book. If you haven't tried it out yet, tonight's the night, and we'll see you at 6pm. If you have tried it out before? Welcome back. It's a damn nice oasis of low-key bliss, isn't it?
See Also: Multi-Day Events
THURSDAY
MUSIC
Waltzer TV Episode V Portland
Past Event
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Live from the Doug Fir instead of their usual "magic dumpster house," Waltzer, Robert, and Helly—the hosts of the live music program Waltzer TV—will return to the internet with special guests Scott McCaughey, Patterson Hood, Wieuca, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs, Sunbathe, KayelaJ, and others. It's a Halloween edition, so feel free to show off your costume to your computer screen when you tune in.
See Also: Multi-Day Events
FRIDAY
HALLOWEEN
The Mount Online Ghost Tours
Past Event
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The Berkshires of Lenox, Massachusetts are home to noted American author Edith Wharton's former estate, which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971 and is apparently crawling with ghosts. This online tour will lead you through its darkened halls, including areas that are off-limits during in-person tours.
MUSIC
Brown Calculus Encore Performance on XRAY.FM
Past Event
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Catch local soulful jazz duo Brown Calculus in an encore performance filmed for the 2020 XRAY Awards.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
A Taste of Dance
Past Event
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Local choreographers will showcase new dance works every Friday in October, starting with TriptheDark Dance Company's three pieces reflecting some of the major events of the past few months (the COVID-19 crisis, the resurgence of Black Lives Matter, and the upcoming election, to name a few). Those who registered in September will enjoy wine tastings while they watch the performances, but those who missed that boat can and should still pour themselves the finest vino they have onhand.
Unpacking the Baggage: ‘Growing up Great’ Live Virtual Performance + Discussion
Past Event
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Written and performed by Portland-based actor Jenny Newbry, this solo play revisits the artist's Walnut Hills Elementary School musical about choosing your career. "Spurred by the upheaval of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, Jenny shares her process of awakening as she begins to question the values and beliefs she was always taught to hold, and invites us to do the same," reads press materials.
See Also: Multi-Day Events
SATURDAY
COMMUNITY
Go Global Gala
Past Event
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Lily Collins, Ewan McGregor, and Robert Pattinson will host this virtual gala for the GO Campaign, which raises awareness and funds to help orphans and vulnerable children in the US and around the world.
FILM
Slay - Livestreamed!
Past Event
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From the freaks who brought you the HUMP! and SPLIFF Film Festivals comes something new, fun, and totally terrifying: SLAY! SLAY calls for filmmakers to send in homemade short horror films—eight minutes or less—capturing what scares them most. From classic ghost stories and slasher films to dystopian cults and political nightmares, SLAY dares you to show us your darkest fears. We know reality is scarier than fiction right now. Let’s purge our fears together. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
MUSIC
Marc-André Hamelin & Gloria Chien: Virtuoso Pianos
Past Event
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Lauded as a "performer of near-superhuman technical prowess" by the New York Times, pianist Marc-André Hamelin will treat you to some classical deep cuts from the 19th century to the present, including two new works with Chamber Music Northwest Co-Artistic Director Gloria Chien (one of which is Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which Rich Smith has called "tonally ambitious, inquisitive, impressionistic, challenging").
Where Do We Go? The Livestream
Past Event
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LA pop maker Billie Eilish will stream this "interactive production" with proceeds from limited-edition merch benefiting Crew Nation COVID-19 relief efforts. Ticketholders will get access to the concert for 24 hours.
Marilyn Keller & the Augustana Jazz Quartet Live!
Past Event
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The Mt. Hood Jazz Festival presents a Facebook Live concert with the Augustana Jazz Quartet, featuring Marilyn Keller (vocals), George Mitchell (piano), Kevin Deitz (bass), and Ron Steen (drums) from the Augustana Lutheran Church.
SHOPPING
Crafty Wonderland Virtual Market
Past Event
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Support local artists while you shop for their goods from home in this virtual craft market.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
American Dreams: An Interactive Theater Event Broadcast
Past Event
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Written by Leila Buck and directed by Tamilla Woodard, this play imagines a world in which the only way to gain US citizenship is by competing in a live online game show (honestly, considering our sitting president and his reality-show past, it doesn't seem that far off). This interactive performance includes voting, polling, trivia, and more to explore "who and what it means to be(come) a citizen."
See Also: Multi-Day Events
Love in the Time of Piñatas
Past Event
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Baruch Porras Hernandez shares stories of his journey as a queer Latinx boy growing up in Toluca, Mexico, and immigrating to California in Love in the Time of Piñatas, read here by Portland Center Stage actors.
SUNDAY
MUSIC
Duffy Bishop Album Release Party on the Portland Music Stream
Past Event
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The Washington Blues Society Hall of Fame-approved singer-songwriter Duffy Bishop will perform songs from her new album with her full band, streamed live from the Alberta Rose Theater.
READINGS & TALKS
Powell's Books Presents: Lindy West
Past Event
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A few days after her virtual book launch in Seattle
Past Event
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, Lindy West will join Powell's with hilarious insights from her latest book Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema.
Shayla Lawson & Emma Dabiri
Past Event
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Shayla Lawson upends stereotypes and raises up Black women's voices in her debut book of essays This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope. She'll join Powell's alongside Guardian contributor and BBC race correspondent Emma Dabiri, who will read from Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture.
MULTI-DAY
COMEDY
The Portland Comedy Festival 2020
Past Event
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Drag Race superstar and Pacific Northwest native Jinkx Monsoon (who, take note, will also star alongside Peaches Christ and BenDeLaCreme in an online screening of Hocum Pokem
Past Event
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next week) will headline this virtual edition of the consistently top-notch Portland Comedy Festival, which promises two days of standup, comedy seminars, a free mental health seminar, and a live podcast.
(Friday-Saturday)
FESTIVALS
Eastern Oregon Film Fest
Past Event
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No need to drive to La Grande, Oregon for this year's Eastern Oregon Film Fest—its genre-diverse program of nearly 50 locally made films will be streamed entirely online.
(Thursday-Saturday)
FILM
BloodyVox: Lockdown
Past Event
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BodyVox, a local dance school led by Emmy Award-winning choreographers Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland, made a film "immersive cinematic experience" based on their stage show BloodyVox. A collaboration with Northwest filmmaker Robert Uehlin, the Halloween-y project is inspired by The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Moulin Rouge, The Blair Witch Project, and Chicago.
(Thursday-Sunday)
The Fungi Film Festival
Past Event
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As far as we know, this is the world's first short film festival dedicated to the mushrooms, lichens, and micro fungi of the Pacific Northwest. Premiering during the peak of mushroom-foraging season, the first night of the festival will also feature an event with mushroom growers, artists, and mycologists livestreamed from McCoy's Portland-based mushroom farm.
(Friday-Saturday)
Portland Latin American Film Festival XIV
Past Event
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The Hollywood Theater is moving the Portland Latin American Film Festival online, which is bittersweet. Bitter: Everyone loves a big screen, especially at this historic gem. Sweet: You'll have a full 48 hours to watch a film once you hit play. From September to November, the festival will present six movies from Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Switzerland, and Belgium that celebrate and honor the cultural diversity of Latin America. The current film is Pablo Larraín's Ema, about a reggaeton dancer who "sets out on an odyssey of personal liberation."
(All week)
MUSIC
Be About Love Festival
Past Event
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Blackfish Gallery features genre-spanning musical acts on YouTube every Friday in October, along with interviews with artists featured in the gallery's current exhibition every Wednesday on Facebook Live.
(Wednesday & Friday)
NW Loopfest
Past Event
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That reverb pedal in your heart will flutter wildly as you watch a dozen looping artists of all stripes—including "sleepy guitar looping music" from Portland's Jake Soffer and psychedelic cumbia from Portland's Oleada—play live music on YouTube.
(Saturday-Sunday)
PODCAST
THE MOORS by Jen Silverman: A Podcast
Past Event
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In place of their inaugural live season, the Theatre Company will present Jen Silverman’s twisted Victorian Gothic The Moors in classic audio-drama style. Sisters Agatha and Huldey reside on the bleak English Moors with their ennui-stricken Mastiff, an unstable maid, a crash-landed hen, and a young governess from London.
(Monday-Saturday)
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Daddy Long Legs
Past Event
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Based on Jean Webster's 1912 epistolary novel Daddy Long Legs, this Broadway Rose musical production is described in press materials as "a rags-to-riches tale of newfound love in the spirit of Jane Austen, the Brontë Sisters, and Downton Abbey."
(All week)
