You may notice that the "While Staying Home and Staying Safe" part of this weekend roundup is missing from the title. That's on purpose! This week is the first one in awhile where there are some things for you to go do OUTSIDE. That's not the same as saying "masks off elbows deep sneeze on everything olly olly oxenfree," or anything even close to it. The Gov. didn't put a pause on reopening for nothing, you know. Just because you can go out, doesn't mean you have to. But there are a lot of options for those seeking a good way to spend their weekend both on and off the couch. Hit the links below and plan accordingly.
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Friday, June 12
Pay a Protester's Bail
A fundraiser created and maintained by the General Defense Committee Local 1 in Portland, collecting donations specifically to cover bail and other legal expenses for people arrested in Portland while they protest the murder of George Floyd, police brutality, and systemic racism in our city, state, and federal governments.
Disarm PSU Now
On Fri June 12th at 11am, there will be a demonstration outside the Portland State University's Campus Public Safety Office calling for the immediate—and permanent—disarmament of campus safety officers. The protest action will begin at the Urban Plaza on campus, and then continue with a march to 633 S. Montgomery.
Pedalpalooza: Mystery Ride
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Get Lost ride by getting on your bike and rolling a dice every time you come to a turn. Odd number means you're taking a right, even number means you're hanging a left. Go where the dice take you! Or maybe just dress up like your favorite crime solvers. It's possible Jessica Fletcher, Sherlock Holmes, and Benoit Blanc love a good bike ride, too.
The 15th Annual HUMP! Film Festival
We at HUMP! were crushed to cancel our originally planned Spring re-screening, with the coronavirus crisis forcing us all inside. But after receiving enthusiastic support and permission from the filmmakers to show their films online, we knew that the show must go on! Even if we can’t watch together in movie theaters, we can still watch the 16 all new, sexy short films, curated by Dan Savage, in the privacy and safety of our homes. Dan will introduce the show, and then take you straight to the great dirty movies that showcase an amazing range of shapes, colors, sexualities, kinks and fetishes! Tonight (Fri June 12, 7 pm, $25) is your last chance to catch all this HUMP-y goodness!
Bearracuda: Portland Pride 2020
One of Portland's biggest and best gay dance parties brings all their big beats, beefy dancers, circus acts, and laser lights, and puts them online for 2020 Pride (Fri June 12, 8 pm, $10), featuring DJs—and Matts—Consola and Stands, and they're bringing hot go-go's with them.
The Prison Music Project Sessions
Live From Out There presents this livestreamed album release party (Fri Jun 12, 6 pm) for Long Time Gone, a compilation by the Prison Music Project, a collaboration between artists and incarcerated (or formerly incarcerated) writers. Performers include Ani DiFranco, Zoe Boekbinder, Terence Higgins, Spoon Jackson, and more. Proceeds benefit the Sister Hearts Re-Entry Program, the Southern Center for Human Rights, and the Center for Life Without Parole Studies.
The Mystery of Chessboxing with Commentary from RZA and the Hollywood Theatre's Dan Halsted
Are you missing the Hollywood Theatre? Of course you are, you're a sane, rational human being who loves independent cinema and the sort of care in presentation that Dan Halsted and the Hollywood staff provides. Especially when they schedule outright kung fu classics like they regularly do. Tonight (Fri June 12, 6:15pm, $10) is a great opportunity to capture some of that magic in your living room as Dan teams up with the RZA (yes, that RZA. Bobby Digital, himself. Bong bong.) to deliver a live commentary for The Mystery of Chessboxing, Joseph Kuo's 1979 epic of revenge—and also the movie where Ghostface Killah got his name! You can ask questions to the both of them during the film as well, and the screening will be moderated by 36 Chambers co-founder Mustafa Shaikh.
Gone With the Wind
Haha, whoooooops. Nevermind. Even if it were still up, it's way too long, boring, and racist. How about this one-two instead:
Netflix's Black Lives Matter Collection
It's almost impossible to miss: Most Netflix apps now default to this page when you open it, and you have to click past it to get to rows and rows of less deserving fare like 13 Reasons Why, Season 4 and The Last Days of American Crime. You can't really go wrong picking any of the films in the collection and then going from there, but if we had to suggest a starting point, Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th is a great one, breaking down in a crisp 100 minutes flat the historically criminal application of white supremacy's worst impulses upon America's "justice" system as a means to effectively keep the institution of slavery alive even after the enacting of the 13th Amendment.
You Must Remember This: Six Degrees of Song of the South
I mean, in a way, how could Karina Longworth's audio marriage of cinema scholarship, reportage, and gossip ever top the breathtaking one-two punch of its series about the Manson family (2015) and the Hollywood blacklist (2016)? By continuing. If your love of movies involves thirsty speculation into the psyches of the people who make them, You Must Remember This is still the best show in town. This specific miniseries, all about Disney's creation, promotion, and clumsy attempts at erasing Song of the South from their history is must-listen stuff, especially now.
Run the Jewels
"And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me
And ‘til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, ‘I can’t breathe’
And you sit there in the house on couch and watch it on TV
The most you give’s a Twitter rant and call it a tragedy”
Saturday, June 13
Silent Protest Honoring Victims of Police Brutality
Organizers of this protest action (Sat June 13, 1:30 pmare requesting attendees wear black and/or make shirts emblazoned with the names of police brutality victims. The march start in Alberta Park, and will be completely silent. Following the march, the protest will become a mission to financially support Black-owned businesses on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Portland Pride Virtual Festival
Pride Northwest takes the fest online for 2020, with this celebration of the community in all its amazingness, starting at 4 pm on Sat, June 13, and featuring videos that share "What Pride Means to Me" alongside live performances from local artists, talks with elected officials, and interviews with representatives from the city's many LGBTQ+ organizations.
Da 5 Bloods
Welcome to opening weekend of a brand new Spike Lee joint, now playing on whatever screen you want via Netflix, who is hosting Da 5 Bloods, his sprawling, decade-spanning look at a crew of Vietnam veterans, and their attempts to reckon with not just their trauma from the war, but their trauma as Black men who put themselves through hell for a country that inherently oppresses and disrespects them. It's also an amped-up (in only the way Spike can amp something up) riff on the classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Sarah Moon & the Bad Habits
Live music has returned to the World Famous Kenton Club, as they begin their journey through Phase One with this blues-fueled evening of music starring local belter Sarah Moon, with backup from the Bad Habits (Sat, June 13, 7 pm, free), on the Kenton Club's parking lot, specifically converted to enable the enjoying of live music while still observing safe social distancing.
A Night at Darcelle XV
If Pride isn’t the same to you without a visit to Darcelle’s—the historic gay bar which hosts the longest running drag show on the West Coast—I have some good news. Pride NW teamed up with Peacock Productions to record a forbidden main stage show and stream it for fans (Sat June 13, 8 pm). It’s emceed by Poison Waters and Maria Peters Lake, and you can expect performances from Devlin Lynn Phoénixx, Chance de Valmont, Summer Lynne Seasons, Nay-Nay Leakes Cartier, and many more! SUZETTE SMITH
Confinement Online Film Festival
Funny films, sad shorts, first responder documentaries, anxiety spirals (think Trader Joe’s meets Walking Dead), homeschooling horrors, pot-influenced journeys, films about being trapped with an ex (or in-law)—all of these have a home at CoFF! Tonight (Sat, June 13, 5 pm, $15-25) is your last chance Watch a collection of films sent to us from around the globe and see what (and how) everyone is doing in confinement. $500 Prizes will be awarded, and you will help determine whose short films will win those prizes in our three categories: Most Creative, Funniest, and They Lost Their Goddamn Mind.
Pedalpalooza: Halloween in June
For Pedalpalooza 2020, Halloween comes nice and early, as you are hereby invited to bust out your costume, get in that spooky season headspace, and head out on your bike—but this time, you're not going door-to-door to get candy, but riding to your friends' houses to discreetly (and safely) leave them treats on their doorsteps.
Digital Mirage Online Music Festival
One big-as-hell, full-to-bursting, funk-and-EDM-fueled weekend-long music festival supporting the Equal Justice Initiative and Color of Change, putting some of dance music's best and brightest on a virtual stage for a whole weekend, including sets from A-Trak, San Holo, Hatsune Miku, Evan Giia, Chromeo, Hot Chip, and many, many more. RSVP before the show for an opportunity to win prizes, and donate to help make the world a better place inbetween all that ass-shaking you're gonna be doing.
Latin Alternative Music Conference
Summerstage Anywhere hosts this online edition of the Los Angeles convention (Sat June 13, 3 pm, free) celebrating and showcasing key voices in Latin Music's LGBTQ+ communities, including Mabiland, Javiera Mena, Circo, and Kany Garcia, among others.
The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975
Director/writer Göran Olsson admits his film (now available, Kanopy w/ MultCo Library card) isn’t comprehensive, but his outsider’s perspective lends a piquant slant unavailable to American filmmakers. He devotes almost as much time to ordinary black citizens dealing with injustice, drugs, and poverty as he does to leaders like Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, and Eldridge Cleaver, making us realize that Black people’s grievances resonate as urgently today as they did 40 years ago. DAVE SEGAL
Sunday, June 14
Growing Seeds Working Union Rally for Black Lives Matter
This Sunday afternoon rally (Sun June 14, 3 pm)is specifically geared towards families with children who are united in the goal of ending anti-Black violence. Organizers are collecting donations to Brown Girl Rise, and are requiring those wishing to participate to wear masks and observe safe social distancing practices.
Schedule a Trip to the Library
It's been awhile, but you can actually get books from the Library again! Real, tactile, literal page-turner-type books! Granted, you can't just stroll into a Multnomah County library just yet, we're not quite there, but while we've been consistently recommending you visit their website and put your library card to good use by borrowing ebooks, audiobooks, and watching movies via Kanopy (and we're still recommending you do that), you can now put a book on hold at Central, Gresham, Midland, and the North Portland libraries, and pick up those holds by appointment, between 10am-4pm.
PRIDE at CHURCH
Lolita Yayo presents this online edition of PRIDE at CHURCH (Sun June 14, 6 pm), co-hosted with Vanta White and starring some of the city's finest queens (including Coco Jem Holiday, Anne J. Tifah, Anna Nichole Spliff, Phatima Rude, and Dick Fever), with a raffle (with prizes from Katya Presents, Osiris Eden, Raggedy Androgyny, and more), and even food-specials you can order and pick-up to-go.
I Am Not Your Negro
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project—a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. Now available on Kanopy (w/ MultCo Library card), Amazon Prime, and various VOD outlets.
Visit the Portland Japanese Garden
One of the city's most blissful destinations has re-opened, and a Sunday walk through all that placid, peaceful beauty might sound like just the perfect way to wind down the weekend and possibly help in re-centering yourself for the week to come. The Garden (611 SW Kingston) is opening with timed admissions, extra sanitizing stations, and one-way paths. Please observe safe social distancing practices, and you better have your mask on, too.
Twilight: Los Angeles
PBS' Great Performances presents this free presentation of director Marc Levin's film adaptation of playwright/actor Anna Deavere Smith's highly-acclaimed, award-winning one-woman-show about the effects of the 1992 Los Angeles riots in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict. The adaptation blends Smith's interpretation of real-life "characters" from that moment in time with documentary footage and interviews of real Angelenos sharing their stories of that time.
Insecure
If you're not already watching the wholly excellent Insecure on HBO, (or HBO Max, even!) then please! Readjust your priorities! The series, helmed by the amazingly funny and smart Issa Rae, is hilarious and real, and it's (checks notes) shit, its fourth season is ending tonight. Sounds like a perfect excuse to start your new favorite binge-watch ASAP, doesn't it.
The King of Staten Island
It's been awhile since Judd Apatow has been consistent at anything but delivering quality tweets, and since that platform is pure hell for mental health, you've probably been hoping he'd get back to being consistently good at things you can actually enjoy; like the awkardly-touching-and-wholly-hilarious comedy movies he used to make at the turn of the 21st century. The King of Staten Island, (now available, various VOD outlets) pseudo-biographical dramedy of Pete Davidson's 20s is, by all early accounts, exactly that, and not only is it apparently a return to form for Apatow, but it's a realization of the potential that's made Davidson such a compelling-yet-frustrating figure on the comedy scene.
Pedalpalooza: For the Birds
Birds in the sky, bikes on the grounds, sounds like a good way to spend this themed Pedalpalooza day. Lots of possibilities to pair the two together, like going on a ride to see how many feathered friends you can spot, or dressing up like a bird yourself, or touring some of the city's best lawn flamingo displays. The Corvidae Bike Club might have something up their sleeve (or wing, if you will) as well...
Support Portland's Black Owned Restaurants
You ordering out for dinner tonight? You better check this list first, and then send your money to one of the eateries doing their damndest to make sure this city eats so much better than it deserves.
Bocha
Bocha didn't have plans to make a video for "Brown Skin," a track from his vibrant new EP I Like U. But just last week, the rising rapper insisted the team at his label EYRST open up their studio and let him film a clip for the song, as he recognized that, although he wrote the song eight months ago, it still held particular resonance with the massive protests fighting against police brutality. If you're unfamiliar with Bocha, now is the time to get acquainted. ROBERT HAM
