Tuesday, May 22
Music
Live @ Lunch: Bamboozle
PSU Park Blocks—Parkway North if raining
Noon, Free, all ages
The boozle buds sound like what would happen if Grateful Dead and Rush were tasked with making a funky soundtrack for a Blaxploitation film. Yep, it gets a little Phishy.
Community
PIAAA After Hours
PIAAA SMSU 235
5 p.m. Free, all ages
The Pacific Islander, Asian & Asian American Student Center wants you to have an opportunity to chill, but don’t chill too hard, as Cards Against Humanity and Monopoly might get you a little riled. At least you’ll briefly forget about the looming end of term.
Community
The Abdication of Japan’s Emperor Akihito in Historical Perspective
SMSU 327
6 p.m. Free, all ages
Ken Ruoff is a professor of modern East Asian history and PSU’s director of the Center for Japanese Studies. Ruoff discusses Japanese politics from the mid-19th century, touching on monarchy, emperor as symbol and women’s inability to lead in Japan’s patriarchal political structure.
Wednesday, May 23
Film & Theater
Leo Tolstoy and Dziga Vertov (2017)
Cramer Hall 183
4 p.m. Free, all ages
The Portland State Russian Club want you to know that literature and avant-garde film may have more in common than you think. Vertov employed several of Tolstoy’s principles in his films, and this documentary and following discussion with the film’s director Galina Evtushenko dive deeper into that connection.
Film & Theater
Repulsing the Monkey
T.E.A.M. Event Center SE Foster
7 p.m. $5–15, all ages
Passin’ Art: A Theatre Company’s latest production explores gentrification through questions about family, legacy, value and responsibility. Siblings inherited their parent’s bar in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Pittsburgh and debate the difficult questions about whether holding onto heritage or selling is the right thing to do.
Music
Matt Dorrien
The Old Church
8 p.m. $12, all ages
Dorrien’s songwriting style is like a beautiful melodrama with unpredictable melodies and progressions somehow reminiscent of Randy Newman, a sad Elton John and Bryan John Appleby.
Thursday, May 24
Music
Live @ Lunch: Cameron Calloway
PSU Park Blocks—Parkway North if raining
Noon, Free, all ages
Join Calloway as he preaches the gospel of pop music framed within a very talented R&B style. His soulful vocals and carefully crafted mainstream sound will make this an uplifting Thursday.
Music
Music as Social Justice: BRAVO Concert
Peter W. Stott Center 128
Noon, Free, all ages
BRAVO’s tuition-free orchestral music program at Rosa Parks School in North Portland utilizes music instruction to promote self-confidence in youth and help children thrive. Come check out their Brahms String Ensemble.
Art
Shawntropics: Act II Closing Reception
MK Gallery
6 p.m. Free, all ages
Shawn’s practice invited collaboration and introduced many people on campus to the friendly plant-loving artist brimming with positivity known as Shawn Creeden. Come celebrate the closing of his solo MFA show and catch his Portland Tropical Gardens collaborative space while you still can.
Friday, May 25
Art
Space Craft: A Friendtorship Exhibition and Screening Closing Reception
AB Gallery
6 p.m. Free, all ages
PSU School of Art + Design’s students in the Friendtorship class partnered with students from Centennial Park High School to create DIY movie trailers with lo-fi materials and hi-fi fun in front of green screens.
Film & Theater
Oregon Documentary Film Festival 2018
5th Avenue Cinema
7 p.m. (through May 26) $14 per night, all ages
A host of interesting documentaries about a wide variety of interesting topics from a wide range of perspectives are sure to make this two-day festival a real treat. Friday and Saturday night have completely different films, so catch both showings!
Art
Thinking About Home
Portland Tropical Gardens
7 p.m. Free, all ages
PSU BFA Kayla Wiley and MFA Xi Jie Ng (Salty) candidates have two performances related to the tropical as home. Wiley’s “The Power of Rice” examines rice as nourishment, punishment, family and home. Xi Jie’s “Longing for Tropical Homeland” explores tropical fruit, mother tongue and answers letters.
Sat, May 26
Film & Theater
Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.
Parkrose High School
7:30 p.m. $10–16, all ages
What could be more awesome than watching a live production of Schoolhouse Rock?
Community
Korea Night
SMSU 355
5:30 p.m. Free–$6, all ages
Come celebrate Korean culture with the Korean Student Association’s night for all things Korean: food, fashion, traditional and K-pop music and much more!
Film & Theater
Endgame / Footfalls
Boiler Room Studio LH 55
7:30 p.m. $6–15, all ages
Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett’s works have been directed by Richard Wattenberg and explore two stories about existence. Both works ask questions about waiting for death from two different perspectives.
Sun, May 27
Music
Live Pre-Show Jazz Music
6:30 p.m. Free, all ages
Before seeing Lady Day, stop into the main lobby of The Armory for some live jazz by PSU students and faculty. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening.
Film & Theater
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
The Armory
7:30 p.m. $25–57, all ages
A musical that explores Billie Holiday’s final concert?! Given the tumultuous nature of Holiday’s relationship to her craft, this has the potential to be a very powerful performance. Make sure to get there early for a jazz warm-up from some of PSU’s own talented musicians.
Music
David Byrne with Benjamin Clementine
Keller Auditorium
8 p.m. $50–80, all ages
I don’t know anything about David Byrne, but since Benjamin Clementine cancelled his Valentine’s Day show due to some logistical issues, I’d be willing to pay the high price just to see the incredible opener.
Mon, May 28
Community
Memorial Day
Everywhere
All Day, Free, all ages
Commonly known as the emptiest day in Portland and a day for barbecues and playing in the park, Memorial Day is meant to be an opportunity to remember U.S. military members who died while serving our country. School’s closed, do what you do. Military families get free entry to the zoo, so take advantage!
Community
Vanport: A Story Lived. A Story Told
Portland Expo Center
10 a.m. Free, all ages
The closing day of the Vanport Mosaic Festival is a good time to catch the exhibit that hopes to shed light on the Portland ghost city that vanished in a flood. For some, Vanport has a heavy and rich history—while others don’t even know it ever existed. Vanport is the seed that became PSU.
Community
Rojo the Llama!
Portland Children’s Museum
11 a.m. $10.75, all ages
Because sometimes you just need to go pet a llama and have it eat a baby carrot out of your mouth. Bonus: Rojo is known for wearing sweet outfits.