THURSDAY, JANUARY 7
Nowhere but Portland's finest off-kilter comics shop Floating World would dare host a First Thursday show of bizarre, disturbing, surreal, downright WTF Eastern European comics. Tonight's offering from Croatian comics creators Komikaze promises to be, at the very least, a collection of crazy shit you've never seen before. SM
Floating World Comics, 20 NW 5th, 6-10 pm, FREE
So, your fitness resolutions are wobbly, and you've still got a handful of visitors you're unsure how to entertain. The music of the 1980s is a reliable social equalizer, and club dancing one of the best workouts. Let's Go Crazy is a free night of both. Done and done. MS
w/DJ BJ, DJ Nate C; Berbati's Pan, 10 SW 3rd, 9 pm, FREE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 8
Nothing is more important than knocking off Blazers rivals the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant has broken his share of hearts in the Rose City—his double overtime heroics in 2004 still smart to this very day—but you can guarantee Portland's faithful will be loud tonight. The only question that remains: Which Blazers will be healthy enough to play? EAC
Rose Garden, 1 Center Ct, 7 pm, $35-225
This last decade made me want to regress, and regress some more. That's why I'll be going to Brad Bird's cartoon masterpiece The Iron Giant, presented by PDX.fm's Cort and Fatboy along with the Mercury! Plus an episode of The Ramblin' Rod Show, Superman cartoons, and '80s commercials! BYO Nesquik. DB
"Bagdad Theater", 3702 SE Hawthorne, 11 pm, $3, 21+
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9
Fronted by Cambodian singer Chhom Nimol, Dengue Fever balances vintage "Khmer rock" with hints of hazy Nuggets-era psychedelia. The latest from this Los Angeles band is a masterfully assembled compilation of lost Cambodian pop music from the pre-Khmer Rouge days of the late '60s and early '70s entitled Electric Cambodia. EAC
w/Tu Fawning, Pink Widower; Berbati's Pan, 10 SW 3rd, 9 pm, $13-15
Surprise! Even yoga can be a competition, as you will see at the USA Yoga: Oregon Regional Championships! Teen and adults are judged on who can do the best yoga poses in a three-minute time period. (However, don't expect to see much smack talk. "Top that rabbit pose, beee-yotch!") WSH
Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, 9 am, $10, all ages
SUNDAY, JANUARY 10
Come heckle the swollen ego of LeBron James (that's "King James" to us minions) and his Cleveland Cavaliers, as the team makes their lone visit to Portland this season. And, yes, Shaq will be there, too. After this week, Blazers fans are going to need therapy from all the bad memories from their past that have been stirred up. EAC
Rose Garden, 1 Center Ct, 6 pm, $35-225
Fact: January blows. The weather's shitty, your heating bill skyrockets, and Mom's finally sobered up after Christmas dinner. ANYWAY, one way to stave off suicide is with cinema of the highest order—like Kung Fu Hustle, Stephen Chow's hilarious 2004 action flick that will reaffirm your faith in life, laughter, and kung fu! EH
The Press Club, 2621 SE Clinton, 8 pm, FREE, all ages
MONDAY, JANUARY 11
Who knows why Harvey protagonist Elwood P. Dowd insists that his best friend is an invisible, six-foot rabbit. Whimsy? Alcoholism? All we can say for sure is that Jimmy Stewart + invisible rabbit= a movie like they don't make anymore. AH
Pix North, 3901 N Williams, 8:30 pm, FREE
Let's keep it simple, okay? If you name your Silverlake-bred classic-rock band Mississippi Man, you're not going to play the Ash Street Saloon when you come to Portland. Nor are you going to play the Hawthorne Theatre, or the Alberta Street Public House, or even the long-gone Pine Street Theater. No, you are going to play Mississippi Studios, and that's all there is to it. NL
w/the Silent Comedy, St. Frankie Lee, the Head and the Heart; Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 8 pm, $7
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12
Based on the kitsch film classic, the Broadway musical adaptation of Xanadu retains the campiness, the ELO soundtrack, and the absurd plot, which concerns an Olympian muse inspiring an artist to open a roller disco. Don't walk away from this one. PAC
Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay, 7:30 pm, $28.75, through Sun Jan 17
In my humble opinion, Portlander Joe Sacco is the most talented and ballsy American journalist alive today. His new mind-blowing comic book Footnotes in Gaza chronicles his travels in Palestine with men and women who have an axe to grind with the West. SM
Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, FREE
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13
Seattle singer/songwriter Jesse Sykes' voice oscillates from soothing to scratching, recalling both Marianne Faithfull and Cat Power. Not quite country and not quite folk, Sykes has a darker, heavier side, and tonight she's teaming up with longtime collaborator Phil Wandscher for a double-prong of music that pairs best with a stiff whiskey. MS
w/Kele Goodwin; Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9 pm, $12
It's the second installment of Portland Queer Porn Night at Crush, and this week features the dildo-rific, all-lesbian smut flick and AVN Award winner Sugar High, Glitter City! In the not-so-distant future, sugar is outlawed... and hot 'n' horny lesbians will do ANYTHING to get it. (Including some extra dildo work on the side.) WSH
Crush, 1400 SE Morrison, 7:30 pm, $10
