Thursday Dec 6

MUSIC--Loscil not only has a bunch of electronic equipment, he also has a really neat agenda: translating thermodynamics to music. His music ends up sounding hot and mystical, so bring some water to dab behind your earlobes. JS w/ Locate, Project Perfect, Strategy

Blackbird, 3728 NE Sandy, 282-9949, 9 pm, $7

DIY ART--Portland's favorite wackjob underground art circle, the Charm Bracelet is convening atop the oh-so-arty Oak Street Building-- and hopefully not freezing their limbs off. |The Bracelet is hanging its 500 painted block-art installation, created by locals of all sorts--proving that everyone is an artist. MS

Oak Street Building, 425 SE Oak, 6-9 pm, donation

Friday Dec 7

HIPHOP EXTRAVAGANZA--This guy I met on the street the other day has been traveling all over the US, taking photos of graffiti art. He'll show what he's seen at Hiphop Generation Daze 2001, where there will also be open mic/turntables, battles, and a benefit concert! JS

PSU, Shattuck Hall, Room 212, 10 am-10 pm, call 510-343-2139 extention 4153

MUSIC--The Roots of Orchis are a sweet, mellow, electronic-tinged instrumental outfit from California. This is the perfect show for music lovers on hiatus from hardcore and heavy drinking, because of the Roots' quiet, skillful restraint. They are sleepy, yet not boring! KS See Music pg 14 w/ The 6-Minute Heartstop, Even Johansen, The Velvet Teen

Blackbird, 3728 NE Sandy, 282-9949, 9 pm, $6

Saturday Dec 8

LOTS OF DOGS--With a wiry frame and giraffe-like legs, whippets have an elegant but nervous gait. But if whippets (the dog, not the high you get from cans of Cool Whip) aren't your style, you have about 100 other breeds to ogle at the annual Portland Kennel Club All Breed Dog Show. PB

Expo Center, 2060 N Marine Dr (exit 306-B from I-5), Sat-Sun 8 am-5 pm, $5

NOISE--Wolf Eyes uses distortion pedals, drum machines, keyboards, tape manipulation, microphone swallowing, and insane stage antics to create a cacophonous industrial explosion, which will most definitely keep you awake, probably for nights to come. KS w/ Office Products

Disjecta, 115 NE Russell, 8 pm, $5

MUSIC--With the sweetest harmonies, Paramore's pretty pop music will say to you, "Even though your life sucks, it's okay for now, because we are masking it with temporary happiness." JS w/ Rock-A-Teens, the Minders

Blackbird, 3728 NE Sandy, 282-9949, 9 pm, $7

Sunday Dec 9

THEATER--Stark Raving Theatre opens their newest play, Money Shot, this week--and no, it's not about porn. Homegrown playwright Carole J. Dane brings us the story of two filmmakers who set out to document the life of a woman who was the subject of a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph. However, the story that unravels turns out to be quite different from what the filmmakers ever suspected... WSH

Stark Raving Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh, 232-7072, 7 pm, $15 reservation, $20 door

FILM--Movie lovers should not miss the Portland premiere of top-notch director Béla Tarr's newest film, Werckmeister Harmonies. Set in a small, destitute, Hungarian village, the populace is psyched for a visit from a traveling circus, which promises appearances from a mysterious Prince, and even a whale. Unfortunately, both of these attractions prove to be ominous symbols of even crappier times ahead. WSH

Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park, 221-1156, 4 and 7 pm, $6.50

Monday Dec 10

READING--Blake Nelson grew up in Portland and then moved to New York--but, unlike Elliot Smith, he never forgot about us. In fact, he wrote two books about being a youth in Portland. Tonight, he'll be reading from his second, User, a story about heroin, sex, and coming of age. KD

w/ Sparrow Patterson Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St, 7:30, freePowell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St, 7:30, free

Tuesday Dec 11

X-MAS LIGHTS--If your idea of holiday cheer is trimming your porch with colorful light bulbs, prepare to have your snowball-sized brain blown from here to the North Pole. Drive two miles through hallucinatory Christmas light sights on the Portland International Raceway track. Watch Santa launch from a ski jump. He actually whooshes! Prancing reindeer, sea serpents, elaborate Yuletide razzle-dazzle. Best seen sober. (Yeah, right!) PB

Portland International Raceway, 1940 N Victory Blvd (exit 306-B from I-5), nightly 5-10 pm, $10 per vehicle ($15/van)

Wednesday Dec 12

FILM--Spiffed and shined up for show, Jean-Luc Godard's film Band of Outsiders reemerges from cinematic history. A tragic, comic, love triangle gets whimsically criminal, which might inspire a public tap-dance you never knew you had in you, a sprint through the art museum, or otherwise acting like a total ass. MS

Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st, 223-4515, 7, 9:10, $6