THURSDAY, september 16

LOW DOUGH SHOW--This week's episode of the Mercury/Thrasher low dough show is one of the best yet. The producer/DJ duo Ming & FS blend hiphop beats, atmospherics, drum & bass, funk, and sampling into some of the most compelling music happening today. Their new CD Back to One rules. Buy it. Get psyched. KS
Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash, 9 pm, $5

POWER TRIP--Sure, you love to bitch about movies, but does your opinion ever matter? No! But tonight it does, at the Manhattan Short Film Fest, where Portlanders get to help pick the winning film from the 12 finalists in one of the most prestigious film fests in the world. Past winners of the MSF have gone on to take home the Oscar for Best Short Film, so they're not screwin' around! EH
Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, 7 pm, $6

FRIDAY, september 17

JUXTAPOSITION--Creepy noise artists prowling about in a delightfully cute venue. That's what you'll experience tonight, when Sleepytime Gorilla Museum hits the Nocturnal stage, raising hackles with their signature chaotic noise breakdowns that move precisely between sinister whispers and blood-curdling howls. JWS
Nocturnal, 1800 E Burnside, 8 pm, $10

FUCK BUSH (WITH A CONDOM)--Gay bar or voting booth? Both. Q-Land promotes regime change by organizing gay party people to vote their asses off and encouraging safe sex strategies. Get free STD tests. Register to vote. Dance to '80s classics. Be immortalized by video artists. Win prizes for the best '80s outfit and best '80s romance/sex story. I'm lovin' it! EJ
Boxxes/The Brig, 1035 SW Stark, Fri 9 pm, $2

SATURDAY, september 18

MUSIC--It's one of your fave bands, back again after way too long! Come say hey to old buddies 31 Knots. You loved them before they seemingly dropped of the performative planet, and you can certainly love them again. MS
Meow Meow, 320 SE 2nd, 10:30 pm, $5

GEEK ALERT!--Portland's great "computer reuse and recycling non-profit," Free Geek, needs a new battery for their forklift. To help out, hit their annual Geek Fair, which includes music by Shicky Gnarowitz, and Brotherhood of the Orange Cone--plus raffles, food, games, and, of course, robots! EH
Community Technology Center, 1731 SE 10th, 2-9 pm, FREE

ANTI-BUSH--The heated war abroad and the dead fish economy at home is enough to make you just want to scream and shout. Thank heaven for punkvoter.com. Tonight they kick off Rock Against Bush, a national tour to galvanize voters' frustrations with Anti-Flag, Strike Anywhere, and local new wave darlings, the Epoxies. PB
Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 8:30 pm, $13

SUNDAY, september 19

MIKE WATT--This guy is so widely respected for his musical career that chances are you don't need me or anyone else to entice you into going to this show with clever descriptive phrases. You just need to know the where and the whenÉ MS
Berbati's, 10 SW 3rd, 8:30 pm, $10

SMELLS LIKE POLITICS--Of all the rad bands in the world, the raddest is Nirvana. Ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic will be reading from his new politically charged book, Of Grunge and Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy! Yeah! Politics! Rock! EH
Powell's on Burnside, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, free

MONDAY, september 20

SK8BOARDING VIDEO--Check tonight's screening of the classic 1987 skateboarding video The Search for Animal Chin, and see the moves of Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, and Tommy Guerrero when they were just tykes. It's a must-see time capsule of late '80s skate style, plus proceeds from the screening go to fix up the publicly supported Pier Park skate park in St. John's. KS
Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy, 7:30 pm, $3

TUESDAY, september 21

PLAY--You know him as the creator of twisted psychological films like In the Company of Men, but Neil LaBute is largely a playwright. Catch his latest endeavor tonight, The Mercy Seat, about two adulterous lovers whose cheating ways take on new resonance in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. JWS
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1516 SW Alder, 241-1278, Tues-Thurs, Sun 7 pm, Fri-Sat 8 pm, $15-35, call for reservations

WEDNESDAY, september 22

READING--Arthur Phillips stormed out of the blocks with his first book, Prague. His even-better second book, The Egyptologist (see review this issue), is a romantic and cheeky story about a huckster-cum-archeologist who claims in 1922 to have found a discovery more impressive than King Tut--a pharaoh with a fetish for pornographic hieroglyphics. PB
Powell's, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, free