Rigsketball Musicfest 2017
Portland locals are generally pretty friendly, but they get fired up over their sports. Baseball fans have the Portland Pickles, soccer fans have the Timbers, and the Rose City wouldn’t be the same without its basketball team, the Trail Blazers. The city’s love of both athletics and music intersects with the annual Rigsketball tournament, which is like basketball, but the regulation-height hoop is attached to a tour van and the players are all local musicians. The first few rounds took place at this year’s PDX Pop Now!, and the finals will happen during an expanded three-day music festival. On Thursday, music from Boone Howard, Kulululu, Kyle Craft, and the Woolen Men will ease the sting of any losses. The next day’s semifinals will feature heavy hitters like the Lavender Flu and Cat Hoch, and don’t miss Saturday. It’s not only the finals for the Rigsketball games, but it’s also got the most stacked lineup: Donte Thomas and Tribe Mars bring diversity to the fest’s rock heaviness, surf band Melt will celebrate the release of their new EP, and Chanti Darling headline the entire affair. Since Rigsketball Musicfest is free, there’s nothing to lose (except for maybe a round of basketball). CERVANTE POPE
Jul 27-29, 6 pm, Eagles Lodge (F.O.E.#3256), free

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Neil Diamond
No one’s taken more knocks that the perennially uncool Neil Diamond, and yet here he stands, more than 50 years after his first hit “Solitary Man,” still packing arenas and making grandmas happy as countless hot-new-things have fallen by the wayside. The only explanation? The New York-born singer/songwriter has simply one of the greatest catalogs of American popular music ever written—one that goes A LOT deeper than “Sweet Caroline.” But don’t worry, he’ll play that too. NED LANNAMANN
8 pm, Moda Center, $69.50-450, all ages

JAW: A Playwright's Festival
Every summer, emerging playwrights are selected from a competitive pool to develop, revise, and debut brand-new work at Portland Center Stage during the nationally appreciated JAW: A Playwrights Festival—all for the low, low cost of zero dollars to you. As a sneak peek at new theater creators making cool shit, JAW is more than worth your time. Throw in air conditioning and you’d be a fool not to go. MEGAN BURBANK
Jul 28-30, 4 pm, 8 pm, Portland Center Stage, free

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live!
Mystery Science Theater 3000's Watch Out for Snakes! tour comes to Portland. Join MST3K creator Joel Hodgson, the show's new host Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray), and robot friends Crow (Hampton Yount), Tom Servo, and Gypsy as they take to the Schnitzer stage to present a special live version of the show coupled with a screening of the 1962 horror film Eegah.
8 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $39.50-299

Robin Bacior, Chris Staples, Leah Grams Johnson
Robin Bacior's songs come at you like a Viking ship sliding through a foggy dawn toward the light. Creating movement with her simple yet ballet-like piano, and accentuated by simple orchestral elements, singer/songwriter (and Mercury contributor) Bacior sets the pace in these quieter and fiery moments. Then she draws the listener back with soothing and reassuring vocals. JENI WREN STOTTRUP
8 pm, Fremont Theater, $10-12

Brumes, Derek Hunter Wilson, David Allred
Brumes is the ambient pop project of Portland-based musician Desireé Rousseau, who released her full-length debut, Soundings in Fathoms, in 2015. Just last month she unveiled that album’s follow-up, After Glow, via Belgium’s Dauw Label. Its 12 tracks find parallels between opposite extremes—they’re lush, but sparse; folksy, but coated in space dust; droning and expansive, but nestled into one distinct corner of the universe. Throughout Brumes’ tenure in Portland, Rousseau has worked with an array of collaborators. After Glow—which was recorded at Phil Elverum’s Unknown Recording Studio in Anacortes, Washington—is the product of her work with eight other musicians, who contributed everything from vibraphone to trumpet. Sadly, this little Beacon Sound show will Brumes’ last in Portland for the foreseeable future, since Rousseau is moving to Belgium. CIARA DOLAN
8 pm, Beacon Sound, free

XDS, Genders, Máscaras, Donald Beaman
XDS (formally Experimental Dental School) are the long-running experimental psych punk and pop duo consisting guitarist/vocalist/sampler Jesse Hall and drummer Shoko Horikawa. Once a fixture in the Portland scene, XDS have since moved on to sunnier scenery, which means you won't want to miss out when they return to town for a headlining show supporting their 2017 full-length.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $6-8

Worriers, Typesetter, Mikey Erg, Paper Thin Youth
Brooklyn-based artist and singer/sognwriter Lauren Denitzio brings her politically charged melodic punk project back to Portland for an all ages show in the Analog Lounge. Joining her are Chicago-hailing indie rock quartet Typesetter, New Jersey punk rock scene staple Mikey Erg, and local pop punk outfit Paper Thin Youth.
6 pm, The Analog Cafe & Little Theater, $10, all ages

Jon Lovitz
Spend some time inside the mind of the man who created some of Saturday Night Live's best known characters, including the Pathological Liar, Master Thespian, and Hanukkah Harry, before going on to portray Jay Sherman in the underrated prime time animated series The Critic and eventually diving head first into the stand-up comedy pool of the 2000s.
7:30 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $25-38

Twilight Fest
An exposition of some of Portland’s best under-the-radar punk and metal takes over the Twilight Café this weekend for the inaugural Twilight Fest. Thirty-seven bands are poised for three days of sneered mania, but the event is tame enough during the daytime that all ages will be admitted. When the sun sets on Friday, expect blistering sets on Friday from the likes of My Life in Black and White, Hot LZ’s, and Muddy River Nightmare Band. Saturday’s lineup boasts punk rock lifers the Latter Day Skanks, the Ransom, the Decliners, and Exacerbators, while the Sunday finale refuses to pump the breaks with fiery performances expected by Die Like Gentleman, Saola, and Gorgon Stare. Day shows are free, and the night shows will only set you back $5. RYAN J. PRADO
Jul 28-30, 8:30 pm Fri, 1 pm & 8 pm Sat, 1 pm Sun, Twilight Cafe & Bar, $5

Music of the Revolution: Fernando, Trujillo, Tin Silver
El Programa Hispano has supported low-income Latinos in the Portland metro since 1982 and provide social services to around 13,000 Latinos per year. This benefit concert was organized by Fernando Viciconte, frontman of Fernando Band and a formerly undocumented resident of the US for 12 years. EMILLY PRADO
9:30 pm, LaurelThirst Public House, $10

Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!