Indies First Day
Indies First Day celebrates independent booksellers, which in a world where we’re all under the control of Amazon Prime, are more critical than ever. This year, Broadway Books is bringing in a roster of local literary champions, like Willy Vlautin, Lidia Yuknavitch, Elena Passarello, Leni Zumas, and more. Oh, and buy a book. It’s like your Twitter feed but will RESTORE your faith in humanity. MEGAN BURBANK
10 am, Broadway Books, free, all ages


The Minders, A Certain Smile, Heartbreak Beat, Andrew Kaffer
Twenty years ago, the hot thang in indie-pop was the Elephant 6 Collective, a family of bands that played a particularly psychedelic and Beach Boys-influenced brand of pop-rock. The headliners were Neutral Milk Hotel, the Apples in Stereo, and the Olivia Tremor Control, and one of the affiliated groups was the Minders, a Beatles-lovin’ combo out of Denver. A great secret of the Elephant 6 Collective is that the Minders’ 1998 album Hooray for Tuesday is every bit as good as anything else any other E6 band released. It’s a perfect pop record. Eventually, head Minder Martyn Leaper moved his operation to Portland, where he put out a couple more releases (including 2006’s essential It’s a Bright Guilty World) and then disappeared, more or less, for a decade. Which brings us to last year’s Into the River, the first Minders album in 10 years. Recorded with local studio wiz Larry Crane, it’s a wonderful reminder of Leaper’s extraordinary—and underappreciated—talent for marrying memorable melodies and lush, jangling guitars. BEN SALMON
8 pm, Turn! Turn! Turn!, $7

NorCal Fire Relief Benefit: WORWS, Lonesome Valley Pussyfooters, Phantom Family
After fires in Sonoma County this summer destroyed almost 7,000 buildings and killed 23 people, undocumented communities are left especially vulnerable as they don’t qualify for assistance as easily or at all, depending on the source. This benefit show is filled with punk and bluegrass, an amazing raffle, and will raise money for UndocuFund, an organization working directly with undocumented immigrants to provide relief and support. EMILLY PRADO
7:30 pm, Tonic Lounge, $8

Dreckig, Brown Calculus
The Fixin' To hosts an all-ages matinee featuring the percussion-driven dance/krautrock/cumbia of Dreckig and the intergalactic soul and jazz of Brown Calculus.
3:30 pm, The Fixin' To, $7

Trophy Eyes, Free Throw, Grayscale, Head North, Hampton
If your Thanksgiving plans include spending time with challenging relatives who don’t necessarily share your worldview, you might need somewhere to release your pent-up aggression. Consider the Analog, where a quintet of rock bands will plug in and wail away for a while. At the top of the bill is Trophy Eyes, a gang of Aussie punks who travel with a trunk full of buzzy riffs and throat-shredding screams. The best band here, however, is Free Throw, emo/punk revivalists from the white-hot DIY scene in Nashville. The band is unmistakably influenced by ’90s and ’00s emo, screamo, and post-hardcore, packing their songs with both catchy tunes and sweaty catharsis. But what sets Free Throw apart is the irrepressible sparkle in their vocal melodies, their arpeggiated guitars, and even their pristine production choices. Free Throw makes the emo revival sound relatively sunny. BEN SALMON
5:30 pm, The Analog Cafe & Little Theater, $15-18, all ages

Blowpony!
Portland's premier queer-centric dance extravaganza returns for a Thanksgiving weekend installment at the Bossanova Ballroom, featuring headlining performances by Rica Shay and Angelica D'Vil, music from Airick X, Just Dave, Aurora, and Mateo Segade, go-go dancing by Heatherette, Nikki Bunz, Charley Sharp, Johnny Cakes, Vye, Diamond Duchess, and more.
9 pm, Bossanova Ballroom, $9

2017 Black Holiday Bazaar
After your Black Friday shopping embargo lifts, support small Black-owned businesses to stock up on gifts for the holidays instead. Vendor items include a range of goods including knit hats, quilts, natural hair care products, art, and more. Bring a donation for the toy drive, which will be distributed at a Black Santa event in early December. EMILLY PRADO
9 am, 5940 N Albina, free

Blesst Chest, Miss Rayon, Rebecca Gates
Blesst Chest makes bizarro, acid-washed, fuzzed-out, groovy tunes that sound like Ratatat's cool prog-rock parent, lacking the sophisticated production of today's young 'uns but wailing hard like it's 1977. CIARA DOLAN
9 pm, The Fixin' To, $7

78/52 and Psycho
Fifty-seven years after it first shocked audiences, the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is still one of the craziest—and best—sequences in cinema. This weekend, the NW Film Center is screening 78/52, Alexandre O. Philippe's Sundance-approved documentary that hacks away at the 78 camera angles and 52 cuts that made film history. As an added bonus, they've also got Psycho on 35mm—so you can see all the other twists and thrills in Hitchcock's best-known, most-loved film. ERIK HENRIKSEN
78/52, 4:30 pm; Psycho, 7 pm; NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium

The Storm Large Holiday Ordeal
The renowned local singer-songwriter and Pink Martini vocalist brings her annual holiday show to the Aladdin Theater.
8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $40-55, all ages

The Next Waltz
Every year around Thanksgivingtime, a group of Portland musicians recreate The Last Waltz, classic rock's classic-rockiest moment. Since some of the proceeds go to benefit the Jeremy Wilson Foundation and the Oregon Food Bank, and since most of the songs are pretty good, it remains a worthwhile event for a great cause. NED LANNAMANN
8 pm, Alberta Rose Theatre, $28-32

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