The spring equinox falls on March 20! Let’s lean into the new light, shall we? This week, rock mother Toody Cole scorches Star Theater, Jacqueline Novak turns comedy a little more esoteric, and, in the words of Mercury writer Melissa Locker, Jessie Rose Vala’s ceramics show is “really fucking cool.” March is also Espresso Martini Month, so sweet spots like Dear Sandy and Panther Club will sling everyone’s favorite upper-downer. Between the bars, drop by PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater for an evening tribute to Elliott Smith.
Monday, March 16
Portland Dining Month
We’re halfway through this year’s Portland Dining Month, where over 100 restaurants offer three-course meals at price points of $35 and $55. The lineup includes a number of Portland classics, from Jake’s Crawfish to Higgins to Huber’s, as well as newer acclaimed restaurants like Canard, Han Oak, Laurelhurst Market, and Kachka. But this is also a great way to try hot new spots at a bargain price, including vegan tasting menu restaurant Astera, Bryan Furman’s barbecue pop-up at Sousol, newly opened Italian restaurant Estes, Javelina’s Indigenous cuisine, and Lilia Comedor’s Mexico-meets-Oregon fare. (Various locations, through March 31, $35-$55, more info, check restaurants for age restrictions) KATHERINE CHEW HAMILTON
Espresso Martini Month
Invention for Destruction
Loosely inspired by Jules Verne’s exploratory vision, Karel Zeman’s Invention for Destruction (1958) provides a kind of steampunk blueprint. The film looks like a Victorian illustration in motion, all flying gizmos and petticoats and questionable facial hair. Zeman—the great master of woozy, consciousness-shifting Czech animation—blended live actors into hand-drawn imagery, placing them into meticulously crafted frames resembling etchings from an old adventure book. The result strikes an irreplicable tone, both antiquated and totally original. Read more in Second Run Portland. (Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7:30 pm, $10-$12, more info, not rated) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Tuesday, March 17
Sirāt
If you like your cinema contemplative and mysterious (i.e., you’re a film nerd or adjacent), Oliver Laxe’s Sirāt is definitely worth a watch. The Cannes Jury Prize winner follows a father searching for his missing daughter after she disappears at a rave in Morocco, setting off a slow-burning odyssey across the Atlas Mountains. Along the way, he and his young son fall in with a drifting band of ravers, transforming this would-be fireside tale into something closer to a spiritual pilgrimage. Shot on 16mm, Sirāt, inspired by the bridge of Islamic tradition that separates hell from heaven, leans into existential questions and the uneasy line between wandering and finding your way. (Cinemagic, 2021 SE Hawthorne, through March 19, $7-$9, more info, R) LANGSTON THOMAS
Toody Cole / Forty Feet Tall / Chatter Box
For fans of Thee Headcoatees, Iguana Death Cult, The Traditional Fools
Portland legend Toody Cole embodies a long-lived life of rock ‘n’ roll, true love, and doing it herself. Founding member of our city’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll punishers Dead Moon, there’s no praise that can be showered on Toody that’s undeserved. Toody’s got lifetimes—plural—worth of stories, so buy her a whiskey and see if you can get a few out of her. Towing the line between angelic post-punk and hard-hitting post-hardcore is where you’ll find the Forty Feet Tall bad boys. I popped my knee so hard in their homecoming show pit at Mississippi Studios last month I thought I was going to pass out—that’s what’s up with FFT. The Chatterbox garage-punks round out this perfect Portland bill. (Star Theater, 13 NW 6th, 8 pm, $30.36, more info, 21+) NOLAN PARKER
Also worth it:
Oregon Book Awards finalist reading, Literary Arts, more info
Award finalists in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and graphic literature—including Ling Ling Huang, Jonathan Bach, and Justin Hocking—will read from their nominated works.
Wednesday, March 18
Jessie Rose Vala: The Pollinators
When you walk into Jessie Rose Vala’s show at Chefas Projects, you’ll quickly realize these aren’t your average ceramics. Instead of raku fired pots or pastel hand-thrown vases, Vala’s work transforms clay into mission statements about the state of the world. Combining sculptural ceramics with neon and metallics, Vala’s pieces feel chimeric, bringing in elements of earth, animal, and the human form to deliver a discourse on humanity’s disruption of the natural world with a side of myth-making. In short, it’s really fucking cool. Read the full review in the Mercury‘s Spring Arts issue. (Chefas Projects, 134 SE Taylor Ste 203, through Apr 4, FREE, more info, all ages) MELISSA LOCKER
Paris, Texas
A disheveled Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) meanders out of the matte desert, where he’s reunited with his eight-year-old son, Hunter, and his billboard-designing brother in the neon canyons of Los Angeles. He tries on different roles and imagines becoming a rich father, accomplishing nothing but to chase after his son’s affection. A road trip guides Hunter and Travis back to the roots of their trauma. The result is Paris, Texas, a neo-Western that feels spiritually in tune with Twin Peaks, Repo Man, and—if I’m honest—the myth of Odysseus. Sure, you might balk at a 147-minute runtime. But Wim Wenders’ simmering filmmaking (and Robby Müller’s cinematography) requests a slow read. (Performance Works Northwest, 4625 SE 67th, 7 pm, FREE, more info, R) LC
La Llorona
Few films manage to fuse folkloric terror with social ethics—in fact, though it’s billed as horror, Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona (2019) might be in a category all its own. A retired Guatemalan general implicated in the genocide of native Maya communities cowers like a baby in his mansion as protests rattle the walls. But don’t worry: A supernatural force—the vengeful kind—penetrates his barricade. Note: La Llorona is not the schlocky The Curse of La Llorona, also released in 2019. Bustamante’s film is an atmospheric and far superior demand for justice. (Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7:30 pm, $10-$12, more info, not rated) LC
Also worth it:
Kevin Sampsell in conversation with Kimberly King Parsons, Powell’s City of Books, more info
Baby in the Night is Sampsell’s second novel—a surprisingly slight number, considering the author and micropress publisher’s prolific and varied output. In it, a child wanders the nighttime world, observing without the learned judgement of adulthood.
Thursday, March 19
NCAA March Madness
Rose Colored Moon: An Evening Tribute to Elliott Smith in Film and Music
Also worth it:
Live Wire with Luke Burbank, Alberta Rose Theatre, more info
The homegrown live talk show hosted by Luke Burbank returns for another scintillating night of conversation and fun, including his special guest, the amazing (and amazingly funny) comedian/actor Atsuko Okatsuka!
Friday, March 20
Depths of Wikipedia
One of the main reasons to research history and the world around you is to prevent fuckups that have come before. But I personally read history because it’s hilarious. Annie Rauwerda created Depths of Wikipedia as an Instagram account in 2020 to share funny facts she was finding with friends. The project was so beloved that cross-platform accounts, an ongoing newsletter, and regular live show tours eventually followed. Rauwerda’s live shows—replete with presentation slides—cram laughter and facts into an evening that often doubles as a local Wikipedia editor meetup event. We know Portland has more than a few of those. (Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, 7 pm, $32.21 – $56.33, more info, all ages) SUZETTE SMITH
Portland Thorns vs. Seattle Reign
It’s the season home opener for the mighty Portland Thorns, and things are looking up, up, UP! Coming off a third place finish last year, the team has a lot to be hopeful for in 2026—including a brand new coach, a talented roster, and an absolute superstar in Sophia Wilson, who has scored 45 goals in just four measly seasons (!) and is returning from maternity leave. In their first game of the year at Providence Park, the Thorns will be going nose-to-nose with bitter rivals the Seattle Reign, who finished in fifth place last year, and is still searching for a top-notch striker to step up if they want to advance in the league this year. Grab your scarves and show your support for the hometown gals! (Providence Park, 1844 SW Morrison, 7 pm, $24-$139, more info, all ages) WSH
The Sisters of Mercy: Jam-Packed
It’s another new sketch comedy show from one of the best femme-forward laff-makers in the city, the Sisters of Mercy. Starring the always reliably hilarious Shelley McLendon, Laura Sams, Erin Jean O’Regan, and Lori Ferraro, you can expect a brand-new, wild array of sketches and characters—the likes of which you’ve never experienced. The theme for their latest venture is “Jam-Packed”… which means at the very least you’ll see a load of whip-smart sketch comedy that’s sure to be jam-packed with laughs. Miss at your peril! (Siren Theater, 3913 N Mississippi, through April 4, 8 pm, $20-$30, more info, 14+) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Also worth it:
Portland Roadster Show, Expo Center, more info
Hot rod and custom car lovers assemble! Check out the coolest rides from across the country, paired with exhibits, awards, vendors, and special celebrity guest star Erik Estrada (CHiPs)?
Saturday, March 21
Jacqueline Novak
This performance has been rescheduled for Sun May 31.
Novak is a comedian interested in pursuits of the spirit—past life regression, Jungian dream analysis, Women Who Run with the Wolves. She blends amla powder into her smoothies, prioritizes beauty in the home (vintage Christmas blow molds), and channels self-optimization at all costs (through her Hobonichi planner). Yes, she’s particular and product-craving and also a podcaster (she co-hosts Berlant and Novak with fellow genius Kate Berlant), but Novak’s mind spins so quickly that you, too, will get caught in its centrifugal force. Her Emmy-nommed 2024 special Get On Your Knees was, on the surface, “about blow jobs,” but actually offered a dense philosophical exploration of sexual firsts. What will be the target of Novak’s obsession this time? (Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, 8 pm, $50.14-$73.75, more info, all ages) LC
Sunday, March 22
Ibram X. Kendi
Historian and author Ibram X. Kendi won the 2016 National Book Award for his stark, massive Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which changed contemporary culture’s thinking on racism from a view that rooted it in personal prejudice to something continually reinforced by policy and power structures. His bestselling memoir How to Be an Antiracist showed readers the impact of prejudice across vast facets of our lives. Now Kendi’s newest work digs into great replacement theory and its many ghastly visages, which have existed through history but rarely been revealed revealed with the incisive gaze that Kendi wields. (Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, 7:30 pm, $67.36 tickets include a copy of the book, more info, all ages) SS
Also worth it:
Trans Rights Readathon Reading Party, Dream House, more info
Pen supportive letters to trans youth and drop off queer book donations during this warm and fuzzy shindig, which’ll be set to a backdrop of ambient music.
Looking for even more events happening this week? Head on over to EverOut!
