Guard your buns, because this Monday marks the beginning of the Mercury's Wiener Week! Plus, electropop and avant-garde musicians are coming to town, and did you know you can see a film at Laurelhurst Theater for only seven bones on Tuesdays? On a more serious note, if you're in a blue mood due to... everything happening all the time always, that's not just understandable, it's logical. We've got you with a few ways to bear witness and community-build around those feelings. This week, The Voice of Hind Rajab centers the story of the five-year-old killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024, and on January 31, half your ticket cost for Mississippi Masala will benefit the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Monday, January 26

The Portland Mercury’s Wiener Week 2026

The Portland Mercury proudly presents its newest, most mouthwatering member of the Food Week Family: Wiener Week! From January 26 to February 1, the city’s boldest chefs will craft their most creative, flavor-packed wieners for just $8 a pop. Whether you like 'em spicy, saucy, or piled high with unexpected toppings, we promise these buns will be packed with something new and exciting! And a special thanks from our pals at Zenner’s, Jim Beam, Portland Bangers and Travel Portland for all their support! (Various locations, Jan 26-Feb 1, $8 per wiener, more info) MERCURY STAFF

Austra

Canadian electropop artist Austra last played Portland in 2022, supporting her improvisational and experimental 2020 album HiRUDiN. Rewinding to the beginning of the project, Katie Stelmanis originally released music under her own name but pivoted to using her middle name when she added a few friends for live shows in 2010. Fun fact: Austra is also the name of the goddess of light in Latvian mythology, which fittingly describes what it feels like to listen to the musician's fifth full-length Chin up Buttercup, released in November 2025 after a half-decade break since her previous album. Her latest work builds and swells, with danceable irreverence punctuating moody heartbreak like sun breaking through clouds. (Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 8 pm, $32.21, more info, 21+) SHANNON LUBETICH

Tuesday, January 27

Thrifty Tuesdays at Laurelhurst Theater

Blow off your Netflix scroll, because Laurelhurst Theater has the most comfortable seats in Portland and all-day matinee ticket prices on Tuesdays! This week, you could catch up on Mercury recommended flicks like Dead Man's Wire, Marty Supreme, or 28 Years Later: Bone Temple, a film with a dance performance so epic it earned theater-wide applause at my showing. (Laurelhurst Theater, 2735 E Burnside, $7, showtimes at laurelhursttheater.com, 21+, minors can attend with a parent before 8 pm) SUZETTE SMITH

Wednesday, January 28

OMSI After Dark: Into the Abyss

With over 80 percent of the ocean unexplored by humans, who knows what terrors lurk beneath the waves? OMSI’s first After Dark night of the year accompanies the special exhibit Into the Abyss, which examines aquatic predators of the past and present that are known to us, bringing fascinating facts further to light. If you want to explore the fossils and live animals without competing with kiddos for prime viewing space, visit on this 21+ night, which will feature a squid dissection (very high school biology class!), VR experiences, themed vendors, and more. (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), 1945 SE Water, 6-10 pm, $27, more info, 21+) BRI BREY

Cate Le Bon

Cate Le Bon’s avant-garde artistic output has garnered comparisons to David Bowie, Nico, and Laurie Anderson, and while that's a stressful and towering list of musical iconoclasts for the Welsh musician to live up to, here’s the thing: It’s accurate. Le Bon’s new album Michelangelo Dying crafts surreal soundscapes with a neopsychedelic, arty sensibility that feels both Cocteau Twins-esque and completely singular. She’ll drop by Revolution Hall to perform selections from the album, which opens with the silky, beguiling “Jerome”: “Gently read my name/Cry/And find me here/I'm eating rocks.” (Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, 8 pm, $38.11, more info, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

Thursday, January 29

Sibelius & Grieg

Oregon Symphony offers a banquet of Nordic music with this trifecta of works. First course is The Swan of Tuonela by Finnish classical icon Jean Sibelius, an emotive tone poem prelude which offers the listener a brief sprig of spring. Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg follows with a meaty three movements. You've heard sections of this piece in films, but if you haven't heard it together, you haven't truly enjoyed it. The main course—a desert for dinner of sounds—is a "Romantic Swedish jewel" by Wilhelm Stenhammar, conducted by music director David Danzmayr. (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, Thurs Jan 29-Sun Feb 1, $35-148, more info, all ages) SS

Counterpoints

If you're unfamiliar with minimalist musical pioneer Steve Reich, you're forgiven. But those interested in ambient musical composition or his contemporaries—Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Pauline Oliveros—should maybe change that, and Third Angle's Counterpoints offers an opportunity. In celebration of Reich's 90th birthday, they've created an interactive experience. A timed-entry ticket allows visitors to wander Hopscotch's neon-lit art exhibitions while Third Angle soloists perform Reich's Counterpoints: New York, Electric, Vermont, and Cello. (Hopscotch, 1020 SE 10th, timed entry 6-9 pm, $5-$60, more info) LC

Also worth it:

The Voice of Hind Rajab, Cinema 21, more info
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania's film tracks the efforts of the Palestine Red Crescent Society to save a little girl trapped in a car in Gaza, who was eventually killed by Israeli forces.  

Friday, January 30

The Play That Goes Wrong

Arthur Miller once called theater “so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life.” This meta-production of a play within a play embraces the chaos inherent in stage performance, following the story of an opening gone completely off the rails. The absolute disaster production of the 1920s murder mystery Murder of Haversham Manor by the amateur Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is beset with failed props, forgotten lines, and general mayhem. Rest assured that anything that can go wrong will, as the cast desperately hurdles toward the final curtain. (Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th, various times through Sun Feb 15, $25-86, more info, all ages) BB

Saturday, January 31

Mississippi Masala

Mira Nair—a filmmaker with a keen eye for cultural narratives who also happens to be New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s mom—directed this romance between Mina (Sarita Choudhury), an Indian-Ugandan woman, and a Black Southerner carpet cleaner named Demetrius (Denzel Washington). Presented by Portland Panorama and screening as part of Clinton Street Theater’s Color & Sound series, the film’s cross-genre soundtrack and vibrant palette will shake off the post-holiday grays, and half of ticket proceeds go to support the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition’s legal defense and rapid response work. (Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton, 7 pm, $10, more info, R) LC

Akaash Singh: Generational Triumph Tour

As someone who only has a marginal interest in stand-up comedy, I discovered Akaash Singh via clips on YouTube. Even through a screen, he hooked me with his next-level crowd work, roasting audience members off the cuff as easily as picking lint off a sweater. For his biggest tour yet, he promises “the best comedy [he’s] ever written.” As a fellow Asian person, I hope the tour’s “Generational Triumph” theme means he’s found a way to solve generational trauma. Bless. (Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, 7 pm, $43.76 - $78.91, more info, all ages) JANEY WONG

Oregon 2026 Lunar New Year Celebration

Welcome to the Year of the Horse! Specifically, the fire horse, which trots by but once in a 60-year cycle, and portends dynamic energy, passion, and transformation for 2026. Oregon's largest Lunar New Year event returns, celebrating a couple weeks early with a packed entertainment schedule made possible by over 300 performers. Chinese acrobatic champions the Myth Duo perform their captivating masterpiece "Strength & Beauty," a troupe of youth dancers flutter around in the Ponyo-inspired dance number "Koi Spirits," and galloping rhythms will thunder through the auditorium during the Chinese folk instrumental piece "Saima." It'll be a feast for the eyes and ears as the community ushers in an abundant year ahead. (Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay, 7:30 pm, $34.25, more info, all ages) JW

Also worth it:

Earth to You: Guitar Players Respond to a Story About a Guitar Player, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), more info
Pulling inspiration from a short story in local writer-educator Sara Jaffe's 2025 collection Hurricane Envy, eight of Jaffe's favorite guitar players will share new compositions.

The Lesbian Lookbook, Live, Frances May, more info
Lesbian Culture Club transforms a downtown boutique into a fashion show, celebrating queer archetypes, like the Suit, the High Femme, the Soft Butch, the Power Lesbian, the Butch, and the Gender Queer.

Sunday, February 1

Pamela Hadley: Holding Me, Holding You

The “art will save us all” mentality is the only thing getting me through these bleak news days, so even the title of this new exhibit by time-based light artist Pamela Hadley—Holding Me, Holding You—sounds comforting. Using projection-mapped animation and sound composition, this immersive experience invites you into a dark space where you’ll follow small light pathways to discover the full-room installation. Slowness and stillness open the door for observing more of the exhibit’s inner and outer landscapes. (Carnation Contemporary, 8371 N Interstate, Sat-Sun 12-5 pm Jan 10-Feb 1, more info, all ages) BB

Looking for even more events happening this week? Head on over to EverOut!