FRIDAY, JULY 31
MUSIC—Today’s the first big day of the weekend-long Pickathon, and we’re REALLY EXCITED to see Wolf People. You might want to hurry and buy tickets before they’re all gone. Friday’s lineup also includes Cloud Nothings, Summer Cannibals, and Freakwater. The tickets are pricey, but totally worth it for the excellent festival at the wonderful Pendarvis Farm. It’s the Mercury‘s favorite weekend of the year. SHELBY R. KING
Pendarvis Farm, 16581 SE Hagen, Happy Valley, Thurs noon, Fri-Sun 9 am, $80-110 a day ($270 for fest pass), all ages
COMEDY—You can trust Shelley McLendon. She’s brought you laugh-out-loud productions like Road House, Lost Boys, and Rudolph. She’s directing the new two-women sketch comedy show Night on the Town starring Lori Ferraro and MADtv‘s Brooke Totman. One thing’s for certain: Totman’s mad hysterical—this show promises to be a kick in the funny pants. COURTNEY FERGUSON
Defunkt Theatre, 4319 SE Hawthorne, opens Fri July 31, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, through Aug 22, $15-20
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1
COMEDY—You probably know Joe Mande from his razor-sharp writing for Parks and Recreation and Kroll Show, or possibly from justifying the existence of Twitter via @joemande. BUT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW that he also does stand-up, having been on everything from Conan to Comedy Central. Tonight he’s telling jokes at Mississippi Studios, and it will be fun. ERIK HENRIKSEN
w/Hutch Harris; Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 10 pm, $14-17
MUSIC—With a cheap cover and some of the deepest cuts you’re likely to hear in town, the occasional 50: A Possible History of Dance Music is a dance fancier’s dream. DJs Cooky Parker, Gregarious, and Freaky Outty take your feet on an aural-temporal tour from 1965 to the present day. Suck it, H.G. Wells. DIRK VANDERHART
Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 9 pm, $5
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2
FILM—Last week, the Laurelhurst showed Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien—and this week, they’re following that up exactly as they should, with 1986’s Aliens. James Cameron’s radically different sequel is still one of the finest action movies made—a perfect cocktail of thrills, scares, and a heroic Sigourney Weaver. (There’s a reason she got an Oscar nomination for this.) ERIK HENRIKSEN
Laurelhurst Theater, 2735 E Burnside, see Movie Times for showtimes, $4
MUSIC—Tender Loving Empire offshoot label Bug Hunt features two of the bands on its roster tonight: Brooklyn-by-way-of-Oregon skitter-pop duo My Body, and excellent Portland-by-way-of-Hawaii volume-crush rock band the Fourth Wall, whose fantastic Lovely Violence album has just been put out by Bug Hunt. NED LANNAMANN
w/DoublePlusGood; Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9 pm, $5