As the month warms up, so does the calendar. Well, “warm” is a relative term, really. “Warm” outside is like a damp 40-degree day. “Warm” on the calendar is like a thermometer-busting brilliance courtesy the genius of Maria Bamford, the Eagles Lodge dodging certain death, the Rose City Rollers going back-to-back in their season opener, and a plethora of fests including Ghibli, Reel Music, Heroes & Villains, and Bourbon & Bacon. It’s a busy weekend that lies ahead; hit the links below and load your plate accordingly.
Jump to: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Friday, Jan 12
Reel Music
The NW Film Center’s Reel Music Festival returns for its 35th installment in a much humbler fashion than before: There are a mere 17 films screening this time around, a far cry from the 30 documentaries and concert films offered last year—but there are plenty of films that should perk up the ears of music junkies. ROBERT HAM
Jan 12-30, NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, see nwfilm.org for titles and showtimes.
Candace, Bitch’n
Portland trio Candace describe themselves as witchgaze, and I think that’s a pretty apt description of their lush, dreamy sound. If you’ve ever been a fan of the Cocteau Twins or felt yourself melting into a song like sugar into coffee, you’re gonna dig it. COURTNEY FERGUSON
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $10-12
Steel Panther
The Los Angeles based comedy-glam metal band known for their raunchy lyrics and exaggerated on-stage personae bring their act back to the Crystal Ballroom for the Portland stop on the “Lower The Bar” tour.
8 pm, Roseland, $23-25
1939 Ensemble, Golden Retriever
The Portland-based instrumental quartet known for playing a blend of percussion-driven krautrock, post-rock, and jazz celebrate the release of their latest EP, Beats & Saints. Acclaimed experimental duo Golden Retriever provide support.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $8
Studio Ghibli Film Retrospective
People talk about Pixar when they discuss artistic and financial dominance in the film industry, but Pixar ain’t got shit on Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki’s animation empire responsible for roughly 73 percentof all the world’s current magic. This January, OMSI’s Empirical Theater devotes its screen to Ghibli’s features and little-seen animated shorts, with titles including Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Porco Rosso, and more. Of all the film festivals that will hit Portland in 2018, this one’s gonna be hard to top for sheer value. BOBBY ROBERTS
Jan 11-21, Empirical Theater, see omsi.edu for titles and showtimes
Surfer Rosie, Tender Age, Fantastic Plastic, Realized
Surfer Rosie’s debut EP helped counteract the feelings of anxiety that seemed to wash over us all last year. Some moments are loud and cathartic, with fuzzed-out riffs cutting through atmospheric noise with frantic energy. But these settle into quiet and contemplative valleys, only to rev back up again for acute sonic whiplash. Surfer Rosie’s music captures the kind of hope that’s perfect to soundtrack the beginning of a new year. DELANEY MOTTER
8 pm, Clinton Street Theater, $9
Improv Giants
A one-night only massive attack of Portland improv comedy all-stars, including Shelley McLendon, Nicholas Kessler, Chris Williams, Kara Moore, and Dylan Reiff.
8 pm, Siren Theater, $10
Li’l Buck & Jon Boogz
Renowned movement artists and “Movement Art Is” founders Lil’ Buck and Jon Boogz bring their Love Heals All Wounds show to the Newmark Stage, featuring a range of dance and spoken word performances that aim to address social issues such as police brutality and violence in America, while also seeking to promote diversity, inclusion, and empathy.
7:30 pm, Newmark Theatre, $40-60
Rare Diagram, The Crenshaw, Ally, Paula
Rare Diagram utilizes unique textures of instrumentation to coax jazz phrasings and sophisticated symphonic flourishes out of pop songs. RYAN J. PRADO
8 pm, Turn! Turn! Turn!, $5
Black Leadership Round Table and MLK Celebration
The Multnomah County Democrats will host a panel and offer time for the community to collaborate and expand excellent Black leadership within the state and beyond. Speakers include NAACP Portland President and Portland City Council Candidate JoAnn Hardesty, House Representative Janelle Bynum, and more. EMILLY PRADO
6 pm, Hollywood Senior Center, free
Saturday, Jan 13
Black Belt Eagle Scout, Nsayi Matingou
Last year Katherine Paul of Black Belt Eagle Scout quietly released her debut LP, Mother of My Children, via Portland’s Good Cheer Records. Paul—who plays every instrument on the album herself—lets her inspirations shine on hypnotic tunes like “Indians Never Die” and the brilliantly restrained title-track. Former Ghost Ease drummer Nsayi Matingou opens, so be sure to arrive promptly. Is it too cold out to chug a frosty iceberg? You decide. RYAN J. PRADO
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $10
Maria Bamford
One of the most finely tuned minds of our time, Maria Bamford takes stand-up to a dizzying new level, where non-sequiturs, vulnerability, and brutal honesty form a nexus of gut-splitting hilarity. Fresh off a new season of her critically lauded series Lady Dynamite and her Netflix special Old Baby, Bamford is storming into Portland with a boatload of fresh material spotlighting her beautiful psychological fragility that also skewers the buffoons who ruin everyone’s lives. Beg, borrow, or steal a ticket for this sold out show that you won’t want to miss. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
7 pm, Revolution Hall, $35, all ages
Portland Metro Reptile Expo
Am I recommending that you get stoned and go to the Portland Metro Reptile Expo at the Holiday Inn on Northeast Columbia? Well, since doing so seems morally and legally dubious, let’s say I’m not? But I’m not not recommending it! Boasting “over 17,000 feet of pure REPTILIAN EXCITEMENT,” the expo promises “a huge selection of live reptiles and amphibians,” many of which are FOR SALE, one of which is a SEVEN-FOOT AMERICAN ALIGATOR, and all of which will send horrifying chills down your pathetic and frail mammalian spine. From creepy snakes to rare pythons, this is the spot to go to stare into the cold, unblinking eyes of the alien creatures who ruled this planet before time began, and who will outlast us all. They are secure in their dominion, and they would kill you in a goddamn second if only given a chance. ERIK HENRIKSEN
10 am, Holiday Inn Airport, $10
Eagles Lodge Grand Re-Opening
The East Portland Eagles Lodge has emerged triumphant from a battle with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, who’d hoped to sell the Hawthorne District building that’s housed the local chapter for over half a century. They’re hosting an all-ages “Survival Party” to celebrate the Eagles Lodge’s grand reopening, with entertainment courtesy of Karaoke from Hell. It’s a prime opportunity to jump onstage with the original live karaoke band—they’ve been backing guest belters around Portland for more than 25 years, and know hundreds of songs, including some on-theme choices like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” and even the Misfits’ “Where Eagles Dare” (but please, god, don’t sing that one in front of the children). CIARA DOLAN
7:30 pm, Eagles Lodge (F.O.E.#3256), $5
Rose City Rollers’ Double Header Season Opener
It’s a brand new year, and with it comes a fresh season of roller derby action. Whether you’re a Rollers ride-or-die or a curious casual, you owe it to yourself to get down to the Hangar at Oaks Park and cheer on Portland’s finest blockers and jammers as they knock any remaining rust off one another in a pair of bouts that will set the tone for the rest of the season. CHIPP TERWILLIGER
6 pm, The Hangar at Oaks Park, $20-26, all ages
Heroes & Villains Fan Fest
The first large-scale pop-culture convention for 2018 hits Portland, focused less on the comics side of a comic-con and more on the TV side of things, with panels, photo ops, and signings starring Stephen Amell (Arrow!), Jon Bernthal (The Punisher!), Ming-Na Wen (Mulan!), and like, 30 people who have been killed and or eaten on The Walking Dead…and Carl, too.
Sat-Sun, 10:30 am, Oregon Convention Center, $45-90, all ages
Bourbon & Bacon Fest
The third annual blending of bacon festivals and bourbon festivals into one salty, savory cocktail barely contained by OMSI After Dark, served up with help from mixologists, new exhibitions about the delicious science needed to make these two things, live music from local DJs, and more.
7 pm, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), $15-70
Foreverland, Power of Tower
Four vocalists, a horn section, and minimal crotch-grabbing, but still a lot of entertainment in Foreverland’s renditions of all your Michael Jackson faves. The 14-piece band formed in 2009 just before the King of Pop kicked and have been touring in his memory ever since. Go, dance, and sing along. SHELBY R. KING
9 pm, Doug Fir, $12-15
Kinski, Havania Whaal, Galaxy Research
Seattle’s Kinski can’t stop making records. Since forming in 1998, they’ve released their prolific catalogue on seminal Pacific Northwest labels like Sub Pop and Kill Rock Stars, most recently 2015’s 7 (or 8). Throughout this nearly two-decade tenure, Kinski has remained loud but listenable with feedback-heavy, droning garage rock. Get ready—the band’s gravely guitar riffs and piercing solos demand head-banging. BRI BREY
9 pm, Kelly’s Olympian, $8
Altered States
In 1980, Ken Russell adapted Paddy Chayevsky’s novel about a man who believes you can access other states of consciousness via flotation tank. Here in 21st century Portland, you can pay someone $30 an hour to do this so you don’t stress out about rising rents or whatever. But back in 1980, William Hurt would do this and physiologically devolve into freaky lumps of “what-in-the-living-fuck-am-I-looking-at” on a semi-regular basis. And if that’s not weird enough, keep an eye out for Dan Fielding from Night Court and Commandant Lassard from Police Academy. They’re in here too. BOBBY ROBERTS
9:30 pm, NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, $6-9
Gold Casio, Small Skies, DMN
Portland’s Gold Casio melds campy, gold-plated disco with glitchy indie-pop, and the result is groovy and danceable—you can’t avoid this boogie fever, so might as well let it infect you. CIARA DOLAN
9 pm, The Fixin’ To, $7
The Prince & Michael Experience
Dave Paul dedicates the dance floor to the everlasting magic that both Prince and Michael Jackson created over the course of their careers, including not just the hits, but the b-sides, the bootlegs, and the remixes, too.
9 pm, The Liquor Store, $10
Oyster Pop-Up
The Cascade Brewing Barrel House hosts the first in what will hopefully become an annual pop-up in partnership with Hama Hama Oysters, including a raw bar, special beer pairings, and more, going all day, or until the oysters run out, whichever comes first.
1 pm, Cascade Brewing Barrel House
Nasalrod, Cliterati, Macho Boys
Beloved local experimental rockers Nasalrod bring their frenzied live show out to Green Noise Records for a weird, energetic, and all-ages hello to 2018.
6 pm, Green Noise Records, free
We The Dreamers Pop-Up Shop
We the Dreamers is a Portland-based grassroots group that hosts art-focused events and fundraisers by and for undocumented folks in the United States. Buy their beautiful brand-new shirt and support future events in one fell swoop! EMILLY PRADO
4 pm, Portland Mercado, free
Sunday, Jan 13
Wolf Parade, Charly Bliss
Indie rock veterans Wolf Parade unveiled a new album last year, the excellent Cry Cry Cry. It’s raw, cathartic, and earnest, with a few songs that verge on the greatness of their 2005 anthem “I’ll Believe in Anything.” They’re touring with rising power pop band Charly Bliss, whose sugarcoated debut LP Guppy was one of the best records of 2017.
8 pm, Crystal Ballroom, $28-30
Sløtface
If you wanted to use an album title to sum up our collective state of being over the past year, you could do much worse than the name of Sløtface’s debut full-length, Try Not to Freak Out, which came out late last summer. And rest assured, Sløtface feels approximately the same way—the young Norwegian quartet spikes its music with pop-culture references, plenty of punk spirit, and progressive lyrics that touch on feminism, environmentalism, gender equality, and politically fueled anxiety. “I’ve filled my quota of boys with acoustic guitars,” sings Haley Shea in “Nancy Drew,” a song about busting up boys’ clubs. “But more are born every year.” This is true, of course. But it’s bands like Sløtface—with breakneck speeds, roaring guitars, killer melodies, and socially aware perspectives—that will be indispensable as we move forward into the future. Let’s all try not to freak out together. BEN SALMON
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $12
Steve Gunn and Julie Byrne
Since releasing his self-titled debut in 2007, Steve Gunn has become an incredibly prolific and consistent songwriter. Schooled in the rootsy, primitive guitar calisthenics of John Fahey and the eastern modal wormholes of sitar players like Ravi Shankar, Gunn’s an expert at weaving dizzying tapestries through jammy guitar freak-outs. Joining Gunn on this West Coast tour is the equally bewitching singer/songwriter Julie Byrne, whose 2017 LP Not Even Happiness is full of contemporary folk tunes with lush, whispered sensitivity, like the stunning opening track “Follow My Voice” and standout “Natural Blue.” Both artists are performing back-to-back evenings at Mississippi Studios this weekend—if you haven’t procured tickets yet, I’d recommend doing so immediately. RYAN J. PRADO
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $15-17
Stravinksy’s Rite of Spring
Igor Stravinsky’s violent ballet score has been circulating among the world’s concert halls for over a century now, but The Rite of Spring still manages to jolt modern ears with riotous noise, often whipping the orchestra into a seemingly uncontained frenzy. The Oregon Symphony has decided to crank this particular performance to 11, commissioning Brooklyn-based multimedia artist Matthew Haber to create a video installation that will accompany Stravinsky’s music. As if that weren’t enough, the show’s setlist also includes Joseph Haydn’s brilliant Symphony No. 70 and Béla Bartók’s fascinating Violin Concerto No. 2—the latter featuring Finnish soloist Elina Vähälä and her 237-year-old fiddle. BRIAN HORAY
2 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $24-120, all ages
Laura Palmer’s Death Parade, Heavii Mello
Rontoms’ second Sunday Session of the new year doubles as a tape release show for local psych-folk act Laura Palmer’s Death Parade. Upstart synth-pop act Heavii Mello provides support.
8 pm, Rontoms, free
Markiplier’s You’re Welcome Tour
YouTube star, comedic vlogger, and Forbes‘ “30 Under 30” media luminary Mark “Markiplier” Fishbach brings his show on the road for a night of live adventures, improv games, and audience challenges.
7 pm, Keller Auditorium, $35-125
The Poe Show
So far as subjects of a variety-style entertainment extravaganza go, Edgar Allan Poe might not seem like the most obvious choice, but the performers fueling the Poe Show will make it work with live music, short films, a trivia competition, and readings from the man’s historic works, including a performance of The Raven by Daniel Elder and Jude Brewer.
8 pm, Clinton Street Theater, $5
Coraline
Once upon a time, children’s films had teeth and weren’t afraid to use them. As time passed, anything overtly aimed at kids got its crusts cut off, forced to assume the shape and feel of an overstuffed pillow. That is not the story of Coraline, LAIKA’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s beautifully sharp fable, which has bite strong enough to leave marks on any smart, inventive child’s imagination. BOBBY ROBERTS
Academy Theater, see Movie Times for showtimes and locations, $3-4
Second Sunday: Beyond Fake News
While terms like “fake news” and “alternative facts” are easy to laugh off, the truth is always at risk for misrepresentation whether online, in conversation, or in media. Outreach librarian, Kelly McElroy, will host a community conversation about how to find accurate information every day. EMILLY PRADO
2 pm, Oregon Historical Society Museum, free
Railroad Earth
For more than 15 years, the Stillwater, New Jersey, newgrassers of Railroad Earth have amassed a rabid following of fans who refer to themselves as “hobos.” While this might sound similar to the Grateful Dead’s roving masses of Deadheads, Railroad Earth’s popularity owes more to the liquid sonic parameters of the jam-band cloth than to some perceived status as mere new-jack torchbearers. A seamless melding of bluegrass-inspired fiddle hoedowns is tempered by Americana flourishes, smart songwriting, and extended jams, culminating in impressively nuanced songs like “Grandfather Mountain” from its most recent LP, 2014’s Last of the Outlaws. Railroad Earth’s oeuvre spans many styles, but the band is without a doubt at its best when it’s folding in the organics of piano and horns, laying down feel-good meditative epics like “Monkey.” There’s no way I know as much as hardcore fans, but if you’re able to snag a ticket to this, consider yourself lucky. RYAN J. PRADO
8 pm, Doug Fir, $38
Don’t forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!