It’s almost the end of January. Except it almost doesn’t feel like we even got a January. It got lost somewhere in a fog of unexpected snow, ice, and illegitimate presidencies. The fog is starting to clear now, and the week ahead has a lot of entertainment in store, a lot of opportunities to keep the resistance going, and a lot of the two blending together. Talib Kweli is one of the best possible personifications of art and activism, Hollywood Theatre’s Rebellion & Revolution series stays going strong, Michael Eric Dyson is a necessary voice to let in your head, and the Fertile Ground Festival is still sprouting challenging shows all week long. It’s a busy week indeed—hit the links and load your plate accordingly.
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Monday, Jan 23
Lucinda Williams
There are very few American singer/songwriters who’ve been able to transcend the purgatory of genre and cross over into “national treasure” territory. While debating nominees, one should consider Lucinda Williams, who has written a ubiquitous Grammy jam (Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Passionate Kisses”), a universally acclaimed Americana masterpiece (Car Wheels on a Gravel Road), and produced a fruitful catalog that includes collaborations with legends like Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Elvis Costello. Like a twangier Chrissie Hynde wearing well-worn cowboy boots, lost in the Laurel Canyon wilderness, Williams expertly glides between steely grit and tender grandeur, shedding tough layers to expose vulnerable heartstrings and then wrapping them back up with swathes of faded denim. She’s famously slow at releasing new material, which has only made each record more feverishly anticipated by her cultishly devoted following. But they’re continuously rewarded for their patience with Williams’ emotionally dense heartland fables. CHRIS SUTTON
8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $45, all ages
Citizen Activism 101
Donna L Cohen hosts a discussion on ways to formulate and implement strategies for change on local and national levels, as well as the means to identify valuable information and hurtful misinformation.
6:15 pm, St. Johns Library, free
Ollin: Social Justice Film Series: Pan’s Labyrinth
A film series presented by the Latino Network, “dedicated to exploring social justice themes through film” and featuring post-screening panel discussions. This week’s film is 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro’s remarkable, relevant fantasy about monsters and fascism.
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $9
Fertile Ground Festival
Portland’s annual festival of proudly uncurated new theater, Fertile Ground, is finally here, injecting our sorry-ass Pacific Northwest winter with a refreshingly unpretentious dose of culture: 10 days of brand-new plays, performance art, and dance invading both the city’s major theaters and improvised venues (ever seen a play in a bar? Now’s the time!). MEGAN BURBANK.
Through Jan 29, Various Locations, see Things to Do for a list of performances and showtimes.
AFI, Chain Gang of 1974, Souvenirs
If there were ever a band made for Guitar Hero™, it’s mid-’00s post-hardcore/emo powerhouse AFI (which stands for A Fire Inside, for those who don’t make stops at Hot Topic and Spencer’s on mall excursions). Take their 2006 mega-hit “Miss Murder,” a song that begins boldly, diving straight into its unremarkable pop-punk chorus before Davey Havok goes full screamo at the metalcore look-at-my-guitar-chops bridge. (I’m not going to comment on the track’s “alternate” long version that begins with some boring Nightmare Before Christmas melody rip-off.) Now, some will point out that AFI was active in the reputable ’90s East Bay hardcore scene, but the band’s pop-screamo sounds like a semi-content, semi-spiteful marriage between the Offspring and System of a Down. CAMERON CROWELL
8 pm, Roseland, $28-43, all ages
July Talk, Mona
The Toronto-hailing rock ‘n’ roll quintet who took home a Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in 2013 return to Portland in support of their recently released sophomore album, Touch.
9 pm, Doug Fir, $12
PDX Mandem, Neill Von Tally
PDX Mandem (Skelli Skel and Ian Millhollen) and EYRST co-founder Neill Von Tally team up for an evening of DJing, live beat making, and an emcee cypher featuring some special guests.
7 pm, Produce Row Cafe, free
Leif Whittaker
Port Townsend-hailing writer, speaker, and adventurer Leif Whittaker reads from his new memoir, My Old Man and the Mountain, chronicling his experience growing up the son of James “Big Jim” Whittaker, the first American to summit Everest.
7:30 pm, Powell’s City of Books
Tuesday, Jan 24
John K. Samson & the Winter Wheat
John K. Samson’s beloved band The Weakerthans always made for quintessential snow day listening, and the Winnipeg-based songwriter’s latest solo offering, Winter Wheat, is no exception. The album envelops listeners with a warm feeling of nostalgia, and the bittersweet conclusion to the story of Virtute the cat will find longtime fans and newcomers alike straining through misty eyes to hit replay and dive back into Samson’s thoughtful and absorbing world. CHIPP TERWILLIGER Read our story on John K. Samson and the Winter Wheat.
9 pm, Doug Fir, $18-20
Michael Eric Dyson
Academic, author, and radio host Michael Eric Dyson reads from his new book, Tears We Cannot Stop, a timely sermon urging white America to confront truths about racism in order for real progress to begin.
7:30 pm, Powell’s City of Books
Devendra Banhart
Those who aren’t familiar with Devendra Banhart’s name will surely recognize him as the suspenders-over-a-Swans-T-shirt-wearing poster child of the “hipster” age. Banhart’s 15 years of freakish folk-pop surpass this perceived identity as the aesthetic mascot of hipsterdom, though the aforementioned look probably launched a thousand memes. Sure, he’s not reinventing the wheel with his 2016 release Ape in Pink Marble; the record continues to steer away from the airy love songs his discography’s foundation was built upon. If anything, it offers more aggressive, darker pop than its predecessor, 2013’s lovelorn Mala. And while Banhart’s last few albums have been met with incredibly mixed reviews, diehard fans will still swoon over his loving croon and revel in the fact that he’s still making music. CERVANTE POPE
8 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $20-25
Balletboyz
To follow-up their 2014 Portland debut, White Bird Dance presents a new show from former Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, featuring two works choreographed by Pontus Lidberg and Javier de Frutos.
7:30 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $26-64, all ages
Rebellion & Revolution: Brotherhood of Death
Where’s the line? When a reality TV villain wins the presidency, and news reads like dystopian science fiction, the line between fiction and reality gets blurry. And when—and if—we manage to unplug, entertainment gets dicey: Is it okay to enjoy HBO’s soap operas while the world goes to shit? Where’s the line between letting ourselves engage with art and forcing ourselves to pay attention to the real world? The truth, of course, is that there is no line—art feeds on reality, and reality is affected by art. Which brings us to the Hollywood Theatre’s timely film series Rebellion & Revolution: Insurgent Cinema. Tonight: 1976’s blaxploitation flick Brotherhood of Death, in which three black Vietnam vets return to America to fight the Ku Klux Klan. ERIK HENRIKSEN
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $9
Melville
Melville’s pretty good at taking all the prefixes and hyphenates music writers use to separate rock ‘n’ roll into a gajillion little genres, mashing ’em back together, and throwing ’em right back at you.
9 pm, LaurelThirst Public House, free
Kendl Winter
While living in Olympia, I once wandered into a Kendl Winter show with a friend who was visiting from out of town. For me, the show was a pleasant surprise but not especially shocking; Winter played in a half-dozen bands, and I’d seen her on a stage more times than I could count on my fingers and toes. But my friend, having never seen her before, spent the rest of his visit talking about that voice—how we just walked to the back of a dive bar and experienced something so casually profound. And he was right: There’s no one with a voice quite like Winter’s. It’s somehow a little country, a little punk, and sweetly twee all at once. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON
7 pm, Edgefield, free
Wednesday, Jan 25
Shy Girls, The Last Artful, Dodgr
After backing up Aminé on The Tonight Show, slaying an appearance on Sway’s Universe, and releasing a string of singles (“Oofda,” and “Jazz Crimes” with Neill Von Tally), Dodgr will dazzle a crowd at the Doug Fir the week before dropping her forthcoming Bone Music LP. If the last year was any indicator, Dodgr is about to have a pretty explosive 2017. Go see her now so you can say you were a fan before she blew up. JENNI MOORE
9 pm, Doug Fir, $14-16
Drag Queen Bingo
Poison Waters hosts this special Bingo night which is guaranteed to be absolutely unlike any other bingo night you or your grandma have ever imagined.
6 pm, Mission Theater, $15
Battle Trance, Blue Cranes
Battle Trance is a tenor saxophone quartet whose members have also played in Tune-Yards, Little Women, and with jazz luminaries like Tim Berne, Gerald Cleaver, and John Hollenbeck, but their debut LP Palace of Wind is a different beast entirely. In the record’s three parts, the saxophones swarm with tightly woven melodies one minute, then stack onto one another for thick drones the next. All the while, the four players throw their entire bodies into their instruments, using circular breathing to create hypnotic repetitions, while splintered multiphonics roughen the edges. The end result is a little bit free jazz, a little bit ambient, and very worth your time. MATTHEW W. SULLIVAN
8 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-15
Re-run Theater: Battlestar Galactica: Lost Planet of the Gods
The Hollywood’s fond look back at the glory days of ’70s-’80s era television. This month: a screening of the soapy sci-fi cheesefest Battlestar Galactica. Before it was reinvented as a 9/11 allegory in 2003, it was a simple Star Wars knockoff with vaguely Mormon undertones, going off the rails into cigar-chomping ridiculousness by the third part of its extended pilot before finally wallowing in mystic (and super-sexist) absurdity like a dog in roadkill with the two-parter Lost Planet of the Gods. With vintage commercials during the ad breaks! BOBBY ROBERTS
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $9
Dreckig, Yeah Great Fine, Dan Dan
An evening of psych-trip-hop from the local duo comprised of Papi Fimbres and Shana Lindbeck.
8:30 pm, Holocene, $6
National Geographic Live: Point of No Return
Hilaree O’Neill is a skier, mountaineer, and athlete who became the first women to climb two 8,000m peaks (Everest and Lhotse). Tonight she shares her harrowing experience in climbing to the summit of Burma’s Hkakabo Razi to determine if it is indeed Southeast Asia’s highest point. Her story of survival will be accompanied by photographer Cory Richard’s stills as well as clips from Renan Ozturk’s documentary Down to Nothing.
7:30 pm, Newmark Theatre, $20-40
American Wrestlers, Ellis Pink
The St. Louis, Missouri-hailing indie rock quartet spearheaded by Scottish musician Gary McClure swing through Portland in support of their sophomore studio album, Goodbye Terrible Youth.
9 pm, Bunk Bar, $12
Ellen Hopkins
New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins reads from her new novel for teen readers, The You I’ve Never Known, about a seventeen-year-old girl whose life takes a sharp twist when her mother resurfaces for the first since she was a baby.
7 pm, Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
The Roast of Barry Kolin
After two decades at the helm, Barry Kolin is stepping down from his his position running the show at Harvey’s Comedy Club, but not before getting roasted by some talented club regulars from the Northwest and beyond. Hosted by Dwight Slade.
7:30 pm, Harvey’s Comedy Club, free w/ rsvp
Think & Drink: This Land
Alberta Rose hosts the first installment of Oregon Humanities’ three-part 2017 Think & Drink series, which will focus on the ideas of race, power, and place here in Portland and beyond.
6:30 pm, Alberta Rose Theatre, $7.50-10
Thursday, Jan 26
Michael Lewis, Hanna Rosin
Michael Lewis—the author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, and other acclaimed books and articles—is among the greatest nonfiction writers working today, and known for his ability to write about complex subjects in an entertaining way. Tonight at the Schnitz, NPR’s Hanna Rosen will interview Lewis a month and a half after the release of his new book, The Undoing Project, about the lives of two Israeli psychologists and their groundbreaking studies on decision-making. The $65 ticket gets you a copy of the book. DOUG BROWN
7:30 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $15-65
Talib Kweli
You’re (I’m) 33, and unreasonably grumpy about lots of the hip-hop that comes out these days. That’s why tonight’s jaunt to the art form’s mid-’90s heyday has you (me) so jazzed. Talib Kweli came to prominence in 1997 as the slightly more thoughtful, more technical member of Black Star (with Mos Def), and hasn’t let up since. He’s also performing with Styles P! From the LOX! DIRK VANDERHART
8:30 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $25
Kathy Griffin
An evening of stand-up with the two-time Emmy winner and New York Times bestselling author who worked her way up from Los Angeles’ Groundlings Theatre and through the D-list on her way to becoming an unstoppable force in the world of comedy.
8 pm, Newmark Theatre, $40-75
Tampopo
Juzo Itami’s 1985 film defies easy description. The director himself calls it a “ramen western,” due to the main story of a couple truckers helping a woman named Tampopo establish herself as master of noodles. But it’s also a comedy, a romance, a surreal gangster movie, and an erotic screwball farce. Its steaming collection of disparate ingredients gets pretty messy at times, but the result is one of the most sensual movies of the 20th century. There’s no guarantee every element will hit the spot, but you will leave this screening hungry as hell. BOBBY ROBERTS
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $9
New Move, Y La Bamba, Hustle & Drone
New Move doesn’t do anything by the book, and that includes not just their sound, but their showmanship. Pop music typically doesn’t do what New Move makes it do. Catch them tonight when they headline a release show for their brand-new self-titled album.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $10-12
Rob Spillman
As editor of Portland’s own (and Brooklyn’s own) Tin House, Rob Spillman knows good writing, and his own is no exception. Spillman’s new memoir, All Tomorrow’s Parties, is a freewheeling, globe-spanning account of Spillman’s misspent youth, written in pleasantly clean, pared-down prose. If you’ve ever been a broke young person with an interest in art, he’s got your number. MEGAN BURBANK
7:30 pm, Powell’s City of Books
Cardioid, Moorea Masa & the Mood, Orkis, Dashenka
An album release show with Cardioid, the new psychedelic rock collaboration project between Radiation City’s Lizzy Ellison and former Unknown Mortal Orchestra drummer Riley Geare.
8:30 pm, Holocene, $6-8
Stellar
If you’re still kicking yourself for missing last fall’s presentation of Stellar, Bri Pruett’s hilariously smart one-woman show, you are in SO much luck! This highly regarded Portland standup (and Mercury contributor) has revived her very funny show about the many men she’s been intimate with (and their astrological signs) that was one of the crowd favorites of the 2016 theater season. Tonight is your last chance to catch it. Don’t make the same mistake twice! WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
9 pm, Funhouse Lounge, $20-120
Rvivr, Backbiter, Paper Thin Youth
Rvivr make blissful pop-punk anthems that give the illusion of intricate spontaneity. While each song has certainly been crafted with care, the Olympia group makes them sound uninhibited, like they just came up with these arrangements on the spot. Their 2013 album, The Beauty Between, is a perfect example. It’s a work so tight and interwoven that it borders on pop-punk concept album, but it sounds raw enough to make you believe it was recorded at a basement show. Rvivr’s general celebratory tone lends a perfectly deceptive background to lyrics that often deal with getting through the dark times in life, or that advocate for social change. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON
9 pm, Twilight Cafe & Bar
Mic Check: Vursatyl, Sleep, Starchile, Trox
The first episode of 2017 for one of Portland’s best hip-hop showcases, featuring Sleep of Old Dominion and Portland hip-hop legend Vursatyl.
10 pm, White Eagle, $7
Herb Alpert & Lani Hall
Bow down before one of the undeniable kings of instrumental pop, Herb Alpert! Since the mid-’60s, the salsa-influenced trumpeter (along with his backing band, the Tijuana Brass) redefined cool with their songs, “The Lonely Bull” and “Spanish Flea.” Now Alpert is touring with wife and former lead singer of Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66 (!!!), Lani Hall, to present an evening of jazz standards, Brazilian-style pop, and oh-so-classic hits. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $45
Don’t forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!