Welcome to the last weekend of January. It’s very likely the kitty above represents your feelings on how the first month of 2017 has gone so far. But that’s okay! Weekends are a magical place where all sorts of things can change for the better, if only briefly. Such as your mood, when surrounded by an entire hotel ballroom of kitties like that one at the International Cat Show! Or maybe you want to be surrounded by amazing local bands, or the Black & Chrome visuals of feminist madman George Miller! Or maybe you’d like to be surrounded by art, and pancakes, and booze! Or coffee and beer! Or maybe you wanna surround yourself with people who are looking to stand with Standing Rock, and stand with those who would March for Justice, or stand with those who wanna ask Jeff Merkley why all those nominees just skated through the Senate and straight into the cabinet of Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes. This weekend has all those opportunities, and even more! Hit the links below, and load your plate accordingly.
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Friday, Jan 27
Down Gown, Queen Chief, Excuses
Portland’s Down Gown play with wiry poise, exuding unhinged, manic ferocity one minute, then shifting to melodies so mired in dissonant structures they almost seem surreal. RYAN J. PRADO Read our story on Down Gown.
9 pm, (The World Famous) Kenton Club
International Cat Show
It’s winter. Everything is terrible. BUT WAIT! Do you like… CATS? You probably do, because you’re not a monster, even if seasonal affective disorder is RUINING YOUR LIFE. Luckily, the International Cat Show has returned to the cat-worshiping temple known as “the Holiday Inn,” and you can be sure some adorable cats will cheer your shit up! ERIK HENRIKSEN
3 pm, Holiday Inn Airport, $8-10, all ages
Sad Horse, Hey Lover, The Very Least
Despite their name, Portland punks Sad Horse can put a smile on any pony’s face. NED LANNAMANN
9 pm, The Fixin’ To, $5
Super: Women in Tech
Too often, the tech industry is notoriously unwelcoming to anyone who isn’t a young tech bro named Matt, and all the Sheryl Sandberging in the universe can’t hide this ugly truth. So tonight, listen up as women who’ve made their way in the industry share their stories. It’ll be an eye-opening evening with the undersung badasses of tech. Sorry, Matt! MEGAN BURBANK
8 pm, Revolution Hall, $10-50
My Body, Blossom
Perhaps it goes without saying that we’re lucky as hell to live in a city with a constantly evolving, genre-rich musical landscape. But here, in a city with something for everyone, there have been seasons where bands seem to be playing in concerts geared towards compartmentalized “scenes.” This show represents a perfect melding of sound; both acts exist on such a complementary wavelength, I can’t imagine a better way to showcase their respective talents. In case you’re not up to speed: My Body makes perfectly dense and dark pop songs, and tonight they’re celebrating the release of a new EP, Seven Wives. Blossom’s soulful R&B feels easy and pristine—expect enough heat to melt what’s left of this winter sludge. JENNA FLETCHER
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $5
SLC Punk!
If Matthew Lillard is remembered, it’s typically as one of two things: Shaggy from the live-action Scooby Doo movie, or Stu, the goofball serial killer from Scream. Neither memory is particularly appealing, which is why it might be worth your time to make a new memory via this weekend’s screenings of the little-seen late ’90s cult classic SLC Punk!. Lillard turns in a legitimately good performance as Stevo, a punk in Salt Lake City, fumbling his way through the notions of self-identity and authenticity. BOBBY ROBERTS
7 pm, 9:30 pm, Fifth Avenue Cinema
Adam Ferrara
An evening of stand-up with the New York-hailing comedian and actor known for hosting the U.S. version of Top Gear, appearing as a regular on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie, and for portraying Chief ‘Needles’ Nelson on the acclaimed FX series, Rescue Me.
7:30 pm, 10 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $16-32
Pancakes & Booze
Another year, another emerging artist showcase that entices audiences with the promise of free pancakes and alcohol while you peruse the new works on display.
8 pm, Hawthorne Theatre, $5
Bridge Club: 5 Year Anniversary
Known for extended and packed patio dance events that start after brunch and end around 10 pm, the Bridge Club queer collective includes resident DJs Hold My Hand, Orographic, Pocket Rock-It, Casual Aztec, and Troubled Youth, who have held down the sunshine scene since 2012. DANIELA SERNA
10 pm, Jade Club, $5
Eat More Oysters
Southpark wants you to eat more oysters in 2017, starting with this special five-course dinner focused on the shelled delicacy, including optional wine pairings.
6:30 pm, Southpark Seafood, $60-85
Lone Wolves
The jokesters at the Siren Theater are at it again with a special two-part edition of Lone Wolves, featuring solo sketches from some of the funniest performers in Portland. Part one on Friday night features pieces by comedy vets Erin O’Regan, Lori Ferraro, Shelley McLendon, and Paul Glazier. Part two on Saturday is a special performance of Rachel Rosenthal’s one-woman show Rites.
8 pm, Siren Theater, $12-22
Cambrian Explosion, Love Dimension, The Verner Pantons
Everywhere else, Cambrian Explosion refers to a significant evolutionary event. Here in Portland, it means a massive blast of psychedelic, doomy drone-rock.
9 pm, Bunk Bar
Saturday, Jan 28
PROWUS Presents: Best of Portland 5
Once a year, the Portland music scene does something really incredible: Our biggest and best bands pair up with the students of School of Rock Portland to put on a show of all-Portland music, performed by kids alongside some of their favorite grown-up musicians. When the local bands involved include Ural Thomas and the Pain, Chanti Darling, Summer Cannibals, Yob, and many, many more, it becomes an unmissable event, one of the uncontested highlights of the live music calendar. This is the fifth year for Best of Portland, and once again proceeds go to benefit the PROWUS nonprofit, which provides grants for Portland students aged eight to 18 who are studying music outside of school. Plus, this installment also showcases the AJAM (Alan Jones Academy of Music) program alongside the School of Rock kids—it’ll be a night of rock, jazz, soul, and lots more, performed by musicians of literally all ages. Do not miss it. NED LANNAMANN
8 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $15-20, all ages
March for Justice
The Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform hosts a march to unite people in Portland’s North, Northeast and Southeast neighborhoods on the seventh anniversary of Aaron Campbell’s shooting by Portland Police.
10 am, NE Martin Luther King Jr. & NE Holladay
Rose City Rollers’ Season Opener
Blame that damnable snow, which not only stopped Portland in its tracks for a smooth week ,but temporarily hit the brakes on our beloved Rose City Rollers’ season opening bout! Happily it’s been rescheduled for this Saturday, at which time the Break Neck Betties will take on the Heartless Heathers, while the High Rollers will battle Guns N Rollers in what will surely be a thrilling double bill of action! WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
6 pm, The Hangar at Oaks Park, $18, all ages
Ohtis, Mandarin Dynasty, Levi Thomas, Anywhere West
Last time I was in Detroit, all the boys were crying because they loved Ohtis so much. Every house I walked into had someone cueing up a handful of beloved demos that were being passed around. Ohtis sounds like David Byrne’s pared-down country ballad band, so I was on board. The folksy, casual duo formed via high school bicycle rides in central Illinois but put their band on hiatus while half the group, Sam Swinson, wrestled with a life-threatening drug addiction—something Ohtis remains remarkably upfront about (probably because it’s in the lyrical subject matter of many songs). During that period, Ohtis’s other half Adam Pressley moved to Detroit and started some great indie bands: Prussia and the subsequent Jamaican Queens. Ohtis seems slow to produce a record, content to kernel their songs out to the web one at a time, so their shows may be the only place to hear the whole as-yet-unperfected collection. SUZETTE SMITH
6 pm, The Waypost
In the Spirit of Standing Rock Rally
A rally to speak out against Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes, and his executive order to move forward with the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. Get info on what’s next for the resistance, show solidarity with those camping at Standing Rock, and make your disapproval loud and visible.
noon, Pioneer Courthouse Square
The Beatnuts, Rapper Big Pooh, Termanology
When I’m transported back to my late-’90’s hip-hop heyday, I remember the Beatnuts as one of the era’s few rap groups that were able to bedazzle the subwoofers of the glitziest dance clubs and still be lauded as breakbeat aficionados by monkish vinyl scholars. Though not officially members of the legendary Native Tongues posse, DJs Psycho Les and Juju signified their street-prankster point of view on the collective’s periphery while embodying the multicultural expressionism, dayglo appeal, and revolutionary creativity that characterized the movement’s spirit. Add this colorful ethos to a ludicrous arsenal of rare funk samples and aggressively Dionysian tales of ghetto excess, and you have a concoction that produces classic singles like “Watch Out Now” and “Off the Books,” timeless bangers that have embedded themselves onto the eternal playlist and solidified their footnote in Hispanic b-boy iconography. CHRIS SUTTON
8 pm, Dante’s
Sporting, Thick in the Throat, Honey, It’s OK, Girl
Working in a musical duo can require a tricky balance, since you must support your fellow performer while also trying to maintain your own artistic personality. Keep that in mind as you watch this concert, which brings together a trio of duos for one stirring evening. The good news is that the pairings on display tonight have a great level of comfort with one another. That’s certainly the case with Thick in the Throat, the collaboration between sax/flute player John C. Savage and his wife Claudia. He brings the swirling free jazz expressions while she intones blank verse poetry between his torrents of notes. Sporting combines the expressive and dizzying playing of longtime friends and frequent colleagues Luke Wyland of AU and percussionist phenom John Niekrasz. Rounding out the evening is It’s OK, Girl, featuring sax player Ben Kates improvising to the dancing of Danielle Ross. ROBERT HAM
8 pm, Leaven Community Center, $5-10
Toni Erdmann
A movie you should see. It’s funny, heartwarming, and wise, except for when it’s being dark and existential. It features a pair of rich, subtle performances, and it marks the emergence, with her third feature, of director Maren Ade as an important international filmmaker. Also, there’s a scene where a guy ejaculates onto a petit four. So, pretty much something for everyone. MARC MOHAN
7 pm, 8:45 pm, Cinema 21
Collabofest 2017
It’s like a mixtape you can drink, starring some of Portland’s best brewers, all coming together to see what kind of miraculous concoctions they can cook up together, with one-of-a-kind beers being created by Ecliptic, Ex Novo, Hopworks, Occidental, Stormbreaker, Widmer, Alameda, and more. Proceeds benefit SheJumps:PDX and Oregon Timber Trail.
2 pm, Base Camp Brewing, $25-40
Rizzla, Princess Dimebag, Massacooramaan, DJ Rafael
This weekend Brooklyn-based DJ Rizzla makes his Portland debut, bringing his globalized club-ready productions to DJ Rafael and Massacooramaan’s Ecstasy party. Informed by his background in postcolonial studies and art history, Rizzla’s work plays out as cross-cultural dialogues set against the grimy and liberating backdrop of late-night warehouse parties—an amalgam of Caribbean syncopation, hardstyle’s aggressive momentum, and ballroom’s frantic energy, embedded with a nightmarish spirit of dissent. Following sporadic releases of bootleg bundles, his debut EP Iron Cages was released in 2015 on LA’s lauded Fade to Mind label. The EP tells the story of a protagonist seeking to escape Earth as society collapses, soundtracked by knife-edge rhythms and police sirens, aggressive yet sensual in its approach. Rizzla is a regular fixture in alternative nightlife and art institutions, and a founding member of the irreverently uncompromising queer artist collective KUNQ (alongside similarly iconoclastic producers like False Witness, Battyjack, and Shyboi). DANIELA SERNA
10 pm, Jade Club, $10
Town Hall with Jeff Merkley
The Senator from Oregon sits with members of the community, activists, leaders, and more, to discuss issues concerning all of us and to make sure those issues are heard and taken to Washington DC with him. Like, for example, maybe someone will want to ask him why only one Democratic senator voted against every awful cabinet appointee nominated by Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes.
2:30 pm, Marshall High School, free
Team Dresch, Sex Stains
When Team Dresch formed in Olympia, Washington, more than two decades ago, they were a defiant flicker of light in a country that still preferred to leave LGBTQ folks in the closet. Since then, certain attitudes and laws have changed for the better, but the battle continues on a much larger scale. Founder Donna Dresch’s activism goes back nearly 30 years when she started the seminal queercore zine Chainsaw in the late ’80s (which later became a record label), giving voice to female artists and the LGBTQ community. She and core members Kaia Wilson and Jody Bleyle continue to be hugely important in the continued fight for LGBTQ rights, part of the much larger movement that they helped shape. While Team Dresch hasn’t released any new music since 2000, their reunion at the Olympia queercore festival Homo-a-Go-Go in 2004 was a welcome one, and the band continues to perform, inspire, and inform. MARK LORE
5:30 pm, 9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14, all ages
Portland Aerial Tram 10th Anniversary
One of Portland’s more unique landmarks celebrates its 10th birthday with a special family-friendly community day, with kids’ activities, historical displays, educational presentations, and more.
10 am, OHSU Center for Health & Healing, all ages
NW Coffee Beer Invitational
The two libations the Northwest is best known for, combined in one foamy, delicious drink, and celebrated by 16 brewers using local ingredients, including 10 Barrel, Deschutes, DoubleMountain, Lucky Lab, Pints, Widmer, and more. Admission includes 8 taster tickets, and live music from the Austin Stewart Quartet and Logger’s Daughter.
noon, Goose Hollow Inn, $15
DOA Pro Wrestling: Stairway to Stairdom
DOA Pro Wrestling invites you to get in the kick-start the New Year with a night of bouts culminating in a “Stairway to Stardom” Battle Royal where 30 contenders will fight to win a shot at a DOA Grand Championship Match.
6 pm, Wattles Boys & Girls Club, $8-15
Sunday, Jan 29
Lizzo, Dizzy Fae
Last year Minneapolis-based soul singer/rapper/flautist Lizzo dropped her major label debut, Coconut Oil, an exuberant follow-up to her 2015 full-length, Big Grrrl Small World. Throughout the new EP Lizzo radiates warmth, drawing listeners closer to gather around like she’s a bonfire, and directing her own attention inward for six tracks of pure self-love. Within seconds you’re reminded that Lizzo’s voice is unparalleled but also versatile as fuck—horn-heavy opener “Worship” finds her channeling Aretha as she demands not just to be respected, but worshipped. Then she blazes through the bars of “Phone,” which is about the very relatable experience of losing your cellular in the club. “Scuse Me” is the body-positive centerpiece of Coconut Oil: Lizzo pauses to appreciate her reflection in the mirror, singing “I don’t see nobody else/’Scuse me while I feel myself” amid slow-burning R&B tempo changes and glittery keys. “Deep” is the EP’s vibrant, danceable standout, a lush detour into West African rhythms. And the feel-good anthem “Good as Hell” is a final hair toss to toxic relationships, centered on stomp-clap beats and the call-and-response mantra “Baby how you feelin’?/Feelin’ good as hell!” The final song (and title track) of Coconut Oil is the release’s most reflective moment; it begins with organ and flute, her first instrument, and includes sound bites from her family’s church. In an interview with Nylon, Lizzo explains: “In this place in my life right now, it’s all about my self-care. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to take care of myself in all of this. Coconut oil is the definition of that to me—it’s the answer to all things… ‘Coconut Oil’ connects to my girls—black and brown, my afro girls—but it also represents much more.” Coconut Oil is playful and joyous, and though it’s shorter than 20 minutes, it sounds like Lizzo’s completing an intimate cycle of emotional renewal. CIARA DOLAN
9 pm, Doug Fir, $15-17
Blazers vs Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are coming to Portland again, and it’ll be worth your money to witness the always-entertaining matchup of Steph Curry and Damian Lillard, two of the best point guards in the world. The Warriors are unquestionably the top NBA team right now—with superstars Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and dick-kicker Draymond Green, but let’s pelase make sure the Moda Center isn’t full of obnoxious blue-and-gold-clad Bay Area transplants. Buy a ticket and yell your ass off for an important Western conference game. DOUG BROWN
6 pm, Moda Center, $93, all ages—If you can’t get in, Revolution Hall is screening the game for free, too.
Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet
Portland has the chance to witness otherworldly musician Stefan Jackiw perform sonic miracles with his fiddle. Our hometown orchestra shares the stage with Jackiw to perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2—a fascinating composition from 1935 guaranteed (at least with this virtuoso at the helm) to astonish the uninitiated and satisfy even the most rabid, hardcore classical fans in the crowd. Maestro Carlos Kalmar and the band open the program with a 21st-century work and shut it down ironically with the Romeo and Juliet overture from Tchaikovsky. In other words, prepare yourself for what just might be the highlight of the Oregon Symphony’s utterly spectacular 120th season. BRIAN HORAY
7:30 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $23-105, all ages
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Even if you’ve never heard the name Ladysmith Black Mambazo, you may well have heard them sing. The South African vocal ensemble’s place on Paul Simon’s seminal 1986 album Graceland launched a globe-trotting career that’s included four Grammies. This breakthrough also embroiled the group in the controversy surrounding Graceland, given that Simon had broken the cultural boycott imposed on the apartheid regime by the rest of the world. This seems a bit overwrought in hindsight—after all, championing black artists performing traditional mbube vocal music isn’t exactly tacit support for South Africa’s segregationist government, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo have since become among the country’s preeminent cultural ambassadors. Besides, what’s more egregious is Graceland’s absurdly exaggerated ’80s production, which Ladysmith’s performances are presumably free of these days. NATHAN TUCKER
7:30 pm, Aladdin Theater, $35, all ages
Kevin Wilson
Kevin Wilson reads from his new novel, Perfect Little World, the eagerly awaited follow-up to his New York Times best-seller, The Family Fang.
7:30 pm, Powell’s City of Books
Do Right Sunday
A monthly showcase from two of Portland’s best DJs, making you shake your ass while also raising funds for the community.
9 pm, Dig a Pony
Steelhymen, Lee Corey Oswald, Cool Schmool, The Goobs
Mississippi Studios hosts a benefit for Portland’s Call To Safety, featuring a night of post punk, indie rock, psych, and slacker pop from an eclectic barrage of local acts.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $8
Mad Max: Fury Road: Black & Chrome
A brutal, beautiful, two-hour action overdose injected with a welcome feminist bent. Black & Chrome is director George Miller’s preferred cut of the film—entirely in black and white.
7 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $9
Silent Reading Party
Shhhhhhhhh! Bring a book (or an e-reader) but leave your conversation at home at the Silent Reading Party. Sit down with a cocktail for two hours of gloriously uninterrupted reading time in the company of other quiet readers. It’s like being at the library, but with beer and ambient music. SHELBY R. KING
3 pm, Beech St. Parlor, free
Grilled Cheese Disco
Not too many other DJ nights can offer you a blend of beats and cheese.
9 pm, The Liquor Store, $5-10
Don’t forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!