My, What a Busy Week!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 29

The World Affairs Council of Oregon presents
their first in a series of speakers on “The World in 2020.” New York
Times economist and columnist Paul Krugman is brilliant and
likeable and huggable and will do a great job of telling you how fucked
we really are. LS

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 7 pm, $40, all
ages

Spikes and alternative spellings may be
passé now, but tonight at the Portland Pyrate Punx’s screening
of 1984’s punk classic Suburbia alongside Wendy O. Williams
and the Plasmatics, you can relive some of the shocking impact that
electrical tape over nipples once had. MS

Plan B, 1305 SE 8th, 8:45 pm, FREE

In anticipation of Portland’s rawkingest
weekend—i.e., the Slabtown Bender ’09—your Bender
hosts are throwing a listening party and playing all the acts
that will appear at the festival (which runs February 6-8). Think of it
as preparation for both your ears and liver; with a lineup that will
include Mudhoney, King Louie, and Pierced Arrows, a pre-party only
makes perfect sense. NL

Slabtown, 1033 NW 16th, 9 pm, FREE

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30

If you like your soul sweet, sassy, and oh
so real, don’t miss the Portland return of Sharon Jones and the
Dap-Kings. Their brand of classic soul steez pays hearty tribute to
sounds of yesteryear, while bringing a thoroughly modern vibe to the
proceedings. Bring your ass-shaking shoes! WSH

w/Ivan Milev; Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 9 pm, $21-23,
all ages

At the very forefront of the global dub scene,
London’s Mad Professor is a pioneering force that has worked side by
side with Lee “Scratch” Perry and produced countless recordings at his
famed Ariwa studio. Basically, the man is a legend, and tonight he’ll
be holding it down just for you. EAC

Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $13-15

The Fertile Ground theater festival
has something for you tonight, whether your tastes run to blatantly
sexy (Dance Naked Productions’ Inviting Desire) or the earnest
and personal (Penplay’s Boxes, about a girl struggling to
explain her gender identity to her family). AH

Various locations, click here for theater listings [link]; see
fertilegroundpdx.org for
more info

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31

Werner Herzog’s My Best Fiend is a
hilarious and harrowing account of his violent love/hate relationship
with long-time leading man and collaborator, the egomaniacal Klaus
Kinski. From the frightening first scene of Kinski’s riotous portrayal
of Jesus to Herzog’s anecdote about a South American midget and her
guinea pigs, the film is bizarrely entertaining. PAC

Fifth Avenue Cinema,, 510 SW Hall,
$2-3

Having grown up in Salt Lake
City during the reign of Karl “The Mailman” Malone, John Stockton, and
that giant freak Mark Eaton, it’s safe to say that there’s a chunk of
me that’ll always be a Utah Jazz fan. Tonight, my beloved Jazz take on
my adopted homeland’s Blazers, and, as of press time, I am still torn
over who to root for. I’ll probably just shake my giant foam finger
around indiscriminately and confusedly. EH

Rose Garden, 1 Center Ct, 7 pm, $10 & up

So you were still in diapers while Prince was in
his prime? Dry your tears, you goddamn baby, and check out Erotic
City—Portland’s own Prince tribute band! Even better, they’re
performing in the yummy-dirty confines of Devils Point. Prepare for a
sexplosion. WSH

Devils Point, 5305 SE Foster, 9 pm, $5

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1

Nothing is more macho than sucking the brains out
of crawdad heads while watching grown men pummel and/or slap each
other’s tight buttocks. Therefore, EaT Oyster Bar shall be the most
macho place in town as they host a Super Bowl party and crawfish boil,
including a pre-game table football tournament and raffle. PAC

EaT, 3808 N Williams, 11:30 am

Tonight the Northwest Film Center’s Reel
Music film festival goes out in grand style. Miles Davis in
Copenhagen captures a vintage 1969 performance in Denmark, and it
plays with Jazz Rarities: Jazz in the Piazza, a 1974 concert
film featuring Charles Mingus. Later tonight, Sergio Leone’s kickass
epic Once Upon a Time in the West features a
fast-shootin’, harmonica-playin’ Charles Bronson and a killer score by
Ennio Morricone. EH

Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park, Miles Davis and Jazz Rarities at 4 pm, Once Upon a Time in the West at 6:30 pm, $8

One could argue that in these current times
finding a bargain isn’t quite the challenging “hunt” it used to be, but
that’s all the more reason why the Bargain Hunting 101 mega-sale
of over 50 boutiques and designer vendors is going to be worth
hitting. (Super-what, now?) MS

Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, noon-6 pm, FREE

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2

Temple Grandin has Asperger’s, and
she’s made the best of it, drawing on her experiences with the
condition and her work as a scientist to write about the emotional
lives of animals. Tonight she reads from Animals Make Us Human,
which explains what animals need to live healthy, happy lives.
Basically, if you love your cat, you should be here. AH

Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne, 7 pm, $26 (includes copy of
book)

Hopefully the Someday stocked up on
martini glasses for the Supreme Beings of Leisure chillout. Expect
loads of slinky dresses and slightly bored-looking boyfriends, as the
crowd clutches old-fashioned cocktails and listens to songs from the
group’s new full-length album 11i, a glossy
continuation of their previous work. CF

w/Carmen Rizzo, DJ Santo; Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th, 9 pm,
$10-14

Nothing goes together
better than ladies and butt-kicking heavy metal. Tube’s weekly Bad
Reputation night has half-price booze for ladies all night long,
and the fiercest metal spun by DJ Nate C and tonight’s guest DJ Yeti.
MD

Tube, 18 NW 3rd, 9:30 pm, FREE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3

One-half of the Indigo Girls hits the stage
tonight at the Wonder Ballroom; Amy Ray’s solo work is hard, loud, and
political. Don’t miss opening band Packer, a local supergroup with the
talents of Erase Errata’s Jenny Hoyston, Team Dresch’s Kaia Wilson, and
the one-and-only LKN. LS

w/Arizona; Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell, 8 pm, $12-13, all
ages

If ever there were an animated film suited for
grownups, Waltz with Bashir is it. A somber, chilling memoir of
the Lebanon War’s atrocities, its animation in no way detracts from the
gravity of its subject matter but instead reflects the shock of its
victims. MS

Fox Tower 10, 846 SW Park.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4

Your mom’s favorite band rolls through town once
again—that’s right, it’s Cradle of Filth, whose symphonic metal
is sure to chill the cockles of your heart. Cradle of Filth is the
connection between the new wave of British heavy metal and current-day
black metal, with a smattering of gothic drama for good measure. NL

w/Satyricon, Septic Flesh; Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 8 pm, $23-25, all
ages

It’s near impossible not to shake your ass
to Flaspar’s energetic, driving songs, within minutes your hips will
start twitching before you can control yourself. Listening to the trio
is reminiscent of attending a show in the basement of a house whose
walls have been subjected to Siouxsie and the Banshees albums for 40
years. That is a very good thing. CF

w/Breakfast Mountain, Wax Fingers; Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 9
pm, $5

There are approximately one billion members of
Broken Social Scene, and while not every last one of them will
be onstage tonight, BSS shows are consistently near-religious
experiences no matter who’s in the lineup. Tonight’s show is already
sold out, so if you don’t already have ticket in hand, it’s time to put
out feelers into that social scene of your own. NL

w/Grand Archives; Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell, 8 pm, $20-23,
all ages