THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19
After the triumph of their recent
Verbs album, Au have spent the winter recording new material in
Vermont. Tonight marks their long-awaited return, and they’re joined by
the kaleidoscope pop of Nurses and the wildly creative White
Hinterland, whose last EP was sung entirely in French. NL
Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 8:30 pm, $6
In his newest novel, The Women,
T.C. Boyle enriches your head with opulent words that will have you
burrowing deeper into the complex world of Frank Lloyd Wright. Succor,
paladin, seigneur, spondulics, vituperative, lacustrine, tourbillion,
farrago, marmoreal… I’d pay so much more than 50 cents a word for all
those beauties, but there’s no need ’cause tonight it’s free. CF
Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, FREE
Two of tonight’s reasonably priced highlights of
the Portland Jazz Festival include the Portland Jazz Orchestra
playing Blue Note favorites, and the Moroccan kingdom’s Master
Musicians of Jajouka. MD
Portland Jazz Orchestra at the Old Church, 1422 SW 11th, 7:30 pm,
$20, all ages; Master Musicians of Jajouka, Everyone Orchestra, Skerik
Trio at Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 9 pm, $20-30
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20
When they’re not pulling off head-turning
musical stunts, musical mastermind Panther (AKA Charlie Salas-Humara
and Joe Kelly) makes danceable funk-punk capable of turning the most
mild mannered of affairs into a raucous all-nighter. MV
w/Ghost to Falco, Ohioan; Backspace, 115 NW 5th, 9 pm, $5, all
ages
The Cody Rivers Show is one of the funniest
sketch comedy troupes you’ll ever see. If you miss this show, you don’t
deserve laughter in your life. What else can I say? Oh—Curious
Comedy is a new venue and you can drink beer there. Win, win, and win.
AH
Curious Comedy, 5225 NE MLK, Fri-Sat 9:30 pm, $12
Since 1995, the Portland Oregon Hiphop (or
POH-Hop) Festival has been burning down the house with the
finest in local hiphop. Check out the second night of the
POH-Hop-sponsored Black History Music Fest with the godfather of
Portland rap, Cool Nutz, alongside Mikey Vegaz, T.
Soprano, Diezel P, Luck-One, Todd G, and more! WSH
Ash St. Saloon, 225 SW Ash, 9 pm, $10
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Yes, it’s once again time for the Unique
Animal Expo and Pet Fair! True, the event claims to merely
feature “live birds, reptiles, and mammals”—but with a name like
that, I’m pretty sure they’ll also have centaurs, unicorns, pixies,
minotaurs, mermaids, giraffes, basilisks, Fraggles, and probably a
yeti! EH
Washington County Fair Complex, 873 NE 34th, Hillsboro, Sat-Sun 10
am-5 pm, $4-8
If you were to tell me a fellow who whistles
while plucking the violin would achieve massive popularity, I’d think
you were a birdbrain. But after listening to the sumptuously melodic,
oddly wonderful songs of Andrew Bird, it all makes perfect sense.
NL
w/Loney Dear; Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 9 pm, $22.50, all ages
Get all your culture in one convenient dose
tonight, as local arts heavyweights Disjecta and Tin House team
up with readings from Matthew Dickman and Arthur Bradford, and music by
the Old Believers. AH
Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate, 7 pm, $6, all ages
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Everyone knows the Oscars are
just a bullshit marketing tactic, but it’s fun to watch ’em anyway. This year, you can head over to the Hollywood Theatre for an expensive
red carpet soiree that benefits Film Action Oregon, or you can play it
cheap at the Bagdad or the Mission, or you can play it even
cheaper by watching at home—and follow along on blogtown.portlandmercury.com,
where yours truly will be live blogging the whole goddamn thing. EH
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 4 pm, $50; Bagdad Theater, 3702
SE Hawthorne, and Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, 5 pm, FREE; your
couch, FREE
All hail the pioneers of late ’70s
art/punk/hiphop/disco: Blondie! After breaking up in 1982, Debbie Harry
and the gang reunited in the late ’90s and are currently on tour
celebrating the anniversary of their amazing album Parallel
Lines. One way or another, she’s gonna get’cha! She’ll get’cha!
She’ll get’cha, get’cha, get’cha, get’cha! WSH
w/Dahlia; Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 8 pm, $32.50-$50
A.C. Newman, best known as the leader
of the New Pornographers, is coming to town to play from his latest
album, Get Guilty. His new songs offer a familiar
up-tempo force interspersed with some gentler piano and violin. You
also won’t want to miss the infectious ukulele lullabies of Dent
May. KP
Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $12-14
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23
If you’ve never seen the fantastical,
Technicolor spectacle that is Xanadu, you’ve been missing out
for 29 years. In this musical love story, Olivia Newton-John stars as a
muse who comes to earth to inspire an artist who is stuck in a job
where he paints larger versions of album covers. With music from
Electric Light Orchestra and some impressive roller-skate disco
dancing, you are sure to walk away inspired. KP
Pix Patisserie, 3901 N Williams, 8:30 pm, FREE
Her debut short-story
collection, The Vagrants, raked in the awards; now author Yiyun Li is back with
a novel about the aftermath of a young woman’s execution in a small
Chinese village after the Cultural Revolution. AH
Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, FREE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24
It’s Fat Tuesday! The International House of
Pancakes is doing its best to make sure that you comply, offering free
effing pancakes to all. They just hope you’ll donate what you would
have paid to the local children’s hospital. But that’s between you,
God, your stomach, and little Johnny… who has leukemia. PAC
IHOP, 4931 SE 82nd (and other participating IHOPs), 7 am-10 pm,
FREE
The Fourth Annual Minigolf Art Invitational
is a yearly reminder of why Holocene deserves your love. The actual,
playable minigolf course winds through the club, each hole designed and
constructed by local artists. Tonight’s unveiling also features a live
performance by Tender Forever. MS
Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, Tues & Wed 6 pm, $8
When it comes to shedding those unwanted
winter pounds, there’s exercise (snore) and then there’s Ra Ra
Riot, a band every bit as ass-kickingly fun to dance to as the
mountains of industry buzz surrounding them suggests. Tonight they
bring their electrifying blend of chamber pop to the Doug Fir for a
show that’s guaranteed to leave you sweaty. MV
w/Cut off Your Hands, Telekinesis; Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9
pm, $11-12
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25
This is a double bill bound to paste a smile on
that wintry mug of yours; the Morning Benders play shuffling, sloping
rock while the Submarines’ perfect pop songs are so magnanimously sunny
they make Mates of State sound like the Bickersons. NL
w/the Mumlers; Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $10
There are a million places that would
be better without any damn kids: water parks, zoos, Sam Adams’
office… OMSI’s got the idea, and their After Dark event will give you
the chance to play with robots, chemicals, and water rockets without
tiny, grimy hands pulling them away from you! Beer and wine will be
available, and Cupcake Jones and Dave’s Killer Bread are offering
samples. You can also catch the Pink Floyd laser show at 8:30 pm.
KP
OMSI, 1945 SE Water, 6-10 pm, $10 ($7.50 for laser show),
21+
Is metalbilly band Dead Man’s
Hand a reference to Jesus? Their unre-Lent-ing music plus a secret
horror flick in honor of Ash Wednesday tonight benefits the Portland
Hallowe’en Bazaar. SM
East End, 203 SE Grand, 9 pm, $5