THURSDAY, MARCH 19
Portland-based bike culture columnist
Jeff Mapes spent years crisscrossing bike hubs around the world with a
reporter’s notebook in hand. Catch his talk on the insightful result of
his labors, the just-released book Pedaling
Revolution. SM
Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm,
FREE
Known for his dense, dreamy 8-track home
recordings—on which he plays everything, including percussion
sounds with his mouth and armpit!—Ariel Pink’s live show is
closer to absurd performance-art experiment than concert. He plays
unrehearsed, meandering sets with his band Haunted Graffiti, and it
just very well could blow your mind. KP
w/Duchess Says, Little Claw; Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 9 pm,
$8-10
Screening as part of the NW Film Center’s
excellent series of American movies from the 1970s, Mean
Streets stars Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel as two-bit hoods
in New York’s Little Italy. Director Martin Scorsese would go on
to make many more movies about gangsters, but none as funny and poetic
as this. NL
Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park, 7 pm, $8
FRIDAY, MARCH 20
Although the group never actually lived here
full time, the Brian Jonestown Massacre is inextricably linked to the
Portland scene, and their neo-shoegaze, thick-strum psychedelia
continues to triumph despite a few tribulations over the years. It’s
time to turn on, tune in, drop out, and get heavy, man. NL
w/the Flavor Crystals; Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 9 pm,
$18-20, all ages
Before there was goth, before there was metal,
there was Mozart’s Requiem Mass. Filled with more thunder,
foreboding, and sadness than any angsty, tattooed rocker could ever
muster, the Portland Symphonic Choir’s performance will be a choral
onslaught of pure funereal power. PAC
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 7:30 pm, $26.75-88,
all ages
After four tumultuous seasons, by turns
shockingly brilliant and staggeringly disappointing, this is it:
Tonight’s the two-hour series finale of Battlestar
Galactica. All will be revealed. (Either that, or a bunch of
angry nerds will have a collective temper tantrum at the Bagdad. Fun
either way!) AH
Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne, 9 pm, FREE, 21+
SATURDAY, MARCH 21
Oh my god, grapefruits are in season!
Wake up early and buy every single one you can get your chubby, vitamin
C-deficient hands on at this year’s first PSU Farmers Market. Just
remember, this year pets are banned from the market. SM
South Park Blocks between SW Harrison & Montgomery, 8:30
am–2 pm
Mixed martial arts are hitting Portland
hard this weekend at Rumble at the Roseland XLII, with over 20
no-holds-barred amateur fights! Showcasing promising young fighters who
are willing to “truly test” their “mind, body, and soul,” this will be
an impressive display of sportsmanship. And also of people getting the
crap beat out of them. EH
Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 7 pm, $29-59
The pinnacle of beer nerdiness is the Oregon
Brewers Guild Firkin Festival, where the public has a chance to drink
beer the British way: cask-conditioned with live yeast. Don’t say it’s
warm and flat—rather, it’s fresh, soft, complex, and oh so easy
to guzzle. Cheers! PAC
Green Dragon Bistro & Brewpub, 928 SE 9th, 11 am–2 pm
& 3-6 pm, $30-35 (includes glass, eight beer tickets, & two
food tickets)
SUNDAY, MARCH 22
He’s actually on the small side, but the
Tallest Man on Earth (Kristian Matsson) will send chills down your
spine with his stripped-down folk songs. This Swede channels Dylan in a
way that is nothing short of stunning. After hearing Matsson’s wounded
vocals, you’ll stumble away from this show in a glorious haze. He’s
playing two free sets; I dare you to see them both. EAC
Rontoms, 600 E Burnside, 7 & 9 pm, FREE
Before his tragic death from AIDS
at age 31, Keith Haring was a star of the downtown New York art scene,
rubbing shoulders with everyone from Madonna to Andy Warhol. A
documentary of his life and work, The Universe of Keith Haring,
screens with Conversation with Jean-Michel Basquiat, another
dead ’80s New York icon. MV
Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 Park, 4:30 pm, $8
Take matters of the paper arts into your own
hands. The 2009 Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival is the next
new/old-timey step after mastering home canning, and
conveniently coincides with the gun ‘n’ knife show, which one could
also argue… MS
Portland Expo Center, 2060 N Marine, Sat March 21, 10 am-5 pm,
Sun March 22, 11 am-4 pm, $6-8, all ages
MONDAY, MARCH 23
Heavily bearded and obsessed with Sasquatch,
you’d think the duo of Herman Dune would call Portland home, but alas,
they are from Paris. Prepare yourself for adorable pop songs than
bridge the gap between the clever songwriting of Paul Simon and the
gentle croon of Jens Lekman. EAC
w/Lesser Lewis & the Twigs, DJ Yeti; Holocene, 1001 SE
Morrison, 8:30 pm, $8
Woo, Blazers! Boo, Philly! We have
Greg Oden’s glass knees; they have cheesesteaks and blunts. Fair trade?
Find out when Portland takes on the 76ers! MD
Rose Garden, One Center Court, 7 pm, $10 & up
Fact: 1982’s Blade
Runner is simply one of the best science-fiction movies ever
made. Tonight, Ridley Scott‘s futuristic noir thriller screens
for free at Pix Patisserie. Trust me, fancy-pants chocolate goes
really, really well with watching androids ponder the meaning of life
in a hellish future dystopia. EH
Pix Patisserie (North), 3901 N Williams, 8:30 pm, FREE
TUESDAY, MARCH 24
Before Jackie Chan started taking American
paychecks in order to act like a buffoon alongside Chris Tucker and
Owen Wilson, he was one of the most badass action stars in the world.
Relive those glory days with Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow,
director Yuen Woo-ping’s 1978 brilliant chop-socky masterpiece. (Also,
a cat fights a cobra in this movie. Seriously!) EH
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7:45 pm, $7
Mira Billotte is a good witch, and her
vocals lead the lounging pace of New York’s White Magic. Imagine candy
flipping on a midnight beach with the ghost of Nico, and you’re in the
psychedelic ballpark. MS
w/Mariee Sioux; Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 8:30 pm, $8
Chamber rock trio Rasputina returns to
Portland, armed to the teeth with Victorian classical freakiness. With
two cellists and a drummer, Rasputina’s newest outing is an angry read
of current events, cobbling together songs using phrases picked from
the internet, including… a translation of an Osama bin Laden speech?
Fun, catchy, informative, and just strange enough. WSH
w/Ruby Throat; Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th, 9 pm, $15, all
ages
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
Proof that Sonic Youth inspired more than
just bad haircuts and bad poetry, Noise collects 23 short
stories based on the legendary band’s output, including work by
tonight’s readers Kevin Sampsell and Katherine Dunn. AH
w/Samuel Ligon, Jess Walter; Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W
Burnside, 7:30 pm, FREE
This classic pagan ritual is
re-interpreted by Justin Bond, known better as Kiki the cabaret singer
and as the star of John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus. With
original songs that integrate elements of “cabaret, witchcraft, a punk
attitude, and neo-folk glamour,” the show will most certainly
infect you with spring fever. KP
w/Faith Helma; Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 8:30 pm, $15
Renowned author and activist
Terry Tempest Williams lectures on the possibility of finding
beauty in a broken world. MV
Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 7:30 pm, $15.75-19.50