WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20
MUSIC—While their name conjures up images of twin gypsy guitars, British band Django Django are almost impossible to categorize. Shapeshifting pop, fractal electronica, garage soul, and wiry funk all have their place in these splendidly complex productions. Not since the Beta Band—whose John Maclean is the brother of Django’s David Maclean—has eclecticism sounded so catchy. NLw/Night Moves; Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $15
MUSIC—Today is the day we repeat things three times—it’s And And And Day Day Day! The Portland five-piece (why not And And And And And?) is a ripping good time, with sunny pop that’s guaranteed to get your feet bopping around, almost like it’s summertime or something. Help ’em kick off their tour tour tour! CFw/the We Shared Milk, Minden, the Ecstatics; Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 8:30 pm, $7
THURSDAY, MARCH 21
THINK & DRINK—The popular Think & Drink discussion series launches a new season with the provocative theme “How to Love America.” Tonight’s guest brainiacs include a Georgetown history professor and federal public defender Steven T. Wax, discussing the history of dissent in the US. Don’t forget to put on your drinking caps! AHMission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, 6:30 pm, FREE, all ages
MUSIC—A free show at Club 21 is maybe as good as your circumstances for seeing the pizza ‘n’ beer-loving party punk of Mean Jeans are gonna get. Unabashedly wearing the influence of the Ramones, but wearing it remarkably well, the Jeans have lately been honing in on a more unique sound, but don’t worry, the party still rages on. MSw/Therapists, Youthbitch, Middle Ages; Club 21, 2035 NE Glisan, 9 pm, FREE
FRIDAY, MARCH 22
BOOZE—Sure, you like booze, but how sophisticated is your knowledge of it? At the Oregon Distillers Guild’s TOAST 2013: The International Craft Spirits Revival—the largest event of its kind in the US!—you’ll get to taste over 150 spirits from around the world, getting tipsy and learning about new innovations in hooch, for a not-bad-at-all price. Yeesh learrrning, dammit! MSWorld Trade Center, 121 Salmon, Fri 5-10 pm, Sat 1-10 pm, $20-25
MUSIC—Sonic Youth has been pretty much over for a while, which is still indigestible for generations of music fans who can hardly remember a time when the band wasn’t soundtracking their lives. Thank the heavens, though, that founder Thurston Moore hasn’t hung up his ax. His new band, Chelsea Light Moving, is finely fuzzy and poppy—and just as good as the old one. DCTw/Grass Widow; Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $15
FUNKY MUSIC—Look to the skies, Portland! You can see them, descending: George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, guardians of the funk, the whole funk, and nothing but the funk. The mothership is landing, funkateers. You’d be a fool not to board it. They’re going to turn this mother out. BRCrystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 9 pm, $25-27, 21+
SATURDAY, MARCH 23
READING—While your battered, beloved cassette of Richard Hell and the Voidoids’ Blank Generation has been following you around from apartment to apartment, Richard Hell hasn’t been resting on his laurels—now an accomplished writer, he visits Powell’s tonight to read from his memoir, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp. EHPowell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 4 pm, FREE
MUSIC—Not quite Donovan and not quite a banana, Danava will rock your socks off. One part rock ‘n’ roll, one part metal, and two parts Spinal Tap look-alikes, Danava combines traditional metal with a dash of prog-psychedelic rock. This is the release show for a vinyl EP of their 2004 demos, and the last show before their European tour, so get ready to rage. RFw/Occultation, Borrowed Time, DJ Dennis Dread; Dante’s, 350 W Burnside, 9 pm, FREE, 21+
SUNDAY, MARCH 24
READING—David Shields’ 2010 book, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, controversially explored notions of authenticity in our culture. His newest, How Literature Saved My Life, is about the time a battered paperback copy of Moby Dick threw itself in front of a streetcar as Shields was heedlessly crossing the street. (Just kidding! It’s about the power of reading.) AHPowell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, FREE
GAME CONVENTION—You are standing in an open field. There is a mailbox here. Next to it is a road. Follow that road across a bridge, until you arrive in Vancouver, where the 15th annual GameStorm convention celebrates gaming of all kinds: board, video, role-playing, and more. BRHilton Vancouver, 301 W 6th, Vancouver, Thurs noon-midnight, Fri-Sat all day, Sun midnight-7 pm, $15-40, gamestorm.org
MONDAY, MARCH 25
RODEO LECTURE—There’s one fact all Portlanders unanimously agree upon: Rodeos and beer are awesome. Increase your knowledge of Oregon’s rich rodeo and horse racetrack history (while increasing your alcohol consumption) with this fascinating History Pub titled Ropin’, Ridin’, Racin’: Colorful Life at and around Oregon’s Rodeos and Horse Tracks, featuring veteran rodeo master and horse trainer Dave Berman! Yee-to-the-haw! WSHKennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd, 7 pm, FREE, all ages
FILM—One of three absolutely un-fuck-with-able movies directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell, 1982’s The Thing is an undisputed horror classic—a gnawing, bloody, ice-cold plunge into the depths of pitch-black paranoia. It’s a hell of a lot of fun! Here’s your chance to see it as God intended—in 35mm, huddled deep in your seat. EHHollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, see Film Times, $7
TUESDAY, MARCH 26
GRINDHOUSE FILM—Radical ’80s demon alert! A group of hardbodies gets stuck in a monster-filled movie theater in the 1985 Dario Argento/Lamberto Bavo horror flick Demons. This Grindhouse Film Fest presentation is full of bloody Italian-style horror, so get ready for tubular FX and splattery fun. CFHollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7:30 pm, $7
MUSIC—California songwriter Matt Costa embarked to Glasgow to record his latest self-titled record; with contributions from members of Belle and Sebastian, Matt Costa wholeheartedly embraces both impulses of the best pop music—sunny optimism (California) and fragile melancholy (Glasgow). Tonight he performs his fine new folk-pop songs live and in person. NLw/Carly Ritter, Sam Outlaw; Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell, 8:30 pm, $15, all ages