Spring approaches, and the calendar starts blooming like the leaves on the trees and the flowers in their beds. Beth Ditto returns to the stage in all her majesty; Lucy Dacus follows up last summer's Pickathon triumph; Chelsea Wolfe makes sludge sound heavenly; and it's a ridiculous bounty of quality comedy on tap, including Dylan Moran, the latest edition of Revolution Comedy, and Dino Archie headlining the local treasure that is Minority Retort. It's a very busy week ahead; hit the links below and load your plate accordingly

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Monday, Mar 26

Lucy Dacus, And the Kids, Adult Mom
Lucy Dacus charmed the crowd at Pickathon last summer, and she’s returning to Portland fresh off the release of her powerful sophomore album, Historian. Across 10 tracks, the Virginia singer/songwriter proves her mastery of fusing plainspoken lyrics, gigantic rock hooks, and her own disarmingly beautiful voice. CIARA DOLAN
9 pm, Doug Fir, $13-15

Tangerine
As part of its Feminist March program, the Hollywood Theatre presents a screening of this acclaimed film in collaboration with NXL LVL PDX. Kicking off at a Hollywood donut shop on Christmas Eve, Tangerine centers Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender sex worker who, after being released from a 28-day prison sentence, finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her with a cisgender woman. Sounds pretty original and juicy to me! Even better: A portion of proceeds from the screening will benefit Trans Lifeline, a nonprofit dedicated to the wellbeing of transgender people. JENNI MOORE
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $7-9, all ages

Smallpressapalooza
The 11th annual marathon reading in honor of Small Press Month, with contributions from Amy Lawless, Jeff Alessandrelli, Leah Umansky, Sam Roxas-Chua, Angela Veronica Wong, Nick Gregorio, Hobie Anthony, Richard Chiem, Anders Nilsen, Micheline Marcom, Matthew Minicucci, and Tatiana Ryckman. Hosted by Kevin Sampsell.
6 pm, Powell's City of Books, free, all ages

Dylan Moran
The Irish comedian, actor, writer, and creator of the excellent British sitcom, Black Books, brings his latest stand-up show, Grumbling Mustard, to the Revolution Hall stage.
8 pm, Revolution Hall, $40

Mint Field, Mini Blinds
Mint Field is the Tijuana-based shoegaze project of Estrella Sanchez and Amor Amezcua. The duo’s gorgeous debut LP, Pasar de las Luces—released last month via Innovative Leisure—is built from the serpentine riffs of interweaving guitars, stuttering drum beats, and ghostly vocals that flutter in the background like a veil in the wind. The album’s 13 tracks bleed into each other seamlessly; listening kind of feels like following Sanchez and Amezcua down a long, echoing tunnel. Standouts include the hair-raising “Boötes Void,” “Para Gali,” and “Ciudad SatĂ©lite,” which sounds like the perfect soundtrack for moonlit drives with the windows down. CIARA DOLAN
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $12-14

Revolution Comedy
If you need a reason for a good time, don’t miss Revolution Comedy’s monthly stand up showcase that promotes a very worthy cause. This month the show (hosted by Andie Main) will benefit Act Blue—helping raise funds for Oregon's Democrat midterm candidates—and feature an outstanding roster of laff-makers including Nariko Ott, Zane Thomas, Becky Braunstein, Brandon Lyons, and JoAnn Schinderle! It’s a perfect opportunity to do something good, and get a lot of fun out of it. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
7 pm, Curious Comedy Theater, $5-15

History Pub: Women of the Civil Rights Movement
Learn about the significant role that women of color filled throughout the civil rights movement in Oregon and beyond at this presentation hosted in partnership with Oregon Black Pioneers and the Oregon Historical Society. Speakers will also share advice to new and young activists for strategies on how to best make change in their communities. EMILLY PRADO
7 pm, Kennedy School

Royal Thunder, Pinkish Black, Holy Grove
If you dig adventurous heavy sounds, get thee to the Tonic Lounge for this convergence of excellent touring bands and a local fave. Atlanta’s Royal Thunder has long approached its hard rock with both respect for tradition and a refusal to settle for the status quo. As a result, their albums shimmer with psychedelic influences and simmer with bluesy Southern swagger. On this tour, they’re paired with Dallas-area duo Pinkish Black, whose bleak synth-metal chugs along the line between doom, industrial music, death-rock, and the spooky soundtracks of Italian prog-metal band Goblin. Rounding out the bill is Portland’s own Holy Grove, purveyors of deeply groovy, deliciously soulful classic heavy metal, AKA the perfect band to open the night. BEN SALMON
8:30 pm, Tonic Lounge, $13

Tuesday, Mar 27

Isle of Dogs
Planet Earth in 2018 is basically a reeking pile of boiling pus that fascist dictators are threatening to have nuclear wars over. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! There are, however, two good things about living in the pre-apocalypse. First, dogs still exist! Dogs are the only creatures that are worth caring about. Second, Wes Anderson is still making movies! Wes Anderson movies make most other movies look bad and dumb. And now, behold: Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson's stop-motion movie about dogs! It is one hour and 41 minutes long. Go. For one hour and 41 minutes, remember what it is like to enjoy being alive. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Hollywood Theatre, see Movie Times for showtimes, $7-9

Beth Ditto, Ssion, Connie & the Precious Moments
Last summer, former Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto dropped her candy-coated solo debut, Fake Sugar—an album that channels the sultry, soulful drawl of Bobbie Gentry, with glittery beats meant for the dance floor. She’ll be joined by Ssion (pronounced “shun”), the synth-pop project of Cody Critcheloe, who just released the glossy new single “At Least the Sky Is Blue” with Ariel Pink from his forthcoming LP O. CIARA DOLAN
8 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $20, all ages

U.S. Girls, Amenta Abioto, Bryson Cone
US Girls is an apt name for Megan Remy's solo project, inspired as it is by the history of American women in the music world. But in Remy's case, her take on '60s girl-group pop and '80s post-punk sounds like it's coming from sixth-generation cassette dubs, all the instruments awash in tape hiss and under thick layers of almost unnatural-sounding reverb. ROBERT HAM
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14

PechaKucha Night PDX
Portland's influential thinkers take to the stage to share their ideas with slides and 400 seconds worth of time. The theme for the 25th installment of PechaKucha Night is "Comeback Stories."
7:30 pm, Holocene, $5-10

Mo Troper, NicholasMerz
Portland power-pop fixture Mo Troper plays a hometown show supporting his excellent 2017 full-length, Exposure & Response. Seattle country music singer/songwriter Nicholas Merz rounds out the proceedings.
8 pm, The Know

Grindhouse Film Festival: Sugar Hill
This month’s entry in the Hollywood’s celebration of Grindhouse cinema is a rare 35mm print of the 1974 blaxploitation horror film Sugar Hill. Not to be confused with the 1994 pseudo-sidequel to New Jack City starring Wesley Snipes as a dour drug kingpin, the original Sugar Hill is about a woman in the deep South whose boyfriend gets offed by local gangsters, and in response she does the reasoned, sensible thing—she wades directly into a swamp and procures the assistance of an aged voodoo queen who hooks her up with Baron Samedi, Lord of the Dead, who lets her use his complement of zombie hitmen in exchange for her soul. BOBBY ROBERTS
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $7-9

Sarah Andersen
The artist behind the hugely popular Sarah's Scribbles comic series returns to Powell's to read from her latest book, Herding Cats.
7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books, free

Wednesday, Mar 28

Ministry, Chelsea Wolfe, The God Bombs
Those old-school goths rushing to the Roseland to witness the classic industrial metal of Ministry (because after all, every day is Halloween) should not miss out on the new-school sludgy darkness of Chelsea Wolfe. Now six excellent albums in to her career, Wolfe’s angelic voice rises from the pits of hell in an unstoppable wave of gothic heavy metal (with help from instrumentalist Ben Chisolm). Armed with smart, esoteric lyrics and a multi-layered sound, Wolfe piles on the dirge with beautiful, elegant ferocity. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
8 pm, Roseland, $28.50-40

Liza Anne, Valley Queen
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Liza Anne plays an experimental blend of indie rock and folk, layering the styles and sounds in interesting new ways. Catch her tonight when she returns to Mississippi Studios in support of her third full-length, Fine but Dying.
8 pm, Mississippi Studios, $10-12

Miss Rayon, Adhere to Form, Sweeping Exits
A trio of Portland's finest up-and-coming bands make the trek up the St. Johns to showcase an array of experimental rock, darkwave, glam, and post-punk sounds live on the Fixin' To stage.
9 pm, The Fixin' To, $5

Neighbor Lady, Laura Palmer's Death Parade
The up-and-coming quartet out of Athens, Georgia bring their dreamy take on Americana and psych-rock out to Bunk Bar. Like-minded locals Laura Palmer's Death Parade round out the proceedings.
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $10-12

Queer Town Hall: Politics at the Intersection
Basic Rights Oregon presents this panel discussion featuring contributions from queer legislators, and legislators of color, including Sen. Lew Frederick, Rep. Tawna D. Sanchez, Rep. Diego Hernandez, Rep. Karin A. Power, House Speaker Tina Kotek, Rep. Teresa Alonso LeĂłn, Rep. Rob Nosse, and Sen. James I. Manning Jr.
6 pm, PSU's Smith Memorial Student Union

Pints for Parkinson's Kick-Off Party
The Brian Grant Foundation hosts its third annual celebration beginning 2018's fundraising efforts for the month of March, with participating bars and breweries selling "Pints passports" for $25, which allow purchasers to enjoy 10 beers at any of the locations, with proceeds going to the BGF. Grant will be at the party, watching the Blazers game and enjoying a pint or two himself.
6 pm, Urban Studio, $25-30

Re-run Theater: Woman Power 6
This month’s tribute to classic television honors pop culture of the past, and its noble attempts to present images of empowered women on the small screen with a triple feature that starts in Sid & Marty Krofft’s whacked-out ’70s imaginarium with Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, before dancing into the ’80s with the truly outrageous syndicated cartoon Jem and the Holograms, and shin-nin-nin-nin-nin-ning back into the ’70s for an episode of The Bionic Woman with special guest star Helen Hunt, playing a wayward extra-terrestrial who just happens to always have a squinty, sour look on her face no matter what. Part of the Hollywood Theatre’s Feminist March film series. BOBBY ROBERTS
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $7-9

Cool American, Gillian Frances, Post Moves
There’s little doubt that late ’90s indie, emo, and punk crews helped shape Cool American, but that doesn’t mean those specters should define the Portland band. Their first two records melded Nathan Tucker’s smart pop songwriting with lethargic observational malaise, making hook-heavy tracks like “Who’s Got the Next Cut?” (from 2016’s You Can Win a Few) feel eerily bleak. On the four-piece’s new record, Infinite Hiatus, they double down on the peppiness, scorching through fast-paced punk and Malkmus-esque cleverness, echoing the tempo shifts of a Sidekicks tune, and invoking the twitchy peaks and valleys of millennial boredom. RYAN J. PRADO
8 pm, Turn! Turn! Turn!

Thursday, Mar 29

Minority Retort
Hosted by Jason Lamb, Julia Ramos and Neeraj Srinivasan, Minority Retort is Portland’s only comedy showcase featuring entirely POC and minorities—and it’s always a hoot. This month the Siren Theater kicks off its spring edition with headliner Dino Archie, the winner of the 2015 Seattle International Comedy Competition, who you may have also seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, or Adam Devine’s House Party on Comedy Central. And there’s lots of great locally based talent on the bill as well, like Shrista Tyree, Brandon Lyons, and Adam Pasi. JENNI MOORE
8 pm, Siren Theater, $12

Mount Eerie, Black Belt Eagle Scout
Few albums illustrate the death of a loved quite as starkly and beautifully as A Crow Looked at Me, which beloved lo-fi singer/songwriter Phil Elverum released last year under the Mount Eerie moniker following the passing of his wife. Elverum’s new record Now Only also ruminates on loss, but with more distance and grounding. It’s not going to be the most uplifting show of your life, but these are gorgeous, sparse, and heart-wrenching songs played by one of the most talented and prolific musicians in the Pacific Northwest. CIARA DOLAN
9 pm, Revolution Hall, $18-20

Sonny Smith, Virgil Shaw, Strange Babes DJs
The prolific songwriting force behind Sonny and the Sunsets brings his playful blend of classic rock, folk, and pop back to town in support of his new solo full-length, Rod for Your Love.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14

The Go! Team, Skating Polly
The Brighton, England-based six-piece known for their dynamic and shapeshifting of garage rock make their way back across the pond in support of their latest full-length, Semicircle.
9 pm, Doug Fir, $18-20

Flash Gordon
December 5, 1980 is a very notable date in film history—it was the day that camp ascended to unassailable art. Before that Friday, the term was a synonym for clumsy, failed ambition, earnestness gone sour and turned to kitsch. And then, Dino DeLaurentiis, inspired by Star Wars and holding the rights to the property George Lucas wanted to make in the first place, plugged “camp” into Queen guitarist Brian May’s amplifier stack, fed “camp” through designer Danilo Donati’s sewing machines, and firehosed “camp” through cinematographer Gil Taylor’s camera lens, with the resultant mess expansively splattering the meaning of the word all over the delirious circus of ridiculousness barely holding its orbit around the lunkheaded, beefy majesty of Sam J. Jones as Flash (ah-aaaaahhhhh!) Gordon, and praise Ming, cinema itself was forever altered. BOBBY ROBERTS
9:45 pm, Academy Theater, $3-4

Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!