Jump to: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Friday, Nov 23
The Lucas Brothers
Identical twin brother comedians Keith and Kenny Lucas are more than a twin gimmick. Sure, they do twin jokes but they do like doing mushrooms with a guy that looks just like you twin jokes. Their Netflix special On Drugs is a thoughtful, stoner style of hilarity. With both brothers hyping one another and finishing each otherâs sentences, the laughs roll forth at an unstoppable pace. (Fri-Sat 7:30 pm & 10 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $25) SUZETTE SMITH
Lee Corey Oswald, Alien Boy, The Rare Forms, Said Goner
Lee Corey Oswald have to be one of Portland's most criminally underappreciated bands. The four-piece has been active since 2008, and in that time they've released a steady output of albums and EPs that seamlessly blend elements of folk and tuneful punk-rock, landing the band somewhere between the No Idea Records roster and the Mountain Goats. Tonight they headline a release party for their latest album, Darkness, Together, with help from The Rare Forms, Alien Boy, and Said Goner. (9 pm, The Fixin' To, $8) CHIPP TERWILLIGER
Kulululu, Pool Boys, Sheers
Local art-punk extraterrestrials Kulululu celebrate the release of their Live from the Banana Stand album with a hometown show featuring the indie rock and experimental pop stylings of Pool Boys and Sheers. (8 pm, Bunk Bar, $8)
The Storm Large Holiday Ordeal
The renowned local singer-songwriter and Pink Martini vocalist brings her annual holiday show back to the Aladdin Theater for a two-night stand. (Fri-Sat 8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $40-55)
Fassbinder Double Feature
Chase away all sense of self-satisfaction and fullness you earned on Thanksgiving by spending time in a darkened room being hollowed out by the casually melodramatic cruelty of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a man who made dank visual poetry out of disaffection, misery, and almost weaponized ennui. This weekend's one-two punch is 1971's Beware of a Holy Whore and 1972's The Merchant of Four Seasons. (7 pm, Fifth Avenue Cinema)
Peter Rainbeau, The OK Bird, Borys Kossakowski
Some psychedelic folk (or is it folksy psychedelica) from this local singer/songwriter, currently playing shows in support of his latest release, Hot Cold Lover. (8 pm, Turn! Turn! Turn!, $5)
Black House Black Friday 6(66:): The Number of the House
Modern Times celebrates "Black Friday" with an all-day party for dark beer lovers, with special taps of barrel-aged brews available for those who know that the darker the brew, the better the beer. (11 am, Modern Times Belmont Fermentorium)
Mondo Trasho: Blood Rage
This monthâs installment in the Hollywood Theatreâs series of mostly irredeemable trash âclassicsâ is 1987's Thanksgiving-set slasher Blood Rage, which you know is of questionable moral fiber and taste because distributors kept giving it different names in the hopes of tricking an unsuspecting audience into pouring this four-years-stale filth (it was shot in '83 but wasn't released until '87) into their eyes. Starring Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman's Louise Lasser as one fucking bizarre half of a mother-and-child reunion that includes a murderous son freshly escaped from an institution. (9:45 pm, Hollywood Theatre) BOBBY ROBERTS
U Sco, Blessed, Old Year
Local experimental rock trio U Sco mold elements of prog, math rock, krautrock, and free jazz into a landslide of noise that's much more than the sum of its parts. Tonight they head up a hometown show along with support from Vancouver B.C.'s Blessed and likeminded locals Old Year. (9 pm, High Water Mark, $8)
Saturday, Nov 24
Native American Marketplace and Family Day
Did you know Portland occupies land that belonged to the Chinook, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tualatin Kalapuya, and Mollala tribes? This Thanksgiving give thanks to and support the works of Native American tribal members at this family fun day filled with vendors, crafts, free roller skating and swim, and an Indian taco fundraiser supporting the incredible Delta Park Pow Wow. (10 am, Mt. Scott Community Center, all ages) EMILLY PRADO
Andaz
For more than 15 years, DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid have been an inimitable force in the Portland dance scene. Since 2002 the power duo has hosted Andazâtheir monthly bhangra, Bollywood, and desi bass dance party (the longest running on the West Coast)âand let me tell you, it is WILD. There were flashing lights and Bollywood movies playing on TVs. The air was thick with moisture, so thick that I'm pretty sure it was condensing on the ceiling. Surrounded by energetic dancers, DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid inundated late-night revelers with rhythms from South Asia and beyond. (9 pm, The Liquor Store, $5-10) CIARA DOLAN
Holy Grove, Castle, Year of the Cobra
Castle emerged in 2011 around the same time that witchy, occult-themed rock was becoming all the rage. While the San Francisco band certainly has some of those trappings, their focus is less on creating a spooky, ritualistic atmosphere and more on honing their sharp sonic edge with dissonant, angular guitar riffs. On their new album Deal Thy Fate, Castle has more in common with Slayer than the Devilâs Blood or Jex Thoth; the riffs on âCanât Escape the Evilâ and âSkull in the Woodsâ wouldâve fared just fine on South of Heaven. (8:30 pm, Tonic Lounge, $10) ARIS HUNTER WALES
Disney in Concert: Magical Music from the Movies
Conductor Jeff Tyzik leads the Oregon Symphony through a program of music from scores of Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, The Lion King, and more, all while original film footage plays out on the big screen behind them. (7 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $23-110, all ages)
Nosferatu
Behind the giant movie screen in the Hollywood Theatreâs main auditorium, in a room accessible only by a steep climb up a metal ladder, are dozens of pipes and dusty percussion instruments that once connected to the theaterâs Wurlitzer organ. For the better part of a decade, the Columbia River Theatre Organ Society has been meticulously rebuilding and refurbishing the pipe organ that dates back to 1926, and on Saturday, they'll let Portland movie lovers hear the results for the first time, with a screening of the 1922 horror classic Nosferatu, featuring a live soundtrack played by Dean Lemire. (2 pm & 7 pm, Hollywood Theatre) ROBERT HAM
An Unforgettable Nat King Cole Christmas
Evan Tyrone Martin brings the songs and stories of the legendary crooner to life for the holidays (4 pm & 8 pm, Winningstad Theatre, $65)
La FĂȘte du Macaron
A celebration of the French Macaron, filling the Pix pastry case with a wide variety of flavors. Also includes a contest to get your flavor carried at Pix past the celebration, and something called the "cupcake stomp," which seems like an abomination (why the hell would you want to destroy a perfeclty good cupcake) but is supposedly "messy but fun." (2 pm, Pix/Bar Vivant)
Speechless
The Siren Theater's improvised PowerPoint presentation show Speechless is back, with the best kind of organized chaos: a delightful lineup of funny Portlanders making up lectures on the spotâ"TED Talk, startup pitch, even a self-help seminar" are all fair gameâto accompany surprise slides and placate a team of judges. Next slide! (8 pm, Siren Theater, $10) MEGAN BURBANK
Disenchanter, Kvasir, Daemones, From The Ages
It takes a lot to stand out in this world, and Disenchanter does just that. The Portland trio echo the '70s without sounding like a retro rip-off, and are devastatingly heavy without getting bogged down like so many doom bands. Plus, frontwoman Sabine Stangenberg is a powerful vocal force that few of Disenchanter's contemporaries can match. Put simply, Disenchanter rips. (8:30 pm, The Lombard Pub, free) BEN SALMON
Sunday, Nov 25
Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus
With a name that pokes at double standards in the music industry, Boygenius is the new super-group uniting three of indie rockâs best songwriters (who happen to be good friends): Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers. Individually, all three musicians are already beloved, and their solo work shares the same basic formula of charging modern folk songs with emotionally raw lyrics and cathartic guitar riffs. But the trioâs collective power is proven on their self-titled debut EP, where each member brings their unique strengths to the table: Bakerâs emo sensibilities and gritty resilience; Dacusâ plainspoken, analytical lyrics; and Bridgersâ dry wit and anthemic choruses. At their Portland show, each musician will perform their own set, but hopefully weâll get a few Boygenuis tunes, too. (7:30 pm, Crystal Ballroom, $25-28, all ages) CIARA DOLAN
Portland Timbers vs. Sporting Kansas City
Rejoice! The Portland Timbers are back in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2015! Led by the unlikely heroics of super sub Dairon Asprilla, Portland ousted Seattle in an all-time classic MLS playoff series that will define rivalry in Cascadia for years to come. Itâs been a wild ride, and itâs still far from over, so get yourself a ticket and hang on tight. (4:30 pm, Providence Park, $47-535, all ages) CHIPP TERWILLIGER
The Next Waltz
Every year around Thanksgivingtime, a group of Portland musicians recreate The Last Waltz, classic rock's classic-rockiest moment. Since some of the proceeds go to benefit the Jeremy Wilson Foundation and the Oregon Food Bank, and since most of the songs are pretty good, it remains a worthwhile event for a great cause. (7 pm, Alberta Rose Theatre, $28-32) NED LANNAMANN
West Side Story
If you wanna be a reductive little snot about it, yeah, you could describe West Side Story as a silly '60s exercise in slathering Shakespeare with hyper-sentimental song 'n' dance. And yeah, there's never not going to be something unintentionally comedic about watching two ruthless street gangs going to war via snaps and twinkle-toed dance steps. But there's a fuckin' reason this film has been considered a top-tier musical for the past 50-plus years, and it's because director Robert Wise, choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Leonard Bernstein, and stars Rita Moreno (goddamn!), Natalie Wood, and Richard Beymer essentially perfected the form with their work in this picture. West Side Story is a triumph of slick, vivid artifice and a legitimate American epic. (1:25 pm & 6:30 pm, Academy Theater, $3-4) BOBBY ROBERTS
Uada, Dead In the Manger, Drouth
In case you were wondering what kinds of bands lurk in the shadows of Portlandâs music scene, the answer is bands like Uada, a quartet of mysterious hooded figures whose sophomore album Cult of a Dying Sun is one of the best releases to come out of the city this year. The secret to Uadaâs sauce is not its competent black metal-ismsâdizzying blast beats, infernal imagery, howls ânâ growlsâbut its ability to counterbalance the darkness with majestic guitar riffs. This is melodic black metal at its finest, right from your backyard. Nowâs a good time to catch them as theyâre just back from a tour across Asia and Australia and should be tight and slightly terrifying. (9 pm, Tonic Lounge, $13) BEN SALMON
The Tallest Man on Earth
Swedish folk singer/songwriter Saras Per Kristian Matsson, better known by his stage name The Tallest Man On Earth, returns to Portland in support of his new 5-part audio/visual series, "When The Bird Sees The Solid Ground." (8 pm, Revolution Hall, Good Luck on the Ticket Resale Sites)
Y La Bamba, Brown Calculus
Luz Elena Mendozaâs folk-art-rock project Y La Bamba reveres Mexican tradition, with songs touching on themes of humanity and higher faith in ways that are relatable and enjoyable to the ears they fall upon. (8 pm, Rontoms, free) CERVANTE POPE
Hungry Hungry Hip-Hop
This month's installment of the local showcase is all about giving some shine to the city's female talents, who just happen to be some of Portland's best emcees, including Kayela J, Raquel Divar, Whateveryn, and Lana Shea. (9 pm, Mississippi Pizza Pub & Atlantis Lounge, $5)
Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!
