Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

Monday, May 6

Helado Negro, Tasha
Over the past decade, Roberto Carlos Lange’s work under the name Helado Negro has featured music sung in both English and Spanish, resisting the urge to choose one or the other. This is, presumably, a reflection of not only Lange’s upbringing in an immigrant home in south Florida, but also his experiences as a Latinx person existing in America. All of that stuff will resonate differently with different people, of course, but here’s one thing that’s true no matter your background: Lange’s low-key brand of indie electro-pop is consistently engaging, whether he’s singing lo-fi folk songs à la Nick Drake, pumping up a tune with synth and beats, or incorporating the sounds and rhythms of tropicália into his music. His new album This Is How You Smile is one of this year’s best so far. (9 pm, Doug Fir, $13-15) BEN SALMON

LÉON
An evening of indie pop with rising Swedish singer/songwriter Lotta Lindgren, known by her stage name LÉON, who started her career fronting a hip-hop/soul outfit before branching out on her own. (8:30 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $18-20)

Evan Thomas Way & The Phasers, Matt Dorrien
Evan Thomas Way (of The Parson Red Heads) and Matt Dorrien (FKA Snowblind Traveler) head up a hometown show at Mississippi Studios that doubles as a release show for Way's new Americana-tinged shoegaze record, Long Distance. (8 pm, Mississippi Studios, $5)

Wild North Pop-Up
Dame hosts this Wild North pop-up weekend, with four opportunities to enjoy the seven-course chefs tasting menu being offered, with items including locally-raised lamb, seafood from the Washington coast, and an optional wine pairing to help wash down deliciousness via one of Portland's finest food carts. (5:30 pm & 8 pm, Dame, $75)

I Shot Andy Warhol
A special 35mm screening of Mary Harron's debut film about the woman who tried to assassinate America's most famous pop artist. Starring Lili Taylor, Jared Harris, and Martha Plimpton. (7 pm, NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium, $8-10)

Tuesday, May 7

Michael Quu
Long Island-hailing and Los Angeles-based comedian Michael Quu (aka MIKE.QUU) gets set to regale a mid-week audience at Helium with his energetic storytelling and observational comedy. (Tues-Wed 7:15 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $20)

Monolord, Usnea, WILL
Swedish trio Monolord bring their stoner rock and doom metal sounds back across the pond for a North American tour supporting their latest full-length, Rust. Likeminded locals Usnea and WILL round out the proceedings. (9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $15-18)

Shawn Levy
Portland author, film critic, and teacher Shawn Levy returns with The Castle on Sunset, chronicling the history of Hollywood’s storied Chateau Marmont hotel. (7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books, free)

The Japanese House
London-based dream pop singer/songwriter Amber Bain, better known by her stage name the Japanese House, comes back across the pond to head up an all-ages show at the Wonder supporting her debut full-length, Good at Falling. (8:30 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $18-20, all ages)

The Lightning Thief
The musical adaptation of Rick Riordan's bestselling book Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief brings the popular fantasy-adventure series based on Greek mythology to life on the Keller Auditorium stage. (Tues-Wed 7:30 pm, Keller Auditorium, $30-60, all ages)

B-Movie Bingo: Lone Wolf McQuade
Your monthly opportunity to literally check off a bingo card full of B-movie clichés! Some say that Lone Wolf McQuade is the finest film Chuck Norris made in the 1980s, and even allowing for that being a truthful statement (you have to redefine the term "fine" pretty drastically to apply it here) it's still a mostly-ugly, ham-chested, ham-fisted, ham-drunk homage to Sergio Leone that gets nowhere near that man's jockstrap, much less holds it. Norris is (like everything in his filmography) the worst thing in his own movie, but David Carradine isn't that much better. Still, it's fun to imagine this as a Walker, Texas Ranger prequel, and if you still think Chuck Norris jokes are funny you could probably shout a couple out as the movie plays and not get shushed for it? It's your money. You spent it on watching a Chuck Norris movie at a theater in 2019. Go off, I guess. (7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $7-9) BOBBY ROBERTS

Wednesday, May 8

A Victory Lap for Portland: a Celebration of Nipsey Hussle
This community-centered homage honoring the life and lasting legacy of Nipsey Hussle, a beloved rapper, entrepreneur, and activist who was killed on March 31. Soak up the spirit of Nipsey by reveling in music and visuals provided by a stellar lineup of artists and engaging in conversation around his multifaceted work. In true Nipsey style, all profits will be support Boise-Eliot Elementary’s STEM program. (6 pm, Holocene, $10) EMILLY PRADO

Emily Wells
Equally enamored by Wu-Tang Clan and string ensembles, Emily Wells has a unique approach to avant-garde, neoclassical songcraft. Her new record, This World Is Too ____ for You, is a melancholic ride, replete with soaring violin, big backbeats, lots of looping, and plenty of samples. This hypnotic approach works best on songs like “Come on Doom, Let’s Party,” a slow-churner layered with synth and Wells’ vocal acrobatics, and the tempo-setting opener, “Remind Me to Remember.” (Wed w/ Amenta Abioto, 9 pm, Thurs w/ The Sheers, 9 pm, Doug Fir, $14-16) RYAN J. PRADO

Anthony Fantano
The "internet's busiest music nerd" and host of the popular music-related video blog The Needle Drop swings through the Polaris Hall to... share his thoughts on records in a live setting? (8 pm, Polaris Hall, $20-25)

St. Lucia, Airpark
The Brooklyn-based synthpop ensemble headed up by South African-born producer/songwriter Jean-Philip Grobler returns to town for an intimate acoustic show at Mississippi Studios. (8 pm, Mississippi Studios, $39.50-45)

May 8th for Students
The current state of Oregon public schools does not serve or meet the needs of its students, as documented by roughly one in five students who don't make it across the graduation stage (one of the lowest rates in the nation). Oregon students, educators, librarians, and community advocates will join together in a display calling for lawmakers to further invest in Oregon public schools. Attendees should wear red. (11 am, Tom McCall Waterfront Park, free) EMILLY PRADO

Thursday, May 9

Passion Pit
Michael Angelakos brings his much-beloved electropop outfit Passion Pit back to the Roseland to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the band's debut album, Manners. (8 pm, Roseland, $37.50-47.50, all ages)

Ted Chiang, Daniel H. Wilson
The author of Stories of Your Life and Others (the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film Arrival) returns with Exhalation, a new collection of sci-fi short fiction addressing some of humanity’s oldest questions. Chiang will be joined in conversation by Daniel H. Wilson, author of The Clockwork Dynasty and Robopocalypse. (7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books, free)

Dance Gavin Dance, Don Bronco, Hail the Sun, Thousand Below
Say what you will about Dance Gavin Dance's more recent outings—"they're awful," for instance—but the band's 2007 debut, Downtown Battle Mountain, is still one of the more interesting documents of mid- to late-'00s mall emo miscellanea. It's one of those rare records with a virtuosic saunter that still manages a semblance of human feeling. Remember that stuff? (6:30 pm, Crystal Ballroom, $25-28, all ages) MO TROPER

Wand, The Lavender Flu, Gen Pop
The Los Angeles band headed up by vocalist and guitarist Cory Hanson brings their pop-tinged psych and prog-rock back up the coast in support of their new Drag City-issued album, Laughing Matter. (9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $15-17)

Ezra Furman, Pancho Morris
Ezra Furman isn’t worried about coloring inside the lines. Whether it’s ignoring musical genre boundaries on his latest album (the jagged electronic-soul opus Transangelic Exodus) or inspiring fans with his refusal to exist within gender demarcations, Furman follows the beat of his own drum. Luckily, that drum is pounding out some terrific tunes, and Furman is simply one of the finest songwriters operating right now. (9 pm, Aladdin Theater, $15-17) NED LANNAMANN

Dimmer Twins
Drive-By Truckers co-founders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley bring their newly-minted duo through Revolution Hall to perform a set of original solo and duo material, along with some Drive-By Truckers favorites. (8 pm, Revolution Hall, $25, all ages)

Dear Diary: Audience Roulette!
An improv show dedicated to taking all those things you put in your diary during your tween years, and losing them upon the stage in the most hilarrible ways. This special installment's diarist is you, the audience, and the performers tasked with taking your mortification and turning it into comedy gold are Natalie Haddad, Paris Hyun, Katie Kester, Emily Shankman, Lauren Sinner, Emilie Sites, and Anne Zander. (7:30 pm, Kickstand Comedy Space, $5)

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