It's brisk enough outside to put a little extra pep in that step, to move you from one Autumnal adventure to the other and enjoy the best of the Fall season in Portland, with an abundance of arts, music, movies, and food events to keep your entertainment plate stacked like a Thanksgiving dinner. Check out our curated menu below, and don't forget to visit our Things to Do calendar for even more quality fun!


HUMP!
The HUMP! Film Festival has been bringing audiences a new kind of porn since 2005. The festival features short dirty movies—each less than five minutes—all created by people who aren’t porn stars but want to be one for a weekend. The filmmakers and stars show us what they think is hot and sexy, creative and kinky, their ultimate turn-ons and their craziest fantasies. Our carefully curated program is a cornucopia of body types, shapes, ages, colors, sexualities, genders, kinks, and fetishes—all united by a shared spirit of sex-positivity. HUMP! is a celebration of creative sexual expression. You will see films at HUMP! that shock you. You will see films at HUMP! that make you laugh. And you will see films at HUMP! that turn you on. You will also be touched by the sincerity and vulnerability with which these films are lovingly made. HUMP!’s main mission is to change the way America sees—and makes and shares—porn. (Nov 8-23, Revolution Hall, $20-25, click here for dates and showtimes)

The Pacific Crest Comedy Fest
Portland’s comedy scene is bonkers (bonkers GOOD) which is why the addition of a brand-new comedy festival that features the greatest comedians from around town and across the nation is very welcome indeed! It’s the Pacific Crest Comedy Fest: Four nights, two locations, and 19 great shows including Steph Tolev and Maggie Maye; hometown gals made good Caitlin Weierhauser, Bri Pruett, and Amy Miller; local heavy hitters Nariko Ott, Amanda Arnold, Shain Brenden, Kate Murphy, Amanda Arnold; and many more! But that ain’t all: Expect awesome podcasts and regular shows like Earthquake Hurricane, Minority Retort, Speechless, the return of Lez Stand Up, pant, pant, pant… TOO MANY TO MENTION! Good god, that’s a lot of laughs in a short amount of time. Click here for a complete list of performers, podcasts, and more, taking up both floors of the Siren Theater. (Thurs Nov 7-Sun Nov 10, Siren Theater) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY

Sleater-Kinney, KAINA
The pioneering Pacific Northwest indie rock outfit headed up by Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker returns to the Crystal Ballroom stage for a headlining show supporting their new St. Vincent-produced album, The Center Won’t Hold. (Tues-Wed Nov 19-20, 8 pm, Crystal Ballroom, $35-40, all ages)

Macbeth
Portland Center Stage presents this "stripped-down" production of the classic tragedy, with three of Portland's strongest acting talents (Chantal DeGroat, Dana Green, and Lauren Bloom Hanover taking on all the roles, while the score is performed via Heather Christian's shape-note song. Directed by Adriana Baer. (Tues-Thurs 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun 2 pm, Through Nov 24, Ellyn Bye Studio at the Armory, $25-62)

Cher, Nile Rodgers, Chic
The legendary pop star brings her "Here We Go Again" Tour to the Moda Center to perform a set of hits, deep cuts, and songs off her latest album, Dancing Queen, a tribute to the music of ABBA. (Tues, Nov 19, 7:30 pm, Moda Center, $64.95 & Up)

Alessia Cara, Ryland James
Last year, Canadian singer/songwriter Alessia Cara won a Grammy for Best New Artist despite the fact the artist’s been around for a handful of years, putting in serious work, and doing big-girl numbers. Cara’s strength as a performer comes from her tightly honed vocal skill, down-to-earth personality, and the fact that her stage presence has continued to blossom ever since quietly marching onto the scene in 2015 with two hit singles: “Scars to Your Beautiful,” and her anti-social anthem “Here.” When the singer played Portland’s Moda Center recently, as the impressive opening act for Shawn Mendes, I remember thinking “Why isn’t Alessia headlining her own tour by now?” Having extended her North American leg of her “The Pains of Growing Tour,” Cara’s upcoming concert (at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, no less!) should more than make up for the delay. (Wed Nov 6, 7:30 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $29.50-187.50, all ages) JENNI MOORE

The Portland Book Festival
Formerly known as Wordstock, the Portland Book Festival is now saddled with a stultifyingly boring name—but it’s still crammed with great authors and events, so we’ll allow it. This year’s fest features eight billion booksellers and publishers selling their wares (from Southwest Portland’s Annie Bloom’s Books to San Francisco’s McSweeney’s), plus readings, discussions, workshops, food, film screenings... and that’s not even getting into the reliably fun, reliably boozy (and reliably free!) Lit Crawl! (Sat Nov 9, 9 am, Portland Art Museum, $15-20, all ages)

Frankie Cosmos
Frankie Cosmos (AKA singer/songwriter Greta Kline and her backing band of Lauren Martin, Luke Pyneson, and Alex Bailey) bring their infectious and tender indie pop back to the Wonder Ballroom for an all-ages show supporting their latest Sub Pop-issued album, Close it Quietly. (Thurs Oct 31, 8:30 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $17-20, all ages)

Big Freedia, Low Cut Connie
New Orleans artist Big Freedia has been credited with the rising popularity of bounce music, and her shows are said to be some of the most activating, fun, twerktastic parties around. (Sun Nov 17, 8:30 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $25-28)

Hustle & Drone, Karma Rivera, Kileo
When you get a chance to hear Portland electro-pop trio Hustle & Drone show off their latest adventures in dance, you should probably take it. That goes double when they are celebrating the release of a new album, which happens to be the case tonight. Be one of the first 25 through the door and you'll take home a free CD of the band's latest, What an Uproar. (Thurs Nov 14, 8:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $7)

Nicole Byer
Helium hosts a weekend of stand-up with the Los Angeles-based comedian and actress who came up in New York City as a student at the Upright Citizens Brigade and went on to become the host of Netflix's hit comedic reality bake-off, Nailed It, as well as make appearances on MTV’s Girl Code, 30 Rock, @Midnight, and Conan. (Nov 21-23, Thurs 8 pm, Fri-Sat 7:30 pm & 10 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $17-33)

The Get Up Kids, Kevine Devine, The Whiffs
The second wave emo pioneers out of Kansas City keep their reunion going strong when they swing through the Doug Fir Lounge for an intimate Portland show supporting Problems, the band's first new full-length since 2011's There Are Rules. (Sat Nov 16, 8 pm, Doug Fir, $27-32)

Crime Junkie Podcast: Live
Get your true crime fix when host Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat bring their popular podcast to the Revolution Hall stage for the Portland stop on their first-ever live tour. (Thurs Nov 7, 8 pm, Revolution Hall, $35, all ages)

The Menzingers, Tigers Jaw, Culture Abuse
On 2017’s After the Party, the Menzingers raged against the fading light of their glory days and tried to figure out how to grow up without going dark and dead inside. Existential agitation also informs the lyrics on their new album, Hello Exile, but the band sounds more settled than ever, their fest-bound pop-punk inching ever closer to the heart of palatable radio rock. Although bittersweet anthems like “Anna” and “Strangers Forever” will surely inspire sodden dudes to join sweaty singalongs in polite pits, they are also perfect soundtracks for tired souls who have to squeeze all of their feelings into the vanishingly brief span between dropping the kids off and punching the clock. Because growing up is really just a matter of scheduling your good cries. (Wed Nov 6, 8 pm, Hawthorne Theatre, $25-28, all ages) CHRIS STAMM

The Annual Beaujolais Nouveau Festival
The annual Beaujolais Nouveau festival returns to the Heathman, where notable winemakers bring their best versions of Nouveau to the restaurant, and it gets paired with culinary miracles via some of the city's best chefs, and live music by Heather Keizur. KGW's Brenda Braxton and Ashley Korslein host. Proceeds benefit Pueblo Unido. (Fri Nov 22, 6 pm, Heathman Restaurant, $65-1800)

Jonathan Richman
With a conversational vocal style and a wide-eyed worldview, Jonathan Richman writes songs that are deceptively simple and utterly heartwarming. The former Modern Lover plays stripped-down acoustic sets backed solely by drummer Tommy Larkin, but don’t worry about him getting lost in the large Revolution Hall—Richman has a way of making even the biggest show sound wonderfully intimate. (Sat Nov 2, 8 pm, Revolution Hall, $20-25)

Jenny Slate
Ask me whom I’d like to be stuck on a desert island with, or be our next president, and my answer is the same: Jenny Motherfucking Slate. She’s the absolutely hilarious actress/comedian known for so many of your favorite roles, including Mona-Lisa Saperstein on Parks and Recreation, Liz B. on the Kroll Show, and the voice of viral sensation Marcel the Shell with Shoes On as well as Missy from Big Mouth! She’s charming, funny as fuck, and you should beg, borrow, and steal to catch the Portland stop on her Little Weirds book tour at Revolution Hall. Sorry if I’m being overenthusiastic and creepy, but I like her. (Mon Nov 11, 8 pm, Revolution Hall, $35-40)

Jupiter Hotel's Holiday Movie Sleepover
The Jupiter Hotel links up with Movie Madness to bring you a Thanksgiving-sized helping of festive films. Book a room for four to eight people, add the genre of film you prefer (horror, rom/com, traditional, comedy, or action), and Movie Madness will have a selection of movies catered to your taste when you check-in. Feel free to swap whatever you don't like at an on-site library, and be sure to hit up the front desk for tasty concessions and holiday treats. (Thurs Nov 28, 4 pm, Jupiter Hotel, $60-80)

Reckless Kelly
At the time, spending four years in semi-rural Idaho didn't seem to have a ton of benefits—but one of them was being able to hop in a car, drive for 10 minutes, and end up in a pale expanse of dusty, hard-scrabble steppe, where low mountains rolled against the horizon and cracked highways stretched into infinity. It's the kind of country where if you stand still the sun and wind will wear you down to nothing, and driving through it requires a soundtrack, which is how I ended up learning Reckless Kelly's Live at Stubbs by heart. A twangy ramble recorded at Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, it offers rambunctious riffs on “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “You Shook Me All Night Long,” but the best stuff is what's between: track after track of country-rock that thrums with unexpected heart. (“Wild Western Windblown Band” alone sums up about 80 percent of what's great about country and honky-tonk.) Since Live at Stubbs, Reckless Kelly has put out nine more albums, but the best way to hear them will be at the Aladdin Theater. Or, you know, with the stereo cranked up to maximum as you rattle at 70 MPH down some forgotten Idaho highway. (Sun Nov 3, 8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $25-30, all ages) ERIK HENRIKSEN

Immortal Technique, Chino XL, Poison Pen
Immortal Technique comes from a long line of hip-hop truthsayers who carry the torch of infinite wisdom that was first lit by KRS-One, further fueled by Chuck D, and then detonated by Ice Cube. Beginning with the incendiary "Dance with the Devil" and then across four successive and critically acclaimed albums, Tech has developed a signature style that skillfully fuses battle rap acidity with intense book knowledge and an acute consciousness for global conspiracies. (Mon Nov 4, 8 pm, Hawthorne Theatre, $25-30, all ages)

We Hate Movies: LIVE!
New York City-based comedians Andrew Jupin, Stephen Sajdak, Eric Szyszka, and Chris Cabin bring their popular bad-movie podcast to the Aladdin Theater stage for an all-ages Portland stop on their latest North American tour. (Thurs Nov 7, 7 pm, Aladdin Theater, $25, all ages)

Lindy West
The Witches Are Coming is the timely new cultural critique from writer, comedian, and activist Lindy West, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir-turned-critically acclaimed Hulu TV series Shrill. (Thurs Nov 21, 7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books, free)

Brother Ali, Evidence
After nearly two decades in the game, Brother Ali is still delivering some of the most insightful, personal, and impressive hiphop out there. And for all his considerable conscience, the man's sets flat-out thump. See him every time he comes through town, Portland. (Fri Nov 15, 8 pm, Hawthorne Theatre, $22-26, all ages)

My Father's Place Thanksgiving
One of Portland's most legendary bars is, once again, open on Thanksgiving and not really putting on any airs about it: If you want a turkey or ham dinner fixed up for you, they can do that. If you'd rather drink your Thanksgiving, they can do that too. (Thurs Nov 28, My Father's Place)

The Holiday Ale Festival
For the 24th straight year, Pioneer Courthouse Square gets tented, heated, and filled with over 50 specialty winter ales from some of the best brewers in the country. Come down spread some holiday cheer while indulging in an array of delicious Belgians, barleywines, stouts, and sours you won't find at the supermarket, and capitalize on the opportunity to talk to the geniuses responsible for making all these delicious suds, too. (Wed Dec 4-Sun Dec 8, Pioneer Courthouse Square, $40-100)