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Friday, Jan 4
Calpurnia
In the proud tradition of Macaulay Culkin’s Pizza Underground, Jason Schwartzman’s Phantom Planet, Keanu Reeves’ Dogstar, Kevin Costner’s Modern West, Russell Crowe’s 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, Ryan Gosling’s Dead Man’s Bones, and Kevin Bacon’s Bacon Brothers comes Calpurnia, an indie band that proclaims itself “a four-piece from Vancouver, Canada, led by Finn Wolfhard.” Finn Wolfhard, is, of course, both an excellent name for your Dungeons & Dragons character and the 15-year-old who plays Mike on Stranger Things. Calpurnia has one 23-minute EP, Scout, and its lo-fi songs are about what you’d expect—a little mopey, a little goofy, and sounding like a particularly accomplished performance at a junior high talent show. But if you’re expecting me to be mean about Calpurnia, IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. While most 15-year-old boys are doing nothing but memorizing every single video on PornHub and griefing people in Destiny, here’s Finn Wolfhard, seeing if fronting a band is as viable of a life choice as fighting demogorgons. Maybe it will be! Or maybe Finn Wolfhard will join the ranks of beloved R&B singer Bruce Willis, noted dad rocker David Duchovny, and DJ Elijah Wood. Hey, did you know Shaquille O’Neal once recorded a track with Biggie? And Eddie Murphy did a song with Michael Jackson? I mention these facts for no reason. (8:30 pm, Crystal Ballroom, $25-27, all ages) ERIK HENRIKSEN
Slang, Deathlist, Roseblood
Kick-start the new year at the Doug Fir taking in a night of indie rock, pop, and punk from a trio of local acts headed up by an array of Portland music scene staples. (9 pm, Doug Fir, $10-12)
Barrett Martin Group
If you don’t recognize the name Barrett Martin, that’s probably because the Grammy-winning producer/composer/percussionist largely operates behind the scenes. He’s collaborated with luminaries like Peter Buck and Screaming Trees, and was the drummer for short-lived supergroup Mad Season. Martin’s new solo album Transcendence showcases his worldly love affair with music; “Swingin’ on a Moonbeam” revels in swingy jazz flourishes and lots of brass, followed by “Miss Galactic Fantastic,” a future-funk banger that’s ripe for sampling. Special guests such as Buck, Queens of the Stone Age guitarist David Catching, and legendary jazz bassist Wayne Horvitz optimize Martin’s wide visionary scope and make Transcendence a formidable instrumental work. (9 pm, Jack London Revue, $12) RYAN J. PRADO
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Blazers open up their first home stand of the new year with a Friday night game against Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder. (7:30 pm, Moda Center, all ages)
If Beale Street Could Talk
Moonlight director Barry Jenkins’ masterful adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel perfectly captures how macro issues—particularly the rigged systems that work against Black people in America—affect one family like shuddering, foundation-shaking aftershocks. (Now playing, various theaters) ROBERT HAM
Jollymon, Shelter Red, True Primitives
The long-running heavy psych trio out of Vancouver, Washington bring their “Apocolyptic Space Groove” to the Mississippi Studios stage in support of their latest album, Voidwalker. (9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $10-12)
Adam Ray
Helium kicks off the new year with a full weekend of stand-up from the Seattle-hailing comedian and actor who has appeared on American Vandal, Arrested Development, MadTV, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. (Fri-Sat, 7:30 pm & 10 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $17-33)
Saturday, Jan 5
Club Nitty Gritty
If you’re looking for a dance night that sets the evening on fire, check out Club Nitty Gritty, hosted by the always down for a good time DJ Action Slacks (Shannon Wiberg). She’s been pounding the turntables for years with righteous choices in down-home dirty soul—the kind with raw sax and voices that wail and scratch. (9 pm, The World Famous Kenton Club, $7) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Stand Up Science with Shane Mauss
The stand-up and podcaster (the two terms are pretty close to synonymous at this point) comes to the Siren Theater to present his heady blend of comedy and science. And beer. Comedy + Science + Beer = Shane. Special guests include Sara Waters, Anthony Lopez, and Caitlin Weierhauser. (8 pm, Siren Theater, $15)
BowieVision, SOS
Tribute bands are like chain restaurants. You’re not going to have a transcendent experience by any means, but you won’t be in for any nasty surprises, either. So you could do worse than plan your evening around tonight’s two musical bloomin’ onions: BowieVision and SOS, simulating David Bowie (and his many ch-ch-changes) and the Police, respectively. BowieVision probably aren’t gonna dig out any jams from side two of “Heroes” but there’s something to be said for any band that can tackle both the fuzzed-out glam of the Ziggy era and the big-beat pop of Let’s Dance. SOS, meanwhile, will provide ersatz Sting yelps and Stewart Copeland drum fills. If this all sounds a little too Red Robin for ya, let’s be fair: It’s the first week of January, and it’s pretty slim pickings here on the ol’ live music calendar. (9 pm, Doug Fir, $10) NED LANNAMANN
Doug Loves Movies
Doug Loves Movies is kind of like NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, if that show was as funny as it thinks it is—or Leonard Maltin’s weird preface to Star Wars on VHS, if that was (intentionally) funny at all. (4:20 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $22) MEGAN BURBANK
Pants Off Dance Off: Happy Nude Year
The clothing optional dance party returns to the Tonic Lounge with a special post-NYE installment, inviting you to dress up or strip down to your comfort zone and spend the evening dancing to celebratory sounds and taking advantage of drink specials all night long. (8 pm, Tonic Lounge, $10)
Walker Stalker Fan Fest
It makes some sort of rotted-yet-poetic sense that a convention centered solely on The Walking Dead would get up and come back to town. That’s kinda how the whole zombie thing works—you think you’re done, and then you turn around, and boom: MORE ZOMBIES. This year’s special guests include Henry Thomas (…Elliot from E.T. isn’t even on the show but hey), the guy who played Coral, the Punisher, Jesus, Dylan McDermott (or is it Dermot Mulroney? YOU WON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU COME TO THE SH—it’s Dylan McDermott), and Steven Yeun, who played Glenn but for real you should watch Burning and Sorry to Bother You because goddamn. (Sat-Sun, Oregon Convention Center, $40-210)
The Favourite
Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest is a hysterical, brutal take on the Restoration-era comedy of manners, using historical figures from early 18th-century England to make some decidedly bleak points about power struggles and human nature. The fact it’s the funniest movie of the year shouldn’t jibe with its sumptuous production design and gorgeously appointed costumes, but it does. This is a movie that works magnificently on every level. (Now playing, various theaters) NED LANNAMANN
Chris Fairbanks
Mississippi Studios hosts an evening of quirky, fast-paced stand-up from a comic known locally for his Bridgetown Comedy Festival appearances and nationally for being a Last Comic Standing season 6 contestant and co-host of the “Do You Need a Ride” podcast, in witch he teams up with Karen Kilgariff to shuttle guests to and from the airport in a ’08 Honda Accord mobile sound studio. (7 pm & 9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $10-12)
Sunday, Jan 6
The Space Lady, Barry Walker Jr.
Always with her winged Viking helmet and Casio keyboard in tow, the Space Lady plays echoing, synth-forward covers of classic rock hits like Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” and Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild,” along with a few of her own spellbinding originals. (8 pm, Turn! Turn! Turn!, $12)
The Oregon Symphony: Favorite Light Classics
These three concerts find two pleasing, flavorful overtures bookending two more strident, confrontational pieces, indicating the Oregon Symphony’s dedication to showcasing modern composers while also keeping patrons happy with the established classics. Rossini’s intoxicating overture for Tancredi—one of his loveliest operas—is an example of a pop smash circa 200 years ago, taking dead aim at your brain’s pleasure zone. Next, Zimmermann’s raucous ballet score for Music for the Suppers of King Ubu “samples” famous classical works like Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony, Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto No. 1, Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” and others, to disturbing and disorienting effect. Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 is petulant, morose, and beautiful, requiring utmost concentration and physicality from its soloist—in this case, guest cellist Johannes Moser. But you’ll be sent into the night with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture ringing in your ears, a gorgeously orchestrated piece that goes from doleful to exuberant over the course of 15 crackerjack minutes. (2 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $23-110, all ages) NED LANNAMANN
Kerry Eggers
Sportswriter Kerry Eggers reads from his latest book, Jail Blazers, an over 500-page history of the most ignominious eras of the Trail Blazers legacy, and the multitude of ways the owners, coaches, players, and the populace of the city itself helped contribute. 7:30 pm, Powell’s City of Books, free)
Holland Andrews, Felisha Ledesma
One of the essential Portland musical experiences is witnessing Holland Andrews weave her voice and instrumental loops into the massive, bizarre cathedrals of sound that are Like a Villain’s music. (8 pm, Mississippi Stuidos, $8-10) NED LANNAMANN
Kulululu, Internet Beef
Experimental avant-garde rockers Kulululu headline Sunday Session, with support from Internet Beef, which is a thing you normally want to avoid but not in this specific instance. (8 pm, Rontoms, free)
Vicki Barbolak
Fresh off a run that brought her to the finals of Season 13 of America’s Got Talent, the beloved Southern California-hailing comedian who rose the ranks at the Comedy Store brings her “Trailer Nasty!” show through Helium for a one-off performance. (7:30 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $20)
Mary Poppins
Yeah, there’s a newfangled sequel-y thing in theaters, but why not enjoy the sights and sounds of the original story, live on stage, as brought to magical, tactile life by the members of the NW Children’s Theater? (noon & 4:30 pm, Northwest Children’s Theater & School, $18-22, all ages)
Don’t forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!