Middleditch & Schwartz
Get ready for an evening of wild-yet-intimate improv comedy with Jean Ralphio from Parks and Recreation and Richard Hendricks from Silicon Valley—except they won’t be playing those characters because that was TV and this is real life. IRL, Ben Schwartz and Thomas Middleditch are maybe even funnier than their fictional counterparts! These two mumbly, bumbly comic geniuses share a hilarious history of playing off one another via longform improv and tender full-body spooning. SUZETTE SMITH
7:30 pm, Newmark Theatre, $39.50

Nuggets Night 2018
Every year, bands come together for Nuggets Night, and every year it just gets bigger and better. Nuggets Night—now stretched out to an entire nuggety weekend—is a celebration of those noisy, junky, far-out, fuzzed-out, adrenalized shots of garage rock and proto-punk, typically performed by obscure ’60s bands and pressed onto 7-inch singles by fly-by-night record labels. Lenny Kaye first famously collected a crop of them on the 1972 Nuggets double album, and copycat versions like Pebbles followed suit, with Rhino Records legitimizing the brand name with three masterfully done Nuggets box sets. You’ll hear plenty of those choice “nuggets” covered by terrific local bands like the Pynnacles, Hurry Up, the Bugs, the Reverberations, and others, but there’s more: On Saturday, Love Revisited—featuring former members of the legendary LA band Love—will perform Love’s 1967 psychedelic masterpiece Forever Changes in full. After two nights of rockin’, the weekend closes with a screening of the 1967 mondo documentary Something’s Happening – The Hippie Revolt. Plus, the entire affair benefits the Queer Rock Camp Portland, a summer program for LGBTQ youth promoting inclusivity and self-expression! There’s a nugget under the sun for everyone. NED LANNAMANN
Fri-Sat 8 pm, Mission Theater, $10-60

Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Since emerging from an indefinite hiatus that saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s members focusing on their side projects, the colossal post-rock outfit—named after a Japanese biker gang—has released three albums: 2012’s ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, 2015’s Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress, and 2017’s Luciferian Towers. Despite themes of tragedy and class inequality that recall last summer’s Grenfell Tower fire in London, Luciferian Towers contains some of the experimental Canadian group’s most uplifting melodies to date. In the Constellation Records one sheet about the album, Godspeed provides a list of “grand demands,” which range from “an end to borders” to “the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again.” Although Luciferian Towers includes much less droning doom-and-gloom, it’s proof that Godspeed You! Black Emperor is still ruminating on humanity’s ills and searching for a way out. CERVANTE POPE
8:30 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $30-32

Damien Jurado, Naomi Wachira
Raise your hand if you thought Damien Jurado’s best albums were behind him. That’d be understandable, and it wouldn’t be an insult, because the supremely skilled Washington singer/songwriter has released a whole bunch of terrific records over the past couple of decades. But somehow, Jurado’s new album The Horizon Just Laughed might be his best yet. It’s also his first-ever self-produced album, and it’s a downcast travelogue of sorts, packed with hazy recollections of people, places, and feelings. (Eight of the 11 songs have names in their titles.) Sonically, Horizon takes Jurado’s easygoing, melodic folk and dresses it up ever so slightly with pretty strings, warm horns, gleaming keys, occasional samba beats, and old soul. Jurado has always been one of the best craftsmen going; to hear him pull it all together yet again is very welcome and utterly inspiring. BEN SALMON
9 pm, Doug Fir, $16-18

Live Wire! Radio
The latest installment of Portland’s own nationally-syndicated variety show features appearances from comedian Paul F. Tompkins, writer Ijeoma Oluo, and hip-hop artist Open Mike Eagle. Hosted by Luke Burbank.
7:30 pm, Alberta Rose Theatre, $20-35

Eels
Los Feliz-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett brings his shape-shifting indie rock outfit back up the West Coast for a headlining show supporting the band’s 12th studio album, The Deconstruction.
8 pm, Crystal Ballroom, $37.50-40, all ages

Aja Gabel, Leni Zumas
Aja Gabel reads from The Ensemble, her new novel about four young friends navigating the competitive world of classical music. Gabel will be joined in conversation by Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks.
7:30 pm, Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, free

The Estranged, Dark/Light, Arteries, Ad-Noids
The Estranged’s 2014 self-titled LP was one of the best local punk records released that year. It’s a dark album that, like the best dark albums, never renounces its poppier essence and draws from a breadth of influences—lead singer Mark Herman’s post-punk-inspired vocals, the slide guitar that unexpectedly adorns the intro to first track “Forever Been Erased,” the ’77 pure punk velocity—without ever feeling calculated. MORGAN TROPER
9 pm, The Fixin’ To, $7

In the Cooky Jar
Of all the dance nights in town, In the Cooky Jar is likely the only one where you can dance to Rufus Thomas and Little Johnny Taylor underneath black-and-white photos of old dead white dudes. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY
9 pm, Eagles Lodge (F.O.E.#3256), $5 w/ food donation, $7 w/out

Sean Patton
The charming comedian, writer, and storyteller out of New Orleans returns to Portland for a two-night stand at Helium.
Fri-Sat 7:30 pm & 10 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $22-30

John Craigie
The modern-day troubadour out of Santa Monica, California follows up last year’s Sgt. Pepper’s tribute with a solo performance of The White Album, featuring an opening set of solo Beatles’ songs from some surprise guests.
Fri-Sat 8:30 pm, The Secret Society, $15

Suing Trump: AG Rosenblum on Oregon’s National Role
Suing the Cheeto Administration is a seemingly never ending, grueling job, but somebody’s got to do it. Oregon Attorney General AG Ellen Rosenblum is stepping up to (and beyond) the plate with ten major lawsuits currently active against the administration, including the Muslim ban, DACA, and the Affordable Care Act. Get an update on her work and learn about other protections the Justice Department enforces for Oregonians. For $15 more, you can add lunch to your experience. EMILLY PRADO
noon, Sentinel, $15

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