Thursday 01/17

ELIMIDATE--Have you seen the show Elimidate? One person goes out on a steamy date with four people of the opposite sex and then has to "elimidate" one candidate for every round. Lucky us, they're filming a totally hip Portland episode at the Meow Meow today, starring none other than the Mercury's own knockout/dating enthusiast, Marjorie Skinner and local bands, Urban Legends, High Violets and Kind of Like Spitting! Be part of the magic. KS

Meow Meow, 527 SE Pine, 230-2111, 1-5 pm, free

Friday 01/18

OLD SCHOOL RAP--One of the forefathers of Gangsta Rap, Slick Rick was known during his heyday in the mid-'80s for bringing pimp attitude and style into hiphop. Infamously remembered for the misogynistic-but-popular "Treat Her Like a Prostitute" and his stints in jail, Rick's down-with-the-street style will certainly shine through as he recounts such R&B hits as "Children's Story" (now showing on VH1 Soul). WSH

w/ Netherworlds, The Chosen, DJ Wicked
Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 224-TIXX, 9 pm, All Ages, $18 Adv.

FILM--Using Sleater-Kinney and the Yoyo-a-Gogo Music Festival as windows into the indie idealism of Olympia, Try This At Home is a documentary about--what else--the home-grown arts and music community. Sort of like Rocky for the DIY set--inspirational championing of the underdog. Featured with Sue's Last Ride, a film about a depressed woman recounting her sorrows to a cabbie on the way to a Dirty Three Concert. Dirty Three tracks throughout. PB

Guild Theatre, SW 9th and Taylor, 221-1156, 9:15 pm, $6.50

Saturday 01/19

MUSIC--The "with members of" bit is an inarguably tacky mode of description for bands. So kudos if you know Minus The Bear's other projects, but I won't have any part of telling you about it. I will tell you that their poppy/prog tunes are chock-full of looping, backwards recording, and spacey guitar. Besides, who needs name dropping when you have song titles like "Lemurs, Man, Lemurs" and "Pantsuit, Uggghhh"? MS

w/ The Standard & The Bonobo Project. Blackbird, 3728 NE Sandy, 282-9949, 9 pm

EXTREME FIGHTING--Force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. At 390 pounds, Ernest Henderson may not move very fast, but he packs a wallop. Full-contact fighting means what it says--no holds barred, throwing, punching, kicking, gouging, grappling, biting... well, you get the idea. PB

Rumble at the Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 224-TIXX, 7 pm, $22-$60

Sunday 01/20

FREE STUFF--The Crystal Ballroom is turning 88, but who cares about that? What's important here is that there will be some free shows, and that those shows will be highly entertaining. Lovely local bands Helio Sequence, Cobra High, and the Swords Project will be making beautiful sounds in Lola's Room, and some bigger bands such as The Word, Chocolate Genius, Stumptown 3, Portland Youth Jazz, Billy Kennedy and Friends, and Buds of May will be sounding off on the main floor. KD

Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 225-0047, 2 pm, free

Monday 01/21

HIPHOP--The amazing emcee Aesop Rock was ill (health-wise) on the Portland leg of the last Def Jux tour; if you cried for his absence, he's making up for it now. With the wonderfully original and creepy Cannibal Ox, Oldominion smarty-pants Sleep, and mind-blowing Seattle breakdance crew Massive Monkees! Hosted by DJ Magneto. JS See Music pg 15

B Complex, 320 SE 2nd, 224-TIXX, 9 pm, $12, all ages

Tuesday 01/22

FILM--If you're familiar with Cory McAbee, the frontman for San Francisco's absolutely bonkers art band The Billy Nayer Show, then you gotta figure that his film The American Astronaut is just as nutso. The plot involves a cackling, crazed killer who is in pursuit of our hero, a space cowboy searching for a male worthy enough to service a planet of hot 'n' sexy Venusians. Any more questions? Didn't think so. WSH

Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton, 238-8899, 7 & 9 pm, $6

Wednesday 01/23

MUSIC--You totally love Mates of State, I know. Well their new album is being released this week and they're playing in Portland. They must love you, too. Their heartfelt vocals and twinkling keyboards are the flavor of a good, strong cup of coffee with sugar. KS w/ Track Star, All Girl Summer Fun Band

Meow Meow, 527 SE Pine, 230-2111, 9 pm, $7

FAST FOOD--Even I occasionally indulge in a little hippie literature, and Fast Food Nation is one of the more interesting hippie works of our time. It's a sociological study of how fast food increases the gap between rich and poor, poisons the public, and basically, contributes to every other problem you can think of. KD

Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 228-4651, 7:30 pm, free