My, What a Busy Week!
May 15 - May 21
USO
This ain't your typical Bob Hope show. It's the first No War USO, a bill of adventuresome music put together by Red 76 and Psych(A)P to show opposition for the ongoing war in Iraq, and proceeds go to benefit the Iraq Veterans Against the War advocacy group. NL w/the Shaky Hands, Tara Jane O'Neil, Fred Nemo, Dark Yoga, Ilyas Ahmed, Aaron Montaigne, ...worms; Rotture, 315 SE 3rd, 9 pm, $5
THE N WORD
Is Nas just trying to offend us now? The short answer is yes; his new album is entitled Nigger. No word on whether it's good or not—it's understandably been stalled by Def Jam—but since it's Nas, there's a strong chance it'll be solid. He kills it on stage, too, as you'll see tonight. DG w/Lifesavas, Libretto, DJ OG One; Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 8 pm, $35-40, all ages
SWEDEPOP
Swedish chanteuse Sarah Assbring (AKA El Perro del Mar) gently sidles into town, touring on her new album, the moody, pop-inflected From the Valley to the Stars. Humorous name notwithstanding, Assbring is an amazing songwriter, and if her low-key croon is too sleepy for a Friday night show—or if you're broke or underage—check out her in-store performance this afternoon at the downtown Borders. AH w/Anna Ternheim; Borders, 708 SW 3rd, 2 pm, FREE, all ages; w/Lykke Li, Anna Ternheim; Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $13-15
X
Today's the last day of ArtBeat Week, in which, through over 80 events on four PCC campuses, people celebrate art, dance, music, literature, and theater—including a performance by the Portland Cello Project, and a lecture from artist Harry Widman. Get your culture while you can, kids! EH Events scheduled at all four PCC campuses; see artbeat.pcc.edu for more info
QUASI
Janet Weiss has pounded the skins for Sleater-Kinney and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, among others, but tonight her drum kit teams up once again with the keyboard of ex-husband Sam Coomes for the powerful psychedelic rock of Quasi. Cross your fingers for new songs at tonight's show, where Jicks bassist Joanna Bolme will join the duo. NL w/Typhoon, Reporter; Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th, 9 pm, $10-12, all ages
GET SLIM
The music of Langhorne Slim is a bastardized take on back-porch country, stripped-down rock, white kid blues, and just about everything in between. But it works. Oh, how it works. Capable of penning the most profound line with carefree ease, Slim is a rare breed of artist who can transcend genres and create a grand amount of simplistic beauty in just one quick little song. EAC w/Ferraby Lionheart; Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $10-12
FREAK SHOW
The twisted queer minds of Pants-Off Productions present Freakshow-a-Go-Go, a hilariously fun vaudeville/circus act featuring some of the hottest homos from PDX and beyond. THRILL to burly burlesque dancers! AMAZE to gender-bending drag queens 'n' kings! GASP at acro-balance artists! CRINGE at creepy clowns! Plus music, hula-hooping, bearded ladies, and freaks of all varieties! (Does that include straight people?) WSH Hippodrome, 315 SE 3rd, 8 pm, $10-15
SCHOOLIN'
Children today hold the keys to your geriatric future—you want them to be educated and sweet, not all, "Why didn' yeh fund ma learnin'?!" So check out Curbstock, a daylong music fest benefiting Portland Public Schools, with Hutch & Kathy from the Thermals, Blue Skies for Black Hearts, and more. MS Oaks Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park, 11 am-7 pm, $10-20, all ages, curbstock.org
BAT COUNTRY
Terry Gilliam's hilarious, intense, and bizarre adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's brilliant Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is back on the big screen for one night only, as part of the Broadway Metroplex's Independent Film Revival Series. Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro swerve around Vegas with a trunk full of pills, heads full of ideas, and mouths full of Thompson's ramblings, all on an original 35mm print! EH Broadway Metroplex, 1000 SW Broadway, 7:30 pm, $5
RAP BATTLE ROYALE
If you're like me, you get giddy at the thought of the last 15 minutes of 8 Mile. TheSaurus is one of those battle rappers. Actually, he's not one of them, he is the one—dude won the World Rap Championships in '06. And how's this for an endorsement: Wikipedia says he "looks like Burt Reynolds and AC Slater." DG w/Illmaculate, Ostrich Head, Richie Cunning, Rob Rush; Berbati's Pan, 10 SW 3rd, $7, all ages
VOTE
Ballots are due to your county elections office by 8 pm tonight. Once you drop it off, stop in at one of the dozens of political parties around town tonight to see who wins and who loses (and nosh on free food). Watch Sam Adams' mayoral hopes be either dashed or validated at the Jupiter Hotel, and keep an eye out for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to possibly make appearances at their respective election night parties should Oregon become a key battleground. AJR Most parties begin at 8 pm, FREE, party listings and Election Night coverage at portlandmercury.com/2008
OVER THE RAINBOW
Like the spastic little brother you never knew you had, Darren Keen travels the globe under the moniker the Show Is the Rainbow and performs an indescribable mix of confrontational electronic art-punk. Somewhere between genius performance art and a desperate cry for help, his live shows are an unforgettable way to spend an evening. EAC w/Flaspar, Battlehooch; Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th, 9 pm, $6
PANTS ON FIRE
James Frey was born in Zambia to a one-legged gangstress named Zambian Tam. He graduated from Harvard in biotechnology and invented a cure for polio, which he adapted from the genome of embryonic parrots. Actually, that's all lies. But so was his drug "memoir," A Million Little Pieces (...of bullshit?), and hell, it sold! Tonight Frey reads from Bright Shiny Morning, his first novel. (Or should that be second novel?) MD Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne, 7 pm, $27 (includes a copy of the book)
