You want to be in the room where it happens. It's understandable. But ahhhâwhat room, and what "it" are we talking about here? Do you want to be in the Keller when Hamilton happens? Understandable, but you better hope that lottery comes through for you. Perhaps you'd like to be in the Doug Fir when a Pussy Riot breaks out. Maybe you want to be in the Roseland when 5000 kilowatts of P-Funk power goes coursing through your body. That's a little easier to arrange. Or maybe you wanna spend all week going from room to room, enjoying every last sip of every last $5 cocktail on offer thanks to the Mercury's Highball? You'd have to actively be trying not to have a good time with the bounty of delights available on this week's menu. Hit the links below and load your plate accordingly.
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Monday, Mar 19
TiRon & Ayomari, Brown Calculus, Fountaine
Ever since 2011, eclectic LA hip-hop duo TiRon & Ayomari has been on the up-and-up. Their new album, WET: The Wonderful Ego, is another convention-defying project of forward-thinking perspectives and R&B infusions. IT IS SO GOOD. Plus, Portland rapper/singer the Last Artful, Dodgr is featured on the âFfake Ffrendsâ track, so maybe sheâll make an appearance? With local faves Brown Calculus and Fountaine also on the bill, tonight is unmissable. JENNI MOORE
8:30 pm, Holocene, $10-12
Dana Buoy, Cy Dune
Dana Janssenâs post-Akron/Family output under the Dana Buoy moniker has been rich in nuanced pop amalgamations. His stunning sophomore LP, 2012âs Summer Bodies, is a fluorescent psych-pop gem that in many ways set the stage for Jannsenâs new record, Ice Glitter Gold. It opens with the Euro-dancehall banger âTwisted Sky,â followed by the syrupy melodies of the radio-ready title track, while anthemic moments on songs like âColours Outâ anchor the record with woozy synth and Janssenâs strong vocal calisthenics. On the cusp of spring, an album like Ice Glitter Gold is perfect for late nights and long, breezy afternoons. RYAN J. PRADO
8 pm, The Know
9 to 5
The sheer size of 9 to 5âs popularity is hard to understand almost 40 years after the fact, but it was a monster. It would have easily been the highest grossing film of 1980âif The Empire Strikes Back hadnât been released that same year. 9 to 5 is powered by the unexpectedly solid comic chops of Jane Fonda, Dolly Partonâs infectious theme, Dabney Colemanâs sweaty swagger, and the mind-altering imagery of Lily Tomlin as Snow White (complete with animated forest fauna conspiring to poison her boss). Whatâs even more amazing (and frustrating, and honestly, sorta depressing) is how relevant the film still is, and how distant our heroic trioâs dream of equal rights and equal pay remains. 9 to 5 already had bite. Somehow its teeth are even sharper now, and its comedy cuts even more painfully. Part of the Hollywood Theatre's Feminist March film series. BOBBY ROBERTS
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $7-9
Mary Gauthier, Max Gomez
Humongous fucking shoutout to Mary Gauthier. The Nashville-based troubadour is one of the realest in the game. I got turned on to Gauthier on while listening to WDVX, a marvelous community FM station from East Tennessee. The tune was a live rendition of "Last of the Hobo Kings," a wistful yarn depicting the American frontier's closing in on the noble drifter. Gauthier introduced it as a story song, and it is, with its verses talked, full of florid, rhythmic language. "Hobo" is backed by a pretty, barebones rock groove and a scraping violin, not unlike the Velvet Underground at their prettiest and most minimal. After Gauthier's name registered on my radar, it started blipping everywhere. She wrote songs with returning Iraq War veterans. Her treatise on songwriting, "A letter to a young songwriter," is inspiringly honest about the loneliness of a life in the arts. Indeed, Gauthier is the real deal. And though at it might not appear so at first glance, she's cooler than every hip, 20-something dilettante in this town put together. ANDREW R TONRY
8 pm, White Eagle, $23-25
The Mowgli's, Mainland
Los Angeles-based alt-rock outfit the Mowgli's come back up the coast to share their sun-drenched sounds at an intimate Portland show.
8 pm, Doug Fir, $20-22
The Portland Mercury's Highball
Prepare yourself (and your liver) for the Portland Mercuryâs HIGHBALL! At each of Highballâs locations, youâll find specially crafted cocktails that are available only to Highball participants. Even better? Each of these fantastic, sanity-saving cocktails will be available ALL DAY (not just during happy hour!) and cost you a mere $5!
Mar 19-25, Various Locations, click here for participating venues and cocktail descriptions
Tuesday, Mar 20
Pussy Riot
Dust off those balaclavasâPussy Riot is currently on their first US tour, and theyâre stopping in Portland! The Russian punk band/protest collective first made headlines in 2012 for their âPunk Prayerâ demonstration in Moscow, which resulted in the imprisonment of three members for âhooliganism.â But that didnât silence them; since Trumpâs election, Pussy Riot has only gotten louder in their resistance of fascism. CIARA DOLAN
8 pm, Doug Fir, $25-28
Hamilton
You ever see the musical Paint Your Wagon? Itâs the lively tale of a gold-rush town that plunges into iniquity and vice. Clint Eastwood and the great Lee Marvin played the leads in the feature film. Lots of historical accuracies in that thing. I only mention it because, when your dreams of getting a ticket to the smash hit musical Hamilton are inevitably dashed to pieces, youâll need something to watch. Try your shot at the $10 Ham4Ham lottery!
7:30 pm, Keller Auditorium, $80-500
The Regrettes, Mt. Eddy
The Regrettesâ 2017 debut LP Feel Your Feelings Fool! soundtracks the confusion, angst, and rebellion of adolescence with punky doo-wop that sources inspiration from Amy Winehouse, Bleached, and Shannon and the Clams. Across 15 tracks with straightforward lyrics and cathartic guitar riffs, the Los Angeles band revolts against daily brushes with the patriarchy; Frontwoman Lydia Night sings about societal expectations (âA Living Human Girlâ), double standards (âLadylike/WHATTA BITCHâ), kicking asses in a skirt (âSeashoreâ), and the dangers of comparing herself to other women (âPicture Perfectâ). Feel Your Feelings Fool! is the kind of album I wish Iâd heard as a teenager, lightyears before I knew anything about gender roles or feminism. May the Regrettes empower the next generation. CIARA DOLAN
7 pm, The Analog Cafe & Little Theater, $12-14, all ages
L.A. Salami, Cat Clyde
Acclaimed English singer/songwriter Lookman Adekunle Salami, better known by his stage name L.A. Salami, brings his entrancing blend of folk, blues, and pop music to the Mississippi Studios stage for an intimate Portland stop on his first American tour.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14
The Thing
John Carpenterâs 1982 classic, starring a very hairy Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, and an exploding dog head. Well, it doesnât so much explode as it peels back like a self-opening banana, revealing a glistening, snarling Lovecraftian horror full of snaking tubes and hissing malevolence. This is only the fourth- or fifth-most horrifying and unnerving thing in the film, which is a tidal wave of unrelenting paranoia so effective it took most people a good decade-plus to get over their initial revulsion and (correctly) rate it as one of the best horror films ever made. BOBBY ROBERTS
9:40 pm, Laurelhurst Theater, $3-4
Phone Call, My Body, Super City
A pair of beloved Portland duos bring some dancey R&B and synth-pop sounds down to the Liquor Store basement after Baltimore's Super City get the party started with their guitar-driven pop and choreographed live show.
9 pm, The Liquor Store, $7
Wednesday, Mar 21
Political Gabfest: Live in Portland
Political Gabfest is the most reliably informative weekly podcast about US politics, and theyâre taping a show right here in Portland! Join host David Plotz (of Atlas Obscura), and his partners in banter Emily Bazelon (of the New York Times Magazine) and John Dickerson (the freshly minted co-host of CBS This Morning) as they tackle the big issues and lovingly bicker with one another. If you canât get into tonightâs sold-out taping, you can always listen to the podcast laterâunless they pull a Lovett or Leave It and forget to air the damn thing. NED LANNAMANN
7:30 pm, Revolution Hall, $35, all ages
George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Miss Velvet & the Blue Wolf
People! What'cha doin? Shit! Goddamn! Get off your ass and jam! I said SHIT. GODDAMN. GET OFF YOUR ASS AND JAM.
8 pm, Roseland, $35-60
Drunken Palms, Soft Butch, Conditioner
Drunken Palmsâ sweet trepidation makes their music accessible and digestible but still eerie and impassioned. EMMA BURKE
9 pm, The Fixin' To
The Brothers Billygoat, Ice Princess, Indira Valey
We're blessed with beauty around Portland in so many ways. For me, the opportunity to catch the audio/visual performance of local trio Billygoat ranks pretty high on that list. David Klein and Nick Woolley relocated the project from Los Angeles to Portland back in 2009. The duo performs lush live scores using harp, keyboards, and percussion, while projecting some of the most beautifully intricate stop-motion films you'll ever lay eyes on. When they aren't out touring or giving a TED Talk performance, I imagine them laboring non-stop in some remote workshop, cluttered with photos and cutouts resembling the fragments of a dream world. When they do find the time to step out and play a show like this, you owe it to yourself to be there to witness it. CHIPP TERWILLIGER
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $8
Elizabeth George
The bestselling British mystery author returns with The Punishment She Deserves, chronicling the latest crime solving adventures of Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Inspector Thomas Lynley.
7 pm, Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, free
Thursday, Mar 22
Ought, Flasher, Ora Cogan
You ought not to miss Ought. The Montreal art-punkers wield a rigid, tightly coiled sound that has echoes of new wave and post-punk, particularly in Tim Darcyâs arch vocal delivery, but theyâve smartly and successfully reframed those tropes for the 21st century. Their new album (and first for indie powerhouse Merge Records), Room Inside the World, has echoes of Morrissey, Scott Walker, and James, but Oughtâs sound is entirely their own. NED LANNAMANN
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $13-15
Superorganism, Helena Deland
The mysterious Maine/London-based indie pop collective bring their experimental sounds out west for a headlining show at the Doug Fir Lounge.
9 pm, Doug Fir, $12-14
A$AP Ferg, Denzel Curry, IDK
A$AP Ferg shares stories about home and family without losing his signature edge (âHungry Ham,â an ode to his neighborhood, is a banger in the truest sense of the word), and raps about navigating the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The A$AP Mob oozes coolness, so itâs nice to hear a member of the hip-hop collective reminding us that heâs just a normal guy who used to work day jobs before he started donning Alexander Wang and meticulously curating his Instagram account. EMMA BURKE
8 pm, Roseland, $29.50, all ages
Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin's Let's Get Awkward tour returns to Portland, giving the comedian and former Daily Show correspondent the chance to showcase his eccentric brand of stand-up and his fabulous mop-top haircut all weekend long at Helium Comedy Club.
8 pm, Helium Comedy Club, $35
The Woolen Men, XDS
Portland DIY punk and indie rock staples the Woolen Men split a co-headlined bill with XDS (FKA Experimental Dental School), the long-running experimental psych-pop duo spearheaded by guitarist/vocalist/sampler Jesse Hall and drummer Shoko Horikawa.
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $10
Annihilation
Today is probably your last good chance to catch a theatrical screening of this powerfully thought-provoking piece of freakish work from writer/director Alex Garland. Is it a treatise on depression? An allegory for fighting cancer? A musing on the futility of finding a larger purpose in life? Just a fucking weird river of nightmarish imagery drowning your senses like drinking a whole bathtub of moonshine as prepared by H.R. Giger and Lisa Frank? Maybe it's all those things, shot through a kaleidoscope and metastasizing in your imagination as you experience it. But it's certainly not gonna be the same on a smaller screen. See it big while you can.
Various Theaters, see Movie Times for showtimes and locations
Mujahedeen, Motherhood, Cry Babe
Ali Muhareb's Mujahedeen has come pretty far over the past few years. What started out as a solo project has since brought in more members and completely revamped its sound. Muhareb's vision began as a reverb-heavy outburst of electronic noise, but has since transitioned into jazzier psych territory. It also experiments with post-hardcore thatâs as emotive as Mewithoutyou, with much groovier rhythms than Jawbox. CERVANTE POPE
8 pm, The Fixin' To, $7
Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!
