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FRIDAY, SEPT. 29
Insane Clown Posse
Look, you've gotta see Insane Clown Posse at least once in your life, and given the goodwill flowing toward them right now in the wake of the Juggalo march in D.C., there's never been a better time for your Faygo baptismal. Trust us, it's an experience you'll tell your grandkids about. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., 503-206-7630, bossanovaballroom.com. 7 pm. $26. All ages.
Richie Hawtin Pours You Sake
For whatever reason, Detroit-via-Canada techno superstar Richie Hawtin will just be hangin' at Afuri, pouring you flights of his personally curated sake brand Enter.Sake, which enlists ancient breweries all over Japan to please the personal palate of Mr. Richie Hawtin. Afuri, 923 SE 7th Ave., 503-468-5001. 7-9:30 pm.
Gwendolyn Oxenham with Portland Thorn Allie Long
Back in 2004, when journalist Gwendolyn Oxenham played futebol feminino in soccer-loving Brazil, her team had to hitchhike to practice and share their practice field with a horse. More recently, the World Cup-winning U.S. women's team sued to get equal pay with a men's team that just got their asses handed to them by Costa Rica. She'll appear at Powell's with Portland Thorns and national-team midfielder Allie Long, whose story figures large in Oxenham's new book Under the Lights and in the Dark, about women' soccer all over the world. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.
Janet Jackson
After postponing her tour twice to have a baby at the age of 50, Janet Jackson is finally hitting Portland in support of her now 2-year-old album, Unbreakable, a welcome comeback record that makes up for the disasters of Damita Jo and Discipline. Just ignore the fact that she sounds eerily like her deceased brother on a couple tracks. Moda Center, 1 N Center Court St., 503-235-8771, rosequarter.com/venue/moda-center. 8 pm. $25-$215. All ages.
Degenerate Art Ensemble and Mizu Desierto
Two of the Pacific Northwest's strangest contemporary artists are performing new works in the same show. With the help of film and immersive staging as well as movement, the works will be more like extremely abstract storytelling than a traditional dance show. The Headwaters Theatre, 55 NE Farragut St., witd.org. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, Sept. 29-30. $5-$30.
Fun Home
Adapted from Alison Bechdel's graphical memoir, the Tony-award winning musical tries to make sense of the cartoonist's complicated relationship with her closeted gay father, Bruce. Propelled by goofy, singalong anthems, Fun Home switches between three different stages of Bechdel's life. There's Alison (Aida Valentine) growing up in the funeral home where her father enforced heteronormativism on his daughter. There's Alison at college (Sara Masterson), who transforms from nervous and slumped shouldered, to belting out love songs as she discovers her sexuality and falls for a classmate named Joan (Kristen DiMercurio). Then there's Alison the narrator, the successful cartoonist behind Dykes to Watch Out For, and who's attempting to understand her father through jumbled memories. At the end of the play, Bruce remains a mystery to Alison. But Fun Home's yearning for understanding imbues even the most uncertain and difficult moments with tenderness. Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th Ave., pcs.org. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Sunday, noon Thursday, 2 pm Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 22-Oct. 22. $25-$70.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 30
Fresh Hops Fest
Miss the parking lot pop-up last week? This is your last big Portland chance for fresh hops, and it's a doozy. Seventy Oregon breweries will be pouring their farm-fresh, straight-from-the-hopper beers at Oaks Park both Friday and Saturday, including a fresh hop hazy from Great Notion. Read the brews we're most excited to drink here. Oaks Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, noon-8 pm. $20 for glass and 8 tasters. Starts Friday at 5 pm.
Beylesque
For the third year, Pink Hanky is staging their burlesque and performance art tribute to Beyoncé. Striptease and Queen Bey may sound like a heteronormative version of empowerment, but Pink Hanky is a queer art production team, and some of the funds will go to Ori, a gallery upstart that showcases works by queer artists of color. Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 503-286-9449, disjecta.org. 8 pm. $22.
Months, the Wild Body, Mujahedeen
On their second album, Black Hats For War, indie rock four-piece Months tighten up their strong points while ramping up their discordant freak-out side. Even when Months open "Month" with dissonance and bazillion BPM pounding, they still manage to create a sense of tension thick enough to make the louder, inherently more gratifying moments feel rapturous. Read our full review of Black Hats For War here. The Know, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., theknowpdx.com. 8 pm. $6. 21+.
Maximum Mad, Norska, Greenriver Thrillers, Drunk Dad
Between bassist and vocalist Smith, guitarist and backing vocalist David Mullis, guitarist Mark Bassett and drummer Travis Wisner, Maximum Mad's members have done time in upwards of 10 other bands that hail from all over the spectrum, but share one attribute: "We all come from noisy-loud," Smith says. Maximum Mad certainly checks that box. The band's first release, the Dear Enemy EP, opens with a squall of feedback before blazing ahead into an astonishingly catchy assault of in-your-face riffs and cyclical grooves that doesn't relent until closer "Obscene Gestures" concludes with—guess what?—more feedback. Grimy but melodic, shouty but not screechy or growly, thick but not sludgy, this should appeal to anyone who doesn't let their extreme tastes get in the way of appreciating pop melodicism and a sense of humor. Read our feature on Maximum Mad here. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., with , . 8:30 pm. $7 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Chinatown
Shady environmental politics provide the backbone for one of Jack Nicholson's most iconic roles. Chinatown screens as the only fiction film in this year's EcoFilm Fest, even though the water supply thievery is kind of eclipsed by the fucking crazy ending. Instead of shrugging their shoulders at the moral implications of screening a Roman Polanski movie, the theater and festival will donate 20 percent of the proceeds to the domestic violence hotline Call to Safety. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, hollywoodtheatre.org. 9 pm. $9. Portland EcoFilm Festival is Sept. 28-Oct. 1. See the full schedule at portlandecofilmfest.org.
Cool Nutz, Rasheed Jamal, Mooky, Juma blaQ, DJ Fatboy
Call Cool Nutz an old-head if you want. He won't take offense. Portland hip-hop's Mayor for Life accepted his elder statesman status long ago, and it's a role fully embraces on Terrance, his 11th album. Musically, Nutz doesn't try to keep up with the young 'uns, sticking with the slow-rolling West Coast production that best suits his measured, no-nonsense delivery. Read our full review of Terrance here. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., ashstreetsaloon.com. 9:30 pm. $12 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 31
Buckman Backyard Party
Bar Casa Vale, Biwa and Danwei Canting are having a huge-ass block party in the Casa Vale/Biwa parking lot, along with nearby nearby BaseCamp brewing. There will be DJs. There will be grills and steamers on the patio. There will be killer cocktails from Casa Vale. And there will be sake. Sunday is nice. Bar Casa Vale, 215 SE 9th Ave., #109, 503-477-9081. 2 pm-7 pm.
The Broken Consort
This debut concert by a group of early music specialists recently relocated from Boston and New York to Portland takes listeners on a journey through the rich, turbulent history of American music, played on appropriate instruments. A traditional piece from Great Plains tribes represents pre-European music, while 16th century Latin American songs reflect the Spanish-indigenous American collision. A work for Ngoni, the ancient West African stringed instrument brought to Virginia by slaves, marks the beginning of the greatest contribution to American music, from Africans and their descendants. Colonial conquest shows up in the first song written by a composer born in the American colonies and 18th century choral works by the first great Anglo-American composer, William Billings. The journey continues with early folk music, including shape note hymns, a set of tunes by the greatest American composer of the 19th century, Stephen Foster, up to the West Coast premiere of Douglas Buchanan's 2016 composition Green Field of Amerikay. The Hallowed Halls, 4420 SE 64th Ave., 503-319-8329. 2 pm Sunday, Oct 1. $50, free for Big Mouth Society members. All ages.
Manhattan Short Film Festival
Picked from thousands of international submissions, the third year of the Manhattan Short Film Festival will screen 10 narrative short films from 10 different countries. To make it even more global, it will also play in cities on almost every continent on the same day. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 503-238-5588, cstpdx.org. 4 pm. $7-$10 sliding scale.
Tank and the Bangas
It's impossible to watch Tank and the Bangas' winning entry from this year's NPR Tiny Desk Contest and not see stars in the making. Led by singer and slam-poet Tarriona Ball, the New Orleans six-piece foregrounds her shape-shifting vocals and narrative storytelling against elastic funk-and-soul grooves that play equally to fans of Chance the Rapper and public radio listeners. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., startheaterportland.com. 7:30 pm. Sold out. 21+.