Willamette Weekend: 14 Things to Do and See in Portland February 10-12

Get down to some house music, sip on dark beers and enjoy a film festival or two.

(Zach Cordner)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10

Famine Fest

Posers beware—this weekend, the Bossanova Ballroom will get loud, filthy and darker than Hell when teeming hordes of bullet-belt-wearing metalheads assemble for one of Portland's most extreme metal festivals. If there's a headliner, it's Canadian war-metal act Revenge, whose music sounds something like a firing range inside of a jet engine. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., faminefest.com. $30/day. Through Saturday. Doors 6 pm.

Portland International Film Festival

[FILM] Ah, the Portland International Film Festival. A time to watch midbudget dramas about finding true love in Tunisia (Hedi) or aggressively silly Euro comedies about Jesus reborn as a pain-in-the-ass teenager (The Son of Joseph). A time for documentaries—many, many documentaries. See our preview here, and a full schedule of the festival here.

Live the Revolution

[BIKE STORIES] If there's one thing bike people might like as much as riding their bikes, it's talking about them. The Street Trust's annual Live the Revolution is a storytelling night of all cycling-related narratives, plus it's a benefit for the Safe Routes to School program. Alberta Abbey, 126 NE Alberta St., thestreettrust.org. 7:30 pm. $15.

Trifles and Dutchman Opening Weekend

[THEATER] Defunkt Theatre's double bill of one-act plays serves as a sort of history lesson in radical social politics in theater. The 1916 Trifles is a murder mystery that criticizes gender politics, and the 1964 Dutchman deals with race through an encounter of a black man and white woman on the subway. Defunkt Theatre, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-974-4938, defunktheatre.com. 7:30 pm. $15-$20. Through March 18.

Interlude 

[BALLET] PDX Contemporary Ballet has put together a six-way bill of works by choreographers who hail from Portland all the way to Boston. Five of the six works will be world premieres, and the lineup is as diverse as it is extensive. Plus, there will be performances by violinist Tomoki Martens. CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., pdxcb.com. 7:30 PM Friday-Saturday. $15-$30. Also at 2:30 pm on Sunday. 

Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue

(David Kinder)

[THEATER] The first play in Profile Theatre's season of works by playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue depicts a mashup of war times across three generations that's more about the memory of war than war itself. Read our review hereProfile Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., profiletheatre.org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, through Feb. 19. Additional show 7:30 pm Wednesday, Feb. 15. $20-$36.

The Pillowman

[THEATER] Two brothers, two cops, countless child murders and 400 stories populate the first play  produced by Life in Arts Productions theater company. Set in a police state, The Pillowman is about the interrogation of a fiction writer named Katurian, whose gruesome stories have an uncanny resemblance to real-life murders. See our interview with Benjamin Philip, a founding member of Life In Arts Productions, hereHeadwaters Theatre, 55 NE Farragut St. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 10-25. $10-$15.

The Portland Black Film Festival

(courtesy of American International Pictures)

[FILM] Returning for a fifth year at the Hollywood Theatre as racial tension is at a nationwide boiling point, the Portland Black Film Festival comes at a glorious time for black cinema despite its unfortunate relegation to the shadows of the mainstream. Read our preview here.

Paul Aster

[BOOKS] The advance press for Paul Auster's new novel, 4 3 2 1, is in some ways reminiscent of the press that came out for David Foster Wallace's seminal work, Infinite Jest. Both are physically imposing tomes, and both are wildly ambitious in their conception and execution. Auster's novel tells the stories of four boys made of identical DNA who go on divergent life paths. As the threads repeat, we see their different successes and failures in careers, romances, and athletic prowess. This could be the tipping point in Auster's career. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.   

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11

Felix da Housecat

(Zach Cordner)

[CHICAGO IN DA HOUSE] One of house music's long-running ambassadors, Felix da Housecat has been putting the four down on the floor for his hometown of Chicago since the mid-'80s. But he's far from a stodgy traditionalist—see 2015's Narrative of Thee Blast Illusion, a dance record made to move hearts and brains as much as feet. 45 East, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 45eastpdx.com. 10 pm. $10 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.

Heart of Darkness Imperial Stout Festival

[STOUT FEST] Dark times call for darker beer. The third anniversary of Imperial Taproom's Heart of Darkness features 15 world-class imperial stouts, ranging from cellared rarities to well-established classics. Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom, 3090 SE Division St., 971-302-6899, imperialbottleshop.com. Noon-midnight. Free admission, $5 for a commemorative glass, $2 per 4-ounce pour.

The Slants, Neon Culpa, Shadowlands

The Slants. IMAGE: Sarah Giffrow.

[RESISTANCE ROCK] Fresh off a U.S. Supreme Court visit—the peak of its ongoing battle to trademark its name—dance-rock outfit the Slants is back in its native Portland. The Asian-American quartet has been actively involved in the case since 2010, pushing to reclaim a racist term and use it for good. Fittingly, the band just released The Band Who Must Not Be Named, a high-energy EP of rousing guitar hooks and bouncy pop structures. Stick it to the man while dancing your ass off. Dante's, 350 W Burnside St., 503-226-6630. 9 pm. $8. 21+.

Sour for Valentines

[SOUR BEER] Let the lovebirds have their chocolate and roses. You will know the sweet, sweet pleasure of sours from one of Belgium's greatest brewers. The Abbey will have a takeover from Rodenbach featuring some of the greatest farmhouse beers around, including rarities like Caractere Rouge and Alexander you may never see again in town. Which means the sours will also be bittersweet. Abbey Bar, 1650 NW 23rd Ave., theabbeybar.com.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12

Wild Fermentation

[LET'S PICKLE THAT!] Sandor Ellix Katz calls himself a fermentation revivalist. He's the OG macrobiotic pickler of everything since his book, Wild Fermentation, (now in its second edition) first dropped in 2003, the first kraut fanatic to be largely nonthreatening, and also an HIV-positive queer man who believes fermentation has helped him heal. His newest book, The Art of Fermentation, netted him a Beard Award, and will also teach you how to pickle that. He'll appear with local food author and Hawthorne Books editor Liz Crain. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St.,
800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.

 

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