Willamette Weekend: 14 Things to Do and See In Portland March 11-13

Watch WW's Best New Band, a cat rapper at PAM or Portland's new mohawked mayoral candidate get some late-night action.

FRIDAY, MARCH 11

(Matt Wong) (Matt Wong)

Willamette Week's Best New Band Showcase: Chanti Darling, Cat Hoch, Mic Capes

[LOCAL MUSIC VANGUARD] Dare we say this is the most eclectic Best New Band Showcase ever? We're just going to say that. Whether you want to two-step to '80s-gazing R&B, trip out to some heavenly psychedelic rock or throw your hands up for the hardest-hitting hip-hop in town, there's something for you on the bill. And if none of that interests you, certainly you'll enjoy watching a music editor attempt to speak publicly between bands. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. Free. 21+.

Esperanza Spalding presents Emily's D+Evolution

[NU SOULJAZZ] It's no longer acoustic jazz, torch songs and relatively traditional R&B for former Portland bassist and surprise Grammy-winner Esperanza Spalding. She's moved into—and maybe beyond—21st-century nu soul and rock stuff. Luckily, though, Emily's D+Evolution, her latest effort as a bandleader, is handled with the same sort of grace that led to her touring and working in ensembles helmed by veteran jazzbos like Joe Lovano. "Unconditional Love," the second track on her new disc, insinuates a funky drummer and descending guitar figures into a work that's bound to find a wider audience than some of her more traditional jazz and soul workouts. DAVE CANTOR. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 8 pm. $35 advance, $38 day of show. 21+.

The Patrick Lamb Band

[SOUL MAN] Vocalist-saxophonist Patrick Lamb may have made his home in Portland, but he was born in Mississippi, and it shows. An energetic musician with a distinctly Southern charm, Lamb blends country choruses with roaring tenor-sax solos, as though the Boss and Clarence Clemons were one and the same. Performing selections from his latest Billboard-charting release, It's All Right Now, Lamb will bring the funk to Jimmy Mak's for an evening, skirting the club's normal post-bop fare—and rousing a few AARP members out of their chairs in the process. PARKER HALL. Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Ave., 295-6542. 8 pm. $12. Under 21 permitted until 9:30 pm.

SATURDAY, MARCH 12

Moshow Moshow – photo by WW staff

Moshow

By his own admission, Dwayne Molock has always been a little weird. "I grew up in the projects," he says, "so I was rapping gangster stuff and pretending a life that I didn't really live." After a while, he put down the mic. "I just didn't feel comfortable rapping about things I didn't do," he says. Now living in Portland, he's returned to music, and this time, he raps about what he knows and what he loves. He raps about cats. Read about his visit to the WW office. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 1 and 1:30 pm. Free with museum admission. All ages.

Baker's Dozen Fest

[TREAT YO'SELF] Beer writer Brian Yaeger will put on his second annual coffee, beer and doughnut fest at Culmination Brewing, with more than 10 doughnut makers, including Tonalli's and Delicious (which are delicious), and coffee brews from a grip of breweries, including newcomers Great Notion and Labrewatory. If you get too wired on the coffee, try to sneak a pint of the Phaedrus—it ranked fourth in Portland in a blind taste test of IPAs. Culmination Brewing, 2117 NE Oregon St., 971-258-2808. 10 am. $24 for 13 beer tasters and 13 doughnut samples.

Dusty Santamaria

[FOLK ORIGIN] Strange as he may seem upon first glance, the guy is nothing if not an artist, and everything most folk singers claim to be—at least as origin stories go. Santamaria has released two solo albums, Existential Detective Rock n Roll and Now That I've Stopped Killing… Vocally, Santamaria's closest analogue is early Dylan, but the instrumentation is more a Southern-Creole-voodoo hybrid. Melodic lines follow well-tread territory from the bourbon- and Beaujolais-splattered American Songbook. Read the full article. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., with Kulululu and Love/Fuck. 8 pm. $5. 21+.

Junior Boys, Jessy Lanza, Borys

[AFTER-HOURS ELECTRONICA] It's hard to believe that Last Exit was released over 10 years ago. Junior Boys' hushed electro-pop debut was somewhat of an anomaly back then, overshadowed in the hipstersphere by heaping helpings of indie rock. The Canadian duo has hardly been proficient since then, having just released Big Black Coat after five years of silence. It's not quite an opus, but the record certainly reflects Junior Boys' mastery of downtempo, electro-lounge grooves, highlighted by a crafty reimagination of Bobby Caldwell's smooth-as-marble 1978 hit, "What You Won't Do for Love." MARK STOCK. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 248-4700. 9 pm. $17. 21+.

Late Night Action

[POLI-COMEDY] Politicians need late night action too. Alex Falcone hosts US Senator Jeff Merkley and mohawked mayoral candidate/punk drummer Bim Ditson, soundtracked by The Minders and XRAY.fm's DJ Bobby D. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 7 pm. $15.

Nightfell, Torture Rack, Shrine of the Serpent

[DEATH DOOM] Guitarist Todd Burdette and drummer Tim Call are two of the stalwart figures in Portland's underground doom scene. Both have poured years of blood and sweat into a decadent cavalcade of misanthropic metal bands, finally coming together on the collaborative Nightfell project. The duo's excellent second album, Darkness Evermore, slithered out in 2015, and features increasingly well-crafted, melodic, blackened death doom that fans of Asphyx, Bolt Thrower and Candlemass would do well to imbibe. This show marks the local debut of Nightfell's live incarnation, which expands the studio team into a full group. NATHAN CARSON. Panic Room, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. 9 pm. $8. 21+.

SUNDAY, MARCH 13

Amy Miller, Sean Jordan (Thomas Teal)

Amy Miller and Sean Jordan's Going Away Party

[GOODBYE, FUNNY GUYS] WW's Funniest Five veterans Sean Jordan and Amy Miller are the the latest Portland comic sacrifices to Los Angeles. Whoever's left will either be backing them or watching their sets at this send-off. House band the White Guys—made up of members of the Decemberists, the Thermals, Weinland and Great Wilderness—will play the swan song. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $15-$17. Minors allowed with a legal guardian.

Daniel Clowes

[COMICS] With a mastery of visual styles ranging from '50s ads to Mad magazine marginalia, Clowes is probably the best-known name in whatever we're supposed to call non-superhero, non-Garfield comics. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., powells.com. 2 pm. Free.

Giant Screening for Elizabeth Taylor's Birthday

This year's annual Elizabeth Taylor birthday celebration is the most poignant yet. Hosted by Laela Wilding, a Portland graphic designer who also happens to be Taylor's granddaughter, the celebration doubles as a way to carry on the star's philanthropic mission and honor her Giant co-star Rock Hudson, whose death at age 59 made him one of the first—and most public—stars to die of AIDS complications. The party will benefit two HIV-oriented groups (Our House of Portland and Nkosi's Haven in South Africa). Hollywood Theatre. 2 pm. $15.

Justin Bieber

[POP] Did you know it's cool to like Justin Bieber now? It's true. Our cultural gatekeepers have deemed it so. Granted, it has little to do with anything he's actually done, and pretty much everything to do with Skrillex and Diplo turning his voice into a synthesized pan flute. Still, that trio of addictively breezy singles—"What Do You Mean," "Where Are U Now" and "Sorry"—repositioned the semi-reformed Canadian bad boy as an artist rather than a celebrity. Alas, outside of those aforementioned songs, Purpose, his recent "adult" coming-out, is littered with snoozy forays into contemporary R&B, and at least one cringeworthy attempt at social commentary. On second thought, maybe it's not actually cool to like Justin Bieber. Maybe it's that he's just respectable enough to dislike for his music, rather than his past bouts of petulant affluenza. But hey, it's a start. MATTHEW SINGER. Moda Center, 1 N Center Court St., 235-8771. 7:30 pm. $50.50-$116. All ages.

Saison Greeting

[DRINK] In a now-expected rite of spring, Bazi will tap a whole slew of saisons—whether local and brand-new like brews from Clackamas' Drinking Horse and Portland's Ruse and Culmination, or far-flung and ancient like De Glazen Toren Saison d'Erpe-Mere and Du Bocq Saison 1858 from Belgium. The domestic flight is $8, foreign is $12. Get both, and you will sound very… cultured. Bazi Bierbrasserie, 1522 SE 32nd Ave., bazipdx.com. 1-9 pm.

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