Wednesday July 1top

Hammer of Hathor, DINNER & The Maincourse, Talbot Tagora, Why I Must Be Careful

[HARDLY ART-PUNK] Crammed into the middle of a bill of local Portland talent, Seattle punks Talbot Tagora may not stick out. But one listen to its forthcoming debut, which drops July 21 via Sub Pop subsidiary Hardly Art, and you’ll know that its set will be showstopping. The practically teenaged trio offers arty, fuzzy tracks that are as intense as they are intriguing. With muffled lyrics, muddy layers of dueling guitar drones and tense, spare rhythms that mask an accessible pop core, this three-piece, which takes its name from a no-longer-in-production European car, could be No Age’s kid siblings. So catch them now, while it still only costs you six bucks. REBECCA RABER. 8:30 pm. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. $6. All ages. Map

DJ Alex Hollywood

  C.C. Slaughters, 219 NW Davis St., 248-9135. Map

Stoneface Honey

  8pm. Chaos Cafe & Parlor, 2620 SE Powell Blvd., 546-8112. $3. 21+. Map

Obscured By Clouds, Echo Helstrom, ARZ

  Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. Map

Hate Of The City

  East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. Map

The Remedy Open Mic Variety Show

  Fez Ballroom, 316 SW 11th Ave., 221-7262. Map

Monorail, Remy & Lamar, Patricia Furpurse

  9 pm. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. FREE. Map

The Phoenix Variety Revue, Boscoe's Brood, The Caps

  Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington St., 228-3669. Map

Canoe (9 pm); Michelle Medler Quartet

  9 pm. Mississippi Pizza, 3552 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3231. Map

Pentagram, Nachtmystium, Danava, Witch Mountain

  8 pm. Satyricon, 125 NW 6th Ave., 227-0999. $16 in advance, $18 at door. Map

The Dicers, Voodoo Swing, Hawthorne

  9 pm. Slabtown, 1033 NW 16th Ave., 223-0099. Map

DJ Common Denominator With Chris Riser

  8pm. TeaZone and Camellia Lounge, 510 NW 11th Ave., 221-2130. No Cover. Map

Remedy Blue

  8:30 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. Map

Thursday July 2top

At Dusk, Team Evil, Alan Singley, Michael Rockstar

See profile, coming soon. 7:30 pm. Artistery, 4315 SE Division St., 803-5942. $6. All ages. Map

XOTICA-GO-GO, DJs Kenoy and Mr. MuMu, The World Famous XOTICA-GO-GO Dancers!

  Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. FREE. Map

DJ Kenoy

  Devils Point, 5305 SE Foster Road., 774-4513. Map

Nurses, Y La Bamba, Morning Teleportation

[PDX POP! WOW] Two of our recently crowned Best New Bands of 2009, Nurses and Y La Bamba, are giving latecomers yet another chance to see why they have risen to the top in a town that’s as saturated with interesting new bands as it is with rain. First get lost in the winsome guitars of the entrancing, Latin-kissed folk rock of Y La Bamba, the sextet led by the imposing (in both stature and voice) Luz Elena Mendoza. And then preview the loopy, Animal Collective-ish psych-rock tunes from Nurses’ forthcoming debut, Apple’s Acre, before it drops on Aug. 4 via Indiana-based indie Dead Oceans. You can’t say we didn’t warn you. REBECCA RABER. 9 pm. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. $8. 21+. Map

Stumptown Family Showcase: Pep Assembly, LAKE, Hello Damascus, Jonathan and Lisa, D.L. Sparks, DJ Hostile Tapeover

[PAJAMA JAMZ] Even in the midst of a very solid local lineup, LAKE stands out. Not just because the folk-pop-soul group is actually from up north in Olympia, Wash., or because it spells its name in all-caps, but because LAKE is one of our favorite Nortwhest groups. The Washingtonians take genteel and slightly twee folk pop and give it a funky-ass backbeat. This is why we forgive LAKE, just back from a successful European tour, for occasionally rocking sweatpants onstage. CASEY JARMAN. 8 pm. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. Free. 21+. Map

Loose Change And Friends

  6:30 pm. Mississippi Pizza, 3552 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3231. Map

The Helping Hands, Metrowest, The Augmentors, Rainstick Cowbell

  9 pm. Red Room, 2530 NE 82nd Ave., 256-3399. $2. Map

Necrophagist, Suffocation, Ensiferum, Darkest Hour, Winds of Plague, Dying Fetus, Born of Osiris, Origin, After the Burial, Blackguard

[SEVEN-STRING SAMURAI] Not, alas, the "Summer Laughter Tour"—sun-dappled whimsy; would’ve been nice—the Summer Slaughter Tour's third onslaught upon the Western world (including, this year, Australia and New Zealand) headlines German death-metal troupe Necrophagist. The band plays precise, brutal prog-rom rock overseen by Turk expat Muhammed Suicmez who, evidently bored shredding fret-heads’ minds through trad proficiency, switched to seven-string custom models. Satan’s in the details. JAY HORTON. 3 pm. Roseland, 8 NW 6th Ave., 219-9929 (Grill), 224-2038 (Theater). $25 advance, $28 day of show. All ages. Map

The Fix: Rev. Shines, Ohmega Watts, DJ Kez, DJ Dundiggy

  9 pm. Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 248-1030. FREE. Map

Hexasion, The OO-Ray

  6:30 pm. Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 248-1030. FREE. Map

Karaoke from Hell

  Tiger Bar, 317 NW Broadway., 467-4111. 21+. Map

The Hard To Get

  9 pm. Twilight Cafe & Bar, 1420 SE Powell Blvd., 232-3576. $3. Map

Colin Lake And Wellbottom, Alex Weed

  8:30 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. FREE. Map

Will West & The Friendly Strangers

  5:30 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. FREE. Map

Bilal, Liv Warfield, Tony Ozier

[SEXY HIP-HOP] In the name of neo-soul stud-muffin-lovers everywhere, it's probably a good idea for the ladies to bring an extra pair (or two) of clean undergarments to the Wonder Ballroom tonight. Bilal’s sugar-saturated red-velvet-cake crooning—think Maxwell and D’Angelo—combined with his crazy live show antics, are warm enough to melt sticks of frozen butter. Commanding R&B Queen Liv Warfield’s strong pipes warrant her own frantic fanbase, and talented multi-musician Tony Ozier’s "funky dookie jamboree" (his words) will set the evening’s sweat-fest tone. SARA MOSKOVITZ. 8 pm. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. $20 advance, $25 day of show. 21+. Map

Friday July 3top

Experimental Dental School, Fist Fite, Double Dagger

  7 pm. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. $8. Map

MarchFourth Marching Band, Wanderlust Circus

[BEDLAM] Since 2006, the Wanderlust Circus has used its resilient oddity as a magnet to pull all manners of strangeness into its semiannual circuses. In truth, the collection of acrobats, musicians, stilt-walkers and top-hat aficionados involved with Wanderlust creates something that straddles the gap between “circus” and “performance art,” but the festivities are generally carried out with enough bombast to lump the event into the former category. Regular participants MarchFourth Marching Band are so perfectly suited for this bedlam that it’s almost frightening. SHANE DANAHER. 8 pm. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., (503) 206-7630. $17 advance, $22 at the door. 21+. Map

Pocketrock-It, Stormy

  10 pm. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. Map

DJ Alex Hollywood

  C.C. Slaughters, 219 NW Davis St., 248-9135. Map

Berlin, The Prids, Kleveland, Pitchfork Motorway

[WEIMART] Orange County bands best known for soundtracking archetypal '80s Tom Cruise romantic montages don’t ordinarily garner much more than the wages of nostalgia. Pop act Berlin wasn’t actually European, mind, and chanteuse Terri Nunn begrudgingly popularized a proto electroclash only after a proper acting career floundered (Princess Leia screen test be damned), and it took VH1 to remind the seemingly ageless Nunn of her fanbase more than a decade after the band’s implosion. She’s embraced the Dietrich role, nonetheless, employing a backing retinue of cutesy acolytes and exploiting pansexual lyrical nudges from early singles to the applause of a new generation that avoids fairgrounds. Suppose the Top Gun ballad rather helps, these days. JAY HORTON. 9:30 pm. Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. $18 advance, $20 day of show. 21+. Map

Albino, Lafa Taylor

[AMERICAN AFRO-BEAT] The great Nigerian world-beat pioneer Fela Kuti's offspring, Femi and Seun, have continued their dad's Afropop legacy, but Fela's punchy, horn-driven sound has also spread to American bands like Bay Area dance/music dectet Albino, whose politically charged, percussion- and horn-boosted polyrhythms and choreographed stage show make every concert a dance party. BRETT CAMPBELL. 9 pm. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+. Map

Recreation B-Day Blowout With DJs Lifepartner & Automaton

  Dunes, 1905 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 493-8637. Map

Diesto, Prize Hog, Party Killer

It was a weird, fucked-up world the Butthole Surfers lived in. If you grew up on alt-rock radio like I did, your first (and hopefully not last) impression of the band was the meandering 1996 hit "Pepper." But just eight years earlier, the Surfers were one of the most creative experimental-rock bands around—an outfit equally known for creating adventurous music as for taking expansive drugs. San Francisco's Prize Hog surely noted this, as the band takes the abandon of the Surfers and combines it with the heaviness and rumbling low-end of the Melvins to make some of the most interesting and sludgy pysch rock around. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. 9 pm. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. $5. 21+. Map

Welcome Home Walker, The Trap, The Spurts

  8pm. Hungry Tiger Too, 207 SE 12th Ave., 238-4321. $5. 21+. Map

Dudes of Chaos, Swim Swam Swum, Deer or the Doe

[THE CRUNKEST] Every band ought to involve conjugations of a single word. But aside from having the best name in town, Swim Swam Swum reminds me of growing up under an older brother with exceptional taste in music. Never allowed to listen to anything else, I was fed a steady diet of Pond, Faith No More and Pavement—three early-’90s bands. The band is destructive, animalistic and commanding, the kind of qualities that make for an incredibly eventful live show, especially within the close-and-personal confines of Kelly’s. MARK STOCK. 10 pm. Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington St., 228-3669. $5. 21+. Map

'80s Video Dance Attack: VJ Kittyrox

  Lola's Room at the Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. All ages. Map

Sam Hirsch & Friends

  10 pm. McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., 669-8610. FREE. Map

Sonny Hess & Lisa Mann

  7 pm. McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., 669-8610. FREE. Map

Musee Mecanique, Nick Jaina Band, Brittain Ashford

[TIME OF THE SEASON] I like listening to music when it's out of season. For local electronic folk outfit Musee Mecanique, the best time to hear 2008's gorgeous Hold This Ghost has to be the fall, when the leaves start to change and the autumn breeze requires you bring a jacket with you at all times. Still, it's a record that also sounds great in the summer, as a comedown to the summer jams and barbecues that inevitably soundtrack all those lazy weekends when you just don't want to leave your front porch. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. 9 pm. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. $10. 21+. Map

Miss Michael Jodelle, Matt Brown and Allen Hunter

  Press Club, 2621 SE Clinton St., 233-5656. Map

Robin Trower, Woodbrain

[BLUES] British bloozer Robin Trower gets props for being the guitarist in the original Procol Harum, perhaps the greatest band ever falsely labeled a one-hit wonder. But Procol was never meant to be a guitar band, and Trower's eventual emergence as its focal point coincided with the beginning of the group's artistic decline. His subsequent solo career as a poor man's Hendrix was the stuff classic-rock playlists are made of, which ensures him perpetual life on the touring circuit. JEFF ROSENBERG. 8 pm. Roseland, 8 NW 6th Ave., 219-9929 (Grill), 224-2038 (Theater). $30. 21+. Map

Spinnaface, Serious Business, Pipedream, DJ RAD!

  9 pm. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. $5. Map

Reverend Beat-Man, The Eegos, The Lordy Lords, Coco Cobra And The Killers

  9 pm. Slabtown, 1033 NW 16th Ave., 223-0099. $6. Map

The Quintessentials, The Damned And The Proud, ARZ, Toxic Zombie

  9:30 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. Map

Saturday July 4top

Front Toward Enemy, LID, Bad Jackie

  9:30 pm. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. $5. Map

Tipper, Danny Corn, Saqi

[BEEP BOOP BOOM] Say what you will about the mid- to late-‘90s electronic-music explosion, but that era presented a host of artists who seemed hell-bent on investigating the synthetic sounds of their craft to the bitter end. There were vast sonic differences between Orb and Orbital, Aphex Twin and Underworld, the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy. But in the aughties, popular electronic music sounds more monolithic and "unce unce" than ever. Which is why it’s exciting to hear artists like London's Tipper, whose beats sound like Hong Kong traffic jams on mushrooms. Last year's Wobble Factory is among the most aptly named albums in history, its tracks stumbling drunkenly through a black hole that envelops the past 20 years of creative electronic music, unafraid to mutate, borrow and break ideas from the artists of yesteryear. CASEY JARMAN. 9 pm. Berbati's Pan, 231 SW Ankeny St., 248-4579. $17. 21+. Map

Culver City Dub Collective

[LIKE SUNDAY MORNIN’] Summer sun stands for the slowed pace of reggae and funk. Palm fronds sway to Culver City Dub Collective's medicinal ways, its tranquility oozing like something out of Ghostbusters. The result is the feeling you get just after yoga—full, rejuvenating, even arming. The boys from California aren’t afraid to dabble in jazz, throwing muted horn solos on top of bouncy, metronomic reggae licks in a past-meets-present mashup. Prepare your blood for a downtempo pace. It’s audible therapy. MARK STOCK. 10 pm. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. $10. 21+. Map

The Zoo With DJ Patrick Anthony Frye

  Dunes, 1905 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 493-8637. Map

DJ IZM

  East Chinatown Lounge, 322 NW Everett St., 226-1659. Map

Libertad With DJ E3, Standing 08, Magneto

  Goodfoot, 2845 SE Stark St., 239-9292. Map

Dirty Projectors, What's Up?, DJ Hot Air Balloon

[THIS MIGHT BE THE PLACE] Dave Longstreth is tired of doing interviews. The Dirty Projectors frontman has reason to be exhausted, after doing press with virtually every big media outlet the past few months. The reason? His band's new record Bitte Orca is not only the best left-field pop record of the year, it might be one of the most surprisingly catchy records of the decade. Built on a bed of caterwauling vocals and sinewy guitar bursts, its an album of layered pleasures—from the opening reverberating guitar and pogoing vocals of "Cannibal Resource" to the Talking Heads-esque, almost hymnlike close of "Fluorescent Half Dome"—that grows stronger with each listen. And most of it was recorded in Portland, across the street from tonight's show at the Holocene. I'm not sure what's better—watching the real fireworks on the waterfront before the show, or catching the vocal fireworks o fLongstreth and co-singers Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian as they run circles around the normal conventions of a pop song. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. 8:30 pm. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. $13 advance, $15 day of show. All ages. Map

Faithless Saints, Social Concern, Nun Chuksky

  Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., 473-8729. Map

Open Mic With Punkbaba

  Pub at the End of the Universe, 4107 SE 28th Ave., 235-0969. Map

Boys Like Girls, Never Shout Never, The Ready Set

[META CUTE] If (A) Boys Like Girls, as our titular pop-punk careerists posit, and (B) “Girls don’t like boys/ Girls like cars and money,” as argued by BLG muse Good Charlotte, then…well, fill in the syllogism yourself. There’s a trick to impassioned emo absolutely absent any emotion, and it's cold comfort that it’s hard to imagine the Boston troupe—irritatingly talented, replicating pogo-worthy choruses with the shrugged facility that allows blind savants to sculpt elephants—liking anything at all. JAY HORTON. 7 pm. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. $19.99 advance, $23 day of show. All ages. Map

JonnyX and the Groadies, Thrones, Kit, Gay Deceivers

[GRUMBLE GRUMBLE] Have you ever wondered what the Advantage would sound like if it covered video-game music as a riff-heavy metal band instead of a set of mechanical instrumental rock? JonnyX and the Groadies have been playing the same symphonic, epic video-game metal for 13 years now, but the shtick never really gets old. With a killer light show and full-bodied skeleton outfits, it's like you're 12 years old all over again—and what better time than a holiday where everyone gets to show their patriotism by indulging in all their repressed pyro tendencies. Let's blow some shit up, dudes! MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. 8 pm. Worksound, 820 SE Alder St., myspace.com/worksoundpdx. Free. All ages. Map

Sunday July 5top

Cat Stalks Bird, Support Force, Crossfox, Archers

  9:30 pm. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. $5. Map

Ace Enders, Person L, The Gay Blades, The Dangerous Summer

[EMO-ESQUE] As frontman for the Early November, Ace Enders came about nine months too late to the emo party. With Thursday already deluging the sonic landscape, the world just wasn’t ready for more violently emotive bands named after periods of time. However, this was somewhat of a shame, as Enders proved adept at his over-the-top style. Since abandoning his quartet in favor of a solo run, Enders hasn’t gained quite the popularity he hoped for, but at least he’s ensuring that the temple of Chris Carrabba is well tended. SHANE DANAHER. 7 pm. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-7100. $12 advance, $14 day of show. All ages. Map

Eli Reischman (5:30 pm); Jean Ronne (9:30 am)

  London Grill, 309 SW Broadway., 228-2000. All ages. Map

Water Tower Bucket Boys, Woody Pines (9 pm)

  9 pm. Mississippi Pizza, 3552 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3231. Map

Hatred Surge, Mammoth Grinder, Superbad

  Plan B, 1305 SE 8th Ave., 230-9020. $6. Map

Waterfront Blues Festival: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Woodbrain, Patrick Lamb & The Mississippi Horns, and more.

See music box, coming soon. Waterfront Blues Festival, Tom McCall Waterfront Park (Southwest Oak Street & Naito Parkway)., 973-FEST. $10 donation plus two cans of food. All ages. Map

Featuring Portland's Finest Talent

  7 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. FREE. Map

Monday July 6top

Cold Metal, Waves Of Fire, Stella Grace

  9:30 pm. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. $5. Map

Organ LeRoi And The Donors

  9 pm. Ladd's Inn, 1204 SE Clay St., 235-7831. 21+. Map

Bob Shoemaker & Friends

  7 pm. McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern, 10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road., 645-3822. FREE. Map

Open Mic With Eric Allen

  Twilight Cafe & Bar, 1420 SE Powell Blvd., 232-3576. FREE. Map

Secrets in the Salt, Babies Got Rabies

[SWEET & SOUR] It’s an odd match: Local quartet Secrets in the Salt plays a pleasing pop rock that immediately lodges its melodious sugar cubes in the memory. Rising quartet Babies Got Rabies also is catchy, but offers a decidedly dark take on old-school New Wave electronica. But the combination makes odd sense: The light of Salt and the decidedly pleasing dark of Rabies have the potential to spawn interesting colors when mashed up. Individually, the bands make for a good show. Together, they can positively charge the senses in very different ways. AP KRYZA. 8:30 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. Free. 21+. Map

Tuesday July 7top

Howard Jones

[SYNTH-POP OLDIES] Neither as quirky as Thomas Dolby nor as mainstream as, say, Paul Young, Howard Jones was the British solo artist whom moms and kids agreed on in the '80s. His tuneful synth pop and spiky hair won him heavy rotation on MTV, and his hits—"New Song," "What is Love" and the gorgeous ballad "No One is to Blame"—remain some of the least offensive pop artifacts of the era. JEFF ROSENBERG. 8 pm. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. $25 advance, $28 day of show. All ages. Map

Original Soundtrash, All The Money, The Meta Sound

  9:15 pm. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. FREE. Map

The Rural Alberta Advantage, Dallas County Potential

[NOT-SO-SECRETLY CANADIAN] Though Canadian indie-rockers the Rural Alberta Advantage hail from urban Toronto, its soon-to-be-re-released-by-Saddle-Creek debut, Hometowns, deals with frontman Nils Edenloff’s past in rural Alberta—hence the band name. With the shaky, reedy voice of Jeff Mangum, Edenloff sings songs that are obsessed with the past, mourning everything from the details of long-gone lovers to the particulars of homes that are no longer his. But lest you dismiss the Rural Alberta Advantage as one of a dime-a-dozen wistful, acoustic indie rockers, check out the heaviness in its percussion, the quirky arrangements—yes, that is a glockenspiel—and the synthesized foundations of the band's songs. REBECCA RABER. 8:30 pm. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. $6. All ages. Map

DJ Robb

  C.C. Slaughters, 219 NW Davis St., 248-9135. Map

Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, Weird Owl

[RETRO JAMS] Deep in the heart of San Francisco, behind its Altamonts and dirty Missions, lies that naive and forgotten Summer of Love vibe. Beneath the sheen of dirt and a haze of pollution there drifts fuzzy ballads and shimmering good times. Present-day psych-rock outfit Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound bottles this essence and pours it into wax. Never as heavy as Dead Meadow or as lightweight as most psych folk, the Sunburst Sound is focused, melodic and jammy. If Spiritualized traded its gospel tinges for beaded curtains and macramé…well, you get the idea. NATHAN CARSON. 9 pm. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. Cover. 21+. Map

AAN, Root Beer and French Fry

[EXPERIMENTAL SODA POP] The high-pitched rasp of vocalist Bud Wilson paired with abstract guitar lines and bumbling reverb is what makes the local trio AAN (pronounced “on”) such an irresistible jumble of ethereal pop. Walking the fine line between atmospheric and experimental, AAN's songs beautifully quiver with delicate instrumentation and fragile vocals. AAN will be joined by the dance-inducing electronic pop of the local quartet Root Beer and French Fry, which has been causing heads to bob and hips to shake with reckless abandon since its formation in 2007. WHITNEY HAWKE. 9 pm. Ella St. Social Club, 714 SW 20th Place., 241-8696. $2. 21+. Map

Tara Jane ONeil, Marisa Anderson, Broken Water

[STRUCTURED-QUA-OPEN ATMOSPHERICS] Formerly of Rodan, Restin and the Sonora Pine, singer/guitarist Tara Jane ONeil has dug out a tidy post-post-rock niche for herself over the past few years, billowing and layering folk strum into hypnotic, sundazed excursions. ONeil's singing voice can come across as a bit dry, a bit wanting—something of a husk, really—but she often treats it as just another compositional ingredient, another element to double or triple to convey floating or unmoored feelings that are impossible to resist. RAY CUMMINGS. 9 pm. Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. Donation. 21+. Map

Sandman The Rappin Cowboy

  8:30 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. Map

Sandman the Rappin' Cowboy

[CRUNK-ASS COWBOY] Sandman the Rappin’ Cowboy raps about what any North Dakotan cowpoke would: sea turtles, Friendster stalking and…Michael Jackson? Spitting over crunk electro beats (and singing on occasional folk and country songs) the goofball wrangler drops MJ’s name obsessively. Perhaps Sandman foresaw the King of Pop’s demise in a peyote dream: On “Michael Jackson” he deadpans “Michael Jackson you’re a sad one yessir, the song that you’re singing is a suicide twister…All the angels, we missed you, when you gonna come back here to your heavenly home?” Yee…aaw man. AP KRYZA. 8:30 pm. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. $10. 21+. Map

The Jim Rose Circus, Bebe the Circus Queen, SiNn BoDhi, Super Geek League

[FREAKS & GEEKS & WRESTLERS] It’s a battle royale. In one corner is Jim Rose, king of the geeks (and, coincidentally, the actor who plays the Geico Caveman). Rose has run post-modern circus attractions and posed as a human dartboard for more than two decades. He also now calls Portland home. In yonder corner—WWF legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts. This hoary and ancient muscle man literally invented the DDT (by accident). With signature moves from separate and equally spectacular sideshows, Rose and Roberts will square off. This is that exact middle ground between UFC-lite and the comedy club downtown that you’ve been searching for. NATHAN CARSON. 9 pm. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. $15 advance, $18 day of show. 21+. Map