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"When research for this book began," writes Zack Carlson in Destroy All Movies!!!, a brain-splittingly comprehensive guide to every single appearance of a punk rocker on film, "it was clear that we were going to have to trudge through some severe cinematic sewage to create the most complete listings possible." He's not kidding: Among the 1,100 titles cataloged, mocked and celebrated by Carlson and co-editor Bryan Connolly in this future coffee-table classic are Hack-O-Lantern, Rock and Roll Mobster Girls, Revenge of the Nerds IV and Invasion of the Mindbenders, none of which you have seen, of course, but all of which you will desperately want to experience after dipping into Connolly and Carlson's obsessive-compulsive masterwork. If you ever wondered what it would be like if the "Psychotronic" section of sleazebag anti-classics at Movie Madness grew a brain and then threw up on you, well, here's your chance.
If you stop by Carlson and Connolly's Reading Frenzy appearance on Tuesday, you might have the opportunity to be the first to hip them to Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, Omar Majeed's invigorating document of the burgeoning Muslim punk music movement galvanized by Michael Muhammad Knight's novel The Taqwacores, a prescient fictional account of a Muslim punk house and a sort of sacred text for the nascent scene Majeed lovingly records. "Taqwá" means "God-consciousness," while the "core" half of the portmanteau takes agitated jabs at what, exactly, such consciousness means for pissed-off suburban teens caught between religious tradition and a deep need to get blitzed and fight the power. The film focuses on the Kominas, a rowdy quartet from Boston that eventually travels to Pakistan with Knight to foment a little Taqwacore chaos and smoke a whole lot of hash. Here's hoping there will be a second edition of Destroy All Movies!!!—the boys in the Kominas would appreciate such ignominious company.
GO: Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam will be screening at Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 8 pm Saturday, Nov. 13. $5. Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly will be signing copies of Destroy All Movies!!! at Reading Frenzy, 921 SW Oak St., 274-1449. 6:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 16. They will be presenting a screening of Rock 'n' Roll High School at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215. 9:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 16. $7.
Headout Picks
WEDNESDAY NOV. 10
[VIS ARTS]
In
painter Alexis Mollomo deploys recurring symbols to weave complex and sometimes unsettling narratives. The figures in her tableaux are on journeys of self-discovery, confronting demons that lurk within.
THURSDAY NOV. 11
[MUSIC]
The new-music ensemble plays Tan Dun's haunting, theatrical
in which a violinist plays an enormous glass bowl of water with a gong floating in it, plus George Crumb's
[SCREEN] FILMUSIK
Portland's ever-imaginative Galen Huckins composed original new scores, performed live by a chamber ensemble, for this double feature of Oscar-nominated Claymation films from Portland's own Will Vinton Studios. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 877-4808. 7 pm Thursday-Friday, 2 pm Saturday, Nov. 11-13. $10-$12.
FRIDAY NOV. 12
[SCREEN]
Easily the best slapstick comedy ever made about Islamist terrorism. Probably the only one, come to think of it, but it's still hilarious.
SATURDAY NOV. 13
[DRINK]
In the second edition of Brewing Up Cocktails, mixologists Jacob Grier of Liquidity Preference and Ezra Johnson-Greenough of the New School explore the art and craft of producing beer cocktails like Tea Party, Lovers Quarrel, NW Wassail and Son of the Furburger.
MONDAY NOV. 15
[MUSIC]
Tired of hearing about "chillwave"? Toro Y Moi is easily the best band to get lumped in with the poorly named genre.
TUESDAY NOV. 16
[MUSIC]
Glenn Danzig! Alive and in the flesh. Killing you softly. With his words.
WWeek 2015