January 19th, 2012
By WW Culture Staff |
Features |
Posted In: Willamette Weekend
Willamette Weekend
9 things to do in Portland, Jan. 20-22
Friday, Jan. 20
Ablaze
[THEATER] Playwrights West presents the most intriguing performance of the Fertile Ground Festival: a staged concert of Matthew B. Zrebski’s a cappella musical about a group of 23 teenagers trapped in a basement for 19 days by an unknown predator. The musical horror story is performed by 23 teens from Wilson High School. The CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 220-2646. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, 7 pm Sunday, Jan. 20-22. $15.
Black Elk
[MUSIC] Black Elk-related news items have been in short supply these past couple of years, so the sludge-metal quartet’s return to its hometown, along with a fancy new rhythm section, seems as good an excuse as any to remind the world that the band still exists and is totally effing rad. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683, 9:30 pm. Free. All ages.
The Friday Night TV Party & Theater Club Neighborhood Association
[FILM] The movie highlight reel has become one of the dependable enjoyments of the Internet—if you want to see The Big Lebowski or Scarface trimmed to only their F-bombs, you’re in your element—but it also provides opportunity to craft an entirely new object. As part of the pre-Portlandia show “The Friday Night TV Party & Theater Club Neighborhood Association,” my co-founders of Beer and Movie have cut a rawboned sliver of Michael Mann’s Thief. The montage, supervised by local video editor Darren Aboulafia, shows James Caan exploding in aggrieved rage. But at its climax it starts repeating images, becoming a ritual of loading and aiming a gun—as if Caan just can’t get enough of his own nihilism. Take another swig. BAM is back. AARON MESH. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 223-4527. 7:30 pm. $5 advance, $7 day of show.
Saturday, Jan. 21
Writers Talking: Richard Meltzer
[TALK] Richard Meltzer was one of the first rock-music critics whose writing appeared in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and other publications. In his free time he wrote lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult. Today he’s appearing as part of Multnomah County Library’s Writers Talk series. I bet he has some mind-bending stories to share. MARIANNA HANE WILES. Central Library, 801 SW 10th Ave. 1-2:30 pm. Free. All ages.
An Evening with Joanna Priestly
[MOVIES] She ranks among Portland’s best animators. She has new movies. At least one is about the (former) planet Pluto. She’ll be there. It’s winter. What else are you doing? Watch the stars! Maybe they’re not stars. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave., 221-1156. 7 pm. $6-$9.
Renegade Saints, Haymaker
[MUSIC] This is a 20th-anniversary celebration for Renegade Saints, a band whose family tree includes classic Oregon groups like Nine Days' Wonder and Kerosene Dream. The guys are sounding as sharp and nimble as ever. If this were the band's debut, they could be marketed with equal ease to alt-jam-band fans, new-country listeners and classic-rock zealots. The churning, sinewy rhythm section burbles behind guitar solos that sizzle and spark like a downed power line. If you have, like Peter Buck, a one-minute maximum tolerance for guitar solos, you may find that four minutes into the song before getting to the first verse or melody is a bit much. For the rest of the world, it's a party. DAN DEPREZ. Alberta Rose Theatre,
3000 NE Alberta St. 8 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Supercon!
[DRINKING AND DRESS-UPS] Portland's now-annual superhero bar crawl will be keeping the watering holes of Clinton/Division safe this year, and for the first time, there's a theme: Mystery Men. No, not the 1999 film (or even the Flaming Carrot Comics), but the early Golden Age heroes—Blue Beetle, Green Mask and, er, Blackie the Mystery Boy. There will be trivia and a costume contest, and undoubtedly more Spandex stretched around beer bellies than you ever wanted to see in one room. The event starts at 39th St Sports Pub (Tom's), 3871 SE Division St. 3 pm. 21+. See the Facebook event for more details.
SUNDAY, Jan. 22
Famished
[THEATER] Portland Playhouse premieres a new work by Portland playwright Eugenia Woods—an experimental docu-drama about our relationship with food. Traditionalists, don’t let that description deter you—Famished has a great cast and a good director (Megan Kate Ward). Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 205-0715. 7:30 pm Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. $12-$23.
Jefferttitti's Nile, Jason Urick, Tunnels, Million Mists
[MUSIC] First, Portland was able to coax Emeralds guitarist Mark McGuire to join the local scene. Now, we can boast of another amazing experimentalist calling our fair city his home: Jason Urick. The former Marylander plays in a much more ambient field than McGuire, however, bending electronic samples and melodies to his will to create engulfing waves of energy and bliss. The glory of Urick's newly released LP, I Love You, is feeling the tickly joy of his pitch-shifted vocal samples, which have a giddy cartoonishness that lightens the effect of some of the disc's darkest moments. Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny St. 9 pm. 21+
Ablaze
[THEATER] Playwrights West presents the most intriguing performance of the Fertile Ground Festival: a staged concert of Matthew B. Zrebski’s a cappella musical about a group of 23 teenagers trapped in a basement for 19 days by an unknown predator. The musical horror story is performed by 23 teens from Wilson High School. The CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 220-2646. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, 7 pm Sunday, Jan. 20-22. $15.
Black Elk
[MUSIC] Black Elk-related news items have been in short supply these past couple of years, so the sludge-metal quartet’s return to its hometown, along with a fancy new rhythm section, seems as good an excuse as any to remind the world that the band still exists and is totally effing rad. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683, 9:30 pm. Free. All ages.
The Friday Night TV Party & Theater Club Neighborhood Association
[FILM] The movie highlight reel has become one of the dependable enjoyments of the Internet—if you want to see The Big Lebowski or Scarface trimmed to only their F-bombs, you’re in your element—but it also provides opportunity to craft an entirely new object. As part of the pre-Portlandia show “The Friday Night TV Party & Theater Club Neighborhood Association,” my co-founders of Beer and Movie have cut a rawboned sliver of Michael Mann’s Thief. The montage, supervised by local video editor Darren Aboulafia, shows James Caan exploding in aggrieved rage. But at its climax it starts repeating images, becoming a ritual of loading and aiming a gun—as if Caan just can’t get enough of his own nihilism. Take another swig. BAM is back. AARON MESH. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 223-4527. 7:30 pm. $5 advance, $7 day of show.
Saturday, Jan. 21
Writers Talking: Richard Meltzer
[TALK] Richard Meltzer was one of the first rock-music critics whose writing appeared in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and other publications. In his free time he wrote lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult. Today he’s appearing as part of Multnomah County Library’s Writers Talk series. I bet he has some mind-bending stories to share. MARIANNA HANE WILES. Central Library, 801 SW 10th Ave. 1-2:30 pm. Free. All ages.
An Evening with Joanna Priestly
[MOVIES] She ranks among Portland’s best animators. She has new movies. At least one is about the (former) planet Pluto. She’ll be there. It’s winter. What else are you doing? Watch the stars! Maybe they’re not stars. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave., 221-1156. 7 pm. $6-$9.
Renegade Saints, Haymaker
[MUSIC] This is a 20th-anniversary celebration for Renegade Saints, a band whose family tree includes classic Oregon groups like Nine Days' Wonder and Kerosene Dream. The guys are sounding as sharp and nimble as ever. If this were the band's debut, they could be marketed with equal ease to alt-jam-band fans, new-country listeners and classic-rock zealots. The churning, sinewy rhythm section burbles behind guitar solos that sizzle and spark like a downed power line. If you have, like Peter Buck, a one-minute maximum tolerance for guitar solos, you may find that four minutes into the song before getting to the first verse or melody is a bit much. For the rest of the world, it's a party. DAN DEPREZ. Alberta Rose Theatre,
3000 NE Alberta St. 8 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Supercon!
[DRINKING AND DRESS-UPS] Portland's now-annual superhero bar crawl will be keeping the watering holes of Clinton/Division safe this year, and for the first time, there's a theme: Mystery Men. No, not the 1999 film (or even the Flaming Carrot Comics), but the early Golden Age heroes—Blue Beetle, Green Mask and, er, Blackie the Mystery Boy. There will be trivia and a costume contest, and undoubtedly more Spandex stretched around beer bellies than you ever wanted to see in one room. The event starts at 39th St Sports Pub (Tom's), 3871 SE Division St. 3 pm. 21+. See the Facebook event for more details.
SUNDAY, Jan. 22
Famished
[THEATER] Portland Playhouse premieres a new work by Portland playwright Eugenia Woods—an experimental docu-drama about our relationship with food. Traditionalists, don’t let that description deter you—Famished has a great cast and a good director (Megan Kate Ward). Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 205-0715. 7:30 pm Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. $12-$23.
Jefferttitti's Nile, Jason Urick, Tunnels, Million Mists
[MUSIC] First, Portland was able to coax Emeralds guitarist Mark McGuire to join the local scene. Now, we can boast of another amazing experimentalist calling our fair city his home: Jason Urick. The former Marylander plays in a much more ambient field than McGuire, however, bending electronic samples and melodies to his will to create engulfing waves of energy and bliss. The glory of Urick's newly released LP, I Love You, is feeling the tickly joy of his pitch-shifted vocal samples, which have a giddy cartoonishness that lightens the effect of some of the disc's darkest moments. Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny St. 9 pm. 21+
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