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Friday, Feb. 24
Slabtown Reopening Show: the Chemicals, the Bloodtypes, Defect Defect
[MUSIC] Slabtown neighborhood bar, er, Slabtown, has been closed since the begenning of the month, and is reopening under new management with this free show. In addition to sets by the Chemicals, the Bloodtypes, Defect Defect and several DJs "spinning power-pop and post-punk", there will be something called Giant Ruinous Monster Wrestling—which involves "characters in monster suits battling WWF-style amidst miniature cities on stage" and sounds amazing—as well as free appetizers from the bar's new menu and free non-alcoholic beverages. Slabtown, 1033 NW 16th Ave., 358-0916. 5 pm. 21+.
The Lonliest Planet (Portland International Film Festival)
[FILM] Featuring the most indelible scenes inside a tent since The Blair Witch Project,
this subtitle-free study of engaged backpackers (Hani Furstenberg and
Gael García Bernal) and their Caucasus Mountain tour guide (Bidzina
Gujabidze) is based on a Hemingway-influenced short story by departing
Portland writer Tom Bissell. As such, it hinges on one instinctual
decision that colors every interaction before and after. That unthinking
choice is made unforgettable by director Julia Loktev (Day Night Day Night), who stages it as a kind of dire dance step. Cinema 21, 8:45 pm, 616 NW 21st St. Tickets available here. General Admission $10, Art Museum members, seniors and students $9, children 12 and under $7.
Saturday, Feb. 25
Sixth Annual Chowder Challenge
[FOOD] Lompoc Brewing's annual Chowder Challenge is on again. This year's
competitors include Cascade Brewing Barrel House, Columbia River
Brewing, D's Bar, Deschutes Brewery, EAT, El Gaucho, Fifth Quadrant, New
Old Lompoc, Rogue, Salty's and Trebol. Chowder heads can purchase a
tasting tray of the entries for $10, with money going to Portland's
Community Transitional School. There will also be special beers on
offer—including two from a collaboration between Lompoc and Ladies of
Lagers and Ales—live music, a soda garden for the kids, a raffle and
something called "Joe the Balloon Guy." 5th Quadrant, 3901-B N Williams Ave.
Noon-4 pm. Free admission, $10 for a sample tray of chowder and voting ballot.
Entertainment for People
[STAGE] Stories from Emmett Montgomery, Shelley
McLendon and Michael Fetters, Fogatron, Tynan DeLong, Aron Nels Steinke
and Mindy Nettifee. Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. 8 pm
Saturday, Feb. 25. $10-$12. 21+.
Portland Cello Project Does Pantera
[MUSIC] If there's a criticism to lob at the Portland Cello
Project, it's that its choice of covers is sometimes a bit too cutesy.
Sure, everyone gets a kick out of a celloized version of a Britney
Spears or Kanye West song, but it'd be nice if the group used those big,
burly instruments to smash motherfuckers in the teeth once in a while.
Well, bring a mouth guard. Tonight PCP is performing, in full, one of
the most ferocious metal records ever made: Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power. Based on the PCP's rendition of the album's bull-rush
opening track "Mouth for War"—which has previously been in the
ensemble's repertoire—cello makes a perfect stand-in for Dimebag
Darrell's power-drill guitar. This may be the first time the group will
have to pause and tell the audience to stop punching each other in the
head. MATT SINGER. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show.
Wanderlust
[FILM] The Apatow dirty-improv era has yielded two directors who are, if not
auteurs, at least possess distinctive comedic sensibilities. One is Adam
McKay (Anchorman, Step Brothers). The other is David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models).
McKay's hallmark is the non sequitur; Wain specializes in a joke
repeated so often it becomes a ritual. (No surprise that his own
paragons are from the Catskills.) Wain's absurdist litany is in fine
effect in Wanderlust, a surprisingly frisky winter diversion that reunites most of the Wet Hot cast
for another camp-out—this time at a hippie commune outside Atlanta.
Leftist pieties get an affectionate skewering (this is the movie to see
after an Occupy Portland G.A.), but then every form of moral posturing
does: The very best bits feature co-writer Ken Marino as a khaki-clad
Joe the Plummer manque barely masking his racism and rage with
backslapping humor. Jennifer Aniston is game and lithe as she adjusts to
"intentional living," but the movie belongs to Paul Rudd, a perpetually
winsome actor who here finds depths of priggishness and insecurity he's
never displayed before. He gives himself a mock-macho pep talk in front
of a mirror as breathtakingly plastic as his epic lunchroom sulk in Wet Hot American Summer. He should work with Wain again and again and again. See here for times and locations.
Sunday, Feb. 26
WWeek 2015