Willamette Weekend

Friday, March 9

The Aggrolites, Mike Pinto Band, The Sentiments, Original Middleage Ska Enjoy Club
[MUSIC] Think modern reggae is nothing but the soundtrack for arts-and-crafts fairs and organic food stores? Well, the Aggrolites don't look like the kind of dudes who eat much granola. These five tattooed tough guys cut their teeth in Los Angeles backing old-school heavies like Derrick Morgan, and on their own records revive the grit and soul of Toots and the Maytals circa Funky Kingston. It's what they call "dirty reggae": raw, street-level rocksteady slapped with heavy dosages of punk edge and rhythmic funk. On last year's Rugged Road, the band leaned more in a dub direction, with gruffly soulful frontman Jesse Wagner experimenting with a Junior Murvin-ish falsetto. And it was still tough as hell. MATTHEW SINGER. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 8 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.

The Legend of Zelda: A Triforce Tribute Opening
[ART] Over 30 artists and designers from a range of mediums combine forces to create art inspired by the Legend of Zelda. No, really. Land, 3925 N Mississppi Ave., 451-0689. 6 pm. Free.

Driven: The films of Nicolas Winding Refn
[FILM] Brutality is Nicolas Winding Refn's language. His 15-year arc as a director is one of constant metamorphosis, and this NW Film Center retrospective offers a much better reason than PIFF to spend two weekends in the Whitsell Auditorium. It's a chance to get acquainted with all the nasty, impulse-driven antiheroes spawned from one of the most influential directors working in Hollywood today... read the full write-up here. AP KRYZA. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave., nwfilm.org. Multiple Showtimes.

Saturday, March 10

Riding the Low, Wolfman Fairies, Barnaby Woods
[MUSIC] It has been three years since UK outfit Riding the Low released its promising, Robert Pollard-influenced They Will Rob You of Your Gifts EP. The hiatus is partially explained by frontman Paddy Considine's film career, which has seen him taking roles in movies like Hot Fuzz and The Bourne Ultimatum as well as directing BAFTA-winning short Dog Altogether. Understandably wary of the "actor/musician" tag, Considine is quick to note that he's been playing in Pavement-cribbing rock bands longer than he's been acting. For this one-off Portland show, Considine will play with an impressive list of Portlanders that are helping him record a new album, including members of Guided By Voices, the Decemberists, Sunset Valley and Dharma Bums. We're expecting big things from the new material that debuts tonight. Dante's, 350 W Burnside St. $7 advance, $8 day of show. 21+.

Third Angle, Resonance Ensemble
[MUSIC] In the signal event of a jam-packed month of contemporary classical music, the city's veteran new music ensemble joins forces with one of its finest vocal groups to perform Morton Feldman's "Rothko Chapel," inspired by the Houston repository of painter Mark Rothko's famous murals. The concert also features recordings of words and music by Feldman's modernist New York contemporaries, including John Cage, and music by Cage and Anton Webern. Kridel Grand Ballroom, Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., thirdangle.org. 7:30 pm. $20-$35.

John Carter
[FILM] We were 20 minutes into John Carter and surrounded by a regiment of bloodthirsty Tharks when I realized I was lost. I figured we were probably on Mars. (The movie was originally titled John Carter of Mars, so that was a clue.) But the opening act whipped through a history of civil war on a red planet called Barsoom—with aerial dogfights between galleons lofted by dragonfly wings—before landing on the Atlantic seaboard in 1881, where we were informed that American Civil War vet John Carter had just died. Then another jump to Arizona circa 1868, where we met Carter, alive if long unshaved, fleeing the U.S. Cavalry and Apaches. There was a cave of gold, and a glowing pendant, and suddenly ol' whiskery John was bouncing across a brilliantly yellow desert, hopping precipitously into the air like a Super Mario Bros. character. And then the Tharks showed up... read our full review here. Multiple locations and showtimes.


Sunday, March 11

The Twilight Sad, Micah P. Hinson
[MUSIC] The Twilight Sad is extremely loud in concert. Andy MacFarlane crafts intense walls of sound on the band's records and James Graham writes mysterious, haunting lyrics that touch on childhood traumas and broken relationships, but the Twilight Sad is best known for something it has little control over... read our full write-up here. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
[THEATER] Danny and Roberta have each done some bad things. Danny picks fights with anyone who looks at him wrong; Roberta has daddy issues, to put it mildly. Seeking solace in the isolation of a deserted Bronx bar, they instead find each other. They begin a hostile but curious conversation, sharing their most intimate secrets then lashing out just as quickly. Their encounter turns violent, then passionate, and they allow themselves to imagine a future where they might be happy together. The two actors fill every inch of the sparse set and small theater with their volcanic emotions, creating a reality both painfully uncomfortable and heartbreaking. PENELOPE BASS. Action/Adventure Theater, 1050 SE Clinton St., actionadventure.org. 8 pm Thursdays-Sundays through March 24. $15. Thursdays are “pay what you will.”

WWeek 2015