Willamette Weekend

Valhalla Rising
[FILM] Mads Mikkelsen is to Nicolas Winding Refn what Klaus Kinski was to Werner Herzog: the embodiment of the director’s severest conception of human nature. So it’s fitting that Mikkelsen—whom American audiences will recognize as a Bond villain from Casino Royale, and devotees of Refn’s unstintingly violent Danish films know as Tonny, the drug dealer with daddy issues in the first two chapters of the Pusher trilogy—stars in Valhalla Rising, Refn’s resounding Nordic answer to Aguirre, the Wrath of God. If that all sounds dismally academic, let’s boil it down: Valhalla Rising is a movie about Vikings who tear each other’s guts out, sail to America, and are slaughtered by the natives. Does that grab your attention? Fifth Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall St. 7 pm and 9:30 pm Friday-Saturday, June 1-2; 3 pm Sunday, June 3.

[MUSIC] In the Three-Named Texan Singer-Songwriters subgenre of Americana (a category that includes such luminaries as Billy Joe Shaver, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Robert Earl Keen, among many others), Ray Wylie Hubbard is currently the one kicking the most ass. Hubbard made his name in 1973 when his tune "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother" scored a hit for (another of the cohort) Jerry Jeff Walker, but entered a career renaissance in the mid-’90s, penning some of the—sorry—wiliest songs of the era, including the mordant masterwork "Conversation With the Devil." Hubbard's still wrestling Satan on his latest, The Grifter's Hymnal, in songs like "Lazarus" and "New Year's Eve at the Gates of Hell," and he duets with another deity—Ringo Starr—on his cover of Starr's obscure 1970 B-side "Coochy Coochy." JEFF ROSENBERG. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 9 pm. $25. 21+.

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
[FILM] An unemployed man-child who wears tight pants and is obsessed with his bicycle? Sounds like a typical Portlander. No surprise, then, to see Pee-wee’s Big Adventure receive the Lebowski Fest treatment via the fourth annual Pee-wee’s Big Weekend, a celebration of the 1985 Tim Burton flick that brought the irreverent genius of Paul Reubens’ stage act and later kids’ TV show to the big screen for the first and, as far as everyone is concerned, only time. (Big Top Pee-wee? Never heard of it.) Come in costume, and tell ’em Large Marge sent ya. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd.. 9:45 pm Friday, June 1; 2 pm Saturday, June 2.


Saturday, June 2

Bricks Cascade
[LEGO] Portland's new Lego convention will see AFOLs (that's adult fans of Lego, FYI) face off in freestyle, blind and speed building battles, and plenty of impressive Lego-based creations on display. Read our interview with the organizer here. Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE ML King Blvd. June 2, 10 am-4 pm, June 3, 9 am-3 pm. $8 for spectators.

Firkin Fest
[BEER] Firkin hell...OK, now we’ve got the obligatory pun out of the way, Green Dragon is hosting the fifth annual Firkin Fest, featuring traditional English cask-style beers from the likes of Firestone Walker, Good Life, Lompoc, Fire on the Mountain, Silver Moon, Rogue Ales, Track Town Ales, Columbia River, Green Dragon Brew Crew and Buckman Brewery. There also will be cheese, chocolate and meat to snack on. Tickets at Rogue.com. Sounds like a firkin good time. Sorry. Green Dragon, 928 SE 9th Ave. 11 am-2 pm and 3 pm-6 pm. $10 admission, including five drink tickets.

Rose City Rollers Championships
[ROLLER DERBY] After a season of sweat, tears and hair spray, it all comes down to this. For all the roses and glory, the High Rollers take on the Breakneck Betties for the title of Rose City Rollers 2012 season champions. Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 300 N Winning Way. 5:45 pm. $14-$20.

Starlight Parade
[ROSE FESTIVAL] It's the one night of the year we feel totally safe at night in Old Town. Thanks, suburban cannon fodder, for helping us man the front line! Downtown Portland. 8:30 pm. Parade map here.

JD McPherson, Sarah Gwen
[MUSIC] It may end up being the music story of the year. A middle-school art teacher is canned thanks to budget cuts only to bounce back on stage with some of the strongest retro rock ’n’ roll since inspirations Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry ran the show. Breakout record Signs & Signifiers was recorded using wholly analog gear, with vintage equipment that more than matches McPherson’s late 1950s, Twist-inducing sound. The Oklahoma native and former punk rocker is responsible for breathtaking R&B-tinged pre-rawk largely unheard since Little Richard, earning the respectful nods of Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, John Prine and this enamored writer. MARK STOCK. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave. 10 pm. $12. 21+.

Reggie Watts
[COMEDY] Standup’s most unpredictable stream-of-consciousness comic-musician-hairball returns to Portland. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. 8 pm. $26. 21+.

[FILM] The opening credits of Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel use the same swollen font the first edition of Portnoy’s Complaint had on its front cover. That’s no accident: Both works are young men’s épater le bourgeois things. You think Philip Roth’s hero had a troubled home life? Get a load of Colin (played by the director), who talks like Winnie the Pooh on an eight-ball. He opens the movie using racial jokes to persuade his girlfriend to give him a quickie, and minutes later tries to convince a backwoods motel clerk that he and his gorgeous sister JR (Carlen Altman) are actually a married couple, in no danger of violating the establishment’s anti-incest policies. Of course that gets us to thinking about Colin and JR in exactly that way, and of course that’s what the director wants stuck in our heads. In the next shot, he vomits... read our full review here. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium at 7 and 9 pm Friday; 5, 7 and 9 pm Saturday; 4:30 pm Sunday, June 1-3.