Willamette Weekend

[BEER] Because when you’re downing 50 beers, health is a really important consideration: the North American Organic Brewers Festival. Environmentally savvy drinkers can sample organic brews from all over Oregon and the country, alongside live music and food vendors. Not to mention lots of really complicated recycling arrangements and absolutely no car parking, you filthy planet-raping drivers. Not to fear: Show your validated TriMet ticket or bring three cans of (preferably organic) food for a dollar off your biodegradable cornstarch tasting mug. Yes, really. Overlook Park, North Fremont Street and Interstate Avenue. Noon-9 pm Friday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday, June 29-July 1. Free admission, beer tasting requires $6 glass and $1 drink tokens. naobf.org. 

[MUSIC] This is the kind of show that serious music geeks can dine out on for years: catching an iconic musician in an unusual venue. In this case, it's the virtuosic guitarist Sir Richard Bishop performing a set of enraptured blues, jazz and drone in the tiny natural foods store and restaurant Proper Eats. The concert is part of the annual St. Johns NoFest, which takes up a total of 16 neighborhood venues and runs all day. For this showcase, Bishop will be joined by a murderers' row of guitar talent, including fellow blues-informed genius Marisa Anderson (of Evolutionary Jass Band notoriety), the sun-cooked explorations of Eternal Tapestry's Dewey Mahood (playing as Plankton Wat) and folk troubadour Blake Mackey. ROBERT HAM. Proper Eats Market and Cafe, 8638 N Lombard St. 1-10 pm. Free. See nofest.net for complete festival lineup.

Grassroots
[FILM] What’s this? A political comedy that actually believes in the transformative power of the democratic process, and isn’t hopelessly naive? How novel. Grassroots is the mostly true story of Grant Cogswell (Portland-born Joel David Moore), a Seattle music critic with a curious habit of wandering the streets dressed like a polar bear, and his 2001 bid to win a City Council seat and oust longstanding incumbent Richard McIver (Cedric the Entertainer). Campaigning on a propublic-transit platform, his core issue is extending the city’s monorail. It might not read particularly exciting, but the film boasts a smart script from director Stephen “Father of Maggie and Jake” Gyllenhaal and several excellent performances. If you’ve visited our regional rival in the last decade, you probably already know how the election turned out. But winning or losing isn’t Gyllenhaal’s point: It’s that entering the political fray and emerging with your humanity isn’t such an impossible idea. Fox Tower, 846 SW Park Ave. Multiple showtimes. Bill Kirchen and His Tele
[MUSIC] Bill Kirchen helped Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen achieve takeoff. Of course, the Airmen have long since vanished into thin air, probably unknown by 90 percent of this section's readers, so let me explain: Cody and company brought roots styles like honky-tonk, rockabilly and R&B to a hippie audience back in the daze. Kirchen's reality-warping guitar largely defined the band's sound, never more so on than on the top-10-hit cover of country classic "Hot Rod Lincoln." To this day, Kirchen still cracks open that chestnut in concert, stretching it into a 10-minute epic featuring spot-on imitations of several iconic guitarists' signature styles ("And then Chuck Berry pulled up! [instrumental] And then Link Wray pulled up! [instrumental] And then these four guys from England...," etc.). Tonight, sans backing band, he'll really show ya what he can do with that git-tar. Duff's Garage, 1635 SE 7th Ave. 8 pm. $15. 21+.