Willamette Weekend

Portland Retro Gaming Expo
[NERD] It's back and bigger than ever. No, really, the former third best Nintendo player in the country tells us that it's now the biggest retro gaming show in the US. This year, it moves to the bigger floorspace at the Oregon Convention Center and has a packed schedule, including Atari game programmers, video game historians, retro game collectors, the World Tetris Championships (!!!), a cosplay contest, chip music artists and video game trivia. Plus, Ground Kontrol is providing a 20,000 square-foot arcade. Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Saturday, 10 am-6 pm, Sunday, 10 am-4 pm. $25 weekend pass, $20 Saturday only, $15 Sunday only. Info and tickets here.

Portland Juggling Festival
[JUGGLING] For the 20th year, Reed College hosts the Portland Juggling Festival. Expect performances, workshops, vendors and crazy facial hair. Study up on hot trends in juggling in this week's Headout. Reed College Sports Center, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Friday 6 pm-2 am, Saturday 10 am-6 pm, 10 pm-2 am, Sunday 10 am-3 pm. Adults $35, students $28, children 12 and under $20, seniors 62 $20.

Deerhoof, Buke and Gase, Raleigh Moncrief
[MUSIC] Deerhoof is one of the few bands that feels like it is constantly evolving, fighting against what is expected of a traditional rock lineup. In the case of the Brooklyn-based quartet's most recent album, Breakup Song, the band is embracing more synthetic sounds. Keyboard parts wiggle their way through most of the songs, and John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez make their guitars sound as unnatural as possible. Deerhoof shows off some wicked dance moves throughout, peppering arch pop songs with squirrely funk and swell Latin grooves. ROBERT HAM. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave. 8 pm. $15. 21+.

Tender Loving Empire fifth anniversary
[MUSIC] While a great many indie record labels enter the fray with pie-eyed dreams of fiscal solvency and community involvement, imprints like Tender Loving Empire, which regularly achieves both, are so rare as to fall into the same category as unicorns. This show marks the label’s fifth anniversary, as well as the release of its Friends and Friends of Friends, Vol. 5 compilation, which showcases much-loved TLE mainstays side by side with talented groups from outside the fold. Aan, Body Parts, the Shivas and Finn Riggins all rock far harder than your average band, and offer a sense of warmhearted inclusiveness to boot. SHANE DANAHER. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 8 pm. $10. 21+.

Oregon Trail Live
[SPORT] Finally: a reason to visit Salem. The Willamette Heritage Center is putting on a live-action version of the classic edutainment video game The Oregon Trail. Teams of four will compete in challenges like hunting (actually shooting college students dressed as buffalo with Nerf guns), grave digging, floating wagons (actually decorated takeout containers), and carrying 200 pounds of meat (actually "pushing a 200-pound man in a red wagon up a hill, while he spouts historical meat facts"). After the competition, there will be a "hoe-down afterparty." Team registration has closed, but you can still go watch and attend the afterparty. Willamette Heritage Center, 1313 Mill St., Salem. 1 pm. $5.

Looper
[FILM] At various junctures, Looper reminded me vividly of the following antecedents: Point Blank, Donnie Darko, Once Upon a Time in the West, Blade Runner, Chinatown, D.O.A., The Omen, Witness and the anime Akira. It’s like a Girl Talk record if Greg Gillis sampled classic jazz riffs. Forget neo-noir: This is retro-neo-futurist noir... read the full review here. Multiple cinemas and showtimes.


Sunday, Sept. 30

Beach House
[MUSIC] When bands touch a global nerve and the music sounds too good to be true, they invariably end up under the microscope of music critics and crowd-sourced Internet scrutiny. The Baltimore duo Beach House released its third album, Teen Dream, on Sub Pop back in 2010, hitting a peak that it was widely assumed would not be surpassed. But here and now we unfold 2012’s Bloom, which takes the group’s modern pop twist on Cocteau Twins and maraschino-sweet heartache to even higher levels. Seeing real artists work in a pop oeuvre without succumbing to industry pressure or massive fan disappointment is one of those magic tricks that’s still a best-kept secret. NATHAN CARSON. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. $23. All ages.

William Elliott Whitmore, Samantha Crain
[MUSIC] If you look at the “Journal” section of William Elliott Whitmore’s website, you’ll find short entries written by the Midwest singer-songwriter. “My old horse's ribs are showing," he writes. "He eats and eats and doesn't have worms. He's just old as hell.” In a way, these spare sentences about rural life exemplify the sound of his music. Last summer, Whitmore, who lives on a 160-acre farm in Iowa, released his fifth LP, Field Songs—which, as its name suggests, brims with themes of agriculture, labor, harvest and history. Recalling traditional workman’s songs, Whitmore switches between the acoustic guitar and the banjo with some occasional foot stomps thrown in. But his most gripping instrument is his worn, bluesy voice, bringing a timeless authenticity to his music. EMILEE BOOHER. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 7:30 pm. $12 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.

And So It Goes 

[THEATER] And So It Goes, which opens Artists Repertory Theatre’s 30th season, takes love as its subject and handles it with the utmost skill. The play’s source is a somewhat unlikely one: Kurt Vonnegut, better known for dark comedy and science fiction than for schmaltz. But in adapting three short stories from the author’s Welcome to the Monkey House for this new play, writer-director Aaron Posner highlights Vonnegut’s gentler—yet still keenly observant—side. REBECCA JACOBSON. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm Wednesdays- Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays. Through Oct. 7. $20-$50.