Friday, November 16
Titus Andronicus, Ceremony
[MUSIC] Local Business, the band's
new album, finds it drawing back
from the lofty heights of its concept
album, The Monitor, returning to
the scraggly, beery-eyed glory of
its 2008 debut. Opening with a
roaring three-song suite, the record
rips from rousing Springsteenisms
to Replacements-style emotional
bloodletting, with singer Patrick
Stickles crafting strained-throated
and personal anthems. Branx, 320
SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $10
advance, $13 doors. All ages.
Izakaya
[FOOD] The Jupiter Hotel will play host to the massive Izakaya pub fest—with representatives
of almost every Portland sake
"dining bar" and distiller serving up massive tonnage of rice
wine and pub grub in a vast space loosely
laid out like sections of the Tokyo subway. The Jupiter Hotel, 800
E Burnside St., celebrateizakaya.com.
5:30-9 pm Friday, Nov. 16. $40. 21kknd.
Inviting Desire: The Dawn of Sex
[PERFORMANCE] Actor Eleanor O'Brien reprises her
frank and funny variety show about
sex, sexuality and their many permutations. Those uncomfortable with
candid conversations about strap-ons,
group sex and kinky fantasies should
best stay home. Milepost 5, 850 NE 81st Ave., 729-3223. 8 pm Thursdays-
Saturdays. No show Thursday, Nov. 22.
Through Dec. 1. $25.
Cappella Romana
[CLASSICAL] The nonpareil male choir brings
in one of the real masters of early
music, Ensemble Organum music
director Marcel Pérès (a pioneer in
restoring emotionally expressive
singing to medieval chant), to lead
the singers in Latin chant for the
vespers of St. James from one of the
true treasures of medieval music,
the 12th-century manuscript Codex
Calixtinus. St. Mary's Cathedral Parish
Center, 131 NW 17th, 236-8202. 8 pm Friday, Nov. 16. $18-$22.
Pacific Dance Makers
[DANCE] If the Pacific Northwest has a
dance sensibility to call its own,
you're likely to find it here. Local
ballet and contemporary dancers
ranging from Polaris Dance
Theatre to Jonathan Krebs to
Oregon Ballet Theatre members
Martina Chavez and Brian Simcoe
(and recently retired OBT principals
Artur Sultanov and Gavin
Larsen) perform the work of five
local-ish choreographers: Candace
Bouchard, Tracey Durbin, Gilmer
Duran, Lauren Edson and Éowyn
Emerald, who also serves as producer. It's an intriguing mix with
plenty of promise . BodyVox Dance
Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave., 229-
0627. 7:30 pm Friday, Nov. 16; 6 pm
and 8 pm Saturday, Nov. 17. $20.
Saturday Nov. 17
Connecting
[VISUAL ART] Curator Martha Morgan tapped
seven artists for Chambers' second
annual group show, Connecting .
Highlights include Drip Drop
Collective's Paper Plane Project ,
which connected the gallery via
digital simulcast to art spaces
in Serbia, Israel and other countries;
and Joe Bartholomew's Six
Degrees of Freedom , a computer
program featuring an animated
decahedron that slowly morphs
into different configurations, to
mesmerizing effect. Through Dec.
22. Chambers @ 916, 916 NW Flanders St., 227-9398.
D.B. Cooper Movie Night
[FILM] Forty-one years ago,
D.B. Cooper jumped out of a plane.
He's been the stuff of legend since.
Tonight, see the Robert Duvall
vehicle The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper
and hear local historian Doug
Kenck-Crispin's theories on the
country's only unsolved skyjacking.
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy
Blvd., 281-4215. 7:30 pm. $5.
Too $hort, Maniac Lok
[MUSIC] It might be
hard out there for a pimp, but over
the course of his damn near 30
years in the rap game, Todd Anthony
Shaw—better known as Too $hort—
has made it look pretty dang easy.
A winning insouciance has defined
the 46-year-old Oakland MC's career,
ever since he started slanging homemade
mixtapes out the trunk of
his car in the early '80s. Across the
dozens of studio albums, EPs and
collaborative tracks he's performed
on, Shaw never exerts much of an
effort, keeping his rhymes simple and
his horndog lyrics one-track. It's not
laziness, just good business strategy: In the oft-fickle world of hiphop,
sticking to one's guns—be they
literal or metaphorical—is the key to
longevity, especially when you've got
a flow as adaptable as $hort Dog's.
Through the years, Shaw has rhymed
over everything from bare-bones
808 beats to Southern crunk to Bay
Area hyphy to, on this year's No
Trespassing , rock guitars, never compromising
his personality. He might
not have the lyrical prowess of, say,
Rakim, but the guy knows exactly
who he is and refuses to change, and
that's what's made him a rapper's
rapper. Roseland
Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 8
pm. $25. All Ages.
Justin Brown Benefit
Show: Ancient Warlocks, Heavy
Voodoo, Beard of Bees
[MUSIC]
"Fuck cancer" is a unanimous sentiment
the world over. Even the
most depraved metal acts must
shudder at this dreaded doom.
Luckily for the recently diagnosed
local musician Justin Brown
(Lamprey, Captain Couch Records),
there's much solidarity to be found
in combating this illness. Several
Northwest doom-oriented groups
are chipping in volume and talent
to help defray the alarming medical
costs Brown is racking up. So do
your part—pay the cover, show your
support and throw up the horns
against a dark demon that is all too
real. NATHAN CARSON. The Know,
2026 NE Alberta St., 473-8729. 7:30
pm. Donations accepted. 21kknd.
Sunday, Nov. 18
Jan Mittelstaedt
[CLASSICAL] The latest concert in the excellent Celebration Works series celebrates homegrown contemporary music with more than a dozen musicians, plus a dancer. Pieces include chamber music by the new president of Cascadia Composers, including a surprisingly gentle Saxophone Quartet ; the contemplative string quartet Crosscurrents ; Journey Through a Shadow for flute and piano; and other works featuring clarinet, organ and soprano singer. First Presbyterian Church, 1200 SW Alder St., 228-7331. 2 pm Sunday, Nov. 18. $10-$12.
Pony Village, Mark Coykendall
[MUSIC] Pony Village singer Ryan Barber has the great Pacific Northwest in his
pipes. His whispery vocals fall under the Doug Martsch school of
incantation: soft and glowing like the embers of a dying fire. At
times, the ghost of Elliott Smith—and the cloudy, coastal grayness
of Barber's native North Bend—can be heard. The band's sound is riddled with retro traits, going back
to its 2010 self-titled EP. In particular, "Cowboy Phase" is a surfy,
lo-fi jam reminiscent of the Who's "Pictures of Lily," with a drum
and tambourine intro directly nodding to Phil Spector. MARK STOCK. Rontoms, 600 E Burnside St. Sunday, Nov. 18. 9 pm. Free. 21kknd.
Brian Doyle, Robin Cody
[BOOKS] Portland author Brian Doyle (Mink
River), one of Portland's finest essayists, recently published a new novel
about a soldier who sets out to find
the foot he lost in the war in what
becomes a contemplative quest
about the foolishness of war. Doyle
will read from his new work along
with fellow Portland writer Robin
Cody, whose memoir, Voyage of a
Summer Sun: Canoeing the Columbia
River, was recently reissued.
Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway,
284-1726. 7 pm. Free.
WWeek 2015