Willamette Weekend

12 things to do in Portland, Nov. 16-18

AL'S DEN

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.

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