Willamette Weekend: 13 Things to Do in Portland, May 24-26

Skyping with Greta Gerwig
[FILM] We don't know why or what it means, but Greta Gerwig will by Skyping into screenings of her new (great!) film Frances Ha. Cinema 21. 7 pm Friday and Saturday. 

Beaux Arts Club
[THEATER] Imago co-founder Carol Triffle—who’s known for her fearlessness and absurdist sense of humor— presents an original black comedy about three bored 19th-century housewives whose teatime takes an unexpected turn when one woman traps a man in her new art installation. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 231-3959. 8 pm. Free, $10-$20 suggested donation.

Pipes: An Improvised Musical
[THEATER] At first glance, it would seem difficult to craft a full-fledged musical around flying, fairies and the Western television drama Gunsmoke—and even more so when the lyrics, music and story are to be created entirely on the spot. But if the task seems daunting or implausible, you wouldn’t know it by watching this Curious Comedy ensemble. After a brief opening improv show featuring local comedians, the rotating lineup of Pipes performers takes the stage, eliciting a quick series of audience suggestions for inspiration. At a recent Saturday performance, the Pipes quintet managed to flesh out an hourlong musical inspired by the aforementioned suggestions, complete with a healthy dose of songs. Yet for improvisation, the show appeared surprisingly polished, anchored by a talented group of performers who enjoy the spontaneity and abrupt plot twists of every act. BRANDON WIDDER. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays through June 1. $12-$15.

Danny Brown

[MUSIC] Even putting aside recent controversies, the Detroit MC is still the wildest thing in hip-hop right now, with an elastic, nasally flow and a deranged sense of humor. Let’s just hope he’s learned to keep his pants zipped tight when he hits the stage. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th Ave., 233-7100. 8 pm. $16 advance, $20 day of show. All ages. 

Flying Lotus, Thundercat 
[MUSIC] Steven Ellison, the producer-musician who records under the name Flying Lotus, has said that his most recent album, Until the Quiet Comes, is a “collage of mystical states, dreams, sleep and lullabies.” You couldn’t ask for a better description of the push-pull of delight and nightmare threaded through this LP. The clattering beats and airborne melodies seem to float in and around the stereo field like pollen spores. How the songs affect you depends on your tolerance for hip-hop’s artsy side, or the more experimental end of the electronic music spectrum. ROBERT HAM. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 9 pm. $20. All ages.


Saturday, May 25

Portland Rose Festival Fair 
[FESTIVAL] Rides! Games! Parades! Kettle corn! Crying children! A fake hippie-folk shaman! A fake soul band! C’mon, you know you love it. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Southwest Naito Parkway. Prices vary. Through June 9. 

Primus (3-D)
[MUSIC] No other band has ever sounded like Primus. No other band could sound like Primus, really. After all, there are few musicians in the world approaching Les Claypool’s virtuosity as a bassist, and even fewer with his creative sensibility. Whether or not many bands actually want to sound like Primus is another issue. Unrelentingly quirky, claymation thrash funk that appeals equally to jam-band dorks and alt-metal dirtbags has never exactly been in vogue. Whatever, though. At some point, after 30 years of carving your own exclusive niche, aggressive uniqueness becomes not just a badge of honor but an armor against criticism. Apparently, it also allows you to tour with your own “3-D enhanced” road show— which, you got to admit, is pretty awesome. MATTHEW SINGER. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7 pm. $42.50-$53. All ages.

Danse du Ventre
[DANCE] Like a pint-sized Johnny Weir without the ice skates, French belly dancer Illan Rivière headlines this collaboration between Portlandbased belly-dance journal From the Hip and Narcissa Productions. Rivière, 20, bends and twists his tiny body in a fusion tribal style that’s modern but still references belly dancing’s roots. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 719- 6055. 8 pm. $25-$30.

The Kids, Mean Jeans, Chemicals, Sex Crime
[EURO-PUNK] In the late ’70s, it seemed like every country in Europe had its answer to the Sex Pistols. In Belgium, that band was the Kids. Playing fairly standard-issue, politically agitated three-chord thrash, the group nevertheless started early enough in the international punk movement to achieve legendary status in its home country. Although certainly kids when they began—bassist Danny De Haes was only 12 years old—that’s no longer the case. But considering it took the band nearly 30 years (and a premature breakup in the ’80s) to make it to America, performing stateside for the first time in 2004, hearing the songs it wrote as angry teenagers performed live by angry middleagers remains a treat rare enough to recommend. MATTHEW SINGER. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 9 pm. $12. 21+.


Sunday, May 26

Bombino
[MUSIC] Released in April, Bombino's appropriately titled Nomad is at once a display of exhilarating musicianship and hypnotic control. Omara Moctar sends fiery spirals of notes circling around polyrhythmic dance grooves, handclap percussion and fuzztone organ, and the effect is utterly entrancing, like staring at a desert campfire.  Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., with the Last Good Tooth and Mbrascatu, on Sunday, May 26. 9 pm. $20. 21+.

Suuns, Rose Windows
[FOREBODING PSYCH] The phrase “bass music” is typically used as an umbrella categorization for various strands of modern electronic dance music, but it could also be applied to the dark, anxious art rock of Canada’s Suuns. Its sophomore album, Images du Futur, is underscored by throbbing low end, lending an alluring electro groove to the band’s spare, dissonant post-punk guitars, cosmic synths and singer Ben Shemie’s uneasy vocals, which sound like Thom Yorke trying to sing after having his jaw wired shut. It’s entrancing, unsettling and, thanks to those pulsating undercurrents, even a little sexy. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $10. 21+.

Transcendental Brass Band
[NOLA BRASS] Transporting listeners to NoLa without all the pickpockets and mosquitos, Portland septet Transcendental Brass Band stays true to its bayou roots with an all-acoustic marching-band sound that could bring most any scene stomping to life. Every element of a Big Easy street band is here, and the miracle of Transcendental is that the individual musicians avoid the trappings of trying to update the music to give it modern edge. This is street music at its funky best. The group is celebrating the release of its new album, First Take. AP KRYZA. The Blue Monk, 3341 SE Belmont St., 503-595-0575. 9 pm. $3 advance, $5 day of show. 21+.

Fill My Fridge
Southeast Hawthorne’s Bazi Bierbrasserie celebrates its second birthday by getting licensed to sell to-go bottles and growlers. This party will also feature a few of Double Mountain’s sought-after Four Horsemen four-packs for sale. Bazi Bierbrasserie, 1522 SE 32nd Ave., 234- 8888, bazipdx.com. 4-10 pm. Free.