Willamette Weekend: 13 Things to Do in Portland, Nov. 15-17

ECLIPTIC BREWING

Friday, Nov. 15


Cheap Pizza

[PIZZA] For its fourth birthday, Pyro Pizza is serving up $4 pizzas all weekend. We admire the pricing technique—it's the same one used by our grandmother to determine how much birthday money we got—because it nets us a $10 wood-fired puttanesca for less than half that, at 2 am, in case we're wandering around bleary-eyed. But we worry about the future. If Pyro Pizza lasts 11 years, will we have to pay a dollar extra when its birthday rolls around? Pyro Pizza, Southeast 12th Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard, 929-1404. 11:30 am-3:30 am Friday-Sunday, Nov. 15-17. $4 per pizza.

Kevin Sampsell

[BOOKS] Portland author Kevin Sampsell (A Common Pornography) reads from his debut novel, This Is Between Us. The book follows the arc of one couple's relationship, from initial passion to the fragile creation of a family. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.

Cults, Sacco, Mood Rings

[INDIE POP] Consider Cults to be the most easily digestible encapsulation of the cyclical micro-trends celebrated by music-blog culture over the past three years: the dense, reverb-soaked melodies of Phil Spector productions; the distorted, saturated layer of goop the Jesus and Mary Chain slathered across their richest melodies. Throw in samples of actual cult leaders and some reliable girl-group rhythms and you've got a veritable gold mine of mass-market appeal. Beyond the edifice of Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion's woozy R&B-tinged arrangements is simple, compelling pop music that feels both timeless and fresh at the same time. Latest release Static can be a bummer at times, but you're likely to leave with a smile on your face nonetheless. PETE COTTELL. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 9 pm. $15 advance, $17 day of show. All ages.

Pop. 1280, Vice Device, Smoke Rings

[NU-PIGFUCK] New York thought it had rid itself of bands like Pop. 1280. After Giuliani cleaned up Times Square, and Brooklyn became a friendly place for Midwesterners with nice smiles and closets full of Western shirts, the city was thought to have become uninhabitable for scuzzy, degenerate noiseniks of the kind that roamed the clubs and art galleries and loft spaces back in the No Wave '80s. Clearly, though, something from that era survived, and has crawled from the sewers to save us from the mannered niceties of Williamsburg indie rock. Imps of Perversion, Pop. 1280's second full-length, is an unrelenting set of twisted, ear-bleeding guitars, industrialized rhythms, meltdown synths and singer Chris Bug's apocalyptic howling, beset with a sense of urban dread straight out of a John Carpenter film. Nothing about the band is polite, but its intensity is invigorating—just like New York used to be. MATTHEW SINGER. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., 473-8729. 8 pm. Call venue for ticket information. 21+.


Saturday, Nov. 16

7th Annual Art Auction

[ART] For the seventh year in a row, arts nonprofit Disjecta is holding a fancy-pants auction to raise money for its programming. Among the well-known local artists offering up their wares: Hayley Barker, Damien Gilley, Calvin Ross Carl, Sean Healy, Avantika Bawa, Grant Hottle and Adam Sorensen, as well as dozens of others. Master of ceremonies is that quintessentially adorable nerd A.C. Dickson. From its superb curator-in-residence program, now in its third year, to its recent grant from the Warhol Foundation, Disjecta continues to define why it's one of the region's most important arts organizations. Events like the auction help it keep on truckin'. Silent auction begins at 7 pm Saturday, Nov. 16, with the live auction commencing at 8. To preview featured artwork, visit disjecta.org/auction. Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. 7 pm Saturday, Nov. 16.

BelgianFest

[BEER] Oregon, that least French and most Oktoberfesty of states, has nonetheless taken madly to the Belgian beer styles much more than the German. Case in point, the fourth annual BelgianFest at Bailey's Taproom, featuring more than 20 breweries, offers up its wilds, wits, saisons and sours. It fills up (and taps out) so madly that the Taproom offers $25 VIP tickets for five 4-ounce taster pours and early admission. Bailey's Taproom, 213 SW Broadway, 295-1004. 2 pm. $15 admission and five drink tokens, $1 additional tokens; cash only.

Great American Wine Festival

[WINE] Denver has the Great American Beer Festival, the nation's largest and most respected event of its kind. Portland has the Great American Distillers Festival and, now, something called the Great American Wine Festival. Details are thin, but there will be winemakers from Ohio, Missouri and Idaho, which means you should be able to get both pink and regular Catawba and maybe Norton or Niagara. DoubleTree Inn, Lloyd Center, 1000 NE Multnomah St., 281-6111. 4-8 pm. $35-$115.


Fruit Bats, the Donkeys

[COFFEE-SHOP QUIRK] Folksy, vibraphone-dappled pop wasn’t exactly hip when Fruit Bats released its second LP, Mouthfuls, in 2003. But the album—which the Chicago-reared band, led by Eric Johnson, is playing in full here—is arguably the most beloved of the band’s work. It’s laced with acoustic strumming and weird, electronic curls in the form of drum machines, keys and other digitized fixings. Although much of the album is made up of bummed-out love ballads, the Shins-y “Rainbow Sign” and twee closer, “When U Love Somebody,” remain fan favorites. And for those fans, this will be the last opportunity to hear those songs: Johnson announced this week that, after this run of anniversary shows, he’s putting Fruit Bats to bed.  BRANDON WIDDER. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $15. All ages.


Jessie Ware

[MUSIC] While her contemporaries climb all over one another to test the limits of their vocal prowess, this 29-year-old U.K. soul chanteuse has won an increasingly ardent fan base for her commitment to restraint. Devotion, Ware's atmospheric, alluring and occasionally playful debut, proved her more than capable of belting to the rafters if needed, but such moments appear all the more powerful when surrounded by measured grace. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 9 pm. $17. All ages.


Screaming Females

[MUSIC] Lying somewhere near the intersection of Sleater-Kinney's riot-grrrl caterwauling, Dinosaur Jr.'s Marshall-stack meltdowns and the twisted surf-pop sensibilities of the Pixies, you'll find the sound of restless punk kids who have done their homework. If Screaming Females were a football team, Michael Azerrad's essential 2001 tome, Our Band Could Be Your Life, would be their playbook. As much as the Internet has shifted the indie ethos away from what made the '80s underground rock documented in that book so industrious and fruitful, the important lesson in making it out of basements in blighted New Jersey college towns remains the same: play loud, play fast, get in the van. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., with Upset, on Saturday, Nov. 16. 8 pm. $8. 21+.


Sunday, Nov. 17


Old Timer's Week

[PIZZA PT. 2] To celebrate 30 years of slices, Escape From New York Pizza owner Phil Geffner is taking every current employee on a trip to Hawaii. The shop will still be open and under the care of former employees taking time off from their white-collar gigs to toss dough and remember what life was like before they were worn down by tedium, responsibility and having to pay for pizza. It continues all week. Escape From New York Pizza, 622 NW 23rd Ave., 227-5423. 11:30 am-11 pm. Prices vary.


Our Town (Liminal Performance Group)

[THEATER] Last spring, a member of the avant-garde Liminal Performance Group suggested—as a joke, or maybe a dare—that the company stage that overproduced mainstay of high-school theater, Our Town. Despite never having seen a production of Thornton Wilder's play, John Berendzen decided to take the proposal seriously, which means the group's co-founder and music director is for the first time helming a play that actually has a script. The text will remain intact, but also expect closed-circuit video and a soundscape including both shape-note singing and experimental electronic music. The Headwaters, 55 NE Farragut St., No. 9, 567-8309. 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays and 3 pm Sundays through Dec. 1. No show on Thanksgiving. $12-$25 sliding scale

Papa, Waters

[INDIE ROCK] Papa is almost too perfect for its own good. The attractive duo creates idyllic, melody-driven indie rock with its own soulful twist. In addition to that of-the-moment combination, the two sing about the standard trials of life growing up in Los Angeles: women, drugs and making it big. Even their first full-length, A Good Woman Is Hard to Find, speaks to their potential as the ideal indie-rock band: They sing about familiar struggles, but in an enticing and exhilarating way that should propel them up the charts quickly. Geoffrey Nudelman. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

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