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Friday, March 7
Independent Women
[THEATER] Remember the halcyon days of Destiny's Child? That trio's 2000 album, Independent Women Part 1, was the launchpad for this show, which is also inspired by Rosie the Riveter. Expect a mashup of text, song and, presumably, bangin' dance moves. Action/Adventure Theatre, 1050 SE Clinton St., socialsciencesproductions.com. 8 pm. $15.
My Neighbor Totoro
[FILM] What makes My Neighbor Totoro perfect? It takes place in a gloriously conceived world where there exist no villains or conflict. There are just two sisters whisked into a magical land full of friendly creatures. With its whimsical beauty, it overwhelms even the stodgiest adult. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Friday, March 7.
Ardiente Paciencia
[THEATER] Miracle Theatreâs production of Antonio Skármetaâs Ardiente PacienciaâSpanish for âburning patienceââis a dizzying and viscerally funny exercise in metaphors and layers. For the young Mario and Beatriz, patience is what they lack: Their burning desire leads to a child, but theyâre not solely to blame. Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, played by the regal Enrique E. Andrade, is Marioâs poetic and romantic mentor as he pursues Beatriz in the small fishing village of Isla Negra. Though the all-Spanish production, supertitled in English, skimps on Nerudaâs quirks, his humor and capacity for love suffuse the show. MITCH LILLIE. Miracle Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays through March 8. $17-$26.
Party Boyz presentz Ladiez Night: Sallie Ford, Luz Elena Mendoza, Rebecca Gates, Swansea
[MUSIC] The last time I wrote a listing for Sallie Ford, it was about how her band, the Sound Outside, had avoided the alleged "Best New Band curse," managing to stay together and thrive—in France, anyway—after winning that coveted title back in 2010. And then, in December, the punky jazz-folk group naturally went ahead and announced its breakup. Whoops. There is a silver lining, though: Ford went ahead and almost immediately put together a new band, featuring Anita Lee Elliott of Viva Voce and members of Albatross and Point Juncture WA. That all-female band makes its debut here—along with other significant Portland lady-rockers Luz Elena Mendoza, Rebecca Gates and Swansea—at Ladiez Night, an event hosted by Rachel Milbauer and Elizabeth Elder of the Party Boyz local music podcast and benefitting the Rock'n'Roll Camp For Girls. So, y'know, as far as I'm concerned: Still no curse! MATTHEW SINGER. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $15. 21+.
Mujeres, Dead Ghosts, Sun Angle
[LOOSE TRANSLATION] Spanish garage-rock quartet Mujeres is more classicist than groundbreaking, but the band's fun, sprightly jams blend the best parts of the Nuggets canon with yips and yelps straight from the last Thee Oh Sees record. "How I Am" even has the same kinetic pulse (if not cultural significance) as the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man." There's also a bit of a Northwest lineage here the band's 2012 album, Soft Gems, contains the song "Seattle Waves" so let's give these dudes a nice, rowdy reception tonight. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 9:30 pm. $7 advance, $8 day of show. 21+.
Saturday, March 8
Portland2014
[ARTS] Portland's biennal. This year, for the first time, an out-of-state curator, Los Angeles-based Amanda Hunt, is helming the show. She pruned an open call of 300 applicants down to 60 artists, then did studio visits with each. In the end, she chose 15 artists and collaborators for Portland2014, many of them creating new work specifically for the show. Several of those artists—Modou Dieng, Devon A. VanHouten-Maldonado, Blair Saxon-Hill, Kelly Rauer, D.E. May, Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Evan LaLonde—will display artwork in Disjecta's sprawling headquarters in the Kenton neighborhood. Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. March 8-April 27
Metal Machine Music—Marzena & Kogut Butoh
[DANCE] Thirty-nine years on, critics still don't know what to make of Lou Reed's free-noise opus Metal Machine Music. When Portland composer Bob Priest listened to it, he heard the score for a butoh-style dance piece—which really is as legitimate an interpretation as any. Three Friends Coffee House, 201 SE 12th Ave., 236-6411. 11 pm. Free.
Love in This Club: The Black Madonna, Ben Tactic, Nathan Detroit
[CHICAGO HOUSE] There is probably no more important above-ground venue for Chicago house and techno than Smart Bar. On its list of residents, right below house-music godfather Frankie Knuckles, is the Black Madonna. Marea Stamper has spent the better part of two decades steeped in Midwest rave and dance culture, and now she not only resides at Smart Bar, but acts as its creative director. "We Don't Need No Music," with its smooth disco bassline, choppy vocal samples and classic horns, speaks to her taste. This is 21st-century Chicago house—Hail Mary. MITCH LILLIE. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
Jeremy Wilson
[MUSIC] At a glance, Empty Through Empty Space, the new album by former Dharma Bum Jeremy Wilson, has the backstory of a classic breakup record. Guy meets girl, he moves across the country to be with her, things fall apart, he gets in his car and drives home, writing songs in his head along the way. But as the first material heâs released in more than a decade, it canât just be about that single experience. Itâs informed by heart disease as much as heartbreak, by a simmering existential crisis as much as the crash-and-burn of a relationship. To call Empty Space simply a âbreakup recordâ is an oversimplificationââbreakdown recordâ is more like it. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., with Eyelids and Pete Krebs & His Portland Playboys, on Saturday, March 8. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show.
March Music Moderne: Resonance Ensemble, Venerable Showers of Beauty Gamelan Ensemble
[GONGS AND SONGS] One of the city's finest and most musically adventurous professional choirs teams up with the Javanese percussion orchestra based at Lewis & Clark College to perform contemporary English composer Neil Sorrell's intensely dramatic Missa Gongso, which sets parts of the Latin mass to the pulsating melodies of the gamelan's bronze and wooden gongs and keyed instruments. This unique concert also features folk songs arranged by Indonesian composers so that the a cappella voices intertwine like gamelan instrumental tunes. BRETT CAMPBELL. Evans Auditorium, Lewis & Clark College, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road. 7:30 pm Saturday, March 8. $11-$22.
Sunday, March 9
Taco and Wine Pairing
[FOOD] Pairing tacos and wine might seem a trashy Southwestern notion of a fancy date. But here we are: five tacos, six wines. It's the first of several fast-food wine dates between Pairings Wine shop and eateries in the neighboring Ocean food complex, in this case Uno Mas taqueria. Pairings Portland Wine Shop, 455 NE 24th Ave., 541-531-7653. 5 pm. $30. Reservations required. 21+.
Second Sunday Cider Pairing
[CIDER] Brooklyn House Restaurant is a cider-lovin' spot. They offer discounts for Bushwhacker cider house patrons, and every second Sunday they host a cider-and-cheese pairing. The cider's free, no less. (Tip, dammit!) But for the full effect, order the $5 or $10 paired cheese plates and discover what we at WW discovered long ago one lucky day at Cheese Bar: Cheese and cider are a way better marriage than your parents ever had. And we say this without knowing your parents. For March, Portland Cider Co. is the featured cidery, with a perry, a hop cider and a juniper cider, along with the old-school Kinda Sweets and Sorta Drys. Hooo! Brooklyn House Restaurant, 3131 SE 12th Ave., 236-6761. 4 pm.
Like a Villain, Edna Vasquezs Quartet
[EXPERIMENTAL LOOPS] Since creating the moniker Like a Villain in 2010, Holland Andrews is known for creating haunting, choirlike loops and writing songs about alien abduction, among other topics. Her latest release, a single out last year called âMy Dog Ate It,â is a seven-and-a-half minute sprawling epic, consisting almost entirely of soft, repetitive chimes and her floating, looped vocal harmonies that encourage softly and then scream suddenly. This is a familiar pattern for Andrews, who often creates dramatic songs built on basic instrumental flares featuring clarinet and glockenspiel and loops that eventually break down in a wild surge of harmony and emotion. KAITIE TODD. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
March Music Moderne: Classical Revolution PDX
[CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL] Many of America's greatest composers, from Aaron Copland to Leonard Bernstein on down, embraced the love that once dared not speak its name. With marriage equality finally on its way to long-overdue reality throughout the rest of the civilized world, Classical Revolution PDX celebrates music by gay composers, including works by Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, Eve Beglarian and Peter Maxwell Davies, all of whom also just happen to be among the finest of the 20th century, regardless of orientation. The show also includes listener-friendly new music by local composers Bonnie Miksch, Jedediah Bernards, Josh Kreydatus, Mitchell Falconer, Harry Gilbert and Max Voltage. BRETT CAMPBELL. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 7:30 pm Sunday. $10. 21+.
WWeek 2015