Willamette Weekend: 16 Things to Do in Portland, May 9-11

Friday, May 9

Bridgetown Comedy Fest

[COMEDY] Oh, man. Plenty to see. Go here and here for recommendations, or here for tickets. May 9-11, bridgetowncomedy.com. 

“Best $10 Red” Blind Wine Tasting

[WINE] You pay $10, you get $10 wines. A little of a lot of them. As a cheap-wine gimmick on overdrive, Woodstock Deli asks its favored wine suppliers and its sales force to find the best wines that retail for under $10. Anyone who wanders into the wine shop gets to judge the various low-cost wines, which will be “blinded” with a paper bag. Tasters will then vote for the best $10 wine. Presumably, you can buy the winner at the end of the tasting. Woodstock Wine & Deli, 4030 SE Woodstock Ave., 777-2208. 6-9 pm. $10.

Jason Padgett

[BOOKS] Just like superheroes acquiring their powers after a near-death run-in with some radiation, Jason Padgett found himself with the first documented case of acquired savant syndrome with mathematical synesthesia, after a violent assault forever changed his brain. Now Padgett sees the world in geometric patterns and mathematical designs, as he describes in his new book, Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.

Amy Cervini, the Julians

[JAZZ-CLASSICAL VOX] That other Canadian-born jazz chanteuse isn’t Kralling the Schnitz stage, but in this intimate setting, Amy Cervini offers her own rewards: stylish vocals descended from Blossom Dearie, delivered in both her native land’s main languages no less. Now based in New York, the Downbeat Award-winning, Toronto-born singer brings guitarist Jesse Lewis and bassist Matt Aronoff and songs from her new album, Jazz Country. On a few songs there’s a stellar backup vocal quartet in Portland’s own Julians, top-level classical singers who open the show with their venturesome excursions in and beyond contemporary classical composers into Björk, Britney, Gillian Welch, the Shirelles and more. BRETT CAMPBELL. Shaker and Vine, 2929 SE Powell Blvd., 231-8466. 8 pm Friday, May 9. $10.

Rue Royale

[BOYLESQUE] The ripped Chicago boylesque trio the Stagedoor Johnnies headline this quarterly show. The group does dance numbers and acrobatics while dressed as such characters as Lion-O and Speed Racer—but it all ends in decked-out cock socks. They’ll close the show with help from a mythical beast. Before that, locals Sugar Kane and Angelique DeVil perform, the latter to an ear-worm Top 40 hit, and Seattle stripteasers Violet Tendencies and Persephone Illyri bring acts new to the Portland stage. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 6:30 pm Friday, May 9. $15 advance, $18 at the door, $50 for two spots at a VIP table. 21+.

The Pirates of Penzance

[THEATER] When Oregon Shakespeare Festival artistic director Bill Rauch staged this fizzy musical in Ashland in 2011, the show earned massive praise for its comic precision and freewheeling sense of fun. Now, fresh from Broadway—he just directed Bryan Cranston as Lyndon B. Johnson in All the Way—Rauch has reworked it for Portland. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm. $48.45-$174.70.

Devin the Dude, Berner, Potluck

[WEED RAP] The stoniest of stoner rappers, Devin the Dude has never seen much point in shaking up his perpetually chill, West Coastin’ style, and that’s to his credit. One for the Road, his eighth album, doesn’t mess with the formula that’s made him a hip-hop cult hero—song titles include “I’m Just Getting Blowed,” “Herb the Nation” and “I Hope We Don’t Get Too High”—but you know what they say: If the bowl ain’t cashed, why stop puffing? Peter’s Room, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-8499. 8 pm. $17. All ages. 

Bubblin' Four-Year Anniversary

[MUSIC] Though the sudden death of headliner DJ Rashad certainly casts a pall, this anniversary party for Portland’s most progressive dance night continues on in the memory of the Chicago footwork legend. In the words of co-founder Ben Fuller, each set will be “a celebration of life, which is really what dance music is all about.” Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 9 pm. $10 before 10 pm, $15 after. 21+.

Saturday, May 10

Bridgetown Comedy Fest

[COMEDY] Oh, man. Plenty to see. Go here and here for recommendations, or here for tickets. May 9-11, bridgetowncomedy.com. 

St. Johns Bizarre

[STREET FAIR] May showers and impending Junuary be damned—street-fair season is here. This fest in St. Johns, that underrated and not-so-far-away North Portland neighborhood, includes a parade, Occidental beer and a sweet music lineup featuring soul group Ural Thomas & the Pain, rapper Illmaculate and the mariachi-tinged Edna Vázquez Quartet. St. Johns Business District, stjohnsbizarre.com. 10 am-7 pm. Free.

Cider Riot Parade

[DRINK] Cider Riot cidery’s first anniversary party kicks off with a 6 pm parade starting at Cheese Bar on Southeast 61st Avenue and Belmont Street, led by a fireman with a pipe. The procession ends at a riotously cider-filled Irish bar, and goes till the OLCC makes them stop. Biddy McGraw’s, 6000 NE Glisan St., 233-1178, biddymcgraws.com.

Piano! Push Play!

[PARTICIPATORY PIANO] Last summer, you might have noticed an invasion of pianos in various public spaces. Blame Piano Push Play, an organization founded by irrepressible Portland musician Megan McGeorge and dedicated to making it easier for anyone to play and hear piano music. This concert celebrates the release of Please Play Me!, an album featuring 10 young Portland pianists and some guest artists from the jazz, pop and classical worlds who all participated in last summer’s public events. Even audience members (pianists and composers) can participate. BRETT CAMPBELL. Portland State University, Lincoln Hall, Room 121, 1620 SW Park Ave. 4 pm Saturday, May 10. Free.

Oh Darling

[MUSIC] Almost any write-up you can find on Oh Darling describes the Portland band with a few choice synonyms: “Cute.” “Adorable.” “Cheerios in chocolate milk.” It’s like reading reviews for the Frozen soundtrack. Good thing the band basks in its reputation for sugarcoated indie pop. For the quartet, the music is just a reflection of the feelings the band members get when making music together—which are, unsurprisingly, joyful. Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St., with Sean Flinn & the Royal We and DJ Cooky Parker, on Saturday, May 10. 9 pm. $8. 21+.

Helio Sequence

[EPIC TWO-PIECE] It’s been said before that the Helio Sequence’s Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel sound far bigger than a mere duo. Saturated with glimmering analog synths and bright, sinewy guitar riffs, their music becomes more grandiose and operatic with every album. Negotiations, the band’s ace 2012 effort, delivers a flurry of spaciously orchestrated movements covering solitude and atonement, flanked by descending arpeggios and the atmospheric nuances surely indebted to primetime Brian Eno. BRANDON WIDDER. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 222-2031. 7 pm. $25. 21+.

Sunday, May 11

Bridgetown Comedy Fest

[COMEDY] Oh, man. Plenty to see. Go here and here for recommendations, or here for tickets. May 9-11, bridgetowncomedy.com. 

Danny Brown

[MUSIC] If Drake is, as New York Times critic Jon Caramanica wrote last year, “all the emoji,” then Danny Brown is the drunken smiley face and the mushroom—a perma-stoned, violently hilarious, and dexterous rapper remaking hip-hop, one zany voice at a time. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-8499.
8 pm. $17. All ages.

Robert Johnson’s 103rd Birthday Bash

[SEE YOU AT THE CROSSROADS] Had he thought to sell his soul for immunity to strychnine rather than phenomenal blues guitar skills, Robert Johnson might’ve turned 103 this year. Alas, he died at age 27, possibly from poisoning, though that’s never been confirmed. Nonetheless, the handful of songs he managed to record in his lifetime have granted him a kind of immortality, so score one for devil worship! A murderer’s row of Portland roots-music luminaries—including Terry Robb, Joe McMurrian, Tevis Hodge and the duo of Lewi Longmire and Anita Lee Elliott—gather tonight to pay their respects to the man, the myth and his legend, though not necessarily in that order. MATTHEW SINGER. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 719-6055. 8 pm. $20 general admission, $30 preferred seating. 21+.

George Clinton, Thomas & the Pain

[FOUNDING FATHER OF FUNK] James Brown might be the Godfather of Soul, but when it comes to funk, George Clinton fills the role in the Vito Corleone sense of the word. He’s the patriarch of a musical family whose branches intersect with a wide swath of artists, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Clinton produced their second album) to Talking Heads (they borrowed Parliament-Funkadelic synth-wizard Bernie Worrell for a spell) and the entirety of ’90s West Coast gangsta rap, a genre built from samples of his elastic bounce. If you want to get funked up, there’s still only one man for the job, and he’s the one with rainbow dreads. MATTHEW SINGER. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. 9 pm. $25 advance, $27 day of show. 21+.