Skip to main contentFail-Safe: Discomforts Close to Home
[VISUAL ART] Hap Gallery continues its rather astonishing run of superb exhibitions with a group exhibition called Fail-Safe: Discomforts Close to Home. Curated by Surface Design editor Marci Rae McDade, the show is themed on the anxieties that have haunted Americans since 2007 and 2008, when the housing-market bubble began to burst. The subsequent economic meltdown was, to put it mildly, deeply discomfiting to the American psyche, and that sense of financial and psychological dread permeates the artworks in the show. Eighteen artists from across the U.S. have works on view: textiles, fibers, human hair, wire and other quotidian materials. Sometimes subtly, sometimes blatantly, these materials combine into dark commentaries on the anxiety undermining our sense of security. Aug. 7-30. Hap Gallery, 916 NW Flanders St., 444-7101. 11 am-5:30 pm.
Pansy
[THEATER] San Francisco performer Evan Johnson presents an autobiographical solo show that explores queer identity by tellingparallel narratives about a '90s club kid named Peter Pansy (get it?) and a modern-day young gay man. Milepost 5, 850 NE 81st Ave., 729-3223. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 7-10 and Thursday-Friday, Aug. 14-15. $15.
Prizehog, Same-Sex Dictator, Valkyrie Rodeo
[SLUDGE REDONE] Same-Sex Dictator is the type of band that takes the sound of Seattle's new wave of heavies and knocks it flat on its back. This duo—just Lee Cizek on bass and Justin Straw on drums—is a crusty, doomy, sludgy punch straight to the throat. Similarly, Prizehog do indeed Re-Unvent the Whool—the title of its 2014 LP out on Eolian Empire—by taking sludge and adding alienlike vocals and eerie synth. If you're looking for a fresh take on a few tired genres in a bar that's gaining steam as one of Portland's new spots for heavy music, this night is for you. CAT JONES. The High Water Mark, 6800 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 286-6513. 8 pm. $5. 21+.
Bath Night
[SKETCH COMEDY] Standup gets most of the
attention in this town, but there's also a robust sketch-comedy scene.
This sketch show promises Korean boy bands, sappy airline pilots and
three-toed sloths—at least if its press release can be trusted. Shaking the Tree Studio, 1407 SE Stark St., 235-0635. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays through Aug. 30. $17-$20. Tickets here.
Panther, Copy, E*Rock
[PARTY LIKE IT'S 2006] From the future Wikipedia entry on "Wormhole": In the summer of 2014, three local Portland, Ore., musicians—Charlie Salas-Humara, Marius Libman, and Eric Mast—were hanging out at Bunk Bar when Mast had a stoned epiphany. "Guys," he said, "don't you wish we could travel back in time to the kinder, gentler Portland that we used to love?" Heads nodded around the table. Then, as Libman and Salas-Humara looked on in wonder, Mast picked up a Bunk Rasheed Wallace T-shirt, whispered "Ball don't lie" into his empty beer can, and boom!—the three friends woke up in 2006 Portland. That night they performed rapturous solo sets from their beloved mid-aughts acts (Panther, Copy, E*Rock, respectively), delighting fans with house favorites and new jams like Copy's "You're Going to Die," before decamping to a hole-in-the-wall in Old Town for a doughnut glazed with cough syrup. "Let's never tell anyone about this," they all whispered in unison. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 9:30 pm. $8. 21+.
Saturday, Aug. 9
Hawthorne Evening Market
[FARMERS MARKET] Do you enjoy heirloom tomatoes but not getting up before noon on Saturday? Us too. This upstart farmers market behind Trinket restaurant finally brings farm-fresh produce to the busiest and laziest among us. 2035 SE Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., 541-602-9730, hawthorneeveningmarket.com. 4-7:30 pm.
Portland Taiko's 20th Anniversary Extravaganza
[TAIKO] In the meditative setting
of a lush rose garden, kick back on the grass as the members of
Portland Taiko whack the crap out of some huge drums for your listening
pleasure. Washington Park Rose Garden Amphitheater, 400 SW Kingston Ave. 6 pm. Free. portlandtaiko.org.
Love's Labour's Lost
[THEATER] Love's Labour's Lost has never been very popular. One of Shakespeare's more convoluted comedies, it went almost 250 years after its initial performance without a single production. But perhaps due to its surprisingly feminist themes, or maybe just its sheer number of trysts and merry mix-ups, the story of four lords who can't escape love has found a new audience in the 21st century. This adaptation by Hillsboro's Bag & Baggage Productions doesn't hide that it's geared toward a contemporary crowd—which doesn't just mean director Scott Palmer has emphasized the dick jokes. He's also drawn heavily from The Students, an 18th-century anonymous adaptation of Love's Labour's that's about half as long as the original. The King of Navarre (Andrew Beck) has decided to ban women from his court for several years of fasting and studying with his lords. But when the princess of France comes calling with her ladies, the gentlemen have trouble sticking to their plan. Oh, and under Palmer's direction, they're all living Fellini's La Dolce Vita, dressed in slim-fitting Italian suits and zipping around on Vespas. Though some scholars might scoff at the numerous cuts and sight gags, you have to applaud Palmer for making one of Shakespeare's knottier plays feel genuinely relevant and accessible. TREE PALMEDO. Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza, 150 E Main St., Hillsboro, 345-9590. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays through Aug. 9. $18.
Air Sex Championships
[HUMPING AROUND] As with air-guitar competitions, we suspect most entrants here are more familiar with miming the act than doing it for real. Then again, they've probably done enough visual research to know how it should look better than the rest of us. Hawthorne Theatre Lounge, 1507 SE Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., 233-7100. 8:30 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Cage, Sleep, Sadistik, Maulskull
[PISS TAKE] Death Grips called it quits, but Cage has been summoning horrific stories and images since the late 1990s—and without outsized production techniques. His latest, 2013's Kill the Architect, isn't a statement of maturity as much as a document of the MC's continuing struggle with his childhood, as well as the substance abuse that continues to swirl around him—or at least around in his head. Luckily, it all comes with a dose of piss jokes. Cage's Destroy the Archetype tour is set to include Oldominion mainstay Sleep on its local stop. DAVE CANTOR. Alhambra Theatre, 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show.
A Beautiful Thing: Portland Happening and Psych Fest with the Sellwoods, the Vernor Pantons, the Mirrors, the Dandelyons, the Pynnacles
[PSYCH ROCK] The psych-rock movement in Portland has blossomed in the past few years. In a war-torn world where the fear of yuppie overkill destroying Portland's revered alt-culture looms large, everybody could use a little flower power. The Facebook event for this summit meeting asks you to "be yourself," and warns that "friendship and positivity is a must." The night will provide a slew of trippy, reverb-heavy bands accompanied by a light show and cheap beer. Whether or not vintage paisley is your thing, the bill warrants awesome psychedelic music and the possibility of keeping Portland really, really weird. ASHLEY JOCZ. The Analog, 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 432-8079. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Sunday, Aug. 10
4th Annual Brewer's Burger Brawl
[BURGERS] For the fourth year at Hop & Vine, five local brewers will be having a burger throwdown. Last year's winner was Matt Van Wyk of Oakshire Brewing, who threw down with a beef and lamb burger with boursin cheese, Belgian endive, and pineapple-bacon chutney on a pecan-dusted French bread roll, paired with a brett-fermented farmhouse. The winner from the year before that was also Van Wyk, with a Blackberry Honey/Rye/Smokey Blue/Mom's Secret Sauce burger paired with Line Dry Rye. This year, Van Wyk's back. Four brewers will challenge. Nobody knows what will happen in the highly competitive burger-brew pairing scene, but…put your money on Van Wyk. The Hop & Vine Bottle Shop, 1914 N Killingsworth St., 954-3322.
Pure Surface
[DANCE/WORDS/FILM] Like combining all your favorite foods into a delicious, experimental smoothie, the new performance series Pure Surface lays together text, dance and film. Providing the text will be author Allison Cobb (Born2, Green-Wood), accompanied by the dance of Allie Hankins and film by Jodie Cavalier. On second thought, just go see the show, because a pickle-bacon-banana smoothie might not be so great. Valentines, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. 7 pm. Free. 21+.
Like a Villain
[GARAGEBAND GODDESS] Though Holland Andrews has long captivated Portland venues with her dense mix of hypnotic loops and unfettered screaming, her much-anticipated new record, Bast, is her first album with fully professional production. Fortunately, even in the sterile confines of the studio, she holds nothing back. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
PALS Fest
[GRASSROOTS PDX FEST] For three years now, PALS Fest has epitomized grassroots local music. The roughly weeklong gathering of Portland bands functions like SXSW in its formative years: a smattering of local acts across a handful of local venues without much fanfare. And while SXSW has gone corporate, PALS, quite expectedly, has not. Still championing neighborhood acts much like the always-unlocked house venue it's named after, this year's fest features the likes of Wooden Indian Burial Ground, Old Age, Souvenir Driver and the Lower 48. Venues such as the Know, the Firkin, Bunk Bar and Double Dragon play host all week long. Music adorers should pay particular attention to billed acts like Aan, who are in custody of a true album-of-the-year candidate, and the raucous experimental-rock quartet Talkative. MARK STOCK. Multiple venues. Through Aug. 15.
WWeek 2015