News Parisians are about to kick off a lengthy celebration of Portland and they are doing it in a magnifique way.    Starting today and extending till the end of the month, four different cultural institutions will be celebrating our music, our DIY culture, and what the French are calling(the English translation is bit rough), "a village full of 21st century hippies."  Le Monde rece...   More

Music You can't really screw up a Prince cover, as long as you don't mess with the formula. Try to do it as a punk tune or some thrashing electro thing, and the whole thing falls apart. But stick to the core tune—as John Heart Jackie does here—and you're golden.It's because up until around 1996, the guy knew his way around a pop song. He wrote dozens upon dozens, many of them stone-cold classics. He...   More

Music Portland singer-songwriter Rebecca Gates will soon release her first solo album in over 10 years (she occasionally talks about that here), but the ex-Spinanes frontwoman would rather talk about surveys than new tunes. One survey, in particular: The Future of Music Coalition, an organization she works for, is attempting an ambitious project to identify US musicians' revenue streams. It may sound a ...   More

Music Just after 2 am on Saturday, Glass Candy took to the stage at noted Paris club night Flash Cocotte, to a rabid audience that rivaled the hometown crowds that gather at Rotture whenever the pair plays the Rose City. Opening with "Digital Versicolor," front-woman Ida No was nearly unrecognizable with her new brunette hair-do and heavy '60s-style makeup. Of course, the moment she slipped off her shoe...   More

Music Stephen Malkmus has done a lot of interviews in his 20-odd years fronting Pavement and the Jicks. So when we talked on the phone in advance of the latter group’s Portland stop—it will be the first time the latest incarnation of the band, which features Jake Morris of the Joggers on drums in addition to longtime Jicks Joanna Bolme and Mike Clark, has played Portland—I wasn’t surprised...   More

Music Howabout some ten-word reviews, huh? Let's keep it simple! Wild Flag, "Romance" (Okay, this is extra-old, but we missed it)Clock-punching superstars go on a field trip. Super fun!  Nurses, "Fever Dreams"Creepy dispatch from Portland: Minstrel-rave capital of the world.Starfucker, "Bury Us Alive"It's about time Starfucker had a great video! More blackface!?Blind Pilot, "Cecillia (Paul S...   More

Arts & Books Sellwood's the Woods will host This! Fest, a new literature and music festival, this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 9-10, with readings from more than 26 prominent Portland writers and 18 musical performances. (Read more about the festival in this week's Headout.)Jeremy Hadley, the festival's official organizer, says the idea was spawned by himself and three friends: Wilson Vediner (of local band Poi...   More

Music I'm not great at planning. Forgetting birthdays and missing meetings is kind of "my thing." But when it comes to Willamette Week's own MFNW, I like to plan my weekend down to the hour. (Then I get drunk and miss half the shows on my schedule—but that's not the point.) Anyway, if you're anything like me, this handy-dandy online MFNW schedule is going to blow your socks off. It comes complete...   More

Cover Story Quick! Name your 350 favorite Portland bands. Yeah, it’s kind of a tough one. But that number represents the shared wisdom of the 161 local music experts   More

Rogue of the Week When bass player Simon Tam decided to form an Asian-American rock band in 2005, he had the group’s name ready: the Slants. Tam, who says    More