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FRIDAY, MARCH 31
Holy Mountain
Seattle's hottest new doom-metal-themed brewery is finally bringing its barrel-aged farmhouses to Portland. Sipping on new classics like Crystal Ship Saison and Midnight Still Imperial Stout in a man cave with the Steve Miller Band on the stereo may not be what brewmasters Colin Lenfesty and Mike Murphy had in mind as the ideal tasting environment, but the beer speaks for itself. Beermongers, 1125 SE Division St., 503-234-6012, thebeermongers.com. 6 pm. 21+.
Burn It Backwards
Burn It Backwards is not about Elliott Smith. The show, by longtime Portland dance ensemble Skinner|Kirk, is set to a selection of 14 Smith songs, and the title is taken from a lyric in "Sweet Adeline." But Daniel Kirk and Eric Skinner's thoughtful choreography is not intended to be biographical, or even a tribute to the late Portland singer-songwriter. Instead, it simply explores the space in which we experience our lives and interact with others, both in joy and heartbreak. BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave., bodyvox.com. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Saturday, through April 1. $24-$64.
WW Presents Erotica Awareness Month: The Climax
To cap off WW's Erotica Awareness Month (see our feature, page 39), we teamed up with the Clinton Street Theater and Portland film collector Ian Sundahl to screen an hour of rare, vintage trailers from the Golden Age of Porn on 35 mm: a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see surprisingly arty, weird glimpses from a forgotten time in cinema. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 503-238-5588, cstpdx.com. 10 pm. $6 advance, $8 day of show. 18+.
OCnotes, Marbletop Orchestra
Portland's Old Grape God raps the way Jackson Pollock paints, using tripped-out beats—typically devised by his main collaborator, producer Skelli Skel—as a canvas to splatter his oft-abstract, stream-of-consciousness musings against. Tonight, the recent Best New Band finalist takes his expressionist brand of hip-hop to the next level, teaming with fellow cosmic traveler Snugsworth and a host of guests to record a fully improvised live album under the name Marbletop Orchestra. Experimental Seattle rapper, producer and multi-instrumentalist OCnotes—who runs in the same genre-bending circles as Shabazz Palaces—headlines. The Fixin' To, 8218 N Lombard St., 503-477-4995. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
The Slants, the Shrike, Kill Frankie
As you may have heard, Portland dance-rock outfit the Slants have been tied up in a bit of a legal imbroglio the last couple years. Chances are, if you've heard of the Slants at all, it is because of that legal imbroglio. But if this is all news to you, the CliffsNotes version is that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has repeatedly denied the band's attempt to trademark its name, on the grounds that four Asian Americans going by "the Slants" is racially insensitive, with the case reaching the Supreme Court in January. It's tempting to say the case has overshadowed the Slants' music—which exists at the intersection of the Killers and New Order—but given that it is essentially a fight over identity, the truth is they've always been inextricably linked. So it makes sense that the group's new EP, The Band Who Must Not Be Named, amounts to a concept album about this whole mess, from the unambiguous title to opening track "From the Heart," which essentially amounts to their closing argument on the matter. The Analog Cafe, 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-206-7439. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Sir Cupcake's Queer Circus Goes Inside the Body
In Sir Cupcake's newest production, Cupcake is sick and his circus performers go inside his body to find his missing heart, while robot nurses take care of Cupcake from the outside.The performances personify different parts of Cupcake's body—blood vessels are aerialists and the spleen is a contortionist dressed as a cat. Along with the unexpected narrative for a circus, show is ripe with the traits that have led to Sir Cupcake's local following: a campy sense of humor scattered with pro-queer positivity. Echo Theater, 1515 SE 37th Ave., sircupcake.com. 8 pm Friday-Saturday and 3 pm Saturday, through April 1. $22-$30.
SATURDAY, APRIL 1
The Angry Brigade
Two days before the opening night of The Angry Brigade, a terrorist drove a car through a crowd near the British Parliament, killing several and injuring dozens. The tragedy significantly raised the stakes of Third Rail's American premiere of the 2014 English play: The Angry Brigade was a radical leftist organization that orchestrated a series of non-fatal bombings in London between 1970 and 1972. But liberation, not terrorism, is the play's real concern. See our full review of the play here. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8 Ave., thirdrailrep.org. 7:30 Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, through April 15. $25-$42.50.
Umbrella Festival Dirty Cabaret
Now in its sixth year, the Umbrella Festival is a weekend of six showcases featuring a different segment of Portland variety, from neo-vaudeville to aerial dance. The Saturday night show is dedicated to some of the performers keeping alive Portland's reputation for adult entertainment that's as arty as it is nasty. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 503-719-6055, albertarosetheatre.com. 8 pm. $12-$40. Minors permitted with guardian.
Tinariwen, Dengue Fever
North African rockers Tinariwen have every right to laugh at the average sad-sack musician. Breakups and petty broken dreams are nothing compared to the executions of family members and playing electrified Arabic pop against the state's orders, amid war-ravaged stretches of the Sahara. In short, the sprawling Malian-born band is genuine rock 'n' roll—defiant, deliberate and damn good. On its latest record, Elwan, Tinariwen continues its mastery of traditional nomadic music, adapting ever-shuffling and incredibly rhythmic desert folk to Western ears with the aid of electric guitar. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., 503-288-3895. 8 pm, through April 3. $35. 21+.
Dan Cable presents All These Foolz with Tribe Mars, Rasheed Jamal, Sumalienz
Through 50 episodes, local music aficionado Dan Cable's Dan Cable Presents podcast has separated itself from the rest of the pack. In contrast to other, more pedestrian Portland music podcasts and radio shows, Cable is out there actually breaking acts, not just putting his finger to the wind and seeing who's hot this week—or, as is the case with many "influencers" in town, who was hot in 2015. This curated live show represents another step in that process, and is an excellent snapshot of Portland's emerging live-band hip-hop scene. Tribe Mars has turned heads for the past few years with its eclectic blend of funk, jazz and hip-hop, while Sumalienz continue to wow crowds in advance of their unreleased material. Rasheed Jamal typically performs with a DJ, but has the flow and stage presence to steal any show. This night is something the Portland scene should not miss. The Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Biffy Clyro, O'Brother
Biffy Clyro is one of those head-scratching cases of a band whose success in its homeland is bafflingly impossible to translate across the pond. The Glaswegian power trio has been selling out arenas and headlining festivals across Europe for the better part of a decade, and the ambitious, bombastic crunch of its music—which hits the same pleasure centers as early Foo Fighters—is a direct reflection of the spaces the band members seek to fill with their anthems. Alas, 2016's Ellipsis hardly moved the dial for their prominence in the States—which, in turn, may be a good thing if you'd prefer to get as close as possible to oft-shirtless frontman Simon Neil's onstage antics. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., hawthornetheatre.com. 8 pm Saturday, April 1. $20 advance, $25 day of show. 21+.
Farmhouse & Wild Ale Fest
If you've been itching to get your lips on critically acclaimed farmhouse ales from De Garde, Logsdon and Wolves & People but can't justify driving from one small town to the next to find the funk, this is the fest for you. Saraveza, 1004 N Killingsworth St., portlandfarmhousefest.com. 11 am-9 pm. $25. 21+. Also 11 am-6 pm Sunday, April 2.
Upright Brewing 8th Anniversary
Upright's got a birthday, and that always means rare beers at the brewery, including a four-cask-blended "total geek beer" called Ives, an anniversary saison, the last of 2015's Fantasia peach beer, and a 2-year old barleywine. Nice. Upright Brewing, 240 N Broadway, portlandfarmhousefest.com. 11 am-9 pm.
SUNDAY, APRIL 2
Power Trip
Dallas thrash/crossover band Power Trip found themselves on the right side of a Pitchfork Best New Music rating with new album Nightmare Logic, a sub-40-minute blast of uncommonly good songwriting, massive hooks and solos with zero fat. If it's possible for heavy metal to have a popular resurgence, this is what it's going to sound like. Analog Cafe, 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-206-7439, analogpdx.com. 7:30 pm. $13. All ages.
Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience
Watch as a weird old man's pervy medieval fantasies come to life before your eyes! This massive touring show uses a live orchestra and high-tech visual technology to immerse audiences in George R.R. Martin's bleak world of dungeons, dragons and more goddamn dragons. Think of it like Walking With Dinosaurs, except with more castrations and violent sex. Moda Center, 1 N Center Court St., 503-235-8771, rosequarter.com. $39-$275. All ages.
Fukami Pop-Up
When Fukami closed on Belmont, Jesus wept. But at Davenport each Sunday and Monday the finest sushi in the city is back as part of a 19-course omakase menu spanning complex masaba, heavenly winter snapper, tamago like sweet clouds and a spring-vegetable nettle salad that might as well be a field's distilled essence. It's $95, but I promise: That's cheap as hell. Davenport, 2215 E Burnside St., fukamipdx.com. 7 pm.