Willamette Weekend: An Insane Amount of Spanikopita, Portland’s Lost Psych Band and 10 Other Things to Do and See in Portland, April 6-8

Plus, Alvvays and Chromeo.

Female Trouble (courtesy of imdb.com)

Friday, April 6

Music and Poetry of the Kesh: A Celebration
Tonight, musician Todd Barton and experimental electronic duo Visible Cloaks perform songs from the recently reissued Music and Poetry of the Kesh, a collection of imagined "field recordings" that originally accompanied Ursula K. Le Guin's 1985 faux-anthropological study, Always Coming Home. Leaven Community Center, 5431 NE 20th Ave., 503-287-7553. 6:30 pm. $12. All ages.

Krystyna Hutchinson and Corinne Fisher
The comedians behind the Guys We Fucked podcast stop in Portland for a night of improv and standup. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669, portland.heliumcomedy.com. 8 pm April 5-7. $22. 21+.

Gemini with Aaron Katz
Portland director Aaron Katz's new movie is a stylish neo-noir murder mystery starring Lola Kirke and Zoë Kravitz. Katz will attend for a post screening Q&A. Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave., 503-223-4515, cinema21.com. 7:30 pm. Through April 6. $10. 

Chromeo, Phantoms
Bruno Mars may have ushered in the '80s funk revival currently sweeping through the mainstream, but Montreal's Chromeo were reanimating old Rick James and Fatback Band back when Bruno was still writing ballads for suburban moms. Originally scanning as a kitschy-sleazy Daft Punk, the duo's elastic dance tunes have afforded them a career improbably long and successful enough that they actually seem like pioneering vets. They haven't released an album since 2014's White Women, but they've begun teasing a new one, whose lead single, the bright, bouncy, synth-and-vocoder-driven "Juice," hits the same retro notes they always have—only now, it wouldn't be surprising to hear it pop up on Top 40 radio. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 971-230-0033. 8 pm. Sold out. All ages.

Saturday, April 7

Alvvays

Stephen Petronio Company
This New York company's show features pieces by Yvonne Rainer, one of postmodern dance's weirdest choreographers, including an adaptation of Trio A with dancers wearing nothing but American flags draped around their necks. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-245-1600, whitebird.org. 7:30 pm. Starts April 5. $26-$70.

Hunger, Lavender Flu, Day Dos
Originally billed as the Outcasts, Hunger is a forgotten player in the storied history of Portland garage rock. Though they played clubs all over town, their peak came with a win at the 1967 Rose Festival's Battle of the Bands, where their prize was a coveted Fender PA system. Soon lured to Los Angeles, the band would be transformed by two encounters—first with manager Stan Zipperman, who rechristened them Hunger, then with a member of another area outfit. Read our feature on Hunger here. Turn Turn Turn, 8 NE Killingsworth St., turnturnturnpdx.com. 8 pm. $10. 21+.

Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, Chanti Darling, DJ Anjali & the Incredible Kid
Papi Fimbres and the other 10 members of Orquestra Pacifico Tropical have been teaching Portland how to baile esta cumbia for a few years now, primarily through reinterpretations of traditional genre classics. With new album El Tren—the release of which they're celebrating tonight—the ensemble has graduated to applying the music's white-hot rhythms to a set of sweltering originals. To the surprise of no one, the songs have the propulsion and psyched-out instrumentation of Fimbres's many other, more rock-based projects. However you define "dance record," you might not hear a more fun one come out of Portland this year. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 503-239-7639. 8 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.

Alvvays
Anyone who worried that Toronto dream-pop outfit Alvvays couldn't recapture the magic of their 2014 debut had their doubts washed away by the beachy optimism of last year's Antisocialites. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave.,  971-230-0033, roselandpdx.com. 9 pm. $20. All ages.

Sunday, April 8

The Mermaid Hour (Russell J. Young)

Greek Easter
Greeks are always a week late to Easter, which means more Easter—and as always among Greek families like Olympia Provisions' Elias and Michele Cairo, there will be dancing and plate-smashing amid an insane amount of spanikopita and tzatziki, and a whole roast lamb. Olympia Provisions NW, 1632 NW Thurman St., 503-894-8136, olympiaprovisions.com. 6 pm. $60 family-style dinner, $30 more for wine.

The Mermaid Hour
Full of sharp yet empathetic humor, this world-premiere play focuses mostly on the tribulations of two parents as they try their best to support their transgender daughter despite the lack of information available to them. Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., 503-236-7253, milagro.org. 2 pm. Through April 14. $20-$27.

Female Trouble 
In John Waters' decadently depraved opus, Divine plays Dawn Davenport, who rises from a bratty kid who attacks her parents with a Christmas tree when they don't buy her cha-cha shoes to a fame-obsessed murderer with a Mohawk and an acid burn. 5th Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall St., 5thavecinema.com. 3 pm. $4.

Nina Diaz, Wild Moccasins
The name Nina Diaz is one you're likely to hear on the FM dial in the not-too-distant future. The onetime lead singer for the Joan Jett-endorsed punk act Girl in a Coma, Diaz is a powerful vocalist in the midst of breaking out beyond her native San Antonio. Her 2016 record, The Beat Is Dead, deals in drugs and addiction to the tune of catchy synth and electric guitar riffs. Winning out, per usual, is Diaz's bold and smoky voice, all the better when it occasionally dips into the inherent melody of the Spanish language. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895. 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.

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