Willamette Weekend: 17 Things to Do and See in Portland This Weekend, April 25-27

Friday, April 25

Blazers

[BLAZERS] BLAZERS!!! 7:30 pm, Moda Center.

Shlohmo

[MUSIC] Last year's Laid Out is a Flying Lotus-style record that's mostly instrumental, hazy production backed with clipped, electronic drums. The pending release of an EP, with Chicago R&B crooner Jeremih, is likely to alienate some beat-junkie types, but it's all in the name of his evolution. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $15. 21kkknd.

Flash Ah-AHHH!

[CAMP OPERA] A rollicking schlock-operetta, StageWorks Ink's Flash Ah-AHHH! pays faithful tribute to 1980 camp classic Flash Gordon—and takes it a step further by shoehorning a dozen Queen classics into the show alongside the titular smash song. The effect is something like a Godspell panto dreamt up in a church basement by an assemblage of boozy dramatists and the neighborhood kids they've press-ganged into service as a live band. JAY HORTON. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 248-4700. 8 pm Friday, April 25. $18-$20.

Fernando, Michael Dean Damron, Sarah Gwen, Hearts of Oak 

[PDX VIA PACOIMA] Fernando Viciconte is one of Portland's true songwriting treasures, an artist who, over the course of his career, has proven adept at everything from downcast country ballads to barn-raising roots rock to '50s garage pop. Live performances have become rarer in recent years, but he promises to debut new songs with his band tonight. Dante's, 350 W Burnside St., 345-7892. 8 pm. $10. 21kknd.

Third Angle New Music Presents "Maria de Buenos Aires" by Astor Piazzolla

[NUEVO TANGO OPERA] It’s old-home week for the city’s veteran new-music ensemble, as it brings back the “tango opera” Maria de Buenos Aires for the fourth time. This performance of the great 20th-century Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla’s dark, melancholy 1968 classic—populated by ghosts, criminals, marionettes, psychoanalysts and more—also features Madrid-born tenor Pepe Raphael from the Bottle Blondes and Pink Martini), bandoneon master Coco Trevisonno, and renowned Portland tango dancers Alex Krebs and Hannah Poston, with evocative lighting and other theatrical touches contributed by Hand2Mouth Theater director Jonathan Walters. BRETT CAMPBELL. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 7:30 Friday, April 25. $10-$30. 21kknd.

Saturday, April 26

Oregon Garden Brewfest

Inside the idyllic 80-acre Oregon Garden in Silverton—which patrons are free to wander—65 breweries will offer 130 beers, ciders and meads. Standouts include Boring's Hot Scotch pepper beer and Fort George's fruity Divinity, but the massive fest includes many lesser-known breweries around the state such as Plank Town, Rusty Truck and Vagabond. Oregon Garden, 879 W Main St., Silverton, 874-8100, oregongarden.org. Noon-11 pm Saturday, April 26. Noon-5 pm Sunday, April 27. $15-$50.

Best of Dundee Hills

Does a sober friend owe you a huge favor? Like, a huge favor? Like, they're your spouse or grown child or something? Because for a cool $40, you get access to tastings and food pairings at 26 Dundee Hills wineries, which means you will be blotto and stuffed and groggy and kind of weird if you do it right. Multiple venues, dundeehills.org. 10 am Saturday-6 pm Sunday, April 26-27. $40.

PHAME Choir with Laura Gibson

[LOCAL LOVEFEST] Portland songstress Laura Gibson has teamed up with PHAME, a nonprofit arts academy for adults with developmental disabilities, for this concert commemorating the organization’s 30th anniversary. Portland’s musical talent is manifested in all forms: There’s the soft-spoken folk of Gibson, and then there’s the PHAME Chorus belting out John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Road” and Coldplay’s “Yellow” with heartfelt zeal. In a program that will combine Gibson’s original compositions with some of the chorus’s longstanding favorites, the duality of talent will create a night celebrating the joy of musical expression. GRACE STAINBACK. Mission Theater and Pub, 1624 NW Glisan St., 223-4527. 7 pm. $22 advance, $30 day of show. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.

Live Wire!

[LIVE RADIO] Once again excelling at bringing together a group of interesting and talented people, the Live Wire radio variety show will host best-selling author and cultural commentator Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed, Bright-Sided); Jeopardy! champ, author and cyborg Ken Jennings; music group the Minus 5 (with Scott McCaughey and former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck); and Portland pop-choral band Ages and Ages. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 719-6055. 7:30 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show. 21kknd.

Franz Ferdinand

[WHITE CRUNK MUSIC] Name-checked as inspiration by Kanye West (who supplied the genre tag) and shoehorned between Maroon 5 and the Black Eyed Peas as the opener of the 2005 Grammys, Franz Ferdinand strode the heights of mid-aughts ubiquity to an always somewhat mystifying degree that now feels a cosmic misprint.  Even amid an age predisposed to a serrated angularity of guitar rock, the Scottish troupe's bemused bounce and artful leanings never seemed poised to command a chunk of the new listening audience as the Strokes might've in those slim-trousered days, and successive releases seemed more a consequence of misplaced momentum than conscious efforts to maintain relevance. Fourth album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, Franz Ferdinand's first since 2009, spreads frontman Alex Kapranos' arch sentiment above glammy post-punk struts with undimmed vigor. However late into the afterparty we may be, there's ever time for one more dance. JAY HORTON. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 9 pm. $30. All ages.

Bleeding Rainbow

[MUSIC] No offense to the noisy, Philly guitar-pop act, which is a perfectly fine Sonic Youth homage, but the recommendation here is less for the music than the locale. Who knows why Sloan's—the Boise-Eliot bar with the semi truck sticking out of its side—is hosting this show, but it's cool to see an indie buzz band play a dive whose décor hasn't changed since the Carter administration. Sloan's Tavern, 36 N Russell St., 287-2262. 9 pm. $5. 21kknd.

Sunday, April 27

Blazers

[BLAZERS] BLAZERS!!! 6:30 pm, Moda Center.

Eat Mobile

This is the street version of a small-plates menu. WW's annual food-cart festival, with samples from over 30 of our favorite carts—from hot Belizean to So Cold ice cream—included with each ticket, plus beer sold onsite. OMSI parking lot, 1945 SE Water Ave., wweek.com. 2:30-6 pm. $30.

River City Book Release

[WORDS] What better place to host a release party for a book about river patrol than on a boat? Doc Macomber's newest mystery novel, River City, follows the adventures of the Multnomah County River Patrol on the hunt for a serial killer. Joining Macomber aboard the Portland Spirit will be poet and essayist Judith Arcana and tattoo artist Levi Greenacres, whose new children's book is Mommy's New Tattoo. Portland Spirit, Southwest Naito Parkway and Salmon Street, 224-3900. 1 pm, 2-5 pm boat ride. Free.

Duck Little Brother Duck, Special Explosion, Heavy Petting, Leatherdaddy

[FRIENDLY MATH ROCK] Duck, Little Brother, Duck has been around since 2010, playing intimate spaces to a dedicated fan base. With a busy tour schedule and art projects outside of the band—guitairist-vocalist Jon Scheid just published photos in a zine—the band hasn't oversaturated the local circuit. Its last album, No Spitting on Cats During Plaque Time, delivers the caught-in-a-flurry emo math rock of its previous albums. These guys are serious about sustaining and improving upon a well-liked underground genre. LYLA ROWEN. Laughing Horse Books, 12 NE 10th Ave., 236-2893. 8 pm. $5. All ages.

Federale

Federale, perhaps the only band in Portland playing original spaghetti Western soundtrack music, marks an unlikely 10th anniversary this week. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., with Daydream Machine, on Sunday, April 27. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21kknd.

Vegan Wine Pairings

For not overly much money, Pairings wine shop is again pairing up with one of its neighbors in the Ocean food barn for a multicourse wine pairing. This one's easier to swallow than the tacos, though: The Sudra vegan spot will be serving up five courses, including coconut fried rice, poori and pralines—and Pairings will match those with fine wines. Pairings Portland Wine Shop, 455 NE 24th Ave., 541-531-7653. 5 pm. $30 advance, $35 day of event.

WWeek 2015