Willamette Weekend: 16 Things to Do and See in Portland, September 19-21

THE WURST IS GOOD: The housemade sausage sampler.
By Pete Cottell
Friday, Sept. 19
Feast
Lots of food. All the time. Much event. Much chef. Much money. All weekend. See feastportland.com for events and details.

Lykke Li, Mapei
[INDIE POP] It didn’t take long for Lykke Li to make a splash in the pop world. Her 2008 debut, Youth Novels, showed off both her wispy vocal talents and her ear for simple yet expansive arrangements. While her sound definitely leans toward soft, melancholy indie rock, she also has an unusually large range of influences, which has earned her a large, diverse following. Her songs have been sampled by the likes Drake and A$AP Rocky, and she eventually collaborated with David Lynch, 3OH!3 and U2. Li’s 2014 release, I Never Learn, was inspired by an earth-shattering breakup, and while that devastating experience dominates the lyrics, her sound has simultaneously gotten bigger and more fist pump-friendly. ASHLEY JOCZ. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. 8 pm. $36-$37. All ages.

The Crucible 
[THEATER] It’s Saturday night at Hillsboro’s Venetian Theatre, and it’s hard to say whether it’s the plunging darkness or the sound of crickets—or just the imminent potential for witch burnings—that’s upping the creep factor in the room. As the audience sits in silence, voices slowly start to chatter, at first whispering, then hissing and singing names in a repetitive, foreboding chant. These are the first few minutes of Bag & Baggage’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and if there’s one thing they immediately do, it’s create an atmosphere of fear and tension. Set in 1692 in Salem, Mass., Miller’s famous 1953 play—an allegory of McCarthyism—follows villagers as they run wild with rumors of witchcraft, falsely accusing their friends and neighbors until hundreds are wrongly executed for practicing the dark arts. Director Scott Palmer’s version is handily aided by an inventive set: The action takes place in front of a screen that obscures an eerie courtroom-like space behind it. The interpretation of the text is appropriately chaotic, with characters screaming and spitting lines at each other in a snowballing jumble for much of the play. The howls are occasionally deafening to the point of nonsensical, sometimes making it hard to focus or even to make out Miller’s words. But with creepily voyeuristic stage design, and a fantastic cast—especially Peter Schuyler, who barrels around the stage as Jon Proctor like a righteous bear— this Crucible easily conveys a feeling of frenzy and dread, right down to a goosebump-raising final line that rings out over the jury—excuse me—audience. KAITIE TODD. Venetian Theatre, 253 E Main St., Hillsboro, 345-9590. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays through Sept. 28. $20-$30. 

Decibel Pre-Party: Christian Martin
[HOUSE MUSIC] San Francisco’s Dirtybird crew—a label, a party and a barbecue that has recently expanded far beyond its roots in Golden Gate Park—doesn’t believe in blood feuds. Christian Martin isn’t nearly as big a name as his older brother Justin, but the Dirtybird founders both tend to err on the techier side of house, while the rest of the label explores more straightforward house with wandering Bay Area basslines. Despite the similarities, there’s no fighting over the toys or the prizes. Justin might want to watch his back, though: Leroy Peppers, Christian’s alias, is pushing bass house as hard as any right now, even on his remix for Justin’s own “Don’t Go.” MITCH LILLIE. Refuge, 116 SE Yamhill St. 9 pm. $13. 21kknd.

Stammtisch Oktoberfest 
[BIER] If you prefer a bar and an urban street to a pack of tents in a park, Stammtisch is the Oktoberfest spot you want. Since opening this summer, this bar from Dan Hart of Prost has been the city’s most authentic German Kneipe, from the unlikely selection of imported beers to the impressive variety of glassware. They’re shutting down Northeast Flanders Street, tapping the kegs, and spreading a 4,000-square-foot Biergarten onto the streets. Face painting, barbecue and games are promised. If we don’t end up face-down in a mud puddle with a slap mark on each cheek, we’re not quite sure it’s really Oktoberfest. Stammtisch, 401 NE 28th Ave., 206-7983. 5-10 pm Friday, noon-10 pm Saturday, Sept. 19-20. All ages.  

Oneohtrix Point Never (TBA)
[EXPERIMENTAL ELECTRONICS] Daniel Lopatin—the artist better known as Oneohtrix Point Never— made a name for himself in late aughts underground circles as an experimental artist with an eye for soft geography. His whirling synth compositions, noise sensitivities and outrageous song titles (see “Weird Times Docking This Orb” for examples of all three) made for dense yet listenable albums that could be prescribed for pain. But on 2013’S R Plus Seven, Lopatin expanded from where he left off with 2011’s Replica, giving rhythm an expanded role and structuring his noise more rigidly. â€œAmericans” builds into a blasting criticism of Chicago juke before layering vocal samples over Reichian vibraphone chords, while “Zebra” will assuredly be the zippy, popaware introduction to whatever the nightly news looks like in 25 years. MITCH LILLIE. The Works at Fashion Tech, 2010 SE 8th St. 10 pm. $8 for PICA members, $10 general admission, free with TBA pass. 21kknd.



Saturday, Sept. 20 

Polish Festival
For two days, the Polish community center throws open the doors and brings out the kielbasa, golubtsi, beer, potato pancakes and polka. These are joyous days. 3900 N Interstate Ave, 281-7532, portlandpolonia.org/festival. 11 am- 10 pm Saturday, 12-6 pm Sunday. 

La Roux
[DUB-DISCO] With Trouble in Paradise, the U.K. synth-pop darling has gone the way of Daft Punk, exchanging digital machinery for real instruments and fuzzy nostalgia. A ’70s feel pervades the album—more or less a solo showcase for singer Elly Jackson—via vibrant funk tones and big-collared disco beats. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284- 8686. 9 pm. $22 advance, $23 day of show. All ages.

Wil Blades Trio, Crack Sabbath
[FUSION-FUELED] Topping a duo record featuring Billy Martin on drums is a tough thing to do. And so, for the follow-up, keyboardist Wil Blades upped the ante, enlisting Tortoise collaborator Jeff Parker on guitar for this year’s Field Notes . Like much of Blades’ work, the album doesn’t disguise the performer’s affinity for rare groove slinkiness. Blades’ ability to draw from a funky backlog of keyboard and organ players allows his trio to occasionally broach Herbie Hancock levels of heroic and spacey fusion. But with Parker along for the recording, it’s difficult to miss the flourishes of avant savantness that rear up every once in a while. Crack Sabbath, fronted by Seattle’s Skerik on sax, opens. DAVE CANTOR. Goodfoot Lounge, 2845 SE Stark St., 239-9292. 9 pm. $15.

The Liberators 
[COMEDY] Slingshot, an intermittent comedy series co-produced by Bad Reputation and Portland Center Stage, returns with a performance by improv maestros the Liberators. This show is called Mood Music, and the conceit is simple: You hand over your phone (or that iPod classic to which you’ve been nostalgically clinging to ever since Apple sounded its death knell), a DJ plays some of your tunes and the troupe improvises from there. Please, wipe your device clean of Mumford and Sons before entering the theater. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 8 pm Saturday, Sept. 20. $15-$20.

Tick, Tick...Boom! 
[THEATER] Jonathan Larson is feeling anxious. He’s about to turn 30 and is still waiting tables in New York while struggling to get his long-slaved-over rock musical produced. Of course, he did ultimately succeed in getting a rock show on Broadway, but not before his untimely death at 35. You’ve probably heard of it. That show was Rent. But before his work became widely known, Larson wrote Tick, Tick…Boom!, an autobiographical show based on his own years of struggle that’s currently being staged at Triangle Productions. Similar to Rent in style and tone, the show punctuates Larson’s daily life with guitar-heavy rock numbers as the three-person cast belts out catchy melodies both serious (“Johnny Can’t Decide”) and frivolous (“Sugar,” about Jon’s addiction to Twinkies). Taking the lead and narrating the majority of the show, Drew Harper is spot-on as Jon, whose neurotic anxiety proves mostly endearing and wholly relatable. New York City in the ’90s could be easily swapped for Portland today, with a rising tide of young creatives contending for success. The beautifully voiced Danielle Purdy and James Sharinghousen admirably fill the two supporting roles and a handful of others. While it’s hard not to compare the show against Rent, this production still stands as a moving homage to a talented composer who eventually achieved the fame for which he struggled so long, even if he never got to witness it. PENELOPE BASS. Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5919. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays through Sept. 27. $15-$35. 



Sunday, Sept. 21 


A Minor Forest, Prizehog, Jonny X and the Groadies
[MATH ROCK] As San Francisco’s A Minor Forest began picking up steam in the mid-’90s, the legion of bands fusing angular, dissonant riffs to slow-burning compositions finally had a genre tag (post-rock) and a powerhouse label (Thrill Jockey) to assemble behind. But even heavy hitters like Don Caballero and Slint were not long for this world. Instrumental guitar rock has carried on under a more melodic and crescendo-driven rejiggering, but the audience for forgotten predecessors like A Minor Forest still remains, even if it’s mostly the record store clerks who originally declared the band “criminally underrated” to anyone within shouting distance. PETE COTTELL. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 8 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21kknd.

Temples, Wampire, Coma Serfs
[ACID DREAMS] Now here’s a killer double bill that makes sense. Portland’s own psych-pop weirdoes Wampire, fresh off an epic PDX Pop Now set that saw them making pancakes onstage and recently debuting driving new single “The Amazing Heart Attack,” pair with British psychedelic troubadours Temples, who come to the States with great haircuts and a Noel Gallagher seal of approval. Temples’ debut record, Sun Structure , certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel or anything, but the title track and standouts like “Mesmerise” and “Test of Time” sound like the quartet absorbed Nuggets growing up more than, say, Kasabian. Cross your fingers and hope that the two bands form a close backstage friendship, share a joint or three, and whip out an impromptu cover of “The Slider.” MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th Ave., 233- 7100. 7 pm. $18 advance, $20 day of show. All ages.

Herbie Hancock Quartet
[JAZZ LEGEND] With shelves groaning under the weight of Grammy Awards, Oscars, jazz awards of every kind and a new memoir coming out next month, it’s easy to lionize Herbie Hancock as one of the 20th century’s most influential and omnipresent jazz pianists and composers. Yet Hancock has always been one of those rare artists who refuses to rest on his laurels. Even his old boss Miles Davis recognized Hancock as the rarest of jazzers, a kindred spirit who, like Miles himself, exists in a constant state of reinvention. As in the pioneering jazz-funk fusions of the early-’70s Head Hunters , the ‘80s synth-pop “Rockit,” even his crossover work with orchestras, rock covers, collaborations with MOR pop stars like India Arie, Gershwin tributes and the rest, Hancock is always trying to reach beyond the insular jazz world. But even though we’re likely to hear versions of classics like “Watermelon Man” and “Maiden Voyage,” in this quartet setting with young stars like the great West African guitarist Lionel Loueke aboard to push him, chances are Hancock’s 21st-century reinterpretations (whether using piano, keytar, or whatever other advanced tech he loves) will still sound fresh. BRETT CAMPBELL. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm Sunday, Sept. 21. $35-$125. All ages.

Igor Kamenz
[CLASSICAL PIANO] Now in his 40s, the onetime Russian piano prodigy Igor Kamenz makes his Portland Piano International debut with two very different recital programs. Sunday’s wide-ranging menu offers selections of some of the most scintillating music of the last century: Stravinsky’s propulsive 1911 ballet, Petrushka ; Ravel’s graceful 1899 Pavane for a Dead Princess ; Balakirev’s famously knotty 1869 Islamey ; and pieces by Robert Schumann, 20th-century Australian composer Percy Grainger and the great French Baroque composer François Couperin. Monday’s show includes more Baroque music in the form of Scarlatti’s scintillating keyboard sonatas, plus works by familiar recital subjects Liszt and Schubert that rarely appear on typical recital programs. BRETT CAMPBELL. Lincoln Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave., 725-3307. 4 pm Sunday, 7:30 pm Monday, Sept. 21-22. $46-$54.

NT Live: A Streetcar Named Desire 
[THEATER] NT Live, which brings performances from London’s West End to screens around the world via hi-def broadcast, presents Tennessee Williams’ classic play, starring Gillian Anderson (Scully!) as Blanche DuBois. World Trade Center Theater, 121 SW Salmon St. 2 and 7 pm Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 20-21 and 2 pm Sunday, Oct. 26. $15-$20. 

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