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FRIDAY, MAY 8
Ensiferum, Korpiklaani
[FOLK METAL] Some pagan metal bands craft music appropriate for lighting candles during a ritual under the full moon. Then there are bands such as Helsinki's Ensiferum (Finnish for "sword bearing") that are aimed at those who grew up on reruns of The Smurfs and Fraggle Rock. That's not necessarily meant as a dis. Ensiferum has mastered the art of charging from a breakneck, melodic, death-metal gallop into an honest-to-goddess jig. With flutes. Ensiferum's sixth and latest album, One Man Army, is appropriately titled, since guitarist-vocalist Markus Toivonen is the sole original member. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd., 233-7100. 6:30 pm. $23 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.
Cheers to Belgian Beers
[DRINKING] One of the most anticipated beerfests of the year, Cheers asks Oregon brewers to make Belgian-style beers using the same strain of Wy'east yeast, with relative lightness/darkness or strength chosen by dart throw. The results have led to medal winners in the Belgian or Sour categories at GABF each year since 2008. Metalcraft Fabrication, 723 N. Tillamook St. 5-9 pm. $15 for glass and five tickets. Go here for details.
Sir Cupcake's Queer Circus Goes Back in Time
[VARIETY SHOW] The mustachioed, gender-bending Sir Cupcake curates this vaudeville show about going back in time. Accidentally transported into the 1930s, Cupcake encounters two star-crossed acrobats, his own circus ancestor and Seattle burlesque artist Pidgeon Von Tramp in this tireless string of acts as frivolous and decadent as a cupcake. Echo Theater, 1515 SE 37th Ave., 231-1232. 8 pm. $15.
Helmet
[LIQUID METAL] The past, they say, is an alternative nation. To understand the early â90s sudden embrace of divergent leanings, look beyond the outsized popularity of Helmetâs major-label debut Meantimeâdrop-tuned riffage from dressed-down New Yorkers going gold on the back of MTV hit âUnsungââand gaze in wonderment at the creative control its follow-up indulged. Fully tapping the formalist background and experimental tastes of frontman-guitarist Page Hamilton, Betty incorporated jazz textures, bluesy dynamics and uncompromising noise jams that quickly stilled the actâs commercial momentum. Yet, with fans still thrilling at the chance to hear the album played start to finish, it was was soon considered their masterwork. Technically, of course, Bettyâs 20th anniversary occurred last summer. But for an enlightened metal benchmark of surpassing maturity, isnât celebrating its 21st birthday more appropriate? Danteâs, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9 pm. $17. 21+.
Storefront Revue: The Babes are Back
[THEATER] Storefront Actors' Theatre staged phalluses with tinsel pubic hair, fiercely antiwar street shows, a nearly naked black Spartacus and children's musicals with lyrics like "He offers you a candy bar, don't get in his car." Triangle Productions cut-and-pasted the controversial theater's scripts into its new show, which stomps its way from the Kent State shootings, through the '80s and the AIDS pandemic, to Storefront's 1991 fizzle-out. Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5919. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday through May 30. $15.
SATURDAY, MAY 9
Mothmeister's Wounderland: Surreal World of Imagination, Nightmares and Taxidermy
[TAXIDERMY ART] Mothmeister is an artistic, taxidermy-loving duo based in Antwerp, Belgium. They anthropomorphize their bestial preserves with outfits and masks as a reaction against the dominant exhibitionism of selfie culture and beauty standards marketed by mass media. Is it a lot of contemporary affect to justify playing with dead animals, or is there real critique of our ever present narcissism and surveillance state? Paxton Gate, 4204 N Mississippi Ave., 719-4508. Opening reception 6 pm. Free.
St. Johns Bizarre
[STREET FAIR] Our favorite street fair is turning 9! It's jovial and pure St. Johns: a beer garden sponsored by Occidental Brewing and Barrique Barrel, a Bollywood jam session, a parade, and six blocks of carts and crafty vendors on Plew's Brews doorstep. St. Johns at North Lombard Street and Philadelphia Avenue,10 am-7 pm. Free. stjohnsbizarre.com.
The K Ohle
[BRIDGETOWN COMEDY] This is going to be the most bat-nuts-bonkers thing at Bridgetown. Kurtâs going to blindfold his audience, put them on a bus and travel to an undisclosed location with a secret guest. Theyâll be out in gosh-knows-where doing gosh-knows-what with one of the best comics around. The rest of us unlucky saps who missed the boat (bus), will have to stare longingly into the afternoon sky and wonder, âWhat if, yâknow? What if I actually got my shit together instead of losering my way onto the sidelines like some stupid fucking loser?â The K Ohle Bus at Boogieâs Burgers and Brew, 2 pm Saturday. $20. bridgetowncomedy.com.
Whiskeytown USA
[MORE DRINKING] Two hundred whiskeys, 75 distilleries. Too much whiskey to even look at twice, let alone once, without getting contact drunk. Luckily, there's a beer garden to temper the fire in your throat and hundreds of people in your way to stop you from getting that drunk. But since your admission comes with just three tokens, here are a few tips: Yamazaki, Lagavulin 16, Macallan rare cask. Northwest 17th and Front avenues. noon-10 pm. $28; three tokens with admission. whiskeytownusa.com.
Musica Maestrale
[O.G. AMERICAN MUSIC] Portland is lucky it can hear European Baroque music more frequently than most cities, but it's all the more refreshing to hear the historically informed ensemble Musica Maestrale offer a fascinating program of colonial American music for dancing, drinking—and even listening! Much of it is drawn from an amateur club of Maryland singers and players who probably were too busy imbibing hard cider to appreciate the fact that they were making some of the first American chamber music. First Christian Church, 1314 SW Park Ave., 228-9211. 7:30 pm Saturday, May 9. $10 students, $15 seniors, $18 general admission. All ages.
Blazermania
[SPORTS ART] A group art show themed around, you guessed it, the Portland Trail Blazers. Come for art, come for basketball, come for 30-plus artists from Portland and beyond celebrating Rip City. Promising a diverse array of media and styles, Blazermania is here to remind us we don't have to choose between physical and artistic creativity. Gallery 135, 135 NW Park Ave., 312-4856. Free.
Thupten Jinpa
[BOOKS] It's easy to be skeptical of the self-help/self-improvement genre. But when the person offering the advice is Thupten Jinpa, internationally respected thought scholar and longtime English translator for the Dalai Lama, you might want to listen up. Jinpa will speak for the presentation Fearlessness and Compassion: Cultivating the Courage to Transform Our Lives and Our World, as he shares both new research from the Stanford School of Medicine and his own contemplations from years spent with the Dalai Lama. So he's got that going for him. Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. 2-5 pm. $10-$20.
SUNDAY, MAY 10
The Rentals
['90S POP REVIVAL] The Rentals' current tour is a whoâs who of Portlandâs indie scene, with Shawn Glassford of Starfucker on bass and Elisabeth Ellison and Patti King of Radiation City on vocals and keys. Considering his old band toured as a glorified cover band on the 2010 âMemories Tour,â Sharp is keenly aware of the hesitation savvier music fans may have in approaching a group as unequivocally â90s as his resurrected synth-pop group. He laughed loudly before declining to comment on said Weezer tour, and insists that the Rentals 2.0 are all about the future. âI have no interest in going back to recapture the feeling of records Iâve made before in the past,â Sharp says. With Radiation City and Rey Pila at Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd., 7 pm. $18. 21 .
Coco Columbia
[PROG ROCK] The Weight, her first album, offers roomy arrangements painted with a vast array of textures. There are wispy flourishes of piano keys that shift in time to synthesized drumbeats and Columbiaâs expressive musings. To call it âsoulâ wouldnât be wrong, but thereâs something fresh and daring to the songs, too. âWe got called âprog rockâ recently,â Columbia laughs. âItâs not a bad thing, necessarily.â She plays with drummer Micah Hummel and Grant Sayler on guitar. With Rare Diagram at Rontoms, 600 E Burnside St., 9 pm. Free. 21+.
Cartopia's Movie Night
[MOVIES] Nosh and watch Season 1, Episodes 2 and 3 of Twin Peaks, featuring Agent Dale Cooper's first fever dream and an introduction to the Bookhouse Boys. Though probably unintentional, it must be said: What sick bastard would screen Twin Peaks where the late Whiffies used to sell those damn fine fried pies? Cartopia at SE Hawthorne Blvd. and SE 12th Ave., dusk, free.
R. Ring, Hurry Up, Bed
[LO-FI GARAGE] Kim seems to get all the praise when talking the Deal twins—blame it on the Pixies. But her sister Kelley Deal's work alongside Ampline's Mike Montgomery in R. Ring remains as pivotal to the music as her efforts with the Breeders. The collection of singles the duo has issued since 2012 is far more spare, though, laced with gentle drums and guitars that goes from sweet to seething within the course of two minutes. Kelley's innocent humming is at the forefront of it all, sometimes backed by towering distortion and other times by tender acoustics that could lull one to sleep. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
WWeek 2015