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FRIDAY, OCT. 16
Wild Bells
[ALT-ROCK COUNTRY] May Pang was supposed to come out a year ago, maybe longer. The EP, a follow-up to Wild Bells' 2013's self-titled debut full-length, suffered delays ranging from lost songs, failed hard drives, lineup changes and an arduous—but ultimately successful—Kickstarter campaign. Wild Bells finally overcame the culmination of #firstworldproblems, returning with an EP that reflects its time-consuming creation in its sonic intricacies. Yet, for a name like Wild Bells, the band isn't particularly outrageous. The 12-minute EP blends boy-girl harmonies from bandleader-guitarist Pete Ficht and vocalist Rachel Coddington on the summery, swinging title track—fit for May Pang herself, an ex-girlfriend of John Lennon—and former vocalist Ellen Louise Osborn on the harpsichord- and pedal steel-laden "Wimbledon Bardot." Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St., with the Hugs and Vaudeville Etiquette. 9 pm. $8. 21+.
Apple and Pear Tasting
[FALL FRUITS] For the 28th year, the Portland Nursery invites the city into its rows to give our local crop of apples and pears the wine treatment: You get to wander around sampling Fujis, Galas, Honeycrisps and Boscs. Portland Nursery, 5050 SE Stark St., 231-5050. 10 am. Free. Through Oct. 18.
Shanghai Quartet & Wu Man
[MUSIC FROM CHINA] Wu Man is to the stringed Chinese pipa what Béla Fleck is to its Western counterpart, the banjo. Like Fleck, she doesn't just play traditional music for the ancient instrument, but also cultivates contemporary sounds, from both contemporary Chinese composers and even Westerners like Terry Riley and Portland-born Lou Harrison. In this Friends of Chamber Music concert, Wu joins other Chinese musicians who purvey both old and new Chinese and Western music, the internationally renowned Shanghai Quartet. They'll play the world premiere of a multimedia creation by Chinese film composer Zhao Jiping—who scored Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine and more—traditional Chinese folk songs and two major works inspired by ancient Chinese history and myth, Tan Dun's dramatic Ghost Opera and Bright Sheng's haunting Silent Temple. Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. 7:30 pm. $30-$47. All ages.
Ought
[ANTSY POST-PUNK] As far as Ought is concerned, the sophomore slump is a myth. The young group's head-turning debut album was one very much crafted by a band of former college cohorts, yet it served as a remarkable conduit through which its collective anxiety and nervousness flowed. The taut Sun Coming Down is even better. Singer-guitarist Tim Darcy uses the LP to rattle off cathartic lines like he's constantly on the attack, his snarl toppling the layers of abrasive guitar and fidgety percussion. The band members still mainline influences from Sonic Youth to the Fall, sure, but the final outcome is more precise, quirky and original than it's ever been. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave. 9:30 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Skylar Spence, Kero Kero Bonito
[BANDCAMP DISCO] Ryan DeRobertis just wasn't made for these times. The young producer, now recording under the name Skylar Spence, used to go by another moniker, Saint Pepsi, and favors the type of murky nu-disco spun at every Bushwick dive in the late '00s. This is slick stuff, all bouncy basslines, quivering vocals and guitar stabs straight out of a Franz Ferdinand record. Spence isn't rewriting the book of love or anything on his debut album, Prom King, but pleasant, fun dance music like "Can't See You" is perfect for anyone wishing that chillwave never died and Cut Copy were the biggest band in the world. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
SATURDAY, OCT. 17
Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi
[ACOUSTIC ALCHEMY] There's an audible codependency on Cold Moon, the new album from singer-songwriter Alela Diane and Balkan guitar specialist Ryan Francesconi. The two are stand-alone powerhouses, yet the record emphasizes the added dimension of a smart pairing. Her lines are poetic, often set at the crossroads of nature and man ("The endless fury of the wrecking ball/ But who am I to judge progress"), while Francesconi's moody strumming and subtle orchestration offer strength in restraint. Much of the instrumentation is classically inspired—all the trickier to sing atop—but Diane does not struggle. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., with Damien Jurado. 9 pm. $18 advance, $20 day of show. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.
Killer Pumpkin Festival
[GOOD GOURD] This is perhaps the most family-friendly beer fest of the year. Many, many pumpkin beers, sure, but also pumpkin sodas, pumpkin cocktails, and pumpkin bowling, carving, smashing and decorating. If there's something legal you can do with a pumpkin, you can probably do it here. Green Dragon, 928 SE 9th Ave, 517-0660. 11 am.
Kurt Vile and the Violators, Cass McCombs, Heron Oblivion
[PRETTY PIMPIN'] Anyone even remotely familiar with Philadelphia's indie frontrunner knows a Kurt Vile record when they hear it. His voice is sluggish, the guitar melancholic, and he meticulously wraps both in a hazy ball of earnestness that's often as self-deprecating as it is comical. It all remains oddly inviting, though, and the recent B'lieve I'm Going Down record concludes a superb trio of full-length albums born of late-night bedroom compositions. Piano and tufts of banjo carry much of the solo-friendly melodies throughout the album, many of which drift in and out like an afternoon hangover you just can't kick—minus the nausea. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 8 pm. $25 advance, $30 day of show. All ages.
Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls, Skinny Lister, Beans on Toast
[PUNK FOLK] When English singer-songwriter Frank Turner first started out in music, he played in hardcore bands like Million Dead. But when that group broke up, Turner went solo, with just an acoustic guitar and some buddies, known as the Sleeping Souls backing him on drums, bass, keys and mandolin. With six full-length albums (including August's Positive Songs for Negative People) and a smattering of EPs, Turner has earned a reputation for earnest punk-rock songs that make even the most cynical hardcore dudes want to mosh a little. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. $20. All ages.
Jim Riswold: Tips for Artists Who Don't Want to Sell
[ART GALLERY] Hanging just above a giant resin lollipop in the shape of Kim Jong-un, Jim Riswold's Tips for Artists who Don't Want to Sell includes pearls of wisdom like, "art with Hitler sells less quickly than art without Hitler." Riswold, who was an ad man before being diagnosed with leukemia and becoming an artist, built his career on the notion of anti-advertising. His favorite subjects (read: targets) include Adolph Hitler and his henchmen Goebbels and Himmler, Benito Mussolini, Vladimir Putin and Mao Zedong. The absurdly hilarious "Beer Hall Putsch Hitler" is a large-scale framed print that depicts the German dictator as a fashion doll, sporting a colorful frock over his Nazi uniform. In "Goering's Lollipop," a plastic Goering figurine raises a lollipop to his mouth. The Kim Jong–un series is ten colored prints of suckers molded into the likeness of the North Korean leader, captioned "Kim Jong-Un is a big fat sucker!" Funny and irreverent, this collection is just a sample from Riswold, who laughs down life's bullies (like cancer and Hitler) by refusing them the dignity of being taken seriously. Through Oct. 31. Augen Gallery, 716 NW Davis St., 546-5056. Free.
Asking For It
[NAKED COMEDY] When Adrienne Truscott takes the stage for her "one-lady rape about comedy" show Asking for It, she's naked from the waist down and the ankles up. And she is asking for it. Truscott blasts male comics and the idea that women invite rape by acting provocatively. "The only thing required for a rape to occur is for someone to be a rapist," says the choreographer-turned-comic, who will bare herself in Portland following recent tours in Australia, New York and L.A. "I'm very upfront about what people are getting themselves into," Truscott says. "My pussy is out and I'm drinking gin and tonics." Headwaters Theatre, 55 NE Farragut St., No. 9, 404-2350, boomarts.org. 8:30 pm. Am I Right Ladies? preshow at 7:30 pm. $20.
Michael Ian Black
[COMEDY] From MTV's The State to Burning Love to Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, if there is something off-putting, weird, slightly dark and definitely hilarious that you loved in the last 20 years, chances are good that Michael Ian Black had a hand in it. Slightly cynical, always opinionated and tending toward the absurd, Black's comedy has covered everything from children's Halloween costumes to touring the nation alongside Megan McCain. His two-night special engagement is sure to be filled with the type of strange observations that have made him a comic legend in his own time. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 7:30 and 10 pm. $25-$33. 21+.
SUNDAY, OCT. 18
Boosie BadAzz, Clemm Rishad, Sky City, Easy McCoy, Get It Squad
[DIRTY SOUTH] Drake gets the headlines, Kendrick Lamar the plaudits and Meek Mill…well, he's still dating Nicki Minaj. But what of Lil Boosie BadAzz? After his career was derailed by a cornucopia of legal problems—including first-degree murder—the freshly exonerated Louisiana mixtape legend released Touch Down 2 Cause Hell earlier this year, and it's among the more frighteningly direct rap releases of 2015, winding through a variety of emotions, from anger to regret, as Boosie shouts with the aggression of a dude who really thought he'd never see a recording booth ever again. It hasn't quite gotten the national attention it deserves—and it is, admittedly, a few songs too long—but if you ask BadAzz, he'll surely take regional cult hero over the other option any day. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. $35 general admission, $100 VIP. All ages.
Robocop at Cartopia
[NIGHT MOVIES] If you've spent time in real Detroit, Robocop is kind of depressing, considering the dystopian future depicted in the film itself kinda, sorta came true. Grab some of the best damn chicken in Portland from Chicken & Guns and go back to the future. Cartopia. Dark . Free.
Eileen Myles
[POETRY BOOK] Eileen Myles' poetry has perfect pitch for plain talk. "Oh, oh what/ pain I need/ whiskey sex/ and I get / it," she writes as a closer to her 1991 poem "Hot Night." At four pages, it's about as close as she gets to an epic poem. Up to now, Myles has been a cult figure, a groundbreaking lesbian poet who took the Lower East Side of Manhattan by storm in the late 1970s and early '80s. She was published mostly by tiny avant-garde presses and read to coffee-shop audiences. Her cottage fame was a sign of artistic integrity. But you can't live in the East Village in 1978 forever. I Must Be Living Twice (Ecco, 368 pages, $29.99), her new career-spanning, major-imprint collection, will indeed be a second life for her poems—it is likely to introduce Myles' poetry to a much broader audience. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 4 pm. Free.
Equus
[HORSE PLAY] For their last act before dissolving into Seattle's mist, Post5 founding Artistic Director Ty Boice and his wife, Cassandra, are teaming up to direct Peter Shaffer's notorious horse play. A captivating swirl of religion, sensuality and neuroses, Equus—the 1975 Tony Award winner for best play—is about a boy who blinds six horses with a spike. Told through the shy teen's psychiatric interrogation, Shaffer's play goes deep into Freudian shit like how modern commercial desires numb religion and our human capacity to feel emotions. Post5 Theatre, 1666 SE Lambert St., 971-258-8584. 7:30 pm. $15-20.
Swig 'n' Swine
[COCKTAIL WEEK] It's Portland Cocktail Week. Celebrate by drinking artisanal punch out of eight huge trash cans. Much pork will be served by chefs including Coquine's Katy Millard and Renata's Matt Sigler. Advance tix are $10 cheaper at brownpapertickets.com. White Owl, 1305 SE 8th Ave., 236-9672. 1 pm. $30-$40.
Gaslight
[MOVIE NIGHT] Adapted from Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play about a husband who tries to drive his own wife insane, this tense and twisted story is a prime example of mid-1940s film noir. Shadowy close-ups highlight the doubt in each character's eyes and unconventional camera angles reveal clues. A sinister mystery weaves around newlyweds Gregory (Charles Boyer) and Paula (Ingrid Bergman) when they move into her inherited apartment and Paula begins to see odd things like gas lights flickering at random. Gregory talks it up as a sign of her frail memory and unstable mental condition. Playing up the Victorian setting, Bergman's petticoats twirl around her feet as she sweeps through the house in an increasingly paranoid state, second-guessing her grip on reality as her husband isolates her in the house and dictates her every move. The subtle widening of Bergman's eyes is an eerie portal into her fear, and she looks more and more exhausted as the manipulation goes on. Film noir nerds and newbies should all appreciate why this fully rounded performance earned Bergman an Oscar for Best Actress that year. NR. Critic's Grade: A. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium. 4:30 pm.
Cuba Libre
[CUBAN THEATER] Real musicians don't get movies made about them without writing really good music: Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, the replacement singer in Judas Priest—two of three ain't bad. The same is evidently true of fictional musicians and musicals. Cuba Libre, tells the story of Alonso, the fictional leader of the very real band Tiempo Libre, who serve as the pit orchestra for the show. Through a series of flashbacks, we see his development as a young musician in Cuba, stuck in a "mandatory service" job, struggling to find instruments for his band, living under his Castro-loving mom's roof.There are rays of sunshine amongst this gloom—it is the Caribbean, after all—a hot doctor love interest, a rigged radio that catches Miami stations and even some musical success. Of course, this all comes crashing down in a way you might be able to see coming from the lobby, but it's about the music, man, and the music is made by some of the best in the world—and the dancing's pretty incredible, too. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 248-4355, artistsrep.org. 2 pm, through Nov. 15. $35-$56.
Willamette Week