FUCK THANKSGIVING—SAY IT BACK.
Here are a few places in the Portland-area to donate to this Thursday:
Native Arts & Cultures Foundation
Portland Indigenous Marketplace
Tuesday, November 25
Bootcamp / Arsenal Mall / Conspire / FTC / Body Double
For fans of Dry Socket, Gouge Away, Cerce
Headed to a delicious Thanksgiving with conservative family members? Need to open up a pit before you open up the skull of your cop uncle? The Bootcamp hotties are here to help. The noisy hardcore punks do be pummeling us with chunky riffs, letting all who listen know that 9/11 was an inside job and that AmeriKKKa is a fucking joke. So true :’) The all-Portland opening lineup is heavier than hell, staying in the same noisy vein as the Iowa City headliners. (High Limit Room, 7 pm, more info here, all ages)
Mark William Lewis / Samba Jean-Baptiste
For fans of King Krule, The xx, Nourished By Time
London has always had an irresistible cool. It’s a real city, international, DIVERSE. Signed to A24’s record label, the music of Mark William Lewis feels like the perfect accompaniment for wandering aimlessly through Hackney and Shoreditch (or Portland in the fall). There’s a chicness to being sad that few artists truly pull off, let’s hope Mark William Lewis never goes to therapy. Opening is Samba Jean-Baptiste, a self-taught R&B artist that could be our answer to the deep lack of Frank Ocean these last nine years. (Polaris Hall, 9 pm, more info here, all ages)
Friday, November 28
Synth Library Portland Benefit
For fans of education, synthesis, malls
Providing space for education, space for femmes and queers, and space for experimental concerts is Synth Library Portland. As an arts organization in 2025, they need help. The best way to support arts organizations in 2025? Go to events, bring friends, tell strangers! This, one of two upcoming SLP fundraisers, features live performances by Musique Mystique, Solenoid, Spines, Family Trust, and Production Unit Xero, as well as live visuals by Matthew Rempes and Madonno Productions. Need to get out of the house after too much tryptophan? This is the one. (Lloyd Center H220, 5 pm, more info here, all ages)
Primitive Man / Otay:Onii / Guiltless / Defiant Body
For fans of Bell Witch, Dis Fig, Yob
Just got done eating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with conservative family members? Need to open up a pit after opening up your cop uncle’s skull? Primitive Man is here to help. Their new album Observance is heavier than most things one hears in a day. It feels like most doom and sludge bands lean into the esoteric, and though Primitive Man are not an exception to this rule, their take on the genre feels more expansive than their metal siblings. Otay:Onii, the Berlin-based noise artist has been delivering devastating sonic landscapes in one form or another for a long time, god willing she never quits. Her music is vast, enveloping anything within ear shot. The two openers, Guiltless and Defiant Body, will grind our bones to dust before snorting what’s left of our mortal frameworks. (Star Theater, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Saturday, November 29
50th Anniversary of Rocky Horror Picture Show at Clinton Street Theater
For fans of warping time, Susan Sarandon, rice in your hair
2025 has been dotted with lively/lusty 50th-anniversary celebrations and screenings of Jim Sharman’s campy, risqué musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show. No place in Portland celebrates harder than Clinton Street Theater, having held weekly showings since 1978. As a special Thanksgiving weekend treat, XRAY.FM drag comedy divas Rogue Apostles trot out a shadow cast performance, showing us their version of Rocky Horror. (Clinton Street Theater, 10:30 pm, more info here, all ages) SUZETTE SMITH
Also very worth it…
Saoirse Dream / Butterflies / Log Lady / Tans Panic at The Off Beat – Nov 28, more info here
Public Pleasure / Moods / Paper Upper Cuts at The Six – Nov 29, more info here
Stop Making Sense at Hollywood Theatre – Nov 29, more info here
A John Waters Christmas at Aladdin Theater – Dec 1, more info here
Portland Music News:
Continuing the heartbreaking trend of venue closures is N Killingsworth institution Turn! Turn! Turn! Via an Instagram post last week, the current owners of TTT, Mark Davies and Kate Horn announced the imminent closure of the corner venue by the end of the year. But all is not lost! That same IG post also states that Davies and Horn would like to sell the business. You tryna buy? Hit ’em up style at mark.turnpdx@gmail.com, serious inquiries only please.
Liz Harris—Grouper, Helen, Nivhek, et al.—has started a Substack. Blogs are so back, baby.
So I went to the Tomorrow Theater for the first time over the weekend to see Lori Goldston and Corey J. Brewer live-score the 1911 silent film L’Inferno. Was it my first time in the building? I’m not telling. But lo and behold, in my inbox on Monday morning was an email offering BOGO tickets to any Tomorrow Theater screening for the next 30 days. Just thought you should know about the potential for a screamin’ deal.
Nolan Parker
Source link