Portland, Oregon Local News
The Top 29 Events in Portland This Week: Apr 8-14, 2024 – EverOut Seattle
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LIVE MUSIC
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The Last Dinner Party is kind of like London’s answer to MUNA. The five-piece band evokes their art-pop grandparents—Sparks and Kate Bush— with operatic vocals, theatrical piano ballads, and nods to their literary heroes. They do this, however, with the same humor and charm as the aforementioned artists. Their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, is a melodramatic pop feast with themes of queerness, sex, and gore. Don’t miss an opening set from electro-pop artist Miss Grit. AV (Crystal Ballroom, West End)
PERFORMANCE
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Venture outside Portland’s hyper-local focused performing arts scene with this single-evening opportunity to see Sydney Dance Company, presented by White Bird. If international dance is something you enjoy, now is a particularly important time to support White Bird, as its founders Walter Jaffe and Paul King (and their still-living cockatoo Barney, the organization’s namesake) continue to transition ownership to the new executive director Graham Cole. Named for the Latin phrasing for “from within” Sydney Dance’s ab [intra] promises “lush cello with ambient electronica” for musical ambiance and movements onstage that explore visceral, impulsive, primal responses. PORTLAND MERCURY ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR SUZETTE SMITH
(Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Southwest Portland)
LIVE MUSIC
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On her latest album, Shelter, South African singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou’s voice shimmers through poetic lyrics about internal and external relationships. Her delicate vocals—reminiscent of indie rock angels like Faye Webster, Mitski, and Angel Olsen—comfortably lay atop a plush bed of ’70s-inspired soft rock with cozy folk flourishes. She will support the album alongside kindred spirit Sam Burton. AV
(Mission Theater, Northwest Portland)
PERFORMANCE
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Live Wire’s spring offerings will continue with another edition of the honest and funny conversational show hosted by Luke Burbank. This time around, featured guests will include self-proclaimed “internet yeller” and New York Times bestselling author Ijeoma Oluo, Portland-based modern-day troubadour John Craigie, Peabody- and Emmy-winning journalist Jane Marie, and sociopolitical comedian W. Kamau Bell, who penned the racial justice workbook Do The Work! with Megan Rapinoe and Kate Schatz. LC
(Alberta Rose Theatre, Concordia)
READINGS & TALKS
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Rocks are cool and all, but I’ll be honest: I wasn’t losing sleep thinking about them until I started following Alison Jean Cole’s Instagram account. Cole’s enthusiasm for rocks brings up all sorts of questions. What is a thunderegg, really? And have I missed my calling? Should I have been a professional rockhounder, traversing the orangey badlands and desert canyons wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a bolo tie?? I am still wondering these things, and maybe you are, too. If so, head to the Oregon Natural Desert Association’s last 2024 High Desert Series talk in Portland, where Cole will chat about obsidian, jasper, opal, petrified wood, and other treasures of the Oregon desert. (I also recommend grabbing Cole’s new book, Beautiful Rocks and How to Find Them, which covers all things rockhounding.) LC
(Hollywood Theatre, Hollywood District)
COMEDY
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Dating is downright spooky business, so any opportunity to laugh at the whole process of “finding the one” is more than welcome. Enter Fun & Flirty Productions, which blends comedy and “interactive dating experiences” to make the whole shebang a little more survivable (and also very funny). PowerPoint master and professional singles consultant Zahnae Aquino will be joined by local faves Adam Pasi, Imani Denae, and others. Hey, there are weirder ways to meet your soulmate. LC
(The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian, Southwest Portland)
FILM
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The Anglo-Somali punk legend Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in the UK to lead a successful rock band. Later inspiring the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements, she spat on conventions through X-Ray Spex, screaming about politics, identity, and life in ’70s Britain. But underneath a tough exterior, the musician grappled with persistent trauma, misogyny, racism, and mental illness. Her daughter, Celeste Bell, unpacks the musician’s complex legacy in Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, which includes rare archival footage and diary entries. Hosted by cult cinema queen Violet Hex, this queer celebration of Poly Styrene will include pre-screening performances by Blossom Drearie, Destiny Smokez, and Navouny Divinne. LC
(Clinton Street Theater, Hosford-Abernethy)
LIVE MUSIC
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Portland singer-songwriter Laura Veirs sits most comfortably in the indie-folk camp, but the breezy, forward movement in her songs suggests her appreciation for good old four-four pop. She will celebrate the release of her new live album, Laura Veirs and Her Band – Live in Brooklyn, which reimagines her primarily acoustic catalog with a live five-piece band. The night will get started with a set from indie-folk artist Sam Amidon. AV
(Polaris Hall, Humboldt)
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Primarily known for his collaborations with A-listers like Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Frank Ocean, and Drake, London-based singer-songwriter/producer Sampha has made a splash in popular music with his distinctive, ethereal vocals and experimental electronic-tinged beats. He will support his sophomore solo album, Lahai, which meditates on alienation, individualism, and transformation. AV
(Crystal Ballroom, West End)
PERFORMANCE
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”All right bottoms, let’s take it from the top, alright?” Hawaii-born Miss Continental 2012 queen Sasha Colby chose the name “Sasha” during her transitioning process for its gender neutrality. The RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 winner is probably your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen, so head to her Stripped tour to find out what everyone’s flustered about. Parental discretion advised! LC
(Revolution Hall, Buckman)
FOOD & DRINK
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The Pearl District’s family-owned specialty grocer World Foods is throwing a bash to mark a decade of business. They’ll go all out with appearances from brewers, vendors, and winemakers, plus sidewalk grilling, cocktail specials, and other festivities. JB
(World Foods, Northwest Portland)
LIVE MUSIC
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I am a regular listener of the feminist philosophy/pop culture podcast Binchtopia—a “Binchie” to be precise (IYKYK)—so, the fact that I will be in the presence of my parasocial bestie Eliza McLamb this month has me shaking in my boots. If you know anything about her podcast with Julia Hava, then you know that McLamb is incredibly insightful about the trials of girlhood, which is the heart of her debut album, Going Through It. Exploring female friendships (“Glitter”), parentified children (“Bird”), social media addiction (“Modern Woman”), and being mythologized by boys (“Mythologize Me”), the album chronicles her own experiences of growing up through tender folk-tinged lullabies and ferocious indie rock anthems. She will support the album alongside the LA-based indie rock project Mini Trees. AV
(Lola’s Room, West End)
VISUAL ART
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Math Bass’s latest is a mid-career survey of the Los Angeles-based abstract artist’s sculptural pieces, site-specific murals, and paintings. Bass began their practice in the performance art realm, but expanded their visual lexicon to include many mediums—and the graphic, symbolic style for which they’re best known—over time. In Full Body Parentheses, Bass’s sculptures “animate and complicate those more familiar, flattened forms, creating a resonant, playful world of iconic objects.” LC
(lumber room, Pearl District; opening)
COMEDY
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Few comedic roles live on in the public consciousness like Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon and Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope—even if you’ve somehow never watched a single episode of 30 Rock or Parks and Recreation, you know damn well who they are. The comedy queens, who, unsurprisingly, are also BFFs, will celebrate 30 years of camaraderie with jokes, stories, and “conversational entertainment,” which I hope involves Tina eating her night cheese. LC
(Moda Center, Lloyd District)
FILM
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Fans of carnivorous plants, aliens, and doo-wop will appreciate this sci-fi frolic, wherein a seemingly benign new plant at a flower shop develops an unfortunate fondness for human blood. Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors is also the freakiest Muppet movie—it includes frankly incomparable puppetry straight from Jim Henson’s workshop, it’s set to a swinging Motown soundtrack, and it offers an unexpectedly pointed capitalist critique. What more do you want?! Well, you might also want plants, in which case Go West PDX will have you covered with a pop-up plant sale staged in the lobby before the screening. LC
(Tomorrow Theater, Richmond)
LIVE MUSIC
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Patrick Flegel (formerly of the Canadian experimental indie rock band Women), takes inspiration from Patsy Cline, the Supremes, Karen Carpenter, and other expressive female vocalists for his drag persona/solo music project Cindy Lee. Lee’s sophomore album, What’s Tonight To Eternity, evokes the ballads of those aforementioned ingénues—but played on an antique tube-powered radio that caught fire mid-song, disintegrating slowly with each lovelorn lyric. Lee will support the album alongside Canadian electronic duo Freak Heat Waves. AV
(Mississippi Studios, Boise)
FOOD & DRINK
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Your April just got way more delicious: Members of ALIST Consulting, Baon Kainan, Magna Kusina, and Magna Kubo have come together to present the Portland area’s inaugural Filipino Food Month, featuring a collaboration between over 26 small local businesses. Each week, 15 different locations between Beaverton and Troutdale will offer fresh food and drink specials highlighting a different classic Filipino ingredient, complemented by “historical and personal storytelling” online to lend additional cultural context. With participants like GrindWitTryz, Makulit, Shop Halo Halo, Sun Rice, Sugarpine Drive-In, and more, this culinary crawl promises to be as mouthwatering as it is educational. JB
(Various locations, Monday-Sunday)
PARTIES & NIGHTLIFE
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The hottest—and pinkest—comedy show around is Pretty Kitty Glitter Party, established in 2019 by Morgan Lee, Beth Moesche, Dana Murphy, Michael Schoenfelder, Adrien Warner, and Laura Welsh. Reporting that they’re “born to dazzle, purr, and entertain,” it would seem that the group has a lot in common with my cat Spaghetti. They’re a lot more comfortable on a stage than she is, though: Their “delightfully bizarre” sketch comedy show includes glitter, music, and surreal world-building. LC (Siren Theater, Boise, Friday-Saturday)
FILM
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In sophomore director Rose Glass’s queer melodrama Love Lies Bleeding, Kristen Stewart plays Lou, a chain-smoking dirtbag dyke and gym manager who splits her time between unclogging toilets, fending off the unwanted advances of her overzealous admirer Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov), worrying about her sister Beth (Jena Malone), reheating frozen dinners in a drab apartment, and masturbating on a faded couch in full view of her cat. When she meets ambitious muscle mommy Jackie (Katy O’Brian), who’s passing through town on her way to a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas, the star-crossed sapphic lovers immediately fall into a spiral of toxic U-haul infatuation. Glass, who directed the 2019 psychological horror flick Saint Maud, brings a startlingly singular and stylish vision to life. She’s cited David Cronenberg’s Crash and Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls as influences for Love Lies Bleeding, and the carnal obsession of those films shines through in her work. The result is a seedy, sexy, high-octane ride that holds its own amongst the erotic thriller canon. JB
(Hollywood Theatre, Hollywood District, Monday-Wednesday)
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When presented with the opportunity to see a film by director Andrei Tarkovsky in a movie house, you should take it. In this case, a new 4K restoration by Italian national film school Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia provides a great opportunity to see Tarkovsky’s first film made outside of the Soviet Union. Nostalghia isn’t his boldest work, but it’s the one where you perhaps get the best feeling of the director’s self, as he uses his signature dream sequences and long takes to wrestle with the alienated feeling of leaving Russia—shortly after Nostalghia‘s release he vowed he would never return. SUZETTE SMITH
(Cinema 21, Nob Hill, Monday-Wednesday, Saturday)
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New German Cinema pioneer Wim Wenders, who directed Wings of Desire and a mysterious terrain of canyons and neon in Paris, Texas, is known for his deliciously “slow” cinema and emphasis on desolation. Interestingly, this film (which was shortlisted for Best International Feature at this year’s Oscars) feels a little more lighthearted, but I suspect that I will still come away feeling somehow devastated. Perfect Days follows a Tokyo toilet scrubber, Hirayama, whose days are filled with contentment, cassette tapes, books, and photos of trees. May we all be so blessed. LC
(Cinema 21, Nob Hill, Monday-Wednesday)
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OMSI’s Sci-Fi Film Festival seems like a solid opportunity to watch science fiction flicks in the way god intended: on the Empirical Theater’s gigantic four-story screen. The museum will screen over 40 spacey greats, with genre classics (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and personal fave The Thing) and more recent entries (Blade Runner 2049, Annihilation) represented. The fest’s closing night celebration on May 24 will feature a screening of George Miller’s latest madhouse, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. LC
(Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Central Eastside, Monday-Sunday)
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Alex Garland’s latest, Civil War, is A24’s most expensive in-house production to date, following a group of military-embedded journos headed to DC “before rebel factions descend upon the White House.” Honestly, I’m wary of how he’ll handle this one, although Garland’s work does tend to thrive in dystopian settings. But Kristen Dunst stars as a photojournalist, which is reason enough to watch. Also, Garland may or may not be retiring from directing (“I’m going to take a break for the foreseeable future,” he clarified recently), so if you’re a fan of the filmmaker behind Annihilation and Men, you should plan to let his new one marinate. LC
(Hollywood Theatre, Hollywood District, Thursday-Sunday)
EXHIBIT
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You don’t have to go to the zoo—or even leave the east side—to see cool live animals, and no, I don’t mean your neighbor’s hypoallergenic Labradoodle. Staying Alive: Defenses of the Animal Kingdom examines the self-defense mechanisms of 16 different animals, from armor-like skin to venom and poison. Best part? YOU CAN TOUCH SOME OF THE ANIMALS. The exhibit’s promotional materials don’t specify exactly which ones, but explain that “the educator in the exhibit will go over which animals can be touched by the public, which cannot, and why.” Also, OMSI promises that the exhibit’s animals are *not* stressed. (Couldn’t be me!) LC
(Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Central Eastside, Tuesday-Sunday)
PERFORMANCE
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“I myself am strange and unusual,” so I can think of few more effective ways to decompress than with a musical interpretation of the creepy-cozy fave Beetlejuice. You know the drill—a rambunctious dude in pinstripes shows up and rocks a teen girl’s world. Settle in for a dreadful time in the Netherworld with Lydia Deetz—it’s showtime. LC
(Keller Auditorium, Downtown Portland, Tuesday-Sunday)
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Any lit lover will tell you that reading can be a truly titillating experience. Booklover’s Burlesque agrees, and since 2016, they’ve blended on-stage readings by local writers and actors with sexy, body-positive performances inspired by each written piece. For their second annual International Booklover’s Burlesque Festival, they’ll stage four days of unique shows that spotlight the written word with a side of salacious burlesque, boylesque, and draglesque acts. LC
(Various locations, Thursday-Sunday)
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Fertile Ground, which we’ve described in previous years as “delightfully uncurated,” gives itself full permission to go bananas. The affordable 11-day art fest, spearheaded by the Portland Area Theatre Alliance (PATA), dodges the “fringe festival” misnomer with premieres by dozens of local artists, “ensuring that the artistic and financial benefits of the festival stay in Portland.” Participants will present staged readings, theatrical workshops, ensemble, multidisciplinary and collaboration-driven work, and a variety of dance, comedy, and film events. LC
(Various locations, Friday-Sunday)
VISUAL ART
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Although he was a brilliant artist and social justice writer in the Pacific Northwest region, you might not have heard of Bob Shimabukuro. You can change that at Craft, Community, and Care: The Art and Legacy of Bob Shimabukuro, which centers the life of the Okinawan American activist and creative. He designed the beloved, now-shuttered sake bar Tanuki, but when Shimabukuro wasn’t woodworking and building furniture, he was serving as an editor and columnist for the Pacific Citizen and the International Examiner in Seattle, and was “instrumental” in the Pacific Northwest’s Japanese American Redress movement. LC
(Japanese American Museum of Oregon, Old Town-Chinatown, Wednesday-Sunday)
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Facilitated by groundbreaking sex educators Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, this activation of Lewis & Clark College’s Experimental Art Research (EAR) Forest wonders what would happen if we imagined Earth as a lover. The EAR is a “16-channel audio system of speakers nestled in the trees along a winding pathway behind the Lewis & Clark Art Department,” so you can immerse yourself in the quiet, sensory space while contemplating eco-sex art, theory, practices, and activism. On April 8, Sprinkle and Stephens will host a lunchtime picnic during a partial eclipse, and on April 9, an opening reception will celebrate the debut of the eco-sexy sound installation made during their residency. LC
(Lewis & Clark College, Southwest Portland, Monday-Tuesday)
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