Selective capsule reviews of live music and nightlife
BY JOHN GRAHAM, ZACH DUNDAS, CHRISTOPHER MCQUAIN, BECKY OHLSEN, JASON M. RIVERA, BILL SMITH, JD SUNTAN, DAVID WALKER

To be considered for listings, send information at least two weeks in advance to Music & Clubs, Willamette Week, 822 SW 10th Ave., Portland, OR 97205. Fax: 243-1115. Most prices listed are for advance ticket sales. Convenience charges may also be added. Best to check ahead.

For a complete listing see Headout.

March 28 - April 3

blues

Rockin' Jake
It's been more than a decade now since I saw Rockin' Jake churn and burn and work it out harder than anyone else up and down the northeastern sea coast's blues scene. Since then, Jake has panned out to be no mere white blues pretender, no sir. Having years back forsaken New Hampshire for the steamiest heart of blues matters, New Orleans, Jake has built himself a fat ol' name, organizing widely attended harmonica competitions, playing with everyone and earning the reputation of being the Big Easy's best harp player. Yeah, Jake. Small man, big harp, Go! (SDS)

Cascade Bar & Grill, 15000 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, Wash., (360) 254-0749. 9 pm Thursday, March 29. Cover.

electronic

OMCO presents Solenoid, Pal:ndrom, Decapod Claw
Like something from J.G. Ballard's sci-fi novel High Rise, OMCO's output cuts clean synth lines that echo the crisp silhouette of modern architecture...but the scratching-and-spitting rhythms hint at a restless spirit lurking beneath the hi-tech sheen. When analog squawks and squeals force their way through the smooth electro surface, everything threatens to fall into vicious disarray. The music clings to enough structure that the songs--like society--continue to operate properly. But for how long? (JG)

Medicine Hat, 1834 NE Alberta St.,
778-7700. 9:30 pm Friday, March 30. $5.

Opening of B Complex
The floors of this brick-walled space--known as Euphoria in the late '70s/early '80s and briefly as the Mercury Room in the late '90s--have lain cold for long years. Now the people behind Astral Projects are resurrecting the room with big dreams and a bang-up opening weekend. Helping to spark the beats to life, squiqqly Ninja Tune 'tablist Kid Koala leads his Bullfrog ensemble through live sessions of smoove instrumental hip-hop and jazz-juiced funk, while FCS North and Sientific American launch their galactic techno-jazz into loftier cosmic realms. Block-rawkin' DJ Z-Trip also brings his characteristic mix of classic-rock slabs and hip-hop platters to shake the walls. (JG)

B Complex, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 235-4424 (NOTE: the phone number given in our print edition is the WRONG ONE). 9 pm Friday and Saturday, March 30-31. $10 each night.

experimental

The Residents
With eyeballs for heads and a sense of humor so perverse it verges on pathological, the Residents are one of the weirdest troupes to don rock's instruments since, well, ever. For incontrovertible proof, simply view their new DVD, Icky Flix, a disorienting jaunt through the mysterious art rockers' filmic history. Sinister carnivals, sick-brained babies, sadistic Bible characters--it's all in there, set to skin-crawling collages of avant noise, psychedelic prog and circus-clown industrial. Plus the show's on April Fool's Day? Mein Gott, it's a freaking omen! (JG)

Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 8 pm Sunday, April 1. $22.50 advance (Fastixx). 21+.

folk

Michael McDermott
During my brief stint in Chicago, McDermott was a neighbor and even named his debut after his apartment complex: 620 W. Surf. (I was 624.) I mention that 'cause his songs feel, well, neighborly--like good Midwestern, Irish Catholic, working-class conventional wisdom about wizened souls who grow up on rock 'n' roll and realize that the living is in the stumbling. Like kindred songster Joe Henry, McDermott's songs seem less about Guthrie and all about Dylan--and just as much Mr. Thomas as Bob. (BS)

St. Johns Pub, 8203 N Ivanhoe St.,
283-8520. 8 pm Thursday, March 29. $15.

Lou and Peter Berryman
The Wisconsin Berrymans have performed together for 20-some years and count the venerable Pete Seeger among their admirers. However, the sheer amateurism they offer on their recent House Concert: Live Album is the kind of too-cute wordplay, off-key whining and sad-sack noodling better left at home--for close friends and distant enemies only. (BS)

Multnomah Friends Meeting House, 4312 SE Stark St., 232-2822. 8 pm Friday, March 30. $14.

hip-hop

Xzibit, Tha Liks
Xzibit, for one, is probably glad Tipper isn't First Lady--his hard-banging street raps about DNA (that's "Drugs-n-Alkahol," not deoxyribonucleic acid) are replete with just the sort of un-PC language ol' Tipp wants to abolish. Her loss is raw an' nasty hip-hop fans' collective gain. Tha Liks, formerly the Alkaholiks, open the show to ensure a healthy dose of "unhealthy" talk about boozin' and cruisin'. (JG)

Pine Street Theater, 215 SE 9th Ave.,
231-1530. 8 pm Thursday, March 29. $18.50 advance (Fastixx). All ages.

Too Short, E-40, B-Legit
Consider Too Short the hip-hop Sinatra--and not just for the violent attitudes and casual misogyny. Examine the career of the East Bay pioneer: innovative rhythmic delivery, surprising and widely disbelieved early "retirement," gangster buddies and admirable longevity. Of course, Sinatra was the voice of the century, and Too Short remains a fitfully entertaining braggart possessed of a talent for cursing and a deliberate, highly influential style better served musically and lyrically by his more-acclaimed imitators. He did it his way, all right, continuing to trawl the same strip-bar themes with a laconic swagger, but you'd imagine Duets lies just around the corner. (JH)

Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 8 pm Saturday, March 31. $35 advance (Fastixx).

indian

India Earthquake Benefit
Rasika Arts and Culture Council trots out this eclectic evening of global music and dance. Carnatic composer and percussionist T.V. Gopalakrishnan spearheads the event, with help from vocalist Devi and Indian violinist Meera Rajkumar, but jazz help from Akbar DePriest, Janice Scroggins, Gary Harris and Skip Bowman, plus African drumming from Nii Ardey Allotey, expand the musical focus beyond the boundaries of the Indian subcontinent. (JG)

St. Mary's, 1615 SW 5th Ave., 228-8306. 7:30 pm Saturday, March 31. $20-$50, $5 discount for seniors and students. All ages.

jazz

Porterhouse Quintet
Presenting Porterhouse at one of the "Museum After Hours" schmooze fests just might make the chatter a bit more real at these notoriously arid mix-mingle-and-be-seen affairs. The band's informed, organ-grinding funk borrows from the best of early '70s fusion--for those who actually dig listening, there's something here. (BS)

Portland Art Museum, 1119 SW Park Ave., 226-2811. 5:30 pm Wednesday, March 28. $7.50. All ages.

Sam Rivers Trio
At 77, the Miles/Cecil/Dizzy alum, loft-scene pioneer and free-jazz explorer still has the energy of a septuagenarian restless youth. His elliptical compositional sketches feel like furious Taoist mantras--turning inward on themselves at the same time they reflect spaciousness, like a dog chasing its tail in a wide-open field. Rivers himself alleges that his trio with Doug Matthews (bass and clarinet) and Anthony Cole (tenor sax, piano and drums) is among the most versatile and volatile ensembles in jazz history. Who are we to argue? (BS)

First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 772-0772. 8 pm Wednesday, March 28. $16.

The Original Cats
See story.

Paragon, 1309 NW Hoyt St.,
833-5060. 9 pm Thursday, March 29. .

Three Square Grill 7th Anniversary
Though writing about a suburban restaurant's birthday bash may seem a tad odd, consider what this shopping-plaza culinary enclave, gallery and music space has brought to culture-craving Hillsdale, offering down-home grub to the tune of consistently fine jazz guitar fare. Dan Balmer & Armonica mix blues and bop on Wednesday and Thursday, while Anson Wright's in-a-mellow-tone voicings ring out Friday and Saturday. Check out their grits. (BS)

Three Square Grill, 6320 SW Capitol Highway, 244-4467. Dinner Wednesday-Sunday, March 28-April 1.

Margaret Slovak & George Mitchell
Two of the city's more in-tune musicians join together for a duo pairing that promises finesse and unselfish interplay. Slovak is a guitarist who favors intricate voicing over typical grandstanding bop chops. She also composes with an ear for spaciousness and introspective expectation. Mitchell is a true pianist journeyman who's accompanied Diana Ross on numerous road shows but has also sparred with every major jazz artist in the city. (BS)

Typhoon!, 400 SW Broadway, 224-8285.
7 pm Friday, March 30. No cover.

reggae

Pablo Moses, Earth Force
I'm pretty sure Pablo Moses is a water sign: Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio--you name it. In evidence: His 1975 debut recording was called I Man A Grasshopper, and his most famous song is a three-minute recount of a dream he had of attacking Babylon alongside the warriors of Zion. Now tell me a Capricorn or an Aries could ever do that. Witness for yourself the antics of this aquafied roots player--who is reputed to put on excellent shows--at the foot of our local volcano. (SW)

Mount Tabor Pub, 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 238-1646. 9 pm Sunday, April 1. $12 advance (Fastixx).

pop, punk, rock, et cetera

Machine That Flashes, Cabal, Tusks of Blood
It must be said: Machine That Flashes sounds more than a little like Neurosis--dense, artsy hardcore-metal punctuated by animal-in-a-steel-trap roars and extended drone segues. But that's not a bad thing. More than merely rocking out (which they do jus' fine), MTF investigates the emotive, torso-shaking properties of sound and volume in a way that rattles bones like earthquakes shuddering windows. (JG)

Ash Street, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430.
10 pm Wednesday, March 28. $4.

Garaj Mahal, Drums & Tuba
Garaj Mahal--the triumvirate of bassmeister Kai Eckhardt, string bender Fareed Haque and jam drummer Alan Hertz--manages graceful jazz elasticity with a heavy funk rumble, probably due to their collective CV's long stints with John McLaughlin, Sting and various Dead spinoffs. With a tuba, drum-electronics and guitar front line, D&T is as far from your average power trio as you can possibly get: Neal McKeeby's string attack lies somewhere in between whiplash Link Wray and Marc Ribot's tight-as-a-gnat's-ass licks, and the tuba-drum combo kicks up some rhythmic barnstorming. (BS)

Berbati's Pan, 231 SW Ankeny St.,
248-4579. 9 pm Thursday, March 29. $12.

Bastinado, Pasha, The Miss
OK, so you all know Bastinado's David Blunk is from local legends 30.06, but you may not know about his secret arsenal. What are these devices of mass musical mayhem? They are the mighty, unstoppable thunder and lightning of Tim McMurrin's steady, 10-notes-per-second bass playing and Josh Gambrell's barrage of drum fill after drum fill. I hope the vocally enriched, Slint-like music of Pasha and the two-girl, two-guy rock of The Miss can handle the dubious chore of opening for the new dictators of P-town. (JMR)

Ash Street, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0938.
10 pm Thursday, March 29. $4.

Monkey Fur, Spreadeagle
Monkey Fur sports props, costumes and televisions playing shock videos and is often complemented by mostly nude dancers; some of their songs actually rock, too. Ask for covers of "Big Bottom" and "Earache My Eye" for maximum enjoyment. All-woman rock trio Spreadeagle provides plenty of snarling grrls, but leaves the riot part up to you. (JMR)

Satyricon, 125 NW 6th Ave., 243-2380.
10 pm Thursday, March 29. Cover.

Colonel Jeffrey Pumpernickel CD release
The release of Pumpernickel--a rock opera featuring such Big Time indie rockers as Lou Barlow, GBV and The Ubiquitous Mr. Malkmus--is feted with two nights featuring select contributors from the album. See HeadOut (page 54) for lineups, and story for the in-depth scoop. (JG)

Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-5555 ext. 8811. 9 pm Friday, March 30. $10. All ages. 9 pm Saturday, March 31. $13.50. 21+.

Propagandhi, Avail, Real McKenzies, Portrait of Poverty
Your stout-soaked kilt is barely dry from St. Paddy's Day, but it's time to break it out again--Cascadia's favorite bagpipe-driven, booze-fueled Celtopunks, the Real McKenzies, are making another jaunt down from Vancouver, B.C. And what washes out stout better than Scotch? Avail also plays its tears-in-beers brand of anthemic emo; Portrait of Poverty hacks through nasty, old-school hardcore-metal; and Propagandhi, Canadian political punks not unlike NOFX crossbred with MDC, headline. (AG-A)

Pine Street Theater, 215 SE 9th Ave., 231-1530. 8:30 pm Friday, March 30.
$10 advance (Fastixx). All ages.

Cerberus Shoal, Operacycle, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Dave Fischoff
Alice's Wonderland is for amateurs--this gig is way curiouser and curiouser. Cerberus Shoal's long journeys into la-la land sound the way asylum finger paintings look: scribbled rainbows full of disoriented lyrics and tonally unanchored vocals; speckles of disconnected guitar, keyboard and rhythm; and a sense of naive playfulness that verges on disturbing. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum should prove more physically compelling, as these Idiot Flesh alumni drift from dreamy, violin-laced nursery rhymes to dastardly dark art-rock for carnies at the Residents' midway. The Operacycle's patient, exploratory, sand-through-hourglass instrumentals may seem positively pop in comparison. (JG)

Meow Meow, 527 SE Pine St., 230-2111.
9 pm Friday, March 30. $6. All ages.

Deke Dickerson
What can you say about the man with the winning cheeseball grin, the nebbishy good looks and the wild, wild, WILD double-necked guitar? He's got it all! He's done it all! Starting with the Untamed Youth back in the '80s (the only Midwest-styled surf revival band worth a hearty dousing in PBR), Deke has blazed in a variety of hep combos, all of them masterful, kitsch-soaked takes on Americana essentials like western swing, country-jazz, jump blues and hillbilly boogie, not to mention masked excursions into snack-time garage punk. When he opens up his pie hole and let's go for all he's worth, well, dammit, you couldn't be feeling more fine. Deke Dickerson, friends, the boy's got talent with a capital T. (SDS)

Viscount Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., 233-7855. 9 pm Friday, March 30. $10. 21+.

Girls Say Yes CD release, Pan Tourismos
If seeing Girls Say Yes live is at all like hearing their new album, To Boys Who Say No (get it?), you're in for super-cheesy, jangly, Bangles-esque pop. The good to be had on the album, which will be up for grabs for your hot little folk-hungry hands, is the plethora of guest artists who complement singer/songwriter/drummer/engineer Jim Huie's steady stream of somewhat redundant Athens, Ga.-inspired escalators of jingles (likable for their persistence and effort). Although you probably won't be so lucky as to catch many of the collaborators in person, the show should deliver some excitement at least. Pan Tourismos opens with straightforward, upbeat indie-pop meanderings. (SOS)

Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. 9:30 pm Friday, March 30. Cover.

The Spits, The Briefs, 8 Foot Tender, Prime Evils
New wave + punk = the next big retro trend? The Spits spike their punch-drunk retardopunk with the Casio touch, chintzy blips sizzling under a fuzzy rawk face-bashing. The Briefs, in contrast, play what could be called "Cars-core"--punk-pop that's all zigzag angles and neon melodies. No keyboards, but the snot-nosed attitude, hopping energy and natural instinct for big hooks make for a live show that's, like, totally tubular. (JG)

Satyricon, 125 NW 6th Ave., 243-2380. 10 pm Friday, March 30. Cover.

Hardship, Big Bubba
Hardship has changed a little over the years, toning down from totally harsh hardcore to more of an AC/DC blend of rock and punk. Although they're an angry, fist-in-defiance punk anthem band, the anger is never directed at the crowd; they always encourage another round of beers between the slam dancing. (JMR)

Beulahland, 118 NE 28th Ave.,
235-2794. 9 pm Saturday, March 31. .

The Radiators
With recent stops by the Dirty Dozen and now the Radiators, Berbati's is fast becoming PDX's Big Easy. But the Rads--beloved gladiator heroes in their native New Orleans--sound horribly dated and provincial outside the confines of the Crescent City, their home-brew marriage of Little Feat Southern white funk and ZZ Top good ol' boy rock'n'roll a barbaric early '80s yawp better left with the crawfish and Tabasco. (BS)

Berbati's Pan, 231 SW Ankeny St., 248-4579. 9 pm Saturday, March 31. $19 advance (Fastixx).

Made for TV Movie, Heart Beats Red, Aveo
When the guitars escape from coiled pauses into shooting, dissonant action, Made for TV Movie can penetrate your ribs and, with those six-strings spitting electric lines like lightning rays, jump-start the fading post-punk heart within. These moments of fire and flurry are their best medicine; occasional slips into delicate melody give your circulatory system a brief rest before MVTFM charges up those defibrillating instruments again. Ah, such sweet treatment. Who needs HMOs? (JG)

Meow Meow, 527 SE Pine St., 230-2111. 9 pm Saturday, March 31. $6. All ages.

Hot Water Music, Leatherface, Small Brown Bike, Longshot
Emo-whoa-whoa-whoa! Four hefty helpings of prime-choice, chest-bursting emopunk--crashing rhythms and slashing guitars smoothed over with vocals full of honey and hurt--played for maximum sweat potential. Added incentive: Gruff old Leatherface singer Frankie Stubbs finally packs it in after this tour to support his latest CD, appropriately titled The Last. (JG)

Pine Street Theater, 215 SE 9th Ave., 231-1530. 8:30 pm Monday, April 2. $8 advance (Fastixx). All ages.

Jad Fair, Adult Rodeo, Old Time Relijun
Fair, Half Japanese's quavery indie-naif vocalist, shows us his solo side; see HJ record review.

Meow Meow, 527 SE Pine St.,
230-2111. 9 pm Monday, April 2. $7.
All ages.

soul

Black Angel
It's the Soul Kitchen's first birthday at Dante's, so the hot lovin' soul kings (and queens) of Black Angel are throwing themselves a party. See how bright one candle can burn. (JG)

Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630.
10 pm Thursday, March 29. Cover.