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Friday, March 23
Shopping
The reference points on The Official Body, the third album from London's Shopping, should be obvious to any fan of early English post-punk, but the band channels them with such authenticity. They sound less influenced by the likes of Au Pairs and Kleenex than possessed by their spirits. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 503-328-2865, bunksandwiches.com/shows. 9:30 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.
Portland Night Market
Shop among a stacked warehouse bazaar of Portland artisans—jewelry, arts and crafts, teamakers, sausage-makers, clothes, purses, you name it—while drinking artisan Bible Club cocktails and eating food from local carts like FOMO and Kim Jong Grillin. 100 SE Alder St., 503-974-6717, pdxnm.com. 4-11 pm. Through Saturday.
A Melon Baby's Falsetto Sounds Better in the Bathroom
Amy Chiao's art installation and performance piece is partially about Vitas, a real-life Russian popera singer who has a large, rabid following in China. Vitas covers Russian and Chinese Communist anthems, and his songs are frequently covered by Chinese musicians. His falsetto can reach otherworldly heights—to Americans, he's best known for a viral video in which he wears futuristic Lycra and warbles his high-pitched voice like a turkey call. In Chiao's show, Vitas also inspires the production of weaponized watermelon babies. Killjoy Collective, 222 SE 10th Ave., killjoypdx.com. 7 pm.
Saturday, March 24
Trevor Noah
Two years after taking over The Daily Show, Trevor Noah is beginning to emerge from Jon Stewart's shadow. Narrative standup has always been Noah's strength—his last touring show, about growing up mixed-race in apartheid South Africa, found comedy in tragedy in a way that was touchingly optimistic. Moda Center, 1 N Center Court St., 503-235-8771, rosequarter.com. 8 pm. $39-$75.
Katie Scherman + Artists
Former Bodyvox dancer Katie Scherman is returning to the contemporary dance studio to launch her own company. Three works will be performed by an all-woman cast and are based on personal stories about the femme experience. BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave., 503-229-0627, bodyvox.com. 7:30 pm. Through March 24. $30-$64.
Drowse, Floating Room, Tender Age, Dragging an Ox Through Water
On his new LP, Cold Air, Kyle Bates takes the already murky template of his previous work and douses it with an inky, somnambulant quality, through detuned guitars, ominous field recordings and co-ed vocals. It marks his first release for San Francisco experimental label the Flenser and welcomes the addition of his Floating Room bandmate, Maya Stoner. Bates has previously harvested his experiences with mental illness as fodder for his musical endeavors, but never with such specificity and aplomb. Anyone already familiar with his Elverum-indebted guitar work will find the addition of Brian Eno, Kevin Shields and Robert Smith influences a bonus. The Know, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-473-8729. 8 pm. $5. 21+.
Videodrome
Few movies are more disturbing than David Cronenberg's surrealist thriller about a mysterious TV station that plays graphic murders and torture. It's the last film in NW Film Center's thoroughly awesome Genrified! series. NW Film Center, 1219 SW Park Ave., nwfilm.org. 9:30 pm. $9.
Sunday, March 25
Control Yourself Farewell Show
One of Portland's longest-running standup showcases is coming to an end. Before the show's host and founder, JoAnn Schinderle, moves to LA, she's hosting one hell of a swan song—two back-to-back showcases with many of the city's funniest standups. Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta St., albertastreetpub.com. 7 and 9:30 pm. $12. 21+.
Farmhouse & Wild Ale Fest
This is the big daddy of Portland farmhouse beer fests, bringing in wild- and mixed-fermented whalez from de Garde, Ale Apothecary, Holy Mountain and Propolis, and our 2018 Beer of the Year, Upright Pathways. Saraveza, 1004 N Killingsworth St., portlandfarmhousefest.com. $35 (15 tasting tix) VIP session Friday, March 23. $25 (10 tix) Saturday and Sunday, March 24-25.
Steve Barton, Dave Scheff
If you recognize the name Steve Barton, it's probably for one specific reason—the 1982 semi-hit "Everywhere That I'm Not." Recorded by his band, Translator, the song is a shuffling, wry and haunted love song in which the object of the narrator's attention is forever out of reach. Thirty-six years later, Barton is in Portland. Earlier this month, Barton released his seventh solo record, and first one as a Portland artist. Or rather, his seventh, eighth and ninth solo records: Tall Tales and Alibis is a triple record that is also three distinct albums. It's as eclectic as it is expansive, the work of a riff-happy, love-song-loving kind of guy who always adds another layer beyond the catchy and familiar, be it a burst of lo-fi noise, an unexpected genre twist or well-chosen profanity. Music Millennium, 3158 E Burnside St., musicmillennium.com. 5 pm. Free. All ages.
Tombeau de Claude Debussy à Travers la Mer
After the great French impressionist composer Claude Debussy died in March 1918, with German shells exploding near his Paris home, 10 of the greatest composers of his time created new pieces for a memorial concert in his honor. On the centenary of Debussy's demise, 10 members of Cascadia Composers are putting on a similar tribute as part of the ongoing March Music Moderne series. As one of the last composers admired by both classical and avant-garde music fans, Debussy's own music changed a lot over the course of his lifetime. Theresa Koon's Sonnets to Orpheus nods to Debussy's evocation of ancient modes and Greek myth, while Matthew Andrews nods to the composter's friend, Erik Satie. Elizabeth Blachly-Dyson's Equinox anticipates spring like Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and one of Stephen Lewis's piano pieces draws inspiration from a painting like some of Debussy's own famous piano works. Denis Floyd's wind quintet is even titled Hommage à Claude Debussy. David Bernstein's Flux and Reflux uses themes from La Mer, and Christopher Wicks Sea Sonata also embraces marine inspiration, though from the Oregon Coast. BRETT CAMPBELL. Community Music Center, 3350 SE Francis St., communitymusiccenter.org. 7:30 pm. Free. All ages.