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Friday, Aug 24
Chelsea Peretti
[COMEDY] The Parks and Recreation writer, whoâs also appeared opposite Louis C.K. on Louie, takes the Helium stage. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave. 7:30 pm and 10 pm Friday-Saturday, Aug. 24-25. $15-$25.
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Robert Randolph and the Family Band
[MUSIC] With his quintet Orleans Avenue, Treme native Trombone Shorty (25-year-old songwriter Troy Andrews) soared to fame on his fusion of percussion, guitar, saxes and brass band instruments with hip-hop beats and electric-guitar power chords into a jazzy, danceable funkfest he calls âsupafunkrock.â Ministerâs son and pedal steel guitar phenom Robert Randolphâs Family Band draws on the African-American Pentecostal âsacred steelâ tradition that arose in the 1930s, and updates it with funk and guitar-rock influences to create an incendiary contemporary sound. BRETT CAMPBELL. Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Rd. 7 pm. $24-$44.
Po'Shines 5th Annual Crawfish Feed
[FOOD] North Portland nonprofit soul-food cafe PoâShines hosts its 5th annual crawfish feed, a block party with live music and a menu of crawfish étouffée, crawfish cakes, crawfish chowder, gumbo and traditional boiled crawfish. All proceeds go to PoâShinesâ culinary training program for at-risk young folk. Po'Shines Cafe De La Soul, 8139 N Denver Ave. 7 am-10 pm Friday, 8 am-10 pm Saturday, Aug. 24-25.
Festa Italiana
[FOOD] Pioneer Courthouse Square becomes Piazza Italia during Portlandâs yearly celebration of everything Italian. Events include a bike race, pizza toss, bocce tournament and Italian movie night. Pioneer Courthouse Square, Southwest Morrison Street and Broadway. 11 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday. Free. festaitalianaportland.shutterfly.com.
Dark Horse
[FILM] Add the latest bitter elixir from Todd Solondz to the vanishingly small but surprisingly rich genre of New Jersey hospital-bed coma hallucinations. As fat as Tony Soprano if not so inclined to introspection, the subject of Dark Horseâthe loud-yapping underdogâis Abe Wertheimer (Jordan Gelber), a preening, temperamental, Hummer-driving vulgarian living on the good graces (and in the spare bedroom) of his nouveau riche parents (Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken). Inarguably, he must be destroyed. Living Room Theaters, 341 SW 10th Ave. Multiple showtimes.
Saturday, Aug 25
Powell's Books Anniversary Block Party
[PARTY, BOOKS] Celebrating more than four decades in business as a local, independent bookseller, Powellâs will host a block party in honor of its 41st year with author events, live music and games along Couch Street between 10th and 12th Avenues. The party is open to all and any proceeds will benefit the Independent Publishing Resource Center. Take that, Barnes & Noble. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St. 2-9 pm. Free.
Neil Diamond tribute: Super Diamond, Funk Shui
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Robert Randolph and the Family Band
[MUSIC] With his quintet Orleans Avenue, Treme native Trombone Shorty (25-year-old songwriter Troy Andrews) soared to fame on his fusion of percussion, guitar, saxes and brass band instruments with hip-hop beats and electric-guitar power chords into a jazzy, danceable funkfest he calls âsupafunkrock.â Ministerâs son and pedal steel guitar phenom Robert Randolphâs Family Band draws on the African-American Pentecostal âsacred steelâ tradition that arose in the 1930s, and updates it with funk and guitar-rock influences to create an incendiary contemporary sound. BRETT CAMPBELL. Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Rd. 7 pm. $24-$44.
Po'Shines 5th Annual Crawfish Feed
[FOOD] North Portland nonprofit soul-food cafe PoâShines hosts its 5th annual crawfish feed, a block party with live music and a menu of crawfish étouffée, crawfish cakes, crawfish chowder, gumbo and traditional boiled crawfish. All proceeds go to PoâShinesâ culinary training program for at-risk young folk. Po'Shines Cafe De La Soul, 8139 N Denver Ave. 7 am-10 pm Friday, 8 am-10 pm Saturday, Aug. 24-25.
Festa Italiana
[FOOD] Pioneer Courthouse Square becomes Piazza Italia during Portlandâs yearly celebration of everything Italian. Events include a bike race, pizza toss, bocce tournament and Italian movie night. Pioneer Courthouse Square, Southwest Morrison Street and Broadway. 11 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday. Free. festaitalianaportland.shutterfly.com.
Dark Horse
[FILM] Add the latest bitter elixir from Todd Solondz to the vanishingly small but surprisingly rich genre of New Jersey hospital-bed coma hallucinations. As fat as Tony Soprano if not so inclined to introspection, the subject of Dark Horseâthe loud-yapping underdogâis Abe Wertheimer (Jordan Gelber), a preening, temperamental, Hummer-driving vulgarian living on the good graces (and in the spare bedroom) of his nouveau riche parents (Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken). Inarguably, he must be destroyed. Living Room Theaters, 341 SW 10th Ave. Multiple showtimes.
Saturday, Aug 25
Powell's Books Anniversary Block Party
[PARTY, BOOKS] Celebrating more than four decades in business as a local, independent bookseller, Powellâs will host a block party in honor of its 41st year with author events, live music and games along Couch Street between 10th and 12th Avenues. The party is open to all and any proceeds will benefit the Independent Publishing Resource Center. Take that, Barnes & Noble. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St. 2-9 pm. Free.
Neil Diamond tribute: Super Diamond, Funk Shui
[MUSIC] There are tributes where musicians don wigs and costumes, playing their idols' hits note for note. There are tributes where a band plays augmented versions of the tributee's catalog, injecting completely different musical stylization into the mix. Then there's Super Diamond, the San Francisco sextet that rocks the banana collars and sparkles, but gets all Hot August Night on the Jewish Elvis' hits, with frontman Surreal Neil letting his voice crackle on songs like "America" and "Forever in Blue Jeans" as the band turns the volume and energy up to 11. Yeah, this is a tribute, but not one like you've ever seen. This is Neil Diamond as re-envisioned as a 1980s stadium-rock demigod, void of irony and full of love. AP KRYZA. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 9 pm. $20. 21+.
Filmusik: Gamera vs. Zigra
[FILM] The giant turtle warrior Gamera takes on an equally formidable underwater opponent in the 1971 Japanese film Gamera vs. Zigra. Voice actors from Willamette Radio Workshop dub the dialogue in English over a new score by rising young Portland composer Justin Ralls (founder of Contemporary Portland Orchestra Project), performed live by a 10-piece orchestra. Sewallcrest Park, Southeast Market St. and Southeast 31st Ave. 8 pm. Free.
Oregon State Fair
[FAIR] In a bizarre rural custom, farm animals such as sheep and pigs are awarded colored ribbons and then deep-fried as teenagers pay to play games they know they will not win and ride brightly lit contraptions that spin uncomfortably fast. Oregon State Fairgrounds, 2330 17th St. NE, Salem. Aug. 24-Sept. 3. 10 am-9 pm Sunday-Thursday, 10 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday. Tickets $6-11. oregonstatefair.org.
Vengeance
[FILM] If John Woo is the godfather of gun-fu cinema and bullet operas, nutso Hong Kong director Johnnie To is his bastard grandchild who refuses to take his Ritalin, an unhinged filmmaker who transitions from focused gangster noir like Election to campy psychedelic freakouts such as Heroic Trio with gleeful abandon. Vengeance falls somewhere between the grit of the former and the insanity of the latter. It finds geriatric crooner Johnny Hallydayâthe French Elvis, as many know himâteaming up with ruthless hit men to lay waste to the mobsters responsible for maiming his daughter and killing her family. The ensuing carnage is incredible, with gouts of bright magenta blood filling the air like macabre clouds, and bodies flying like confetti. AP KRYZA. 5th Avenue Cinema, 410 SW Hall St. 7 and 9:30 pm Friday- Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, Aug. 25-27.
Sunday, Aug 26
KPSU Kruise
[MUSIC] Two of Portlandâs best bandsâRadiation City and Unknown Mortal Orchestraâjoin forces on a boat as a fundraiser for college radio station KPSU in its quest for a better signal. There is definitely no better way to spend your Sunday night. Portland Spirit, Salmon Street Springs Fountain at Tom McCall Waterfront Park (Southwest Naito Parkway and Salmon Street), 224-3900. 10:30 pm. $20. All ages.
Tara Jane O'Neil with Rachel Carns, Lisa Schonberg, Kanako Pooknyw and Heather Treadway; Dragging an Ox Through Water; Like a Villain; DJ Yeti
[MUSIC] Details are relatively sketchy about what Tara Jane O'Neil has planned for the premier of Sev Entrain. The experimental musician and visual artist says simply that it is "an interpretation of a graphic score" and that the whole project was funded partially by a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. But who really needs to know the particulars? O'Neil has proven herself an incredible talent capable of working in both formless drones and cockeyed pop with equal acuity. Joining O'Neil tonight is an all-star ensemble including Rachel Carns of the Need and Heather Treadway (ex-Explode Into Colors). ROBERT HAM. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 8:30 pm. $7. 21+.
Filmusik: Gamera vs. Zigra
[FILM] The giant turtle warrior Gamera takes on an equally formidable underwater opponent in the 1971 Japanese film Gamera vs. Zigra. Voice actors from Willamette Radio Workshop dub the dialogue in English over a new score by rising young Portland composer Justin Ralls (founder of Contemporary Portland Orchestra Project), performed live by a 10-piece orchestra. Sewallcrest Park, Southeast Market St. and Southeast 31st Ave. 8 pm. Free.
Oregon State Fair
[FAIR] In a bizarre rural custom, farm animals such as sheep and pigs are awarded colored ribbons and then deep-fried as teenagers pay to play games they know they will not win and ride brightly lit contraptions that spin uncomfortably fast. Oregon State Fairgrounds, 2330 17th St. NE, Salem. Aug. 24-Sept. 3. 10 am-9 pm Sunday-Thursday, 10 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday. Tickets $6-11. oregonstatefair.org.
Vengeance
[FILM] If John Woo is the godfather of gun-fu cinema and bullet operas, nutso Hong Kong director Johnnie To is his bastard grandchild who refuses to take his Ritalin, an unhinged filmmaker who transitions from focused gangster noir like Election to campy psychedelic freakouts such as Heroic Trio with gleeful abandon. Vengeance falls somewhere between the grit of the former and the insanity of the latter. It finds geriatric crooner Johnny Hallydayâthe French Elvis, as many know himâteaming up with ruthless hit men to lay waste to the mobsters responsible for maiming his daughter and killing her family. The ensuing carnage is incredible, with gouts of bright magenta blood filling the air like macabre clouds, and bodies flying like confetti. AP KRYZA. 5th Avenue Cinema, 410 SW Hall St. 7 and 9:30 pm Friday- Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, Aug. 25-27.
Sunday, Aug 26
KPSU Kruise
[MUSIC] Two of Portlandâs best bandsâRadiation City and Unknown Mortal Orchestraâjoin forces on a boat as a fundraiser for college radio station KPSU in its quest for a better signal. There is definitely no better way to spend your Sunday night. Portland Spirit, Salmon Street Springs Fountain at Tom McCall Waterfront Park (Southwest Naito Parkway and Salmon Street), 224-3900. 10:30 pm. $20. All ages.
Tara Jane O'Neil with Rachel Carns, Lisa Schonberg, Kanako Pooknyw and Heather Treadway; Dragging an Ox Through Water; Like a Villain; DJ Yeti
[MUSIC] Details are relatively sketchy about what Tara Jane O'Neil has planned for the premier of Sev Entrain. The experimental musician and visual artist says simply that it is "an interpretation of a graphic score" and that the whole project was funded partially by a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. But who really needs to know the particulars? O'Neil has proven herself an incredible talent capable of working in both formless drones and cockeyed pop with equal acuity. Joining O'Neil tonight is an all-star ensemble including Rachel Carns of the Need and Heather Treadway (ex-Explode Into Colors). ROBERT HAM. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 8:30 pm. $7. 21+.
Pwning Cancer: A Charitable Game Tournament
[GAMING] A video game tournament for young and oldâgames include Smash Bros, Rock Band, Halo and Pongâto raise money for OHSUâs Knight Cancer Research Institute. It's part of the Hawthorne Street Fair, which will take place along Hawthorne Boulevard on Sunday. East Portland Eagles, 4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Noon-5 pm.
[GAMING] A video game tournament for young and oldâgames include Smash Bros, Rock Band, Halo and Pongâto raise money for OHSUâs Knight Cancer Research Institute. It's part of the Hawthorne Street Fair, which will take place along Hawthorne Boulevard on Sunday. East Portland Eagles, 4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Noon-5 pm.
The Imposter
[FILM] Were it not for the footage of news reports edited into the film, as well as the raft of information out there on the disappearance of 13-year-old Texan Nicholas Barclay back in 1994, you might spend the length of The Imposter waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to come onscreen to assure you this was all a hoax masquerading as a documentary. As simply as I can put it, this nonfiction film from director Bart Layton focuses on Nicholasâ disappearance and how, more than three years later, his family received the impossible news that he had been found in, of all places, Spain... read the full review. Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave. Multiple showtimes.
[FILM] Were it not for the footage of news reports edited into the film, as well as the raft of information out there on the disappearance of 13-year-old Texan Nicholas Barclay back in 1994, you might spend the length of The Imposter waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to come onscreen to assure you this was all a hoax masquerading as a documentary. As simply as I can put it, this nonfiction film from director Bart Layton focuses on Nicholasâ disappearance and how, more than three years later, his family received the impossible news that he had been found in, of all places, Spain... read the full review. Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave. Multiple showtimes.
WWeek 2015