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Friday Jul 8
Neil Hamburger, JP Inc.
Sporting a greasy combover, oversized glasses, and a horrible attitude, fictional entity Neil Hamburger is more of a sentient cartoon character than your average Portland-ribbing stand-up. The role of the phlegmy, celebrity-antagonizing Hamburger is played winningly by comedian and musician Gregg Turkington, and he’s always a sweaty, ornery joy to witness. MEGAN BURBANK
Star Theater, 13 NW 6th, 8pm, $18
Lawrence of Arabia
The Hollywood Theatre is celebrating its 90th birthday—and it's doing so by going nuts with cinema classics, all of them on gorgeous 70mm. Last week the Hollywood's 70mm Extravaganza kicked off with 2001: A Space Odyssey, and this week brings David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia—which if you haven't seen it on 70mm and on the big screen, you haven't really seen. Stay tuned the next few weeks, too—because West Side Story and Aliens are next. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 6pm, $12
Lubec, Curse League, Two Moons, Quone
Contemporary bands obsessed with the aesthetic of early British indie-rock often don't realize how tuneful and pop-focused a lot of those bands were. Lubec considers style and song craft equally; they have the looks and bring the hooks. MORGAN TROPER
Anarres Infoshop, 7101 N Lombard, 7:30pm, $5
Gate, Grouper, Gabie Strong, Christopher Reid Martin
This show at subterranean venue S1 features a truly stacked lineup. There’s the free-flowing guitar work of New Zealander Michael Morley’s solo project Gate, the haunted, whispering ambient sounds of Oregonian Liz Harris as Grouper, the droning experimentalism of Gabie Strong, and the subdued, pulsing soundscapes of Christopher Reid Martin. CIARA DOLAN
S1, 4148 NE Hancock, 9:30pm, $8-10
Too $hort
For decades Too $hort has made his living rhyming about the seedier side of life. Blatant objectification of women characterized much of Too $hort’s work, going back to his earliest demos in the mid-’80s. These days most of the 50-year-old East Bay rapper’s message comes off as more nonsensical and silly, but his laidback beats and rhymes are still rock solid, if not a little outdated in 2016. Too $hort is a hip-hop legend, no doubt—songs like “Blow the Whistle” and “The Ghetto” are still incredibly important and pioneering pieces of West Coast rap. MARK LORE
Roseland, 8 NW 6th, 8pm, $25-75
Dear Sugar Radio
It’s the advice-giving equivalent of Michael Keaton and Christian Bale as Batman, at the same time, on the same stage: Authors Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond bring a live version of their WBUR radio show to Portland. It’s up to you to bring the romantic conundrums.
Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark #110, 7:30pm, $30
Super Hit, Patsy’s Rats, Wave Action, Sad Horse, The Goobs, Mope Grooves
A giant-size gathering of local rock goodness in celebration of Super Hit’s latest tape release, Everything is Shit.
American Legion Local 134, 2104 NE Alberta, 9pm, $6
Barbara Boxer
California Senator Barbara Boxer reads from her long-awaited memoir, The Art of Tough, chronicling the trials and tribulations faced during her long and influential career in Congress.
Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills, 7pm
Tiki Kon
The 14th annual celebration of Tiki culture in all its forms—not just the colorful drinks, but the colorful clothes, the decorations, the song and dance, the whole rowdy post-war shebang. With a fashion show, a luau-style banquet, cocktail classes, live music, and the event that started it all, the Tiki Kon bar tour. You will drink so much rum out of so many grimacing wooden heads.
Red Lion on the River, 909 N Hayden Island, 3pm, $63-179
Minden, Sisters, Fog Father
Imagine a dressing room filled with glitter and spandex. Minden's lead vocalists Casey Burge and Lia Gist settle in backstage with the rest of the five-piece, surrounded by neon lights, dice, and whiskey. The Kansas City transplants hold court with accessible dance music that's characterized by its disco vibe and modern slow-jam edge. JENI WREN STOTTRUP
The Spare Room, 4830 NE 42nd, 9pm
Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, La Inedita, Dreckig
Portland’s premier cumbia band will make you shake body parts you didn’t even know you had.
High Water Mark, 6800 NE Martin Luther King Jr, 9pm
Fernando, Those Pretty Wrongs, The Parson Red Heads
Fernando is the namesake band of longtime local legend Fernando Viciconte, whose recent album, Leave the Radio On, beautifully captures his ability to bounce from Tex-Mex music to psych-folk to garage-rock with ease. BEN SALMON
The Secret Society, 116 NE Russell, 9pm, $12-15
Pinkwash, Drunken Palms, Cockeye, The Bedrooms
The Philadelphia-hailing noise punk duo, Pinkwash hit the Know in support of their excellent Don Giovanni Records-issued full-length, Collective Sigh.
The Know, 2026 NE Alberta, 8pm
Falls of Rauros, Wayfarer, Barrowlands, Iron Scepter
According to Google Maps, the fastest driving route between Portland, Maine, and Portland, Oregon, stretches nearly 3,200 miles and would take around 46 hours to traverse, so let's give it up for Falls of Rauros, a black metal band that'll be far from home when they play Panic Room tonight. To be clear, Falls of Rauros isn’t just praise-worthy because they have a working van. In fact, the quartet offers an excellent and highly accessible take on black metal, mixing in substantial chunks of post-rock and folk, and recording music in a way that's clear and punchy, not obscured by distortion and lo-fi pretense like so many others in the genre. Touring the West with Falls of Rauros is Wayfarer, a like-minded band from Denver whose take on black metal is progressive and thunderous. BEN SALMON
Panic Room, 3100 NE Sandy, 9pm, $7-10
Saturday Jul 9
Mississippi Street Fair
Oh my god, the time has come! Short shorts are being dusted off, bars have boozy slushies, your new crush finally has some free time! Dog parades! Ice cream novelties! Summer finally feels like it’s really heeeeeere! Okay, this year’s Mississippi Street Fair might not feature all of those things, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a hell of a day. With nearly 250 Portland vendors and five stages (including a kids' stage for your little rascals) featuring a host of local faves, you couldn’t possibly go wrong. Sets by sun-drenched and surfy Genders, big-hearted soul slingers Ural Thomas & the Pain, and saucy pop maestros My Body are essential elements to kicking your summer off the right way. JENNA FLETCHER
Mississippi Street (pretty much all of it, 10am, free, all ages
The 3rd Floor Reunion
Back in December, local sketch comedy troupe the 3rd Floor tried to say goodbye after 20 years of quality shenanigans, but it didn’t take. Now, the band’s back together for one night only. Go see some of the best performers in town relive their glory days, or regret it forever. MEGAN BURBANK
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison, 8pm, $18-20
The Portland Zine Symposium
The Portland Zine Symposium is brimming with zines, zinesters, and zinephiles. And it’s free, free, free! Saturday is a convention with workshops at the Ambridge Center, while Sunday is a little more low-key with workshops at the IPRC. Go expand your knowledge or drop some dough directly in the laps of your favorite writers. COURTNEY FERGUSON
Ambridge Event Center, 1333 NE Martin Luther King Jr (Saturday), Independent Publishing Resource Center, 1001 SE Division (Sunday), 11am, free, all ages
Mark Lanegan, Sean Wheeler
In the '80s and '90s, Mark Lanegan was the Johnny Cash of the grunge scene—a softhearted bad boy who could make even the most banal song haunting and gorgeous. His unlikely career path has led him from fronting Screaming Trees to a series of unpredictable solo albums, vocalist-for-hire for everyone from Mike Watt to Moby, and a seemingly infinite array of collaborative projects (his three albums with former Belle and Sebastian member Isobel Campbell being the most critically adored). Live, Lanegan is an enigmatic force. He can cast a spell over a space with no showmanship, no banter, and barely any movement at all—just a ghostly presence and a voice. Most of the Screaming Trees catalog hasn't aged well, and Lanegan's solo and collaborative catalog is hit and miss. But any slight musical missteps fade away when he steps up to the mic, closes his eyes, and lets his inimitable baritone rumble through a room. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON
Star Theater, 13 NW 6th, 9pm, $28.50
Miracle Mile
It's 1988. Anthony Edwards still has hair. It's kinda disconcerting. It's late and he's just had a pretty damn good night with Mare Winningham. He walks by a pay phone. It rings. He picks it up. The voice on the other end lets him know that the nuclear apocalypse will have laid waste to the Earth by the time the sun rises. The movie that follows is a little-seen, highly-regarded VHS-era classic, a tense, frantic thriller whose heart pumps pure paranoia. Director Steve De Jarnatt in attendance. BOBBY ROBERTS
NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park, 7pm, $9
The Dickies, The Queers, My New Vice
Led by vocalist Leonard Graves Phillips' exaggerated stage presence and humorous repartee, the Dickies pretty much pioneered the earliest aggressive efforts of what became known as pop-punk. RYAN J. PRADO
Dante's, 350 W Burnside, 9pm, $18
Jump Jack Sound Machine
We can’t in good conscience recommend you spend your Saturday at the Mississippi Street Fair, which has grown each year to become a ginormous sweaty clusterfuck of waddling families. We can, however, urge you to show up late, just in time for the de facto afterparty at Mississippi Studios, in which the Chanti Darling DJs will make you grind and sweat as part of the brand-new Jump Jack Sound Machine dance night.
Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9pm, $5
Friends with Benedicts
Bri Pruett hosts the only stand-up showcase in Portland that (a) happens at one in the afternoon on a Saturday and (b) comes with bottomless mimosas. Enjoy a tasty brunch while Ben Harkins, Daniel Martin Austin, Lydia Popovich, and Amy Miller help eradicate what hangovers might still be lingering.
The Lamp, 3023 SE Milwaukie, 1pm, free
Danava, Thrones, Susan Vaslev, Possibly Irish
The legendary Enchanted Forest theme park has held an iconic place in the childhood psyche of many native Oregonians. Its ever-expanding cadre of creepily fantastic sculptures, rides, and attractions stands as a monument to the vision of outsider artist Roger Tofte and his family, who continually maintain and love the incredibly hallowed piece of fantasy folk art for all to enjoy. So it only makes sense that a place of such quaintly incandescent magic would musically celebrate its 45th anniversary with the blackened, cauldron crushing meditations of Salem's own Thrones or the highly synchronized guitar wizardry of Portland’s mighty Danava. Both bands will no doubt cast their masterfully dark spells upon bewildered eyes and ears. With the first-ever performance of the Enchanted Forest theme by composer Susan Vaslev augmenting these titanic conjurings, fans old and new are in for an extra special night. CHRIS SUTTON
Enchanted Forest, 8462 Enchanted Way, Turner OR, 4pm, $25
The Dixie Chicks, Anderson East, Josh Herbert
The country legends (and rebels—rebel legends, really) return to the Northwest with their MMXVI Tour.
Sunlight Supply Amphitheater, 17200 NE Delfel, 7pm, $45-290, all ages
Sherman Alexie
If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you (I hope) know Sherman Alexie, who's written a staggering amount of devastating and funny fiction depicting the experiences of people living in Native American communities in Washington State, from Reservation Blues' indictment of both the recording industry and Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, to The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian, which was supposedly for teenagers but really appealed to everyone. Alexie's also devastating and funny in person. MEGAN BURBANK
Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills, 2pm
The Exquisites, Naked Hour, Mr. Bones
The Exquisites is the pop-oriented-punk project of Seattle musician Jason Clackley. In 2013, Lauren Records released two Exquisites songs on a split 7-inch with Los Angeles punks Warm Thoughts. The first track, “Setting Sun,” is a dense, full-bodied shoegaze gem. Since the split’s release they’ve gone on a mini-hiatus, and though Clackley hasn’t released music under the Exquisites moniker, last October he put out a sweet Elvis Costello-esque acoustic EP on Portland’s Good Cheer Records. But this summer promises fresh Exquisites material, with a new single and a full-length album already tracked. They’ll join fellow Good Cheer affiliates Mr. Bones and Naked Hour to round out a night of some of the catchiest sad tunes in the Pacific Northwest. CAMERON CROWELL
The Know, 2026 NE Alberta, 8pm, $7
Happy Dagger, Extra Spooky, MoondreamzzZ, Boreen
Portland's current rock moment seems rooted in '60s psych worship, but where most bands have gone the route of lo-fi garage fuzz, Happy Dagger's songwriter Jesse Robertson has taken it to the opposite genre-extreme, making maximalist fractal-pop akin to Tame Impala. CAMERON CROWELL
Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington, 9pm, $5
Garbage People
The comedy storytelling showcase returns, featuring true tales from stand-ups confessing some of their most villainous deeds. With Lesley Harper, Tony C., Devin Foreal, Shawn McBride, and Lydia Popovich. Hosted by Brodie Kelly.
The Waypost, 3120 N Williams, 8:30pm, $5
Vats, Mini Blinds, Mr. Wrong
The Seattle-hailing pop and post-punk band bring their infectious sound to the High Water Mark in support of their brand new album, Green Glass Room.
High Water Mark, 6800 NE Martin Luther King Jr, 9pm
Sunday Jul 10
The Neverending Story
In 1984, celebrated German director Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot) made his first English-language film, an animatronic-stuffed adaptation of half a children's book called The Neverending Story. It concerns a bullied bookworm who retreats to an attic to lose himself in a stolen tome, and manages to literally lose himself within it. This movie is one of the most '80s things ever made, with a cast of vaguely disquieting pseudo-Muppets assisting an androgynous horse-mounted rockstar on a synth-drenched journey through a Yes album cover to save a nameless princess. The movie is shaggier than the flying dog that steals every scene he's in with a lecherous charm, but there is still a strange, cheesy magic (barely) holding everything together. BOBBY ROBERTS
Academy Theater, 7818 SE Stark, 11:40 am, 4:35 pm, 9:50 pm, $3-4
The Big Float
Hop in—the water's fine! It’s time again for the Big Float, a citywide celebration/acknowledgement that the Willamette River is a hunky-dory place to do a spot of swimming. More than 2,500 eager floaters strap on life jackets, grab inflatable slices of pizza or just inner tubes, and soak up the sun during this annual event. There’s a fun parade let by the LoveBomb Go-Go Marching Band to the launch point further down river (at 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm), bands on a barge, food carts, and two 100-foot-long slip 'n' slides. Make a day of it and bring all your favorite flotilla friends to idle away the day. The Merc is giving away an Outlandish Watercraft Award, so gussy up your pool noodles. It'll be a beach party to remember. COURTNEY FERGUSON
Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 1020 SW Naito, 11am, $5-10, all ages
Judy Collins
Judy Collins’ earliest recordings were either straightforward covers or facsimiles of songs by vastly superior contemporaries like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. A collaboration between Collins and famed orchestrator and ragtime enthusiast Joshua Rifkin gave us the songwriter’s most enduring work: 1966’s In My Life was Collins’ first foray into the world of pop music, ditching minimalist folk instrumentation for bombastic string arrangements and featuring cover songs by artists like the Beatles and Randy Newman. Her 1967 follow-up, Wildflowers—which features both original compositions and covers (most notably, a radio-friendly rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now”)—is a dense, vaguely trippy folk-pop masterpiece ripe for rediscovery. MORGAN TROPER
Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, 8pm, $42-45
Arj Barker
Casual comedy fans may just know Arj Barker as “Dave,” the odd pawn shop-owning friend of Jemaine and Bret on HBO’s Flight of the Conchords. But serious comedy fans know he’s one of the funniest and most unique global headliners around, and you should check him out at an awesome venue, just weeks before he brings his tour to Australia. DOUG BROWN
Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 6:30pm, $18-20
Ducktails, The Lavender Flu
Have you been looking for a Scrooge McDuck-led cartoon-pop supergroup? The closest you’ll get in Portland this week is indie rock favorite Matt Mondanile’s Ducktails. The Real Estate guitarist has been making lo-fi, baroque-inspired music since 2006. Joined by bandmates Josh da Costa, Malcolm Perkins, Ross Chait, and experimental hotshot Julia Holter, Mondanile’s latest album, St. Catherine, takes Ducktails out of its beloved homemade beginnings. 2013’s The Flower Lane—credited as the turning point when Ducktails became more than just a side project—was praised for its balance of simple, hazy production and sophisticated songwriting. Knowing the group’s penchant for successfully repurposing cheesy synth-pop clichés, hopefully tonight’s show will include more than one enthusiastic sax solo. ANNA McCLAIN
Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9:30pm, $13-15
Tiburones, Seance Crasher
It's certainly no shock that Tiburones sounds like two distinctive songwriters coming together. What's beautiful is just how complementary the styles of Nick Delffs and Luz Elena Mendoza sound, and how seamlessly they mesh. BEN SALMON
Rontoms, 600 E Burnside, 8pm, free
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
"My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories; I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land. But most of all, I remember the Road Warrior. The man we called Max."Also read our article on the OMSI Sci-Fi Film Festival.
OMSI Empirical Theater, 1945 SE Water, 7:45pm, $7