FEATURED EVENT
FESTIVAL
24th Annual Polish Festival
11 a.m., Sept. 16–17th
Historic Polish Library x St. Stanislaus Church
Free, all ages
Celebrate Polish culture with folk music, traditional cuisine & libations, dancing and more.
Tuesday, Sept. 12
FILM
Office Space (1999)
5:30 p.m. (screening Sept. 13, 15–16, 18)
Mission Theater
$3–11, all ages
According to my SINQ Pop Culture Studies course (which might be called something else now?), Office Space is a comedy about Western wo/man’s feelings of being trapped and unseen within corporate and suburban yuppie culture.
MEMORIAL
All the Way Lovely
7 p.m.
The Know
Free, 21+
Celebration of life dance party for Spencer Higgins aka DJ Alonzo Mourning Sickness, a Portland-based DJ who regularly spun at Cruzroom, The Know, Killingsworth Dynasty and Random Order for almost twenty years.
FILM
May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers (2017)
7 p.m.
Cinema 21
$7–10, all ages
Judd Apatow presents a documentary about the band The Avett Brothers and the creation process of their new album, True Sadness.
DANCE PARTY
Girltopia
9 p.m.
CC Slaughter’s
Free, 21+
DJ Alicious spins music for CC Slaughter’s’s weekly lesbian night.
Wednesday, Sept. 13
JAZZ
GoGo Penguin
7 p.m.
Star Theater
$20, 21+
The U.K. jazz trio tours in support of its new album, Man Made Object.
FILM
Check It (2016)
7:30 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre
$7–9, all ages
This documentary centers around a gang of queer Washington, D.C. youth whose members have extensive & violent rap sheets, stunning creative careers in fashion & art, and an undeniable spirit of hope & resilience. Proceeds of the screening benefit the Trans Assistance Project and ORI Gallery.
HIP-HOP
A Tribe Called Red
8:30 p.m.
Wonder Ballroom
$18–20, all ages
The electronic music trio tours in support of their new album, We Are the Hallucci Nation.
CONTEMPORARY ART
Super Tantrum | cvllejerx
10 p.m.
15 N Hancock
$10, all ages
Part of T:BA. Basically an art dance party, but if you want the artist statement: “nothing is civilized anymore. esta noche the kids get loud! we’re not going to bed early tonight. ART AS BRAT through clothes, poetry, performance and dance. As resident artists within the festival the collaborators will interrogate and celebrate the spaces art and audiences inhabit while exploring the value of collective and absurd outbursts en un mundx locx.”
SONIC ART
Appreciative Moment | Ben Glas, Dolphin Midwives, Samson Stilwell, Amenta Abioto, Tessa Bolsover
10:30 p.m.
15 NE Hancock
$8–10, all ages
Sonic artists, “mix sound, visuals and movement into a cohesive exploration of the senses. The experimental performance will engage with acoustics, psychoacoustics, physical interaction with sound, movement, music and noise, to lead the audience on a journey through time and space.” Part of T:BA.
Thursday, Sept. 14
FAMILY
Pints for Pups
5 p.m.
The Station
No cover, all ages
HUB and Oregon Humane Society’s summer social series at The Station comes to an end. Bring your family, including your canine kids, for live music, giveaways and a dog-friendly menu (which, of course, does not include alcohol, because alcohol is horrible for dogs!).
JAZZ
Nica’s Dream
6 p.m.
The 1905
Free, 21+
Nica’s Dream is an all-female jazz quartet consisting of pianist Kerry Politzer, vocalist Anandi Gefroh, drummer Rivkah Ross and guitar player Whitney Moulton. The musicians collectively have decades of nationally accredited training and have performed alongside national acts like The B–52’s.
FILM
Poison Idea: Legacy of Dysfunction (2017)
7 / 9 p.m.
Cinema 21
$7–10, all ages
This documentary focuses on the history of the long-running Portland punk band Poison Idea, which officially disbanded back in January.
FILM
They Heard Voices (2016)
7:30 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre
$7–9, all ages
This documentary explores the condition of schizophrenia, and the numerous conditions that aren’t schizophrenia but are lumped under the same label for people who do not understand the nature of psychosis.
FILM
Gleaming the Cube (1989)
9 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre
$7–9, all ages
Brian Kelly (Christian Slater) is a quintessential ’80s edgy cinema teen: moussed bleached hair, skateboard and an unstoppable passion for investigating his adopted brother’s murder.
VOGUE BALL
Multipass
10 p.m.
Nyx
$10, 21+
#PDXBall’s theme this month is The Fifth Element (1997). Witness or participate in a competitive vogue ball, where looks are inspired by the film, and the categories are: Future Face 2200, Runway Diva and Vogue Femme.
Friday, Sept. 15
FILM
mother! (2017)
Multiple dates/times
Cinema 21
$7–10, all ages
If you pretend that Noah (2014) never happened, mother! is the directorial follow-up to Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010) that sees him serving up trippy psychological femme horror, this time centering on Jennifer Lawrence.
COMEDY
Doug Benson
5 p.m.
Helium Comedy Club
$22, 21+
Doug Benson returns to Portland for another night of standup stoner humor.
POETRY READING
Tongo Eisen-Martin, Jordan Scott, Phoebe Wayne
7 p.m.
Ford Food & Drink
Free, all ages
The Switch Reading Series presents a trio of contemporary poets from San Francisco, Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, respectively.
COMEDY
Minority Retort
8 p.m.
Siren Theater
$10, 21+
The “New and Improved” Minority Retort returns to The Siren Theater. Hosted by Jason Lamb, Julia Ramos, and Neeraj Srinivasan. Featured comics include Brandon Lyons, Summer Azim, Nick Sahoyah and Mohanad Elshieky.
FILM
Best of the NW Animation Film Festival 2017
7 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre
$7–9, all ages
Over 1,100 entries were boiled down into 13 stunning animated films. Subjects range from talking birds and insects to reflections on life in Syria under ISIS.
FOLK ROCK
Marshall Crenshaw y Los Straitjackets, Roselit Bone
8 p.m.
Dante’s
$20, 21+
Marshall Crenshaw is an Americana singer-songwriter who played Buddy Holly in La Bamba (1987) and whose songs were often covered by artists like Ronnie Spector, Bette Midler and S Club 7. Los Straitjackets are most famous for performing The Late Show with Conan O’Brien‘s holiday music in the late ’90s, and for their stage attire: black suits, gold Aztec medallions and ornate máscaras de lucha libre (Mexican wrestling masks).
COMEDY
Jim Gaffigan
8 p.m.
MODA Center
$35–180+, all ages
Jim Gaffigan comes to Portland on his “Noble Ape” Tour.
Saturday, Sept. 16
FASION
Universal Standard
1 p.m.
The Cleaners @ Ace Hotel
Free, all ages
Women size 10–28 can shop for this season’s must-have looks at Universal Standard’s pop-up shop to exhibit their first full collection. Universal Standard is also hosting a model search for their next collection. Models will be flown to NYC to meet with executives.
ARTIST TALK
bart fitzgerald + madison moore
2 p.m.
PICA at West End, #300
Free, all ages
Part of T:BA. bart fitzgerald’s “Church in the Trap House” explores the blurring of the secular and the sacred in contemporary hip-hop, with examples like 2 Chainz’s use of a gospel choir during his “Pretty Girls Like Trap Music” tour. Madison moore’s “Touching Techno, Feeling Bass” explores listener’s physical reactions to bass and its roles within different musical genres.
PODCAST
Doug Loves Movies
4:20 p.m.
Helium Comedy Club
$22, 21+
Note the show’s start time. Different from Doug Benson’s Friday night standup comedy night. Doug Benson’s podcast taping will hear him and a cast of comedians riff on trivia about movies (or “films”).
Note from VG EIC & resident Doug Loves Movies proponent Colleen Leary: Bring a movie-themed name tag for a chance to win a crap-shoot bag of prizes donated by this week’s guests. If I were making a name tag for the author of this article, I might go with ‘Andrew D. Django-ski’ I used a ‘Colleens vs Zombies’ poster parody of Matthias Hoene’s Cockneys vs Zombies to *almost* take home a Dolly Parton-themed care package, complete with a pink silk negligee courtesy of Portland’s ever-cherished Amy Miller. Also if you haven’t seen Cockneys vs Zombies, you’ve made a grave mistake.
POETRY READING
Finnegan Menzies, Zosia Wiatr, Coleman Stevenson
7 p.m.
Mother Foucault’s
Free, all ages
Menzies reads in support of his new poetry book, Brilliant Odyssey Don’t Yearn, Wiatr reads in the United States for the first time since returning from a French residency, and Stevenson reads in support of a new tarot book, The Dark Exact Tarot Guide.
FOLK ROCK
Chervona
7 p.m.
The Kennedy School
Free, all-ages
The Russian eight-piece party-rock band plays for Oktoberfest season.
ART RECEPTION
Perceive | Candace Jahn + Jill Falk
7 p.m.
Killjoy Collective
Free, all ages
New paintings and works of photography inspired by the resilience of bodies.
METAL
Usnea, Thrones, Hands of Thieves, Ninth Moon Black
8 p.m.
Tonic Lounge
$8–10, 21+
Usnea + a trio of local metal bands play in support of their new album, Portals Into Futility.
BENEFIT SHOW
Mandusa, Radio Phoenix, Hostal Riviera, Attention Whore
8 p.m.
Bossanova Ballroom
$1–10, 21+
Four indie rock bands play to raise funds for the Houston Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund.
FASHION
Drama Queen, act II
10 p.m.
PNCA Mediatheque
$10–15 suggested donation, 18+
Justin Walling exhibits his second collection of fashions and headpieces inspired by femme futurism and the avant garde.
Sunday, Sept. 17
FILM
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
1:30 p.m. (also screening Sept. 16)
Hollywood Theatre
$3–6, all ages
Babe (E.G. Daily) ventures to Metropolis (not the Superman or Fritz Lang ones) for a family comedy that honestly got a little too timely as this film starts turning 20: We see themes of rural plights vs. corrupt mortgage bankers, pre–9/11 airport drug drama and pre–Zootopia but post-Animal Farm commentary on social class through sentient, English-speaking animals. Also, how does this movie have Jim Cummings, Hugo Weaving, Adam Goldberg, James Cromwell and Mickey Rooney?
CABARET
Magic Men
7 p.m.
Roseland Theater
$25–100, 21+
Think of a mashup between Chippendales Dancers and a non-singing Village People: men embody what some sad marketing executive thinks are masculine fantasy roles for the bachelorette/divorce party crowd. If none of them were on Backpage, I don’t care.
CABARET
The Hamilton Mixtape Cabaret
7:30 p.m.
Dante’s
$15–20, 21+
Miss Kennedy’s Cabaret opens its seventh season with a burlesque, drag and contemporary dance tributes to Hamilton, The Hamilton Mixtape and Spamilton from Lily Le Fauve, Claire Heacock, Glenn Waco, the Feral Dance Crew and more.
CIRCUS
Love & Gravity
8 p.m. (also staged Sept. 16)
Echo Theater
$18–100, all ages
Seattle’s Acrobatic Conundrum presents acrobatics, Cyr wheel performance, dance, juggling, aerial arts and more to tell simple stories about romance & heartache.
DANCE PARTY
Dansu Katamari!
9 p.m.
Lovecraft Bar
Free, 21+
Super Fun Happy Kawaii Party celebrates animé with music from DJs Zymergy, Tripp, Remnant and more.
STONER ROCK
Yawning Man, Alex Perez & the Rising Tide, Fire Nuns, Robots of the Ancient World
9 p.m.
Ash Street Saloon
$12/$15, 21+
The original ’80s desert rock band is still going strong in 2017. No clue if they’re bringing their generators.
Monday, Sept. 18
BENEFIT SHOW
20th Anniversary Celebration
6 p.m.
Profile Theatre
$30–65, all ages
Concert performance of songs from playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes’ extensive career.
FILM
Cyrus Moussavi film trio
7:30 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre
$7–9, all ages
Filmmaker Cyrus Moussavi shows three of his documentaries about rural international figures: A Child is Not a Cloth, Uptown is Covered in Mud and Olima Anditi: Where Else Would I Be?.
FILM
Clueless (1995)
9 p.m. (screening Sept. 14/16)
Mission Theater
$3–11, all ages
Everything about this film is iconic except for Stacey Dash.
FILM
The Seventh Victim (1943)
9:30 p.m.
Century
Free, 21+
From the copy: “Mary (Kim Hunter)’s sister, Jacqueline (Jean Brooks), has gone missing. As she searches for clues to her disappearance, she finds herself closer and closer to a shadowy group, the Palladists—followers of an ancient Satanic cult.” Presented by Church of Film.
