The last week of March is going to have some sunshine, dammit. If the sun doesn't wanna come out, Portland will provide its own light and warmth, be it a stand-up set from the brilliant Ali Wong, Kate Tempest blowing minds through unrestrained verbosity, Mic Check lighting up the hip-hop community, Revolution Comedy pushing change through laughter, and the Hollywood sharing the story of a humble father and his gentle son, slaughtering the shit out of every evil thing that crosses their path. Oh yeah, and a big-ass Tulip Festival, too. It's a busy week ahead of you; hit the links below and load your plate accordingly.
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Revolution Comedy
Every second and fourth Wednesday, local stand-up comic Andie Main hosts a benefit showcase designed to assist progressive causes through the power of comedy. The lineup changes from show to show, but big laughs for a great cause are always guaranteed. Tonight's show is a benefit for Don't Shoot PDX, with improv from Broke Gravy, and stand-up sets by Ben Harkins, Milan Patel, Nick Sahoyah, and Isaac Pendergrass.
7 pm, Curious Comedy Theater, $12-15
Hand Habits, Mega Bog
Mega Bog is the project of Seattle singer/songwriter/mover/shaker Erin Birgy. With an ever-changing collection of friends filtering in and out of the band, Mega Bog’s sound varies, but you can probably expect honest and dreamy experiments in pop music that are the best kind of bonkers. EMILY NOKES
9 pm, High Water Mark, $10
Omni, The Woolen Men, Water Slice
If you dig the sound of an electric guitar slicing through a prickly pop-rock song, Omni is your new favorite band. No joke. Drummer Billy Mitchell pushes Omni along like a laser-guided rhythm robot. Philip Frobos’ basslines snap like a rubber band stretched to its limit, and his dead-eyed vocals ably straddle a line between memorable and amelodic. Each member is a vital part of Omni’s admixture. But it’s Frankie Broyles’ guitar—sharp, jangling, rubbery, and weird—that puts Deluxe into a higher sonic tax bracket. His sound should be bronzed and inducted into the Post-Punk Hall of Fame. BEN SALMON
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $10
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
The first film is a sweaty, weird Ozploitation flick. The third film is an ungainly hybrid of action and family film dipped in pigshit. The fourth is distilled, uncut raw, feminist action perfection. But The Road Warrior is still what people think of when they think “Mad Max,” and for good reason—George Miller’s early ’80s classic set a bar not just for stuntwork and action cinematography, but for aesthetics and tone that an entire decade’s worth of action hacks would fruitlessly chase for the next 15 years. It’s an irresponsible, mean, merciless flurry of indelible moments that are as effective now as they were over 30 years ago. BOBBY ROBERTS
9:45 pm, Laurelhurst Theater, $3-4
Blossom, Neill Von Tally
XRAY.fm and EYRST present a free all ages show featuring a set from rising neo-soul singer/songwriter Blossom and live beats and remixes from Neill Von Tally, co-founder of EYRST records.
6 pm, Produce Row Cafe, free
Sarah Andersen
The artist behind the hugely popular Sarah's Scribbles comic series comes to Powell's to read from her latest book, Big Mushy Happy Lump.
7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books, free
Kate Tempest, Philip Grass
On last year’s Let Them Eat Chaos, London-based poet/rapper/novelist/playwright Kate Tempest unpacks a lot of anti-societal baggage. Through unrestrained verbosity, Tempest's anger is thinly veiled. It’s typically delivered with quick-tongued flow and thoroughly beautiful poetry, as heard on the record's bold spoken-word intro, “Picture a Vacuum.” A tale of lonely souls connected through the rigors of their mutual hopelessness drives the narrative through the dizzyingly great “Lionmouth Door Knocker” and equally eye-opening “Ketamine for Breakfast.” The breadth of Tempest's muses makes for seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics that cover the gentrification of her hometown, the criminalization of refugees, the perils of the selfie-generation, and the heavy insignificance of modern patriotism, but all of this only skims the surface of her talents. Tempest needs to be seen live to be experienced at her most powerful, rebellious, and affecting. RYAN J. PRADO
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $15-18
Grindhouse Film Festival: Shogun Assassin
Hollywood’s monthly grindhouse celebration presents a rare 35mm print of Shogun Assassin, a cinematic mixtape of the Lone Wolf and Cub series’ greatest hits, cut to minimize early ’80s art-house vibes and maximize English-dubbed blood ’n’ guts mayhem that viscerally impacted impressionable minds such as RZA and the GZA, who used the film as a loose framework to build the all-time classic Liquid Swords around. So even if you haven’t seen this movie, you’ve heard this movie. Bear witness as the ruckus gets brought on a long, bloody road to hell. BOBBY ROBERTS
7:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre, $9
Emo Nite
Dust off your My Chemical Romance T-shirt, apply excessive eyeliner, and get ready to shamelessly scream Dashboard Confessional lyrics at Holocene's bi-monthly emo night, formally known as Taking Back Tuesday. Know all the words to "Sic Transit Gloria"? You're ready. XxscenexX forever. BRI BREY
9 pm, Holocene, $10
Charity on Tap
A whopping 100% of profits from beers and bites will go to Community Warehouse, a furniture bank that distributes donated household goods to low-income folks, at this fundraising event hosted by 10 Barrel Brewing. Every last Tuesday of the month is dedicated to a new organization, so check back in April if you aren’t able to make it to this one. EMILLY PRADO
4 pm, 10 Barrel Brewing, free
Lauren Weedman Doesn't Live Here Anymore
A brand new one-woman show from the star of HBO's gone-too-soon Looking and The People's Republic of Portland, using the power of song to share stories of love and heartbreak.
7:30 pm, Portland Center Stage, $25-65
Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival
There isn’t much to do at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, but there’s plenty to look at: 40 acres of tulips lined up in orderly rows against the majestic backdrop of Mount Hood. Red! Yellow! Orange! White! Pink! Purple! They’ve got it all. The traffic can be pretty bad on weekends, but it’s worth the wait if your eyes were starved for color during this particularly gray winter; I, for one, forgot that the sky is blue. CIARA DOLAN
Mar 24-Apr 30, 9 am, Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, $5, all ages
Portland Anarchist Road Care Open Meeting and Infoshare
Turns out the answer to the oft-asked question "But if anarchy reigns, who will fix the roads?" is "The anarchists!" This open meeting will help attendees learn about the hows and whys of anarchist road care in Portland, and what you can do to help.
6:30 pm, The Steep and Thorny Way to Heaven
Justin Townes Earle
Justin Townes Earle’s the first musician I ever interviewed, and if he was at all impatient taking questions about heroin and his famous dad (Steve) from an introverted 21-year-old with no paid journalism experience, he didn’t let on. His perfectly sad Americana shelves well beside Wilco and Josh Ritter. But JTE’s got a streak of mischief and bottom-of-the-barrel sorrow that lets you know he’s the real deal. MEGAN BURBANK
8 pm, Doug Fir, $14-16
Bob Log III
Experimental rocker and one-man-band Bob Log III brings his twisted blues-punk live show back to the Dante's stage.
9 pm, Dante's, $12
T2 Trainspotting
What T2 does well, it does astonishingly well. More than a few scenes are hysterically funny, and more than a few escapades are white-knuckled fun. But what sticks with me are the things I never thought I’d get out of a Trainspotting movie—the smart, emotional things it has to say about friendship and the passage of time. It knows how much it sucks to get old, and how hard it is to change our nature. But it also shows us, through these remarkably drawn characters, that there’s always a compulsion to keep trying to get it right. NED LANNAMANN
Various Theaters, see Movie Times for showtimes and locations
Back Pocket Pasta Dinner
Ava Gene Executive Chef Joshua McFadden celebrates the release of Colu Henry's debut cookbook Back Pocket Pasta with a dinner created from recipes in her book. Henry will be in attendance.
5 pm, Ava Gene's
Art-Mondo
A unique blend of live music and improv, with a performance from local folk and Americana singer/songwriter Anna Tivel serving as inspiration for the improvisers. Mercury"Undisputed Genius of Comedy" Phil Schallberger will get the night started with a set of bizarre and quick-witted multimedia comedy.
7:30 pm, Siren Theater
Bad Boy vs. Wu-Tang
A night dedicated to the twin powers of East Coast hip-hop of the '90s, featuring the best of Biggie, Ghostface, Method Man, Mase, and more.
9 pm, Swift Lounge
Speaker Minds, Free Thought Takeover, Korgy & Bass
Classic soul vocals from Adrian Adel and distorted hard-rock guitar from Josh Johnson create a gritty and catchy foundation for the positive flows laid down by rapper Randal Wyatt. JENI WREN STOTTRUP
9 pm, Paris Theater
Mic Check
Coming off another live-recorded TeamBackPack cypher earlier this month, March’s regular Mic Check hip-hop showcase features headliner and Portland-raised rapper Tope, who nowadays takes up an Oakland residence. Despite recently having his laptop stolen and losing three-plus years of music, Tope continues to make moves and garner recognition. He’s produced for Slum Village, licensed music to Oxygen’s Bad Girls Club, and released singles “The Man,” and “Thank You,” featuring vocalist Erikka J and jazz trumpeter Farnell Newton. The Rare Vibe crew will also perform (“OH GAWD!”), and of course, additional sounds from DJ/producer TROX. JENNI MOORE
10 pm, White Eagle, $7
Ali Wong
Doing a stand-up special at 7.5 months pregnant got comedian Ali Wong a ton of attention last year, but the enormity of her stomach was nothing compared to all the gross, fantastic material literally making a baby injected into her set. The infant now purged, Wong’s finding herself in high demand. Two new shows had to be added to her Portland visit this week. So go! DIRK VANDERHART
7 pm, 9:30 pm, Newmark Theatre, $39.75-59.75
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Houston Rockets
There are only a handful of home games left this season, so get to the Moda Center while you still can. This will be an especially good one, as the Blazers fight to grab a Western Conference playoff spot against MVP candidate James Harden, who’s averaging nearly 30 points per game for the conference’s third-best team. The Blazers lost the first two games against the Rockets, and this game (and every game from here on out) is essentially a must-win. It should be good. DOUG BROWN
7:30 pm, Moda Center, $18-325
Paul Watson
Paul Watson reads from Ice Ghosts, which presents readers with the epic true story of the Lost Franklin Expedition of 1845 and the more recent tale of the scientists, divers, and local Inuit who discovered the wreck in 2014.
7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books, free
The Moth GrandSLAM
A spinoff of the nationwide storytelling success, in which potential soul-barers put their names in a hat, and once called, have five minutes to tell their tale. Tonight's edition of the event will see storytellers competing for the title of The Moth's GrandSLAM Story Champion. Each ticket purchase includes a copy of The Moth's new book, All These Wonders: True Stories about Facing the Unknown.
8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $30
Wilson
The latest crotchety sage to amble across movie screens shaking his fist at human foibles is Wilson, the title character in director Craig Johnson’s adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ 2010 graphic novel. As played by a game Woody Harrelson, Wilson is a sour but secretly soulful middle-aged cynic who lives alone with his terrier Pepper, surrounded by stacks of paperback books. He spends his days trying (and failing) to be avuncular to strangers in coffee shops and railing against the isolating effects of computers and cell phones. MARC MOHAN
7 pm, 9:15 pm, Cinema 21
Helvetia, J&L, Defer, Clarke & the Himselfs
Helvetia frontman Jason Albertini has quietly spent the last decade building one of the most prolific and undersung bodies of work within the indie-rock world. He has the ability to neatly package warm and familiar moments within unconventional song structures, allowing his music to please the senses, while still maintaining an unpredictable and adventurous edge. CHIPP TERWILLIGER
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $8
The Maldives, Snowblind Traveler, Dick Move
The Seattle-based alt country and roots ensemble bring their acclaimed live show to the Mississippi Studios stage in support of their new full-length, Mad Lives.
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14
Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!