PROWUS Presents: Best of Portland 5
Once a year, the Portland music scene does something really incredible: Our biggest and best bands pair up with the students of School of Rock Portland to put on a show of all-Portland music, performed by kids alongside some of their favorite grown-up musicians. When the local bands involved include Ural Thomas and the Pain, Chanti Darling, Summer Cannibals, Yob, and many, many more, it becomes an unmissable event, one of the uncontested highlights of the live music calendar. This is the fifth year for Best of Portland, and once again proceeds go to benefit the PROWUS nonprofit, which provides grants for Portland students aged eight to 18 who are studying music outside of school. Plus, this installment also showcases the AJAM (Alan Jones Academy of Music) program alongside the School of Rock kids—it’ll be a night of rock, jazz, soul, and lots more, performed by musicians of literally all ages. Do not miss it. NED LANNAMANN
8 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $15-20, all ages
March for Justice
The Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform hosts a march to unite people in Portland's North, Northeast and Southeast neighborhoods on the seventh anniversary of Aaron Campbell's shooting by Portland Police.
10 am, NE Martin Luther King Jr. & NE Holladay
Rose City Rollers' Season Opener
Blame that damnable snow, which not only stopped Portland in its tracks for a smooth week ,but temporarily hit the brakes on our beloved Rose City Rollers' season opening bout! Happily it's been rescheduled for this Saturday, at which time the Break Neck Betties will take on the Heartless Heathers, while the High Rollers will battle Guns N Rollers in what will surely be a thrilling double bill of action! WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
6 pm, The Hangar at Oaks Park, $18, all ages
Last time I was in Detroit, all the boys were crying because they loved Ohtis so much. Every house I walked into had someone cueing up a handful of beloved demos that were being passed around. Ohtis sounds like David Byrne’s pared-down country ballad band, so I was on board. The folksy, casual duo formed via high school bicycle rides in central Illinois but put their band on hiatus while half the group, Sam Swinson, wrestled with a life-threatening drug addiction—something Ohtis remains remarkably upfront about (probably because it’s in the lyrical subject matter of many songs). During that period, Ohtis’s other half Adam Pressley moved to Detroit and started some great indie bands: Prussia and the subsequent Jamaican Queens. Ohtis seems slow to produce a record, content to kernel their songs out to the web one at a time, so their shows may be the only place to hear the whole as-yet-unperfected collection. SUZETTE SMITH
6 pm, The Waypost
In the Spirit of Standing Rock Rally
A rally to speak out against Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes, and his executive order to move forward with the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. Get info on what's next for the resistance, show solidarity with those camping at Standing Rock, and make your disapproval loud and visible.
noon, Pioneer Courthouse Square
The Beatnuts, Rapper Big Pooh, Termanology
When I’m transported back to my late-’90’s hip-hop heyday, I remember the Beatnuts as one of the era’s few rap groups that were able to bedazzle the subwoofers of the glitziest dance clubs and still be lauded as breakbeat aficionados by monkish vinyl scholars. Though not officially members of the legendary Native Tongues posse, DJs Psycho Les and Juju signified their street-prankster point of view on the collective’s periphery while embodying the multicultural expressionism, dayglo appeal, and revolutionary creativity that characterized the movement’s spirit. Add this colorful ethos to a ludicrous arsenal of rare funk samples and aggressively Dionysian tales of ghetto excess, and you have a concoction that produces classic singles like “Watch Out Now” and “Off the Books,” timeless bangers that have embedded themselves onto the eternal playlist and solidified their footnote in Hispanic b-boy iconography. CHRIS SUTTON
8 pm, Dante's
Sporting, Thick in the Throat, Honey, It's OK, Girl
Working in a musical duo can require a tricky balance, since you must support your fellow performer while also trying to maintain your own artistic personality. Keep that in mind as you watch this concert, which brings together a trio of duos for one stirring evening. The good news is that the pairings on display tonight have a great level of comfort with one another. That’s certainly the case with Thick in the Throat, the collaboration between sax/flute player John C. Savage and his wife Claudia. He brings the swirling free jazz expressions while she intones blank verse poetry between his torrents of notes. Sporting combines the expressive and dizzying playing of longtime friends and frequent colleagues Luke Wyland of AU and percussionist phenom John Niekrasz. Rounding out the evening is It’s OK, Girl, featuring sax player Ben Kates improvising to the dancing of Danielle Ross. ROBERT HAM
8 pm, Leaven Community Center, $5-10
Toni Erdmann
A movie you should see. It’s funny, heartwarming, and wise, except for when it’s being dark and existential. It features a pair of rich, subtle performances, and it marks the emergence, with her third feature, of director Maren Ade as an important international filmmaker. Also, there’s a scene where a guy ejaculates onto a petit four. So, pretty much something for everyone. MARC MOHAN
7 pm, 8:45 pm, Cinema 21
Collabofest 2017
It's like a mixtape you can drink, starring some of Portland's best brewers, all coming together to see what kind of miraculous concoctions they can cook up together, with one-of-a-kind beers being created by Ecliptic, Ex Novo, Hopworks, Occidental, Stormbreaker, Widmer, Alameda, and more. Proceeds benefit SheJumps:PDX and Oregon Timber Trail.
2 pm, Base Camp Brewing, $25-40
Rizzla, Princess Dimebag, Massacooramaan, DJ Rafael
This weekend Brooklyn-based DJ Rizzla makes his Portland debut, bringing his globalized club-ready productions to DJ Rafael and Massacooramaan’s Ecstasy party. Informed by his background in postcolonial studies and art history, Rizzla’s work plays out as cross-cultural dialogues set against the grimy and liberating backdrop of late-night warehouse parties—an amalgam of Caribbean syncopation, hardstyle’s aggressive momentum, and ballroom’s frantic energy, embedded with a nightmarish spirit of dissent. Following sporadic releases of bootleg bundles, his debut EP Iron Cages was released in 2015 on LA’s lauded Fade to Mind label. The EP tells the story of a protagonist seeking to escape Earth as society collapses, soundtracked by knife-edge rhythms and police sirens, aggressive yet sensual in its approach. Rizzla is a regular fixture in alternative nightlife and art institutions, and a founding member of the irreverently uncompromising queer artist collective KUNQ (alongside similarly iconoclastic producers like False Witness, Battyjack, and Shyboi). DANIELA SERNA
10 pm, Jade Club, $10
Town Hall with Jeff Merkley
The Senator from Oregon sits with members of the community, activists, leaders, and more, to discuss issues concerning all of us and to make sure those issues are heard and taken to Washington DC with him. Like, for example, maybe someone will want to ask him why only one Democratic senator voted against every awful cabinet appointee nominated by Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes.
2:30 pm, Marshall High School, free
Team Dresch, Sex Stains
When Team Dresch formed in Olympia, Washington, more than two decades ago, they were a defiant flicker of light in a country that still preferred to leave LGBTQ folks in the closet. Since then, certain attitudes and laws have changed for the better, but the battle continues on a much larger scale. Founder Donna Dresch’s activism goes back nearly 30 years when she started the seminal queercore zine Chainsaw in the late ’80s (which later became a record label), giving voice to female artists and the LGBTQ community. She and core members Kaia Wilson and Jody Bleyle continue to be hugely important in the continued fight for LGBTQ rights, part of the much larger movement that they helped shape. While Team Dresch hasn’t released any new music since 2000, their reunion at the Olympia queercore festival Homo-a-Go-Go in 2004 was a welcome one, and the band continues to perform, inspire, and inform. MARK LORE
5:30 pm, 9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14, all ages
Portland Aerial Tram 10th Anniversary
One of Portland's more unique landmarks celebrates its 10th birthday with a special family-friendly community day, with kids' activities, historical displays, educational presentations, and more.
10 am, OHSU Center for Health & Healing, all ages
NW Coffee Beer Invitational
The two libations the Northwest is best known for, combined in one foamy, delicious drink, and celebrated by 16 brewers using local ingredients, including 10 Barrel, Deschutes, DoubleMountain, Lucky Lab, Pints, Widmer, and more. Admission includes 8 taster tickets, and live music from the Austin Stewart Quartet and Logger's Daughter.
noon, Goose Hollow Inn, $15
DOA Pro Wrestling: Stairway to Stairdom
DOA Pro Wrestling invites you to get in the kick-start the New Year with a night of bouts culminating in a "Stairway to Stardom" Battle Royal where 30 contenders will fight to win a shot at a DOA Grand Championship Match.
6 pm, Wattles Boys & Girls Club, $8-15
Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!