Top Things to Do This Weekend: Sept 10–13
BOOKS & TALKS
Ursula K. LeGuin
Thursday at 7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books
Portland’s resident sci-fi authority and purveyor of publishing industry smackdowns reads from Steering the Craft—a 1998 book of writing advice newly updated to address the issues, challenges, and opportunities facing writers in the 21st century.
Salman Rushdie. Image credit: Syrie Moskowitz.
Salman Rushdie
Sunday at 2 pm, Powell's City of Books
The Satanic Verses author is back this fall with Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights— a lyrical mix of magical realism and centuries-old mythology set in near-future New York. (And by the way, Rushdie and Le Guin aren't the only big name book types in town this month—scan our hot list.)
MUSIC
Crushable—Brandi Carlile. Image credit: David McClister.
Brandi Carlile
Friday & Saturday at 6 pm, McMenamin's Edgefield
Eight years ago, the Seattle-area country singer (rocking a vocal style evocative of both Patsy Cline and Thom Yorke) broke on the scene with a second album produced by Nashville legend T-Bone Burnett. Critics say new album The Firewatcher’s Daughter is “her best yet." We've got a megacrush on Carlile; here are 10 reasons why.
Pallett Band
Friday at 7 pm, First Congregational Church
This funky six–piece band broke Iranian sales records with their first album, 2012′s Mr. Violet; now they bring their Persian folk–rock style to town on a U.S. tour to promote new album Tehran, Smile! al-Araby lauded the musicians “the voice of Iran’s younger generations.” Don’t know Farsi? You can still get down to some bass clarinet.
COMEDY
Russell Peters—actually, pretty famous...
Russell Peters
Friday at 8 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Canada’s current “number one stand-up export” brings his brand of dry improv to town, backed by official tour DJ Spinbad. The Toronto native self-produced early albums like 2008’s Red, White and Brown, but now that he’s one of the world’s top-grossing comics, Netflix’s got him covered.
Jessimae Peluso
Thursday at 8 pm, Saturday & Sunday at 7:30 pm, Saturday & Sunday at 10 pm
The Twitter-famous funnylady’s raunchy comedy act comes to SE Portland. Straightforward and raw in her “Sharp Tongue” podcast, Peluso’s also a regular at New York comedy club The Stand—and has dabbled on MTV, contributing jibes to “Girl Code” and “Failosophy.”
SPECIAL EVENTS
The happenings of TBA, happening all around us, for the next ten days.
Time-Based Art Festival
Thursday–Sunday, various times & locations
The annual art extravaganza is back, this year with performance and visual artists from far-flung locales like Italy, Tunisia, Japan, and Norway. Watch for extra TBA treats, given that it’s PICA’s 20th anniversary. (Tip: you need a circa-1995 ensemble, stat.)
XOXO
Friday–Sunday at 10 am, Revolution Hall
This "earnest," "intimate"—and exclusive—arts and technology gathering, now in its fourth year, is fast gaining traction for attracting diverse Internet creatives across many disciplines: music, television, books, comics, games, and more. (We've got the backstory here.)
THEATER
Mad Women? Rona Jaffe's "The Best of Everything," now onstage at the Venetian Theatre.
OPENING The Best of Everything
Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm
Rona Jaffe’s 1958 potboiler about female secretaries struggling to get ahead in 1950s New York is the source for Julie Kramer’s play of the same name. “Think Mad Men meets Peyton Place,” says B&B artistic director Scott Palmer.
DANCE
Dancing woodsmen this weekend with Heidi Duckler's Urban. Image credit: Nick Shepard.
Carla Mann and Heidi Duckler: Urban
Saturday at 7 pm and 9 pm, Sustainable Northwest Wood
A response to Forest, choreographer Mann’s late–summer, site–specific celebration at Hoyt Arboretum, Duckler’s Urban translates into dance “the layered industrial footprint and locally harvested forests” on display at this NW lumber warehouse. Plaid-clad dancers take the term “lumbersexual” to new heights.
