Top Things to Do This Weekend: Nov 19–22
Tim Meadows—a lispy ladies man, a wrangler of mean girls, a comedian par excellence—on stage this weekend.
COMEDY
Tim Meadows
Thursday at 8 pm, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm and 10 pm, Helium Comedy Club
Ladies’ man Tim Meadows will set wheels down in Portland for three days of stand-up. While most Saturday Night Live alums take to movies almost exclusively, lately Meadows has been honing his stagecraft in Chicago.
Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy
Friday at 7 pm and 9:30 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
The “Blue Collar” comics—known, respectively, for the immortal catchphrases “you might be a redneck” and “git-r-done”—reunite for their We’ve Been Thinking Tour.
MUSIC
The incomparable Hugh Masakela.
Hugh Masakela and Larry Willis
Thursday at 8 pm, Revolution Hall
Masekela, now 76, is South African jazz royalty. Critics call his stage rapport with US pianist Willis “blazing” and “effortless.”
Girls with the golden egg: Shook Twins rock Rev Hall this Saturday. Image courtesy Ben Moon.
Shook Twins
Saturday at 8 pm, Revolution Hall
Raucous Portland folk darlings Katelyn and Laurie Shook are on a tear, with three recent studio albums and tours with the likes of Ryan Adams, the BoDeans, Mason Jennings, and the Indigo Girls. Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman is a fan. (Check out our Q&A here.)
Melissa Etheridge
Saturday at 7:30 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
The Oregon Symphony presents the Grammy-winning songwriter’s This is M.E. Solo show. As promised, she’ll be alone on stage, but for her trusty guitar.
BOOKS & TALKS
Anthony Doerr—official scribe of unseeable light? Image courtesy Todd Meier.
Anthony Doerr
Thursday at 7:30 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
All the Light We Cannot See—Doerr’s 2014 novel that begins at the advent of France’s World War II Nazi occupation—won a Pulitzer and was short-listed for the National Book Award.
Sci-fi Author Fest 9
Sunday at 4 pm, Powell's at Cedar Hills Crossing
Meet science fiction luminaries including Brent Weeks, Randy Henderson, and Leah Cutter at this massive book signing event at Powell’s Cedar Hill Crossing location. The event closes out this year’s OryCon, the 37th iteration of Portland’s own science fiction convention.
Step dancing and crowd-pleasing: Riverdance turns 20.
DANCE
Riverdance
Friday at 7:30 pm, Saturday at 2 pm at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm and 6:30 pm, Keller Auditorium
The Irish dance spectacular began as the interval act in 1994’s Eurovision; catch the 20th-anniversary show.
THEATER
At a Beady Little Eyes puppet slam last January: Gavin Cummins and other puppeteers.
Puppet Slam
Friday & Saturday at 8 pm, Echo Theater
Puppet-based event company Beady Little Eyes collects some hot puppetry talent under one roof—Gavin Cummins, who specializes in protractor-looking puppets and Sarah Nolen, who produced her puppet-infused television pilot Treeples this year.
CLOSING Orlando
Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Artists Repertory Theatre
Virginia Woolf’s friend Vita Sackville-West inspired this gender-bending 1928 tale. Profile enlists a team including Crystal Munoz and Ted Rooney to play the metamorphosizing Orlando.
VISUAL ART
OPENING APEX: Shelby Shadwell
Saturday & Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, Portland Art Museum
Shadwell’s massively lustrous black-and-white charcoal renderings aim for a dialogue that “elevates the mundane;” the Wyoming artist startles with abstractions of cockroaches and dirty diapers.
Wild Arts Festival
Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm, Montgomery Park
This 35th annual show and auction (a benefit for the Audubon Society) convenes artists with a “strong commitment to the natural world.”
