MUSIC

Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Saturday at 9 pm, Revolution Hall
The New Zealand/Portland act is back after a killer 2015: an acclaimed new album, numerous late-night-TV appearances, and a world tour with sold-out shows in places as far apart as Portugal and Australia.

Chamber Music Northwest 2016 Winter Festival
Thursday–Sunday, various times and locations
With six concerts to choose from, this year's chamber music spectacular is a bright note amidst the seasonal gloom. Our top two picks? On Thursday: "Mozart Rearranged," which invokes the era's courtly “Harmoniemusik” wind ensembles; and Friday's "Tailored for Two," with pianist Peter Serkin and Protégé Project alumna Julia Hsu.

COMEDY

'Til Death Do Us Part: Late Night Catechism 3
Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 3 pm, Winningstad Theatre
Love counseling, from a bride of Christ! The long-running, sacrament-spoofing Chicago comedy act has Sister at the lectern, aiming to save your marriage. 

Hari Kondabolu
Saturday at 7 pm and 10 pm, Mississippi Studios
He’s tackled racism, sexism, and income inequality on Conan and Letterman; in 2014, Kondabolu released debut stand-up album Waiting for 2042. (So he once called us “Seattle Junior”—we can take a joke.)

FILM

Reel Music Film Festival
Thursday at  7 pm, Friday at 7 pm & 9 pm, Saturday at 5 pm & 7 pm, Sunday at 7 pm, Whitsell Auditorium
NW Film Center’s annual event this year features wide-ranging documentaries like Friday's 7pm screening of The Glamour & the Squalor—on the Seattle DJ that made grunge music the soundtrack of the 1990s—and, later that evening, a tribute to the iconic soul singer Mavis Staples.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Portland Global Game Jam
Friday—Sunday, Art Institute of Portland
Portland’s Indie Game Squad hosts this 48-hour competition, with the public invited to join for the jam's final two hours.

Mochitsuki
Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm, Smith Memorial Student Union at Portland State University
Celebrate the Japanese New Year on a full belly with the annual pounding of the rice. This family-friendly event revolves around food demonstrations including those sweet, sticky cakes we call mochi, but also celebrates the mind, with national poetry slam champion G Yamazawa and shakuhachi flute player Larry Tyrrell.

THEATER

Shackleton: the Untold Story
Saturday at 8 pm, Alberta Abbey
Local narrator Lawrence Howard of the Portland Story Theater picks up where the legend of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton leaves off—with the little-known saga of the Ross Sea Party (the doomed men waiting for him on the other side of the Antarctic). 

CLOSING Fertile Ground Festival of New Works
Thursday–Sunday at various times and locations
Wrapping up this weekend is the eighth Fertile Ground Festival, an immersive incubator for new artistic performances of various mediums. The fest features more than 75 performances throughout the city, and includes productions by the Milagro, Lakewood, Artists Repertory, and Polaris Dance Theatre among others.

CLOSING  The Adventures of Dex Dixon: Paranormal Dick
Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Brunish Hall
A new work from Portland musical theater company Stumptown Stages follows the hard-boiled protagonist through the gritty streets of the “Fair City”—in whose dark alleys he finds both guns and puns.

VISUAL ARTS

OPENING Rowland Ricketts
Friday & Saturday from 11 am to 6 pm, Museum of Contemporary Craft
From hand-grown indigo dye (“sukumo”) prepared the ancient Japanese way, Rowland Ricketts creates an immersive, site-specific installation featuring hand-dyed linen and historic textiles.

Portland Fine Print Fair
Friday–Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, Portland Art Museum
North America's top 18 print dealers converge on PAM's Fields Ballroom for the third year, ready for your questions on everything from Edo-era Japanese prints to Northern renaissance Old Masters. 

CLOSING Jim Lommasson: Exit Wounds and What We Carried
Thursday–Saturday from noon to 5 pm, Blue Sky Gallery
This Portland photographer explores the lasting impact of the Iraq War through interviews with (and images of) American soldiers returned home (Exit Wounds) and Iraqi refugees who have fled theirs (What We Carried).