Top Things to Do This Weekend: Jan 5–8
Stan Raucher's photos of transit systems from all over the world—including this shot from Manhattan—are at Blue Sky.
Image: Stan Raucher
Books & Talks
Emily Ruskovich
7:30 p.m. Friday, Powell's City of Books, FREE
Ruskovich’s just-released debut novel, Idaho, is a mystery set in northern Idaho about family, murder, and dementia—the A.V. Club called it “poetic and razor sharp.”
Dance
Éowyn Emerald & Dancers, back from Edinburgh.
Image: David Krebs
Éowyn Emerald & Dancers
7:30 p.m. Friday–Saturday, Greenwood Theatre at Reed College
After a successful run at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Portland choreographer Éowyn Emerald returns home with a show the Times called "emotionally suggestive, physically precise, yet expansive and perfectly calibrated for an intimate space."
Free Dance Day
9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Sunday, BodyVox Dance Center, FREE
On one special day each year, dancers and non-dancers of all levels can join any of eight movement classes for free (free!) at the BodyVox studio. Offerings include ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, and Afro-contemporary.
Film
Rebellion & Revolution: Insurgent Cinema
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Hollywood Theatre
The Hollywood launches a four-film series to celebrate “subversive cinema, guerilla-style filmmaking, and insurrection in film." Up first is a 35 mm print of 1973 cult classic The Spook Who Sat by the Door, about a disaffected black CIA agent who brings his skills to fomenting a Black Power revolution among street gangs.
Music
Kyle Morton
8 p.m. Friday, The Old Church, SOLD OUT
Typhoon front man Kyle Morton’s new solo album, What Will Destroy You, is an intimate indie folk record full of finely crafted songs for lovers and loners—recorded in Portland with longtime collaborator Paul Laxer. He’s joined at this show by Snowblind Traveler.
David Bowie, Ashes to Ashes: A 70th Birthday Party
7 p.m. Saturday, Mississippi Studios
Celebrate what would have been the Thin White Duke’s 70th birthday by belting out some of his greatest hits. The first part of the evening will be led by the OK Chorale, an all-skills-welcome pop chorus, followed by performances by the Morals, Wonderly, and top-secret guests.
Nadja and the Four Seasons
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who’s been praised by the New York Times for her “consummate skill and panache,” conducts the Oregon Symphony in a performance of Vivaldi’s perennially popular Four Seasons.
Theater
OPENING Stellar
9 p.m. Thursday, Funhouse Lounge
Bri Pruett, one of Portland’s funniest, gutsiest comedians, is about to abandon us for Los Angeles. But first, she's putting on a solo show that roves from body positivity to online dating to overcoming trauma to real talk about sex. Plus: song, dance, and a Sade-heavy soundtrack. For more, check out our interview with Pruett.
This little blue fairy in La Belle took five people four months to create.
Image: Jerry Mouawad
CLOSING La Belle
7 p.m. Friday, noon and 3:30 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, Imago Theatre
Elaborate puppets, a large whirring ship, original music, extensive shadow play—little wonder this Imago Theatre show has been in the works since 2013. The wildly creative minds behind the Frogz and ZooZoo menageries unveil a new Beauty and the Beast–inspired romance, set on a steamship in the 1920s. Read more in our show preview.
Visual Art
OPENING Stan Raucher and Eric West
Noon–5 p.m. Thursday–Sunday, Blue Sky Gallery, FREE
In Metro, Raucher gives a photographic glimpse—alternately tender and mundane—into public transit systems the world over, from Paris to New York to Delhi to Mexico City to Shanghai. Cityscape Burma, meanwhile, features West’s large-scale color photos of urban architecture and activity in Burma.
Curious Gallery
10 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, Crowne Plaza Hotel
Wunderkammern—cabinets of curiosities, filled with animal specimens and antiquities of dubious origin—date back centuries. This event, now in its fourth year, revives the tradition, with exhibitions, workshops, and more for DIY taxidermists and natural history enthusiasts.
CLOSING Cauleen Smith
11 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design, FREE
In this video installation, Asterisms, Smith unites seemingly discrepant objects from both her personal collection (including one rock that might be a meteorite) and the Museum of Contemporary Craft.
CLOSING Hidden Assembly
10 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday–Saturday, Newspace Center for Photography, FREE
Artists shine a light on the often invisible laborers who make the products we consume, from Mary Lum’s collection of the bottoms of brown paper bags bearing the names of those who oversaw their production, to Betty Marín’s examination of seasonal migrant workers in the Christmas tree industry. (The exhibition also takes place at the Center for Contemporary Art and Culture at PNCA, 511 NW Broadway, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday–Saturday.)
