It's been an ugly week, hasn't it? It's just gross outside. Which logically leads to a certain level of reticence and hesitancy regarding going out. But that's what coats are for. And umbrellas, too (stop fronting like you're too good for one you masochistic poser). Scarfs, galoshes, waders—whatever you gotta put on to make yourself comfy, put it on, because when this weekend is offering up delights like Ilana and Phoebe on stage, or Paprika on the big screen, Ari Shapiro melting hearts, the 5th Annual Chili Jam melting spoons, and Beethoven's Second melting heads? You can't let that stuff pass you by because of a little weather. And that's only the beginning of this weekend's mighty bounty—hit the links below and load your plate accordingly.


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Friday, Nov 17

Jay Pharoah
Former SNL star Jay Pharoah is known for his spot-on impressions of figures like Barack Obama, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Ben Carson, and Chris Rock, but this week us Portlanders have five chances to experience Pharoah as himself, at a special event showcase for his stand-up comedy. I think it’s safe to say jokes about race and politics are on the table, perhaps a rap performance, and hopefully the Obama impression that jump-started his career. JENNI MOORE
Nov 17-19, Fri-Sat 7:30 pm, 10 pm; Sun 7:30 pm; Helium Comedy Club, $25

Ilana Glazer, Phoebe Robinson
The show would be packed and worthwhile even if it were just one of these two. But they’re both here, so that’s fucking awesome and we should all feel appreciative of that. It’s the “YQY” (short for “Yaaas Queen Yaaas”) tour with the greats Ilana Glazer and Phoebe Robinson. You know Glazer, of course, as the co-creator and co-star of Broad City on Comedy Central. Robinson is familiar to most youngish people who know how to download podcasts: She’s the co-host of 2 Dope Queens (with Jessica Williams), and the host of Sooo Many White Guys, which is executive produced by Glazer. She’s also the author of You Can’t Touch My Hair (And Other Things I Still Have to Explain). Together, they’re on one hell of a tour. They’ll come out and tell some jokes together, then flip a coin to see who does their 40-minute standup set first. It will be good—and certainly sold out by the time you read this, so find a trusted secondhand ticket vender. DOUG BROWN
7:30 pm, 10 pm, Revolution Halll, $25, all ages

Chicano Batman, Khruangbin, The Shacks
Chicano Batman have been picking up steam over the past couple of years, finding an increasingly larger audience for their cosmopolitan funk-rock ’n’ soul. But in your rush to see the next big thing, don’t miss opener Khruangbin, a Texas trio inspired by cassettes of obscure Thai funk from the ’60s and ’70s. On The Universe Smiles Upon You, Khruangbin—the name means “engine fly” in Thai—effortlessly unspools a unique blend of psychedelic soul, low-key funk, reverberant surf-rock, spacious pop, and spaced-out twang. BEN SALMON
8 pm, Wonder Ballroom, $20, all ages

Kishi Bashi, Tall Tall Trees
The string-laden, candy-colored wonderlands of music that violinist/looper Kishi Bashi creates in his intoxicating songs are full of pure, childlike delight. NED LANNAMANN
8 pm, Alberta Rose Theatre, $26, all ages

Lenore., Neo G Yo, Yardsss ØØØ
Portland music podcast Gritty Birds presents a live music showcase headlined by singer/songwriters Joy Pearson and Rebecca Marie Miller and their up-and-coming "witch-folk" outfit, Lenore. Portland-based hip-hop artist Neo G Yo and experimental composer Yardsss ØØØ round out the eclectic bill.
9 pm, Kelly's Olympian, $5

Paprika
Merely describing the appeal and beauty of Satoshi Kon's Paprika can't quite be done—sure, I can tell you about the stunningly detailed animation, the overwhelming colors, the way that Paprika's hand-drawn characters convey their weight and personalities and movements as effortlessly as if they were portrayed by real-life actors, and about how there are a few sequences in which music, movement, and color align as beautifully as they have in anything else I've seen. But it's not quite enough. ERIK HENRIKSEN
7 pm, Fifth Avenue Cinema

Ari Shapiro
Did you know that improbably handsome NPR host Ari Shapiro ALSO has a beautiful singing voice? Well he does! What the hell, right? Experience it yourself at Shapiro’s solo show, Homeward, thusly titled because Shapiro is from Beaverton. He will sing to us, and regale us with tales of his life on the road. *HEART EYES EMOJI* *NERD FACE EMOJI* MEGAN BURBANK
7:30 pm, World Trade Center Theater, $60

Sera Cahoone, Jenn Champion
A pair of singer/songwriters known for their time in beloved Seattle outfit Carissa's Wierd, along with their own acclaimed and prolific solo outputs, make their way down to Bunk Bar to head up a dream bill for fans of Northwest indie rock and Americana.
9:30 pm, Bunk Bar, $15

Down the Rabbit Hole
Mythbusters alumni Kari Byron, Tory Belleci, and Grant Imahara bring their Netflix series White Rabbit Project on the the road with a show that sets out to investigate events from pop culture, science, and history live on the Schnitzer stage.
8 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $29.50-54.50, all ages

The Abyss Release and Brunch
When it comes to Deschutes Brewery beers, it gets none more black than the Abyss, and this year's limited release includes a special brunch menu, featuring Abyss-infused items including biscuits and gravy, steak and eggs, Benedicts in multiple styles, and more, as well as sampler trays of previous year's dark and frothy offerings.
9 am, Deschutes Brewery & Public House

Paula Poundstone
Fresh off a book tour, the beloved stand-up, author, and actress takes a break from her regular role on OPB's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! to make her annual pilgrimage to Portland.
7 pm, 9:30 pm, Aladdin Theater, $35, all ages

Irma Vep
Irma Vep is the kind of film that’ll sprain your brainpan if you’re not careful—it’s quite the metatextual pretzel of self-referential filmmaking. But even if there were no subtitles to work with, and no sound to help carry the narrative, the film would still be a triumph due to the fact Maggie Cheung is the absolutely mesmerizing (and latex-encased) focus of the film. There are few actors who can make a movie go from “what the fuck am I watching” to “Holy fuck I can’t stop watching this” like Cheung can. BOBBY ROBERTS
8 pm, NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium

Speechless
The Siren Theater's improvised PowerPoint presentation show Speechless is back, with the best kind of organized chaos: a delightful lineup of funny Portlanders making up lectures on the spot—"TED Talk, startup pitch, even a self-help seminar" are all fair game—to accompany surprise slides and placate a team of judges. Next slide! MEGAN BURBANK
8 pm, Siren Theater, $10

Golden Retriever, Charlie Moses, Paper Gates
Tonight Charlie Moses celebrates the tape release of her new album, Figurine, which charges indie-pop melodies with the energy of lush strings, saxophone, and warm jazz progressions. Moses’ silky voice runs cool and smooth through the cinematic “Mother Mary,” and turns the Electric Prunes’ “Onie” into a psychedelic lullaby. Though parts of Figurine sound a bit too twee, tracks like “Flooded” prove Charlie Moses’ ability to approach songwriting like a musical architect. CIARA DOLAN
9 pm, The Fixin' To, $5

Reproductive Justice Panel & Happy Hour
The DSA’s feminist branch will host a panel of four speakers discussing reproductive justice and how the subject shifts when viewed through an intersectional socialist lens. Q&A with audience and time for socialization to follow. EMILLY PRADO
7 pm, Lucky Labrador Tap Room, free


Saturday, Nov 18

The 5th Annual Chili Jamboree
Now you look like a person who appreciates a good chili! So good news, chili appreciator: The Mercury's Chili Jamboree is BACK—and this time we're taking over the Landmark Saloon with fantastic chili offerings from 10 of Portland's best chefs, including Biwa's Gabe Rosen, Lardo's Rick Gencarelli, and Ray's Jenn Louis. Not only will you be able to try all these chilis, you'll also be able to guzzle beer and cocktails and listen to boot-scootin' country from Kory Quinn & the Quinntessentials and Mike Coykendall. AMERICA: Sometimes it's a pretty good place to live!
noon, Landmark Saloon, $20

Day Job + Smat!
Last summer, the Siren Theater’s inaugural Portland Sketch Comedy fest gave us Day Job and SMAT. Now, both Seattle troupes are back! All you need to know about Day Job’s ladies-only crew is that they dress up like Rosie the Riveter in their press photos, and, like me, love boxed wine and cheese. They’re joined by self-proclaimed “Dadaist” sketch duo SMAT. You can’t go wrong. MEGAN BURBANK
8 pm, Siren Theater, $10

Flat Worms, The Lavender Flu, Mike Donovan, Honey Bucket
Members of the Los Angeles trio Flat Worms have done time with Ty Segall, Oh Sees, Sic Alps, and the Babies. But this unimpeachable resume is bound to give people ideas—wrong ideas that Flat Worms gleefully demolish. The band, which released its debut LP on John Dwyer’s Castle Face Records last month, isn’t some stale spin-off contentedly catching the last wave of 21st-century garage-rock revivalism. It’s a wild and wooly beast of its own, a pummeling force that recalls the dark strain of early ’80s punk that traded suburban angst for creeping dread and paranoia. You probably couldn’t sneak a Flat Worms song onto a mixtape between T.S.O.L. and the Wipers and pass it off as a Reagan-era artifact, but the band definitely rides a modern-day version of the same creeped-out vibe that made their forebears such powerful agents of chaos. CHRIS STAMM
8 pm, The Know

Radiator Hospital, Good Sign, Bad Sleep
As a prolific member of both the Grand Rapids and Philadelphia DIY scenes, Sam Cook-Parrott has been churning out vibrant and heartfelt power-pop gems under the Radiator Hospital moniker for the better part of a decade. Tonight the band’s latest, Play The Songs You Like, brings them out west for a rare Portland show that’s guaranteed to have you hanging on every word and grinning from ear to ear. CHIPP TERWILLIGER
8 pm, High Water Mark, $8

International Cat Show
It's winter. Everything is terrible. BUT WAIT! Do you like... CATS? You probably do, because you're not a monster, even if seasonal affective disorder is RUINING YOUR LIFE. Luckily, the International Cat Show has returned (with Moshow, the cat rapper, in tow) and you can be sure some adorable cats will cheer your shit up! ERIK HENRIKSEN Proceeds benefit the Cat Adoption Team.
8:30 am, Portland Expo Center, $10-25, all ages

Unknown Passage
The Hollywood pays tribute to the life of Fred Cole with a screening of this 2004 Dead Moon documentary, which doesn't fully diagram the power and impact Fred, Toody, and Andrew had on Portland, but is crusty, unglamorous, and intimately genial, just like their band. NED LANNAMANN
8 pm, Hollywood Theatre

Paper/Upper/Cuts, The Social Stomach, Paper Gates
Portland drummer and community linchpin, Papi Fimbres, presents a set from his electronic-tinged, percussion and flute-driven solo project, Paper/Upper/Cuts. CHIPP TERWILLIGER
8 pm, Mothership Music, $5, all ages

Don't, Slutty Hearts, Virgil
Portland band Don't plays pure, blistering rock 'n' roll in its sincerest form. CIARA DOLAN
9 pm, Bunk Bar, $8

A Benefit for Amaya's Family
This fundraiser pairs the sounds of Brazilian soul fusion band POPgoji with dozens of raffle prizes to assist a community member and her family repay $5,000 in debt after their father passed over the summer. All ticket and raffle sales will help the family tremendously during their time of mourning. EMILLY PRADO
9 pm, Mississippi Pizza Pub & Atlantis Lounge, $8-20

Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Tetsuo is Shin'ya Tsukamoto's attempt at fitting himself into the disturbing, provocative headspace often occupied by two prolific Davids—Lynch and Cronenberg. And with less than 70 minutes total of black-and-white apocalyptic desperation, Tsukamoto absolutely succeeds. Which is a very nice way of saying Tetsuo is amazingly, horrifyingly, profoundly fucked up. BOBBY ROBERTS
9:30 pm, NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium

Death From Above, The Beaches
Death from Above helped jumpstart the dance-punk movement of the early ’00s with its 2004 debut, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine. But the Canadian duo of Sebastien Grainger (vocals/drums) and Jesse F. Keeler (bass) broke up two years later, reuniting to release The Physical World in 2014. Now they’re back with Outrage! Is Now, which sounds more mature and stylistically varied without losing the sonic sucker-punch of the band’s earlier work. It’s a little annoying that Death from Above dropped the “1979” from their name—apparently they always thought it sounded stupid—and that Keeler used to associate with Proud Boys/Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes, but at least Outrage! delivers more of what the duo does best. CERVANTE POPE
9 pm, Roseland, $27.50, all ages

Thunderpussy
At their root, Thunderpussy are a driving rock and roll group whose jams land smartly this side of “bar band.” Rockin’ like they do alone would fantastic, but they bring a dash of cheeky theater to their shows that makes for hella fun. MIKE NIPPER
10 pm, Mississippi Studios, $12-14

Plucky Maidens Holiday Fest
Over 90 vendors pack the Convention Center with tables full of quality vintage wares, as well as delicious food and drink to nibble as you unearth treasures to the sounds of the Ukeladies
9 am, Oregon Convention Center, $5-10

Cherry Festivus
A delicious drinkable holiday for the rest of us! Bazi Bierbrasserie hosts this celebration of cherry beers and ciders, with chocolate pairings to accompany your tastings of rare and one-off brews. General admission includes a glass and six drink tickets.
3 pm, Bazi Bierbrasserie, $20-30

Matt Bellassai
The social media star known for writing, producing, and starring in BuzzFeed's Whine About It series and hosting the Unhappy Hour podcast returns to Portland for a stop on his Everything is Awful book tour.
8 pm, Aladdin Theater, $40


Sunday, Nov 19

Julia Jacklin, Faye Webster
Last year Australian singer/songwriter Julia Jacklin released her first LP, Don’t Let the Kids Win, and captivated Pickathon attendees this past August with her easy, breezy alt-country and lyrics about the growing pains of young adulthood. Jacklin’s new singles “Eastwick” and “Cold Caller” emphasize the best parts of her debut: twangy guitar riffs, deep blue pools of reverb, and the her voice, which somehow sounds both coltish and sage. CIARA DOLAN
7 pm, Doug Fir, $12-14

Live SET Student Showcase
Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington’s Live SET (Sound Engineering for Teens) program teaches high schoolers all about live sound engineering. Their end-of-term showcase is a free, all-ages matinee that includes performances by some of Portland’s best local acts, like Jessica Dennison + Jones, Motrik, Dreckig, and Rasheed Jamal. Students get great hands-on experience, you get a terrific free show. NED LANNAMANN
1 pm, Mississippi Studios, free

Manhattan Murder Mystery, Marc & the Horsejerks, Man Repellant
I am going to abandon the haughtily objective music-writer pose for a second here, because it’s too hard to write about the weird magic of Manhattan Murder Mystery without a personal anecdote. Odds are good you haven’t heard of this band—they seem to prefer flying under the radar. I knew nothing about them when I literally stumbled into one of their shows a few years ago. They were playing in a clothing store in Echo Park, and they were absolutely destroying this clothing store in Echo Park. The tiny space was a writhing mass of sweaty bodies bound up in beautiful release, summoned into a space of love by this band of weirdoes that had found a glorious sound straddling punk, folk, country, and rock ’n’ roll. I still get goosebumps thinking about that show, which felt like what church is supposed to feel like. Go and get blessed. CHRIS STAMM
8 pm, The Know

Thelma & Louise
When Thelma and Louise released in 1991, the poster's tagline read "Somebody said get a life... so they did," which is an... interesting means of selling this amiably heartbreaking road movie about two put-upon Texas women (Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis) just trying to drink a little, dance a little, smoke a little, and enjoy their low-key vacation without every single goddamn man in the world getting in the way and fucking everything all to hell. Callie Khouri's screenplay is beautifully foolproofed against director Ridley Scott's predilection toward missing the point, and the performances by Sarandon and Davis are arguably the best either gave in their long, celebrated careers. BOBBY ROBERTS
8:50 pm, Laurelhurst Theater, $3-4

Robin Bacior, Nick Delffs, Megan Diana
Robin Bacior's songs come at you like a Viking ship sliding through a foggy dawn toward the light. Creating movement with her simple yet ballet-like piano, and accentuated by simple orchestral elements, singer/songwriter (and Mercury contributor) Bacior sets the pace in these quieter and fiery moments. Then she draws the listener back with soothing and reassuring vocals. JENI WREN STOTTRUP
8 pm, Rontoms, free

Wild Arts Festival
A benefit for the Audubon Society of Oregon, featuring a silent auction, original bird-themed art from Northwest artists, an opportunity to meet highly acclaimed authors, and more.
10 am, Montgomery Park, $8

Mortified Portland: 10th Anniversary Show
Portland storytellers take to the stage to share stories from their adolescence that absolutely shouldn't be shared with anyone because the secondhand awkwardness and embarrassment could be hazardous to your sanity. For this 10th anniversary celebration, each show will feature a different line-up of Mortified performers from the past 10 years.
7 pm, Alberta Rose Theatre, $16-23

Beethoven's Second Symphony
Nearly 200 years after Beethoven’s death, it remains truly astounding that history’s greatest composer couldn’t hear a damn thing for much of his life. Can you imagine a blind painter or a chef with no sense of smell reaching similar artistic heights? Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 was written while the young composer still had some of his hearing left but had entered a deep depression upon learning he would soon be fully deaf with no chance of recovery. In that sense, it should be seen as a definitive statement—a triumphant farewell to the world of sound, with all the grandeur and drama of which Beethoven was capable. That he would later top himself several times over with subsequent work means the Second has languished in relative obscurity, but its pleasures, from its gorgeous second movement to the playful agility of its fourth, should be evaluated on their own terms. The symphony, a high-water mark of the classical era, is counterbalanced by Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber and John Adams’ Absolute Jest, a concerto/string-quartet hybrid heavily influenced by Beethoven, featuring the esteemed St. Lawrence String Quartet from Canada. NED LANNAMANN
2 pm, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $24-120, all ages

Justice for Sioux Z
Last year a water protector named Sioux Z was shot in the eye while at Standing Rock. This year Sioux Z will speak about historical trauma and healing along with several other Native leaders at this evening filled with ceremony, food, music, and conversation. Music includes hip-hop, dancehall, and roots reggae by Rising Buffalo Tribe, Mista Chief, and Burial Ground Society. Requested donation earns your entry and a frybread taco, though no one will be rejected for lack of funds. EMILLY PRADO
6 pm, PSU Native American Student & Community Center, $10

Sci-Fi Authorfest 11
Your chance to meet, mingle, and get books signed by authors such as Timothy Zahn, Brent Weeks, Daniel H. Wilson, Curtis C. Chen, Annie Bellet, Wendy Wagner, and over a dozen others.
4 pm, Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, free

Planes, Trains and Automobiles
"You can start by wiping that fucking dumb-ass smile off your rosy fucking cheeks. Then you can give me a fucking automobile—a fucking Datsun, a fucking Toyota, a fucking Mustang, a fucking Buick, four fucking wheels and a seat. And I really don't care for the way your company left me in the middle of fucking nowhere with fucking keys to a fucking car that isn't fucking there. And I really didn't care to fucking walk down a fucking highway and across a fucking runway to get back here to have you smile in my fucking face. I want a fucking car. Right. Fucking. Now."
Various Theaters, see Movie Times for showtimes and locations

Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!