Wordstock: Portland’s Book Festival returns Saturday, November 5 at the Portland Art Museum and surrounding venues in the South Park Blocks in downtown Portland.
ADVANCE TICKETS are $15 ($18 day of), available now. Stay tuned for updates here: http://www.literary-arts.org/what-we-do/wordstock/. Youth 17 and under and/or high school students with ID enjoy FREE admission to the festival.
Join thousands of readers of all ages for a full day of activities featuring more than 100 authors, onstage events, pop-up readings, writing workshops, a book fair with 70 local and national publishing vendors and literary organizations, food carts, and more!
Wordstock is dedicated to bringing readers together to celebrate a shared passion for books. This event is a place to discover new books, to meet your favorite writers, and to be inspired and entertained. We look forward to seeing you all at this year's festival on Saturday, November 5.
The relaunch of the festival has been made possible by the support of the following partners: Meyer Memorial Trust, Miller Foundation, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Portland Art Museum, Oregon Public Broadcasting- OPB,Powell's Books, Inc., Multnomah County Library, Willamette Week, National Endowment for the Arts, Cole Haan, McMenamins Pubs, Breweries & Historic Hotels, Oregon Community Foundation, Marylhurst University,Poetry Foundation & Poetry Magazine Travel Portland, and TheStandard.
For the second year in a row, in partnership with Literary Arts, Wordstock Edition Back Fence PDX present Russian Roulette.
Featuring returning crowd favorites: Four-Time Winner Shannon Balcom Graves (PDX), Poet/Performer, Comedian, Founder of Write Bloody Publishing Derrick Brown (LA), Author of Turtleface and Beyond: Stories, Emmy-Nominated Filmmaker, Past Winner Arthur Bradford (PDX), and Comedian, Member of Lez Standup, Past Winner Caitlin Weierhouser (PDX) — along with soon-to-be faves: Books Editor at Buzzfeed, Co-Author of Knives & Ink Isaac Fitzgerald (NY), Spoken Word Poet, Visual Artist, Musician Anis Mojgani (PDX), Memoirist, Therapist Specializing in Love & Sex Addiction Kerry Cohen (PDX) and Slam Poet, TEDX Speaker Alex Dang (PDX).
Hosted by B. Frayn Masters & Mindy Nettifee
Music by Bobby D from XRAY
More about Russian Roulette and how it works: Each show begins with a full wheel of juicy story prompts. One of our 8 seasoned storytellers will be randomly drawn. To determine the random prompt for their story, they’ll spin the giant game show wheel. They can play or pass. If they pass another teller can steal their prompt. Then the risky part… each storyteller has only 5 minutes to come up with a true 5-minute story based on that prompt! It’s like we invented a new game called truth and dare.
At the end of the night, the audience will select a winner who will receive 50 bucks and some other cool prizes, like bragging rights for life. The winner will be invited to come back to the next show!
And one lucky audience member will also win prizes.
* Storytellers subject to change without notice
* Stories will quite likely contain explicit language and/or subject matter
21+
Sonic Cinema presents Jim Jarmusch’s new film that chronicles the story of The Stooges, one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Emerging from Ann Arbor Michigan amidst a countercultural revolution, The Stooges’ powerful and aggressive style blew a crater in the musical landscape of the late 1960s. Assaulting audiences with a blend of rock, blues, R&B, and free jazz, the band planted the seeds for what would be called punk and alternative rock in the decades that followed. Gimme Danger presents the context of the Stooges emergence musically, culturally, politically, historically, and relates their adventures and misadventures while charting their inspirations and the reasons behind their initial commercial challenges, as well as their long-lasting legacy.
Part of our Sonic Cinema series which presents the best in new and classic music documentaries on the big screen (with big sound!) A feast for the eyes and ears, the festival explores a wide range of musical artists, genres and styles.
$9
Tony Conrad is one the great American artists of our time, yet to the world at large he remains criminally under appreciated. Since the early 1960s, Conrad’s films and compositions have been the stuff of legend for artists and musicians everywhere. His vast, inter-disciplinary repertoire has single-handedly created and influenced major film and compositional movements. He performed in and recorded the soundtrack to Jack Smith’s legendary Flaming Creatures; he turned the paradigms of cinema upside down with The Flicker, a film composed of only black and white frames; his development and practice of Just Intonation and Minimalism through his work with Stockhausen and La Monte Young still has the music establishment scratching their heads; his pivotal role in the formation of The Velvet Underground has directly or indirectly influenced everyone who has picked up a guitar since; as an early adopter of activist public access television he democratized the emerging medium of portable video. In his later years he has continued to perform and make work that pushes the boundaries of reason for which he has finally begun to receive worldwide attention.
Utilizing intimate footage of Tony and his collaborators shot over the last twenty-two years, as well as his own archive of recordings and films, Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present mirrors Conrad’s own playfully radical approach to art making. The non-linear structure Conrad to wildly free associate his streams of consciousness, revealing an honest and humane way of navigating a remarkable, creative life.
Part of our Sonic Cinema Festival which presents the best in new and classic music documentaries on the big screen (with big sound!) A feast for the eyes and ears, the festival explores a wide range of musical artists, genres and styles.
$10 | Buy advance tickets here
SubSensory presents a night with LA's David Flores aka TRUNCATE, at The Liquor Store! It's Halloween weekend and costumes are encouraged. A night of dark grooves and spooky vibes as we get down with one of the most influential acts in modern techno music.
Featuring:
Truncate - 50 Weapons / Droid / CLR
Dmux - SubSensory/Translucent
Carly Barton - Blankstairs
About Truncate:
Los Angeles native David Flores is a man with many aliases, but his Truncate project has steadily become one of the most talked-about in techno. There's a classic feel to the simplicity and rawness of his releases, which have appeared on his own Truncate imprint, Luke Slater’s Mote Evolver label and 50 Weapons, alongside remixes for the likes of KiNK, Trus’ Me, Surgeon and many more.
Following on from last year’s deluxe reissue of Partisan Records’ very first release, Decline of The West, Emil Amos is back for his 13th record as Holy Sons. Also a member of seminal west coast experimental rockers Om and Grails, Amos has has teamed up with the perfect producer, John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Phosphorescent, Sonic Youth), to steer the ship toward a purity of sound and vision that has eluded him in the past.
In Emil’s own words:
“In The Garden is essentially John Agnello and I out at Water Music in Hoboken, New Jersey carving out the sound of a classic 70’s record if it had been made by a band with all its players being very focused in the hey-day of their career… but we ‘faked’ that vibe using one player. That’s basically what I learned 4-tracking in the 90’s… how to replicate live-sounding recordings where a band is reacting and playing off of each other in real-time.”
“This album was originally aesthetically based on the joy of pulling out old 70’s American & British songwriting LPs at night while you’re pounding whiskeys by the fireplace. The way those albums look and feel like a lost pillar of classicism. The drums are so round and close they sound like you could eat them …and there’s that feeling of pure pleasure you get from hearing guitar solos that were done in one take and slightly flawed vocal harmonies recorded on the fly before Pro Tools existed. It came from a lust after that time when mixes and the relationship between all the instruments breathed beautifully at the height of analog equipment.”
In The Garden is Holy Sons in its most potent, crystalline form. It is Amos’ statement album thus far, his flawless song cycle. Once it sees the light of day, it seems an impossibility that he will continue to have the luxury of hanging out on the fringe.
The music is rich and inventive, with the bass and guitar frequently playing synchronized melodic lines.
Mic Check is a Hip Hop Showcase every last Thursday of the month at White Eagle, with Live performances, drink specials, and good vibes.
w/
ILLMAC, THEORY HAZIT & LANDON LARSON
and a very special, first ever Team Backpack Portland Cypher W/ ILLMAC, MIC CAPES & JON BELZ
Hosted by StarChile
Music by Trox
21 and over, Tickets: $7 @ the Door
Mic Check is a Hip Hop Showcase every last Thursday of the month at White Eagle, with Live performances, drink specials, and good vibes.
w/
ILLMAC, THEORY HAZIT & LANDON LARSON
and a very special, first ever Team Backpack Portland Cypher W/ ILLMAC, MIC CAPES & JON BELZ
Hosted by StarChile
Music by Trox
21 and over, Tickets: $7 @ the Door
Sub Rosa Curation and Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metropolitan Area announce "Rock For Rockwood," a fundraiser one day music festival featuring musical talents from Portland, featuring M. Ward, The Thermals, The Helio Sequence (Official), and Emily Wells.
All profits are going to the new Boys & Girls Club facility in Rockwood, OR.
This show is general admission & fully seated.
Brian Mumform's Dragging an Ox through Water perform songs rooted in folk and country traditions, though ruptured, complicated, and complimented with broken textures of feedback, drones, tape hiss, and homemade oscillators. Chance elements and candlelight sensitive instruments destabilize customary electro-amplified-tightness & introduce improvisation to the recitation of these songs. Dragging an Ox through Water has releases out on Mississippi Records, Awesome Vistas, Sweet Dreams Press, Stank House, Musical Impressions, & more. Brian also plays in Sun Foot, Deep Fried Boogie Band, Jewelry Rash, & sometimes Jackie-O Motherfucker. He runs a small cassette & CDR label called Musical Impressions (or muim000).
Blesst Chest is a Portland, Oregon based trio playing instrumental, ‘70s-style prog rock. This band has enough heaviosity and groove to balance the asymmetrical bits. The music is rich and inventive, with the bass and guitar frequently playing synchronized melodic lines. Members are: Jake Morris, Jay Winebrenner, and Darrell Bourque.
Process is electro-ruckus Dylan White and Jeremy Hooton based in Portland, OR.
$5/21+
The Extradition Series presents fall concert, featuring works by Alvin Lucier, Michael Pisaro, Antoine Beuger, and Derek Ecklund
Alvin Lucier, I Remember — Jesse Mejia & CHOIR (voices & resonant objects)
Michael Pisaro, Six Stones — Loren Chasse & Matt Hannafin (stones), Branic Howard (stones & electronics)
Antoine Beuger, Three Drops of Rain / East Wind / Ocean — Doug Theriault (guitar & electronics), Pauline Theriault (piano)
Derek Ecklund, Columbia River Sound Map — Derek Ecklund (electronics)
$5–$15, SS
Please join us as we light up WareHouse ’23 for one fabulous day on October 22! This entire Saturday expo is open to the public and free to attend so invite your family members, friends and colleagues! Be there at 11am so you can meet Mayor Leavitt at 12 noon!
The Ultimate Community Business Expo brings together our community members and dozens of business owners and professionals from the Portland/Vancouver area, all in one place, for a full day of shopping, sales and business exposure. Come see all the wonderful deals, incentives, giveaways, products and packages that local businesses offer.
Shop local small businesses for exclusive offers
Discover exciting products and valuable services
Network, build connections and stay informed
Support local non-profits
Our community members and business professionals are going to make this an extraordinary expo! Invite your friends, colleagues & bring the family.
Don't Forget the Kids! Lots of Fun Activities!
Kids will have tons of fun with balloon art, face painting and glitter tattoos sponsored by Joy Entertainers. Plus, Parties Inc. has something exciting planned just for this event. So bring the kids and enjoy a fun-filled special day of shopping, connecting and spending quality time together.
Sun Angle can be interpreted as tropical psych phase punk. Diamond Junk – the debut full-length from Sun Angle –creates, as the title suggests, exhilarating tension between beauty and chaos, propelled by artful, animalistic urgency.
The synergistic three-piece consists of Charlie Salas Humara on vocals & guitar (Panther), Marius Libman on bass (Copy) and Papi Fimbres on drums (Paper/Upper/Cuts). Central and South American footsteps traverse through Sun Angle's veins, blending SST punk, Cumbia, and pop in a wash of psychedelic filth. Sun Angle ride the line between chaos and pop, making music all its own.
Heavy Duty By Josiah Hughes/Exclaim Magazine (Canada) Portland's Mattress centres on the claustrophobic bedroom soul of weirdo Rex Marshall and his synthesiser. But on Heavy Duty, his debut full-length for Edmonton's Reluctant Recordings, his minimal, dark electro beats take a backseat to his sinister songwriting. Opener "Pollution" sets the tone with its eerie sounds and hopeless lyrics, while "Go Ahead and Litter" almost gets dance-y, with its dead funk guitar drone. The real gem is closing track "Bring It Down," with its heavy synths and melodic singing, showing a little heart amidst the creepiness. Limited to 300 and featuring shiny artwork courtesy of the Doers' Sean Maxey, this is a rare treat in outsider pop.
On this evening at the recently opened tap room for Royale Brewing, The Garrison Tap Room, will be hosting a night that will feature some rare kegs form eight outstanding breweries.
Located in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, The Garrison will be pouring exclusive offerings from Royale Brewing, Hair of the Dog, Melvin Brewing, Burnside Brewing, Gigantic Brewing, Alesong Brewing, Upright Brewing, and Cascade Brewing.
All proceeds from the evening’s generously donated beer will go to Brewpublic co-founder Angelo De Ieso who continues to battle his brain tumor.
Debates! Debates! Join XRAY.FM, the Bus Project and Dig a Pony to laugh, gasp, point, cheer, or sit back in silence during all four of the 2016 Presidential Debates on the big screen. XRAY DJs will spin records before and after the debates and also during commercial breaks. Dig a Pony will offer drink specials, helping to keep spirits high during what is sure to be a very historic series of debates.
Join us for the following three debates, co-hosted by XRAY.FM, Dig a Pony and The Bus Project.
Tuesday, October 4th (Vice-President)
Sunday, October 9th (Pres)
Wednesday, October 19th (Pres)
All at Dig a Pony, all FREE and 21+
Stormzy
w/ More TBA!
@ Wonder Ballroom
https://facebook.com/stormzyofficial
http://soundcloud.com/stormzy1
https://twitter.com/Stormzy1
The 22-year-old South London ambassador, Stormzy, has ignited a new generation of UK rap with his neo-grime flow and his utopian and progressive attitude towards commercial music. He's gained an unprecedented amount of support from his contemporaries including some of the forefathers of the genre such as Wiley, Skepta, Krept & Konan, Lethal Bizzle and Wretch 32.
Stormzy began displaying his ability with a barrage of charismatic freestyles including his infamous #WickedSkengManFreestyle series which to date have gained seven-figure viewings. After generating a huge online presence, he then proved his versatility as a recording artist when he released his first project, The Dreamers Disease, which, after unparalleled support for the visuals for the lead track, Not That Deep, reached the number one spot on the iTunes hip-hop chart prior to its release. Stormzy then went on to create history with his untouchable verse on the Fire In The Booth Cypher where Charlie Sloth claimed "A star was born".
The artist's work rate has lead to a rapid ascent into commercial music, with a number of his tracks being play listed across international radio stations and Zane Lowe naming him as one of the Future 15 artists for 2015. Following this success, Stormzy was also named 3rd in this year's BBC sound of 2015 list and has gone on to win three MOBO award's and a BET Award for International Newcomer Act where he competed against some of the icons of the scene, representing the progression of UK music. In addition, Stormzy broke a world record earlier this year for becoming the first artist to ever chart in the UK top 40 with a freestyle.
Andy Shauf is a storyteller, a singer of heartbreak and regrets, isolation and loneliness, reflecting his prairie surroundings in Regina, Canada. Meticulously written over four years, Shauf's The Bearer of Bad News is a warm and welcoming album, bathed in weathered piano, dampened drums, softly-strummed guitars and clarinet, which lends its unique timbre to frequently brighten – or hauntingly underscore – the songs' darker undercurrents. Fans of Elliott Smith, Nick Drake and Harry Nilsson, take note.
Scattered Clouds is a dark, experimental, post apocalyptic rock group, from Hull, QC. Since the project's inception in 2010 and the release of a self-titled EP on Hull based label E-Tron Records (www.etronrecords.com), Scattered Clouds has evolved from a solo home studio project to a performance act that creates a trance-inducing, orchestral and intense cinematic experience. Blending harsh yet controlled sounds, brooding rhythms, processed vocals, and unsettling analog synthesizer sounds with a strong sense of form and dynamics, Scattered Clouds' music can be described as industrial, dark-wave, post-rock and avant-pop. The First Empire is the group's first full-length release and was released on E-Tron Records April 21, 2015. Scattered Clouds is a three-piece band consisting of vocalist and bassist Philippe Charbonneau, keyboardist Mike Dubue and drummer Jamie Kronick.
$10 / $12, 21+
EXPLODE INTO COLORS = three weird aunts + basement party + drawing and sewing till our hands hurt but we keep on keeping on + lost mix tapes + lots and lots of dramedy. One of us currently plays with Kickball and some of us used to play in Thunder!Thunder!Thunder!, Hornet Leg, and Japanther. One of us sometimes dances with Janet Pants. We also make clothes, pictures of all kinds, videos, teach drums, and classify insects.
The choice of Portrait was a natural one, with both Tinder and Phipps believing he'd be able to contribute almost as much to the record as they would. And so, in mid-August Tinder and Phipps each brought fragments of song ideas into the studio, before deconstructing, re-arranging, and fitting them back together piece by piece -- at times lyrics and melodies were thrown out, brought back from the dead, or improvised on the spot.
This loosely structured approach made the process truly collaborative, with producer Portrait occasionally chipping in ideas for lyrics, arrangements, and instrumentation. The resulting nine tracks are instantly memorable, while defying easy categorization. Says Phipps, "We realized the record began to stray away from having a 'sound' and gradually became a platter with an assortment of sounds. The record showcases a flavor we haven't quite dug into before."
The album's diverse combination of sounds ultimately helped give birth to its title, Curiosity -- a word that invokes the listener's wonder at what will greet their ears next, while also describing the overall curious tone the record possesses.
First single, "The Hearse" serves as the perfect introduction for those unfamiliar with the band -- its opening notes swelling instantly with electronic organs over a driving drum beat. By the time bass and vocals kick in, you're already hooked. Elsewhere, "Orchards" weaves an infectiously breezy melody on the strength of vocal harmonizing, tuneful whistling, and undulating guitar lines. In some cases, Wampire's unique rhythms are best described by the band members, as with "Trains," a Motown-meets-Strokes track that Tinder perfectly summarizes like so: "It's sexy, sounds huge, and by all means should be blamed for future babies."
The album concludes with the equally sensual "Magic Light," a song centered around a dark seductive bass groove that sets the tone for Tinder's come-hither lyrics. It's the kind of track that draws you ever further into the record's beguiling clutches, leaving a lasting impression that remains well after its final notes have faded out.
Hear the album in its entirety followed by DJ sets Chancie Chance & Polyvinyl Records.
Performances by: Mic Crenshaw, Vursatyl, Libretto & More.
Music Provided by: O.G.ONE including a Tribute Mix to the Golden Era of Portland Hip Hop.
Portland Pioneer DJ CHILL will do a tribute to Dj's
A Live Mural painting & B Boys performance
Hosted by StarChile
Food provided by: Stoopid Burger Hana's Authentic New Orleans Snowballs And More & Jazzy's Southern Style Kitchen
All ages, family friendly free event