The Improvisation Summit of Portland is a multi-day performance festival featuring the best in creative, improvised and experimental music in collaboration with dancers, film, and other artists. Our festival committee carefully curates a stunning group of performers as well as organizes panel presentations, workshops and other events that coincide with the festival.
Improvisation Summit of Portland 2017 will be held on June 30-July 1 at Disjecta contemporary art center and features over 40 performers, musicians and artists from Portland and beyond.
XRAY.FM, McMenamins, StarChile, Pabst Blue Ribbon & WE 96.3 Present: MIC CHECK
Mic Check is a Hip Hop Showcase every last Thursday of the month at White Eagle, with Live performances, drink specials and good vibes!
THURSDAY JUNE 29TH:
Special Guests...
VINNIE DEWAYNE
ADDVERSE EFFECTS
THESE? BLACKS
Hosted by StarChile
Music by Trox
Dooors @ 9pm, Show starts at 10pm...
21 and over, Tickets: $8 @ the Door
Thursday, June 8th Join us for a free show with Minden / Super Secret Guests @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 15th Join us for a free show with Surfs Drugs / Ah Gods @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 22nd Join us for a free show with Vinyl Williams / Wet Dream @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 29th Join us for a free show with Riley Geare Trio / Sama Dams Experimental Set @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 8th Join us for a free show with Minden / Super Secret Guests @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 15th Join us for a free show with Surfs Drugs / Ah Gods @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 22nd Join us for a free show with Vinyl Williams / Wet Dream @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 29th Join us for a free show with Riley Geare Trio / Sama Dams Experimental Set @ 8pm. 21 +
The documentary I Called Him Morgan is about a great jazz trumpet player, Lee Morgan, his common-law wife, Helen, and the events leading up to the early morning hours of February 19, 1972, when Helen shot her husband in the gut (with a gun he had given her) between sets at the aptly named Slug’s Saloon in NYC’s East Village. A more comprehensive biography of Lee Morgan’s life and career would make a great documentary, but that is not this documentary. I Called Him Morgan is smaller than that and much bigger at the same time. It is about Lee and Helen and a love gone wrong; it is about how men use women; it is about genius and those who want a piece of it; and it is about what can and cannot be forgiven. Shot simply, delivered clearly, and accompanied by one hell of a soundtrack.
Dance. Connect. Rage. Party. Give. Repeat.
What is the Liberty Ball?
It’s a night of resistance, music, and community.
It’s an opportunity to take all of the anger, sadness, and helplessness we’ve been feeling since the election and turn it into real, concrete support for marginalized populations here in Portland.
Come party—and fight for social justice—with these amazing musicians:
Plus:
Hosted by:
Sonic Cinema presents a brand new digital restoration, on the 50th anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival!
On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love, the first and only Monterey Pop Festival roared forward, capturing a decade’s spirit and ushering in a new era of rock and roll. Monterey would launch the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding , but they were just a few among a wildly diverse cast that included The Who, the Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane and Ravi Shankar. With his characteristic vérité style, D. A. Pennebaker captured it all, immortalizing moments that have become legend: Pete Townshend destroying his guitar, Jimi Hendrix burning his.
Sponsored by XRAY FM, Music Millennium and Lagunitas Brewing.
Passes accepted: Guest Pass and Member Guest Pass.
Thursday, June 8th Join us for a free show with Minden / Super Secret Guests @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 15th Join us for a free show with Surfs Drugs / Ah Gods @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 22nd Join us for a free show with Vinyl Williams / Wet Dream @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 29th Join us for a free show with Riley Geare Trio / Sama Dams Experimental Set @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 8th Join us for a free show with Minden / Super Secret Guests @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 15th Join us for a free show with Surfs Drugs / Ah Gods @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 22nd Join us for a free show with Vinyl Williams / Wet Dream @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 29th Join us for a free show with Riley Geare Trio / Sama Dams Experimental Set @ 8pm. 21 +
OK LADIES...
Let’s get in formation for Portland Monthly's fun 5K run/walk/roll to honor the bold women reshaping Oregon. We'll work up a sweat...and then work together to empower the women and nonprofits in our community. Following the 5K, our Woman Up! after-party will celebrate what it means to persist, create, thrive, build, and move like a girl—complete with breakfast cocktails, brunch bites, and massages, of course. Everyone is welcome!* #womanuppdx #oregonwoman
EMPOWERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF GIRLS
To continue empowering the next generation of Oregon women, a portion of the event proceeds will be donated to Girls, Inc., the organization inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Girls, Inc. provides life-changing after school programs and experiences that help girls, ages 6-18, grow up to be healthy, educated, and independent.
STAND UP, STEP UP, WOMAN UP, AND JOIN US
Date: Sunday, June 4, 2017
Location: Sellwood Riverfront Park
Time: Registration: 8am | 5K - 9am | Party 9:30am - 1pm
Cost: 5K + T-Shirt: $25 | 17 & Under 5K - Free | Party - Free
$16 General Admission
$20 Day of Show
$28 VIP (seating in the first five rows in the center section - available in advance only)
The Back Fence PDX: MAINSTAGE show has been playing to packed good-looking audiences since 2008. The evening features local and out of town storytellers telling true personal tales based on the night’s theme. Former storytellers range from a blood-spatter expert, a pet photographer, a park ranger, funeral director, a former Scientologist, to scientists and doctors, to New York Times best-selling authors, film actors/writers/directors, and people we’ve met on the street. MAINSTAGE stories have never been told publicly. In some cases, not even to significant others.
A tribute to director Jonathan Demme (1944-2017).
Sonic Cinema presents STOP MAKING SENSE (1984). Jonathan Demme captures the frantic energy of Talking Heads in this concert movie shot at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in 1983. The band's frontman, David Byrne, first appears on an empty stage, armed with only an acoustic guitar, and is gradually joined by bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz, keyboardist Jerry Harrison and a cadre of backup singers as they perform the band's hits, culminating in an iconic performance featuring Byrne in an enormous suit.
Sponsored by XRAY FM, Music Millennium and Lagunitas Brewing.
Passes Accepted: Guest Pass and Member Guest Pass.
McMenamins, StarChile, WE 96.3, Pabst Blue Ribbon & XRAY FM Present: MIC CHECK
Mic Check is a Hip Hop Showcase every last Thursday of the month at White Eagle, with Live performances, drink specials and good vibes!
WE 96.3 we be in the building filming the event and you can watch it on their website www.we963pdx.com as well as the Mic Check
Youtube page:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2cHeUlJhhCirZI1rTHGRnw
THURSDAY MAY 25TH:
Special Guests...
BROOKFIELD DUCE
MIGHTY
SAMUEL THE 1ST
Hosted by StarChile
Music by Trox
Dooors @ 9pm, Show starts at 10pm...
21 and over, Tickets: $7 @ the Door
Matthew Logan Vasquez is feeling optimistic.
That’s not necessarily apparent the first time you spin his new full-length solo album. Each track on Matthew Logan Does What He Wants feels urgent and intense. Impatient landlords, financial woes and other frustrations fan the agitation embedded in the opening track, “Same.” Isolation darkens the brooding images of “From Behind The Glass.” Death takes a bow on “The Fighter.” Vasquez can’t help but juxtapose the celebration of “Fatherhood” with a lament that “we ain’t got the money to pay the hospital.”
The music enhances this impression. As fans of his work with Delta Spirit and Middle Brother know well, Vasquez knows how to fuse passion and poetry in his writing and then ignite this volatile mix with extraordinarily expressive singing. In this sense he stands as a peer and a worthy successor to those who influenced him as an up-and-coming artist — Neil Young, Kurt Cobain, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed and others often mentioned, none of them known for their upbeat, sunny lyrics.
“My point is that life is a struggle,” Vasquez continues. “But how can you have optimism and hope if you don’t have something negative? Context is what makes it meaningful.”
For Vasquez, context involves drawing from dramatically different settings. Growing up in Austin Texas and along the California coast, hunkering down for years in Brooklyn as he finessed his music in a more pressurized urban context and then heading back to Austin to put all the pieces together, he took note of the differences and similarities these places offered. During much of that time he channeled his experiences into Delta Spirit, whose albums inspired critics to laud the band as “restless and defiant” (Paste), its music infused by “waves of measured ferocity” (Uncut) and “significant depth” (Austin Chronicle).
To keep his path clear and work on his own terms, Vasquez built a studio in his home for this past year — a trailer parked about an hour west of Austin. Here, in Texas Hill Country, surrounded by evergreen oak trees, he wrote and recorded basic tracks and then brought in singer Kam Franklin from The Suffers, Shakey Graves drummer Christopher Booshada and Jud Johnson of A. Sinclair to add parts as needed. For backup vocals and string parts, he worked long-distance via sound files with the Parkington Sisters, who he performed with during a Middle Brother set at last year’s Newport Folk Festival. “They performed a miracle, giving me a 3-D depth that makes the tracks they appear on jump out of the speakers,” he insists.
In final form, Does What He Wants is like a hall of mirrors, each capturing a different image of one self-aware and restlessly creative individual. This music is diverse yet unified, which of course was a priority for its author.
And, in the end, it turns out to feel pretty optimistic after all — a perfect statement for these times and possibly for some time to come.
HOLOCENE AND XRAY.FM PRESENT...
WILD COMBINATION: A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO ARTHUR RUSSELL
CHANTI DARLING, KARL KLING, GOLD CASIO, CASPAR SONNET, NOAH BERNSTEIN, JOHN NIEKRASZ, JONATHAN SIELAFF, MOOREA MASA, DJ HONEST JOHN, DJ SET BY STEVE KNUTSON (AUDIKA RECORDS), LECTURE BY MATT MARBLE, VISUALS BY SHAWN CREEDEN
SUN MAY 21
7:30 PM
$8.00 - $10.00
TICKETS
This event is 21 and over
Join us in honoring this visionary's memory on his birthday! An evening of live cover song sets, a lecture and DJ sets. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Cascade AIDS Project.
Ohmme: an experiment in voice and sound by Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. Inspired by the Chicago improvisational music scene, Cunningham and Stewart joined forces in 2014. Their combined vocal and musical talents yield a dichotomy of harmony and chaos leaving the audience wanting more. Ohmme has been compared to PJ Harvey, Kate Bush and Tortoise, but their inane chemistry creates something uniquely satisfying and different from their predecessors.
Alina Bea: Progressive pop à la Bjork and Kate Bush
Amenta Abioto: Songwriter, producer, and actor, Amenta Abioto is on the cutting edge of all that is musical, theatrical, and literary. Her music is boldly mystical and soul-fired, and her raw live performances invoke elements of both theatrical surprise and magic through ancient African diasporic sounds and stories. Weaved into syncopated rhythms and dichotomies of comedic proportions, Amenta surprises and tantalizes audiences with mind bending ideas. She brings to the music scene funky academia while skipping vocally from soul shaking gospel to smooth jazz and then onto hip hop rhythms wrapped in West African beats.
Graduating from Idllywild Art’s Academy in 2010, she trained in musical theatre. Since graduating she has courted the music scene and produced one self-titled EP, Amenta Abioto , and one upcoming album, Opening Flower Hymns. Receiving inspiration from the best-seller work Women Who Run With the Wolves, mythological characterization and cultural stories are reflected in the original works of Amenta Abioto.
Lineup:
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Oddisee http://www.bandsintown.com/Oddisee/facebookapp?came_from=64
Oddisee http://www.bandsintown.com/Oddisee/facebookapp?came_from=64
GOOD COMPNY http://www.bandsintown.com/GoodCompny/facebookapp?came_from=64
Olivier St. Louis
Find Local Concerts: http://www.bandsintown.com/facebookapp?came_from=71
Portland rap promoter and professional MC Idris Oferrall, better known as “StarChile,” is hosting a benefit for Trail Blazers’ DJ O.G. One (David Jackson) at Holocene on May 7. Jackson, who has been the Trail Blazers’ in-house DJ for nine NBA seasons, has not yet been able to resume his role with the team following major complications from cancer surgeryon March 14. He has instead needed assistance with medical expenses while unable to work, which you can read more about on his GoFundMe page, here.
The benefit, presented by Holocene and XRAY.FM, will feature an impressive lineup of local artists with whom Jackson has built relationships over the years.
LOUDER THAN WORDS: A BENEFIT FOR DJ O.G. ONE
SAEEDA WRIGHT, MIKE PHILLIPS, FARNELL NEWTON & THE OTHERSHIP CONNECTION, VURSATYL, MIC CAPES, JON BELZ, DJ JUGGERNAUT, HOSTED BY STARCHILE
DOORS: 7:00 PM / SHOW: 8:00 PM
Tickets: $8.00 - $10.00
This event is 21 and over
The community is coming together to actively join David "DJ O.G. One" Jackson in his fight against cancer and recovery from post surgical complications. A benefit event will be held at Holocene Portland featuring some of the many artists O.G. has built with and mentored throughout the years, great musicians and artists from right here in Portland.
The outpouring of support for Jackson has been tremendous, with over 200 people contributing financially in the last three weeks. If you’ve been hoping to help, now is your chance. You can join the community of giving by showing your support at the upcoming event. For ticketing and venue information, visit the Holocene website.
Open Signal's first Open House drew more than 800 Portlanders to see our newly renovated facility and find out about our new media-making programs.
In fact, it was such a great party that we've decided to do it again!
On Saturday, May 6 from 4 to 10 p.m., Open Signal staff will throw open our doors to the community. Come explore our space, see work by independent media-makers and learn how we can help you realize your vision.
In Studio A, XRAY.FM will be hosting a live hip-hop show, featuring Alexis Cannard, Neka Perini and Blossom!
We'll also be screening XRAY TV, a new, curated television block created by XRAY.FM and Open Signal; offering 10% discounts on class registrations; and showing projections by digital media students.
Come hear live music, get your photo taken in a video synth photo booth and chill in a ten-foot-tall, twenty-foot-wide electronic pyramid installation (created by middle school students at Open School North and Open Signal resident artist Kello Goeller).
We'll have pizza and alcoholic beverages available for purchase, and those who register via Eventbrite will get a FREE slice of pizza and drink ticket.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-house-tickets-29905165154
The Bridgetown Comedy Festival celebrates its tenth year of bringing the best in comedy to Portland. View the full lineup of over 100 performers and themed shows here.
2017 highlights include:
- Janeane Garofalo (Saturday Night Live, The Larry Sanders Show)
- Andy Kindler (Bob’s Burgers, Everybody Loves Raymond)
- Eugene Mirman (Bob’s Burgers, Delocated)
- Karen Kilgariff (My Favorite Murder, Mr. Show)
- Guy Branum (Talk Show The Game Show, Chelsea Lately)
- Baron Vaughn (Grace and Frankie, Fairly Legal)
- Jackie Kashian (The Dork Forest, Lady Dynamite)
- Laurie Kilmartin (Conan, Last Comic Standing)
- Kevin Avery (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver)
- Matt Braunger (Agent Carter, Big Dumb Animal)
- Brooke van Poppelen (Hack My Life, Girl Code)
- Nico Santos (Superstore, Chelsea Lately)
- Dave Hill (@midnight, Inside Amy Schumer)
- Eliza Skinner (The Late, Late Show with James Corden)
- Debra DiGiovanni (Just For Laughs, Last Comic Standing)
- Ahmed Bharoocha (Adam Devine’s House Party, Conan)
- Chris Fairbanks (Almost Genius, Conan)
- Annie Lederman (We Have Issues, @midnight)
- Shane Torres (Conan)
- Andy Erikson (Last Comic Standing)
Lock in your pre-sale festival now at a savings of $10 off of the standard price and visit bridgetowncomedy.com for performer and show updates.
*Note that festival passes do not include admission to the pre-festival special event Patton Oswalt show at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on May 2nd, ticketed separately atportland5.com, or any shows taking place at Revolution Hall, ticketed separately at revolutionhallpdx.com as they are announced.
***Performers and shows subject to change***