Reverend Beat-Man - Friday @ Slabtown
This growling menace from Switzerland (pictured) has done most of the work for me - releasing three volumes of recordings as “Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash.” I could think of no better descriptor for his devastating and sexy sound. Leave the so-called blues to the pikers down at Waterfront Park and get thee to Slabtown for this rockin’ showcase.

Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth - Saturday @ Someday Lounge
If one fireworks show simply isn’t enough for you, perhaps some aural pyrotechnics will help satiate you. Might I recommend, in that regard, the blazing metal showcase happening at the Someday Lounge on the eve of the 4th. Not only is it free, but it also features the latest group formed and fronted by Tad Doyle, whose blistering outfit TAD was one of the first groups signed to Sub Pop Records. Word is that Doyle has lost none of his fire, his fury, or his girth. We can only hope his backing band can keep up with him.

Helios - Wednesday @ Holocene
If a dreamy, cinematic approach to instrumental music pleases you as much as it does me, look no further than this fascinating artist. Known to friends and family as Keith Keniff, this Portland native’s music evokes haunting memories, the kind that you either want to revel in for an eternity or that evoke lingering aches from deep within.

Bitch Magazine benefit - Thursday @ Mississippi Studios
Help support your local nonprofit magazine that comments on pop culture, feminism and media, and catch a fine quartet of local talent at the same time. The bill includes the one-man turntable attack of Boy Eats Drum Machine and the plaintive folk rock of Katie Sawicki.

Loch Lomond - “Witchy” from HUSH Records on Vimeo.

Papercuts - Friday @ Doug Fir Lounge (830 E Burnside)
Jason Quever (pictured), the man who records under the name Papercuts, perfectly acheives the kind of perfect analog, hollowed-out psychedelic pop sound that dozens of Nuggets acolytes would kill for. His latest album, You Can Have What You Want (out on Devendra Banhart’s label Gnomonsong), is a near-masterpiece of Farfisa-laden dreamscapes, over which Quever opines about leaving Earth for good or searching for a royal successor.

Chores/The Pink Widower - Friday @ The World Famous Kenton Club (2025 N Kilpatrick)
A pair of Portland’s best young bands is teaming up for a benefit show in support of Child-Aid. The money earned from this event will help go towards building a library in the town of Las Canoas in Guatemala. That really should be all the recommendation that you need, but the added bonus is getting to see Chores’ raw, grinding rock and the downtempo grooves of The Pink Widower live.

Zaimph - Monday @ Valentines (232 SW Ankeny)
With all the chatter going on about Sonic Youth’s alternate tunings and their arsenal of guitars, it seems like the perfect time to be reminded of what real noise can be eked out of a six-string? Zaimph wrenches sheets of sound from a guitar, mixing it with her own howling voice to create a beautiful, devastating din.

David Byrne - Tuesday @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (1037 SW Broadway)
Your favorite former Talking Head is coming to town this week for a show that will highlight the work that he has done over the years with producer Brian Eno. This will include tracks from their latest collaborative album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, as well as songs from the trio of albums Eno produced for Talking Heads.

Deastro - Tuesday @ Holocene (1001 SE Morrison)
If the ticket price for Mr. Byrne’s show is too prohibitive (it certainly is for me), might I recommend another show taking place on the other side of the Willamette. This one features the fantastic Deastro, a group that produces spritely electro-pop that is equal parts “Baba O’Reilly” and “Blue Monday”.

M64 - Thursday @ Someday Lounge (125 NW 5th Ave)
Tonight’s edition of The Fix - Someday’s weekly hip-hop party hosted by Rev. Shines of Lifesavas - is being used to celebrate the release of a new 7″ single by M64, the collaboration between singer Ragen Fykes and producer Ohmega Watts. The lead track, “Rhythm of the Drums” (a sample of which can be heard on Fykes’ MySpace page), is a lovely slice of dreamy vocals and vintage neo-soul beats. I can’t wait to stop by and pick up my copy.

From PCPA web site.

David Byrne comes to raise the hair on your arms and the sweat on your palms. Eno and Byrne have made a new record, Everything that Happens will Happen Today, their first in 30 years—the formula was lost, but now it has been found. Byrne and Eno began their artistic relationship in the late seventies with 3 Talking Heads albums, followed by their groundbreaking album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Songs from all of the above will be performed in this concert, but not in that order.

David Byrne is well known as the musician who co-founded the group Talking Heads (1976–88) in New York. On record and in concert, the band was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike; more importantly, however, they have proven to be extremely influential. Talking Heads took popular music in new directions, both in terms of sound and lyrics, and also introduced an innovative visual approach to the genre. In 2002 Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2003, Talking Heads released a lovely boxed set which includes a DVD of all the band’s videos. In 2005 a Brick was released with the complete studio catalog on dualdisc with previously unreleased audio and video material.

Brian Eno is not performing on this tour

Today, we introduce a weekly spotlight of Portland-area concerts that we think you should put on your radar. A new edition will be featured here every Thursday.

Holocene 6 Year Anniversary - Friday & Saturday @ Holocene (1001 SE Morrison) One of Portland’s best venues celebrates their sixth birthday with a two-day extravaganza, featuring a fantastic lineup of music. The concerts showcase the two sides of this club’s personality, with Friday highlighting Holocene’s love of forward thinking electronic and dance music. That night’s lineup includes a DJ set from Brooklyn-based house DJ Marcos Cabral and a set by local favorites Linger & Quiet. Saturday leans heavily on indie rock with recent Willamette Week Best New Band pick Explode Into Colors and the drums/viola electro-pop instrumental duo Talkdemonic (pictured) headlining.

Basshaters/Peninsula Project - Friday @ The Wail (5135 NE 42nd Ave) A duo featuring drums and double bass in which neither instrument is played as expected. This San Francisco group ekes out scratchy noise and horn-like tones from the strings and uses their trap kit as a device to rattle instead of roll. The band is touring the Western U.S. with a likeminded bunch of noisemakers from Norway (with a instrumental lineup that includes bass, guitar and tuba) known as Peninsula Project.

Michael Hurley - Saturday @ The Press Club (2621 SE Clinton) One of the many great things about Michael Hurley is that you never really can pin the man down. His name seems to pop up on concert calendars without warning, leaving fans scrambling to rearrange plans so they don’t miss out on one of his peerless performances. Tonight, this long-time blues/folk veteran will be filing the cozy confines of the Press Club with his wizened vocals and arch lyrical visions.

Imaad Wasif - Saturday @ Mississippi Studios (3939 N Mississippi) You can catch this brilliant singer-songwriter opening up for Neko Case at the second of her two shows at the Crystal Ballroom. Or you can make it a late night and stop by Mississippi Studios at midnight on Saturday when Wasif will be performing what’s sure to be either a sleepy or boozy set of beautifully rendered acoustic pop.

The Juan MacLean - Sunday @ Doug Fir Lounge (830 E Burnside) If you ever need proof as to the hypnotic power of dance music, I suggest you drop your tone arm on the masterpiece that is “Happy House” by The Juan MacLean. It wraps the history of house and disco into a tight, 12-minute package custom made for a sweaty dance floor. It’s going to get mighty muggy in the Doug Fir once this group hits the stage.

Portland Radio Authority Benefit - Tuesday @ East End (203 SE Grand Ave) This online, non-commercial, listener-supported station is seeking out a little extra help during this wintry economic climate via this well-curated benefit show. On the bill is art rockers Iretsu and filmmaker Matt McCormick playing minimalist electronica under the name Very Stereo.

Portland School of Rock Pixies show w/ Frank Black from mark lewman on Vimeo.

Teenager of the year Frank Black joins Portland School of Rockers Hannah Lewman (guitar), Julian Hixson (guitar), Oscar Gayet (guitar), Nola Versfelt (bass), Max Griggs (drums), Jacob Weber (vocals), and Michelle Brayson (vocals) for Where Is My Mind.

The sold out show featured all the classics, and the energy between the kids on stage and the 500 kids in the crowd was so awesome. This was the first time performing for many of the students.

It is fitting that to round out the 25th year of performances at Teatro Milagro (Miracle Theater) that the theater would choose The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa as the capstone for the ‘08 - ‘09 season. Written in 1964 by Luis Valdez, this surreal, farcical Villa was one of the first agitprop plays to peel apart the experiences of Chicanos living in the U.S., as well as being a catalyst for the formation of an L.A.-based theater, El Teatro Campensino (The Theater of the Farm Worker). This vibrant performance house helped inspire dozens of Hispanic playwrights and actors, as well as setting the spark that would result in the founding of this Portland-based theater in 1984. Teatro Milagro is familiar with Villa, as well, having staged it in the theater’s infancy, in 1990.

This affinity with both the play and its legacy helped spark an air of excitement for its return to the cozy confines of Milagro, one that quite obviously infecting the actors as they threw their collective all into this off-kilter look at Chicano stereotypes and cultural assimilation.

The play concerns a Hispanic family living in Los Angeles in the ’60s that, in Valdez’s hands, represents the typecasting of the day (Dad is lazy alcoholic, son Joaquin is a juvenile delinquent, the whole family on welfare) taken to outlandish extremes. The capper, though, is eldest son, Belarmino (played with comic aplomb by Vincente Guzmán-Orozco) who is totally dependent on his family due to the fact that he is nothing more than a head.

This unusual, but relatively stable household is upended by the return of Mingo (Danny Moreno), an ex-G.I. who immediately sets about trying to “normalize” his family within American culture. What follows is an exploration of extremes - erasing one’s ethnicity completely for the sake of assimilation or defiantly embracing your roots - spurred on by Mingo’s ridiculous posturing and Belarmino’s claims that he is, in fact, Pancho Villa.

While Villa lays out its themes in rather broad strokes, the actors on the whole responded admirably by underplaying their parts. As the parents, Jose Gonzalez and Bunnie Rivera - both veteran actors who worked on the 1990 production - especially stood out, balancing the undertone of social commentary with the play’s more ridiculous elements nicely.

Performances are at the Milagro Theatre (525 SE Stark St., Portland).

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The Lincoln MKS (left) the acclaimed Von Von Von (right)

In case you think I’ve lost my mind, here’s the blurb - “The Ford Motor Company and their Lincoln division have chosen Nemo’s Dave Allen as a ‘digital influencer’ and handed him the keys to a fancy red Lincoln MKS for a few days. Dave was tracked down by Ford through his highly trafficked music blog, Pampelmoose, that he runs for Nemo. Dave will be in full Top Gear mode for the next three days as he runs around Portland. Yesterday Dave used the car to pick up the acclaimed Belgian New Wave electronic artist, Von Von Von, from Portland International Airport and we will shortly be posting a video of that trip. Stay tuned for all the pics and video and a final overview of the driving experience from Dave.”

There you have it - we plan on taking the car “dancing” down at the Dandy Warhols Odditorium warehouse and we’ll be testing the Sirius audio system with DJ Joelskool….