What is the 3900 Festival?

33 indie bands. Camping. All ages. The 3900′ Festival is a novel idea–you take a bunch of unsigned or indie label bands and you put them all together. Throw in some camping and a beautiful location and you have all the ingredients for a magical weekend. And this has to be the cheapest festival around Portland all year. For $53 you get a two-day pass which includes camping–not bad at all! Granted there are no marquee bands on the bill, but admit it, the headliners are always disappointing anyway. This is the festival of the opening acts-a scrappy, hungry lot that takes nothing for granted and always aims to please. In other words, this should be good!

3900′ Festival : June 27th & 28th : Horning’s Hideout : North Plains, OR

For more info, the band lineup and for tickets, visit the festival website.

Colin Meloy - Wonder Ballroom

Fresh off the release of his first sans-Decemberists album, Colin Meloy Sings Live! (Kill Rock Stars, 2008), Mr. Meloy is wrapping up a mini-western US tour with a show in his home base of Portland, Oregon. He will be playing the Wonder Ballroom on Saturday May 3rd w/ Laura Gibson, a fellow Portland-based singer/songwriter.

Wonder Ballroom and Cafe Wonder : 128 NE Russell St. : (503) 284.8686
May 3rd, 8pm (doors at 7) $20 advance, $23 door

Stumptown Comics Fest 2008!

Want to meet Nicholas Gurewitch, creator of the much-loved Perry Bible Fellowship comic? Feel like picking the brain of Dark Horse Comics creator Mike Richardson and hear what’s currently on their table? Have you ever wanted to join forces with like-minded people to create an entire comic in one day? Well you can accomplish all this and more in one weekend in Portland, Oregon. This weekend actually. It’s time for Stumptown Comics Fest 2008! What started as a very small gathering in 2004 has turned into a large-scale national comic festival. Come on out and support these artists and innovators!

Stumptown Comics Fest (www.stumptowncomics.com)
Saturday & Sunday, April 26th and 27th, 10am-6pm
Lloyd Center Double Tree Hotel (1000 NE Multnomah)

National Record Store Day

Remember the last time you moved and swore you would never buy another record again for the rest of your life? Well it’s time to forget all that nonsense, because this Saturday (April 19th) is National Record Store Day! So get out and support your favorite local record store! God knows they need all the help they can get these days. In the age of free downloads and pirated music, fewer people appreciate the unique experience that a record store can offer. Below are a few of the events planned in Portland for this sacred day.

Jackpot Records Downtown (203 SW 9th Ave)

Local Portland band, MENOMENA will be challenging Jackpot Records customers to free foosball for National Record Store Da If your lucky enough to beat the band, your name will go in a hat and one lucky winner will win free special gifts. The band will also be bringing their private collection of vinyl and DJ’ing during the event.

Music Millennium (3158 E Burnside)

Music Millennium is celebrating this landmark event with a day of celebration, including free live music, giveaways, and prizes. Chris Margolin is performing at 1 and 2 PM, and Dylan May is performing at 4 and 5 PM.

A Streetcar, Revisited

Without changing a single word of the original text, Portland’s Artists Repertory Theatre has turned a classic play on its head. Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize winning A Streetcar Named Desire is well known for its exploration of madness and the human psyche. Director John Kretzu, in his adaptation, has brought that element of the play even more to the forefront. Told through memories of a now-institutionalized Blache DuBois, this adaptation forces you to question everything you thought you knew about this famous American play.

Artists Repertory Theatre - 1515 SW Morrison - (503) 241-1278
Tues-Sun 7:30 pm, Sun 2 pm, through May 18, $20-35

Mississippi Spring Social is Coming!

Every month Portland’s Mississippi neighborhood holds an old fashioned “social” in order to bring the community together and promote local small business. The next event happens this Thursday, April 10th, 2008. This month’s main feature is the Spring Fashion Show, running from 7:00-8:00pm at Mississippi Rising Ballroom (Mississippi Ave and Shaver). So come on out and see Mississippi Avenue retailers and clothing manufactures showcase the latest fashion and styles coming out of PDX!

Buckman Bash in Portland

Can you think of a better way to support a good cause than watching two of Portland’s finest songsters rock solo sets at the Jupiter Hotel? Well for $50 (hey, no one said a good cause would be cheap!) you can witness Stephen Malkmus sans Jicks and James Mercer minus The Shins. Come on, this could be your big chance to hear Malkmus do “Zurich is Stained” solo acoustic! The Buckman Bash is a yearly event to benefit Portland’s Buckman Elementery School, an arts-integrated school in SE Portland’s Buckman neighborhood. There will also be a live auction with donated artwork from many local artists. The festivities get underway this Friday, April 11th, with the doors opening at 7pm. Read more

Crafty Birthday Party at Doug Fir

Crafty Wonderland is having its 2nd anniversary birthday party Sunday, April 13th at the Doug Fir Lounge (830 E Burnside). Crafty Wonderland is an arts and crafts event happening every second Sunday of the month and featuring more than 40 vendors, as well as a DIY cupcake table. Willamette Week voted the gathering a “Best of Portland” event last summer. Read more

Sometimes a Great Notion Hits Portland

Sometimes a Great Notion, the famous second novel from Pacific Northwest iconoclast Ken Kesey, has been adapted into play form and premiers at Portland Center Stage (PCS), located in Portland, Oregon’s Pearl District. Written and directed by Aaron Posner, the play runs from April 1-27th on PCS’s Main Stage. Kesey’s epic saga of rival brothers, striking loggers, love and betrayal love takes place in the fictional town of Wakonda, Oregon. This is the first stage adaptation of this important fictional work. Marty Hughley, in his review for The Oregonian, calls the play “an artistic triumph worthy of its lineage.” Read more

Marjane Satrapi Reads for Portland Arts

Graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, best-known for her autobiographical works Persepolis and Persepolis 2, will read at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (1037 SW Broadway) Read more

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