We could hardly plunge headlong into the weekend without making some mention here of a particularly busy music schedule, even by this area's standards, with a little bit of everything up for the offering. Tonight's Pink Martini show at Da Vinci Days in Corvallis is the kind of thing folks in those parts don't have too many opportunities to see, and the locals should be clamoring, weather permitting, for the $10 tickets. The Portland-based collective's latest is Hey Eugene. Elsewhere, only a mad scalper can get you in to tonight's Tegan & Sara to-do at the sold out Bagdad Theater in Portland. The Canadian sister duo's new release, The Con (produced by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla), comes out next Tuesday. If rootsy is more your thing, you'll want to head to the Oregon Zoo's Summer Concert Series, this week featuring singer-songwriter Patty Griffin. Her seriously great 2007 release Children Running Through features more than its fair share of transcendent moments, including an unexpected bit of old school soul in the mix. Scott Miller & the Commonwealth open. Also tonight: Live Wire tapes a show at the Aladdin Theatre featuring music from The Shaky Hands and Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, among others. Saturday night features the perfect solace for hipsters who hold Paul Simon's Graceland as one of their secret guilty pleasures. New York City's Vampire Weekend sound like The Strokes raised on their parents' Simon and Peter Gabriel releases, and are getting a lot of attention (and quickly) for their odd combo of post-punk with bongo and steel drum. This, despite having one three-song EP to their credit. The bill at Portland's Holocene also includes Casiotone For the Painfully Alone and The Donkeys, among others. Also on Saturday: rhythm & soul legend Bettye LaVette plays Salem's Art Fair & Festival; Bobby Bare Jr., You Am I, and The Hugs play Dante's in Portland. Finally, Sunday sees another sold-out show at Edgefield: Local heroes The Decemberists return home after a series of orchestral shows around the country. The endlessly fascinating Menomena opens. Meanwhile, Seattle's Jesse Sykes brings her smoky vocals and her band The Sweet Hereafter to Portland's Doug Fir. The band's 2007 release is the excellent Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul. Whew! All of this comes with one caveat, of course: you'll have to somehow plan these events around this weekend's In House broadcasts, which will include an in-studio session from Portland's Blitzen Trapper. Got all that?

Posted by jpetersen on Friday, July 20 at 5:33pm