portland
friday 11
Xavier Rudd
In a typical show, this blonde, bearded, barefooted Australian is surrounded by multiple didgeridoos, a guitar, a stompbox, drums, a banjo, harmonicas, bells, and a bass guitar. Most popular for his live performances at music festivals in Australia, his music is packed with socially conscious themes, including spirituality, environmentalism and the rights of Aboriginal peoples. The style and sound of his one-man show is reminiscent of musicians like Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews or Ben Harper, except with his own influences from the Land Down Under. 9 pm. Wonder Ballroom. $23-$25. 21 and over.
saturday 12
Carolina Chocolate Drops
An old-time string band from Durham, N.C, the Carolina Chocolate Drops' 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2011. The band's sound, produced from a collection of old fashioned instruments including but not limited to a fiddle, spoons and a banjo, is a warm and cheery step back in time. 5pm doors. 7pm. Oregon Zoo. $25-$45.
wednesday 16
Filter
Filter's self-described stereophonic assault is born from its unorthodox creative process. Since the American industrial band's birth in 1993 in Cleveland, it has produced six studio albums. These unconventional albums feature inebriated answering machine samples, lavish bass lines, and jagged guitars set to a backdrop of drum machines punctuated by the unfurling of Richard Patrick's vocal prowess and signature roar. 8 pm. Hawthorne Theatre. $22.50. 21 and over.
veneta
friday 11
Oregon Country Fair
Body paint, drum circles, vegan food, jam bands, slam poets and belly dancers—each year Veneta invites these, and an enormous crowd of Birkenstock-wearing Oregonians, to the Oregon Country Fairgrounds. The grounds are a maze of vendors and stages tucked into the forest, and each day passing through fair-goers are guaranteed to discover something new that likely can't be found anywhere else. It's a bizarre, eclectic and stimulating mix of music and entertainment unlike any other. 11 am-7 pm through Sunday. Oregon Country Fairgrounds. $23-$25 in advance only.
