Are Constantines actually the greatest live band in the world? Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that I can't think of a band that has consistently blown me away as much and as frequent as they have, nor any band that I would rather see.

They aren't flashy. They won't pull out rock star moves. There won't be any wicked guitar solos, mind-melting moments, or, for that matter, any specific things you'll be able to point at tomorrow when you're telling your friends you saw the best show you've ever seen. No, through the sheer power of rock and roll, by way of blood, sweat, and tears, Constantines will single handedly destroy whatever notion you may have of rock and roll in your head.

I've had religious experiences at their shows. I've had moments where I've sworn I held the world's answers in the palm of my hand. I've confessed my sins and been atoned. Maybe it's their perfectly calculated, Minutemen-esque efficiency; the fact that with every line he forces out, singer Bry Webb looks and sounds like he's exorcising every one of his demons; or the fact that, with broken hands, broken souls, or broken instruments, these dudes will not phone it in, not give up, or not give anything less then their all.

This is blue collar rock. Before the Hold Steady heralded the triumphant return of Rock, Constantines did so, just more subtly. The Hold Steady are literate, nerdy rockers for those of us who see ourselves in them. Constantines, on the other hand, are the people The Hold Steady (and, you know, Springsteen) sing about. These are the dudes working in the mill until their bones ache, drinking cheap beer night after night, looking for that escape.

I hate to get all personal and, ugh, spiritual, about this, but I really feel like Constantines are that good live. They won't win everyone over, by a long shot, but for those who they manage to strike a chord with, tonight is easily going to be one of the epic high points of this year.

THANKSGIVING, GROUPER, O PAON
(The Artistery, 4315 SE Division) Thanksgiving is the primary moniker of Adrian Orange, who, in addition to Thanksgiving, has a dizzying number of additional projects, styles, and undertakings. As Thanksgiving, Orange takes a turn that puts lilting, folk-based songwriting first, immediately recalling Will Oldham or Bill Callahan, but stretching further to something akin to outsider art. There's a lot more to love about Orange, whose musical range also includes the instrumental Watery Graves, and the co-founding of one of Portland's finest records labels (Marriage Records). If there's anything to complain about, it might be a wish for him to sit still a minute and enjoy one project more fully before bouncing to the next. But it's a selfish complaint, and if an artist of his profile can still take the time to play the Artistery, I'm all for shutting my trap and letting him do whatever he damn well pleases. HANNAH CARLEN

MP3:
Adrian Orange - "While You Live"

EARTH, JESSE SYKES, CHRISTOPHER FRANCIS

(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) There’s that whole realm of country music that rejoices in the simplicity of the two-step, the major chords, and the easy everyman chorus. Then there’s that pasty-white underbelly, that weird subset that linked Johnny Cash to Robert Mitchum’s character in The Night of the Hunter. The good ol’ days weren’t meant to be eulogized with frivolous honky-tonk. The past was a bleak place and the heart continues to be a grim and barren landscape. Tonight will not yield simple, sad cowboy songs—rather, it will showcase songs of desolation and emptiness. If Earth’s Morricone-inspired instrumentals don’t thoroughly devastate you, Jesse Sykes’s sultry minor-key ballads certainly will. BRIAN COOK

MP3:
Earth - Rise to Glory

When are those Earth, Wind & Fire tickets comin' in?

Earth, Wind & Fire? Geez, I haven't heard anything. The minute I do, I'll let you know.

I'm plannin' on taking my little brother over here.

Is that your little brother? He's a good-lookin' kid.

The disadvantages of living all these years in a less-than-stellar block in NE Portland? The 9 bullet holes in my home. The advantages? Lots of great characters always lingering about in front of the crib. A favorite is "Block Party" (our nickname for him, since every year he tries to get my wife and I to give him money for some sketchy block party that never happens) who collects our cans/bottles and is like the defacto mayor of the block.

At a neighbor's house show a few years back (if you collect cans, a PBR-heavy house show is a goldmine, 5-cents at a time) Block Party and I had a great conversation about the merits of Earth, Wind & Fire. He saw them in the mid-'70s in Oakland and said there wasn't another band like them—"not even James Brown"—and I was a fool to have never seen them. Sure, the band is coasting on the casino circuit right now (they are at Clark County Amphitheater tonight, which is as stale as a casino, but minus the gambling, dream catchers, and king crab buffet), but it's hard to argue with any band that has this many hits.

I posted "September" because it's the song that white people like to dance to at weddings.

What's happening tonight at Holocene? What is "Umbrella"? Is it the name of a special charity organization, or just the title given to this particular night of music?

Writer and video artist Cat Tyc has this to say:

"Umbrella" is a short film that I am making this summer. It's a script that I wrote about a woman who processes her unexpected pregnancy in a sort of surreal way. A man begins to follow her around, thwacking her on the head with an umbrella.

The benefit show was supposed to be addendum to grant money that never came, so this event is the base of starting funds for the film. I feel lucky that my friends agreed to play this show to help me out. We are also having a raffle with prizes from MacTarnahan's (2 cases of beer), 10 Plexifilm dvds, the entire Journal of Short Film catalog, and a basketball signed by all the Portland Trailblazers,
to name a few.

• $2 of your admission goes to benefit both Planned Parenthood and the Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls
• Sarah Winchester of A Weather will perform a solo set of forlorn, whispery folk
• Tara Jane O’Neil will be doing more of eclectic experimentation that has made her a near-icon in the Portland music scene
• Mattress will be performing his awkward electronic lounge-soul
• Rush-N-Disco will be exhibiting their cabaret/performance art
• Mike McGonigal, the man responsible for Yeti magazine and the Halleluwah music festival, will spin platters in between sets
• AND Sarah Dougher, Sad Horse, Janet Pants!

It should be a good, weird time, one that benefits not just a local artistic endeavor but TWO great causes.

Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, doors open at 8 pm, $5-10 sliding scale

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, ROGUE WAVE

(Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey) So now what, Death Cab? The band’s first Portland—er, Troutdale—show in a couple years comes on the heels of Narrow Stairs, their serene and well-balanced sixth album. The once painfully shy Bellingham band is now reluctantly perched atop the music industry—with the new album debuting at number one on the charts—in the somewhat uncomfortable position of being one of the last big American rock bands (ever?). It’s a bit ironic given the band’s unapologetically nerdy personalities, but this new album, like most anything local boy Chris Walla touches, is texturally rich and sounds absolutely immaculate. While it won’t convert haters into believers, Narrow Stairs is just another in a series of perfectly executed, absolutely pristine pop songs. I suppose there isn’t anything wrong with that. EAC

MP3:
Death Cab for Cutie - 405 / Your Heart Is An Empty Room (live at Bonnaroo, 06/15/08)

Photo by K.C. Stimson

Attention, musicians of Portland: Rollerball has been here longer than you. The prolific collective has been transgressing boundaries and stomping all over musical genres long before you ever dreamed of packing the Subaru and hitting the Oregon trail. And as willfully weird as you think your alt-freak-skronk-noise project is, Rollerball has already done it, with results that range from conventional songcraft to free-jazz pinwheeling to outer-wind motorik spacewalking. Ahura, their 14th record—that's right, 14th—celebrates its release tonight, with confident explorations and a warped, enveloping production that makes you feel like you're trapped inside the snare drum. "Cesena Sweat Pants" assembles a looping piano figure with wandering airpipe sax, while the tense, red-heat "Towel Boy Tent" features gargles and creepy babbling, sounding like something from a Dario Argento flick.

NUDGE, EXTRA GOLDEN, COPACRESCENT, DJ ANJALI, THE INCREDIBLE KID, DJ E3
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Extra Golden were born from a three-hour international jam session in Nairobi between native musicians Otieno Jagwasi and Onyango Wuod Omari and American indie rockers Ian Eagleson—in Kenya to research a doctoral thesis on the country’s popular benga music—and Alex Minoff, both of the DC band Golden (Minoff also played in the Make-Up, Weird War, and Six Finger Satellite). The group released the results of that jam, Ok-Oyot System, shortly after Jagwasi’s death. The band recruited new members for live performances and to record follow-up album Hera Ma Nono but had difficulty getting the Kenyan musicians into the US (a difficulty that was ultimately resolved with an assist from Barack Obama, leading to perhaps the first non-embarrassing song bearing the presidential candidate’s name, Hera Ma Nono’s “Obama”). More than just a corrective to all the critical hand-wringing about Vampire Weekend’s alleged musical colonialism, Extra Golden are benga translated with little more interference than some English-language lyrics and the arrangement of visas. ERIC GRANDY

MP3:
Extra Golden - Obama

And the wait is now over.
Verbs, the splendid new record from experimental—and sometimes pop—outfit Au, is now officially out. The release party is set for tonight and will feature the usually restrained Au being back by a 20+ member vocal choir.

That's a lot of people to fit on that Holocene stage, so it's either going to look like a packed subway car (no groping!), or the singers will spillover into the crowd (again, no groping!). Can't wait.

MP3:
Au - Summerheat