Workin’ for the weekend: Jan. 23-25

Friday
After a week of political intrigue—both local and national—nothing cleans the palate better than a little Orc-based power metal. OK, that’s probably a simplification of Three Inches of Blood‘s sound, but these guys shred the geek fantastic. Also up are retro thrashers Early Man and Toxic Holocaust. Straight outta ‘87 bitches!
Hawthorne Theatre, 8:30 p.m., all ages, $12-$14

For those with shorter hair and more drugs in their system, check out the riffing space-tweak of Seattle’s Kinski, who are basically the OGs of our current Northwest psych/post/whatever rock scene. Portland’s similarly inclined SubArachnoid Space will be around too. Trippy, brah.
Doug Fir Lounge, 9 p.m., 21-plus, $12

For those interested in the basement band circuit, this weekend’s Dmmr Bmmr Fest packs all of your favorites into three days of madness. Playing tonight are noise-niks Eat Skull and White Fang, among many, many others (30 bands in three nights). You can tell how hip this is by the curious lack of vowels. Get yr dnce’n.
East End, 5 p.m., 21-plus, $10

Saturday
Opening a café in this Great Depression Part Deuce is a little nutty, but the party seems all right. The OZ Café hopes to fend off failure with the indie rock shenanigans of Jared Mees and The Grown Children, the one-man-banditude of Boy Eats Drum Machine and punctuation-vacant Yeah Great Fine. To café owners: Good luck and Godspeed.
OZ Café (1720 N.W. Lovejoy), 8 p.m., all ages, FREE

For a blast of local flavor check out Berbati’s, who brings us another on-point hip-hop show featuring the talents of Onry Ozzborn, Rudy and The Rhetoric and Sapient, among others. If you’re into that underground sound, a la Rhymesayers, Definitive Jux, etc., this’ll have some boom-bap in the pocket for you.
Berbati’s Pan, 9 p.m., 21-plus, $8

Sunday
Finally, the big-deal show of this weekend is the Crystal Ballroom’s 95th birthday (!) and the palace of bouncy floors is going all out. There’s ’60s throwback Blitzen Trapper, PDX folk supergroup Blue Giant and a wide host of others. The best part: it’s all free! Some of the best bands in town at one of the best venues? Sign me up brother.
Crystal Ballroom, 1 p.m. – Midnight, all-ages, FREE

Think I’m an asshole? Want to tell me about your show? Toilet problems? Existential dread? E-mail me: ed.johnson (at) gmail (dot) com.