ON THE STAIRS, TEAM EVIL, IVAN AND ALYOSHA, PETOSKEY(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on On The Stairs.
PICKATHON BENEFEST: CORIN TUCKER BAND, OLD LIGHT, ZOO ANIMAL(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Did you know that Buckman Elementary is the only public arts-focused elementary school in Portland? That means less limbo, more interpretive dance and marimba classes, and with such high standards of artistic nourishment comes a tab that the state of Oregon does not pick up. So naturally, the great minds behind Pickathon—the damned-near utopian summer music festival on Pendarvis Farm—caught wind of the school's annual fundraising efforts and created Benefest, a four-part benefit festival to take place over the course of the next month in selected venues around town. For the first installation, locals the Corin Tucker Band and Old Light—once described by John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees) as "Crosby, Stills and Nash, if they didn't suck"—will take the stage at Mississippi Studios. And while $25 might seem a hefty price tag, saving a child's young, impressionable ears from Chubby Checker's "Limbo Rock" is absolutely priceless. RAQUEL NASSER
CLIMBER, HELLO MORNING, LITTLE BEIRUT(Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta) The men of Hello Morning are such a seasoned group of local musicians that I find it interesting that their name evokes the new start of a breaking dawn. But hey, it works. Hello Morning seems to have created something fresh among the rich histories of its four members, each of whom has previously put in time with established local acts such as Boy Eats Drum Machine and Jonah. The combined powers of Kevin Breuner, Peter Swanson, Henry Curl, and Ben Sims results in an extremely tight, exciting sound, varying from anthemic love songs like "Come Home" (currently available for free download on their Facebook page) to heart-racing stadium rock numbers like "Coldbreakers" (as recently heard in a Seattle Seahawks ad). Their latest recording, A Fiction, will be out later this year. MARANDA BISH
A complete listing of this week's shows can be viewed here.