Music❯R&B

November 4, 2026

Special Concerts

The Philip Glass Ensemble returns to Portland for Powaqqatsi, an artful cinematic experience that speaks to the impact of modernization and industrialization on traditional ways of living. Seen through the lens of communities across the globe, the narrative is amplified by compositions from Philip Glass that feature native, classical, and electronic instruments. Enjoyed alone or as the second in The Qatsi Trilogy, you won’t want to miss this thought-provoking performance from The Philip Glass Ensemble and conductor Michael Riesman.

po.waq.qa.tsi (from the Hopi language, powaq sorcerer + qatsi life) n., an entity, a way of life, that consumes the life forces of other beings in order to further its own life.

• Michael Riesman Conductor
• Members of Portland State University Chamber Choir Ethan Sperry, Conductor
• The Philip Glass Ensemble
• Oregon Symphony

This concert is part of the Special Concerts series, and is eligible for the Choose Your Own Series (Portland only). Concert length is approximately 1 hour 40 minutes. No intermission.

Concert begins promptly at the time listed.

Daley is an acclaimed British singer, songwriter and creative artist from Manchester, UK, whose unmistakable falsetto and soul-bearing songwriting first emerged through London’s underground music scene and swiftly carried him onto the global stage, where he established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary soul.

Touched by the sounds of Prince, Chaka Khan, Sade, Radiohead and George Michael, Daley's sound seamlessly blends classic soul sensibilities with contemporary, alternative R&B. With two critically acclaimed studio albums and several Top 10 Billboard R&B singles, Daley’s artistry has been acknowledged by the Grammys, MOBO Awards, BET and Soul Train Awards. His collaborations with legends including Stevie Wonder, Jill Scott, Marsha Ambrosius, Gorillaz, Pharrell Williams and Jessie J have further cemented his place among some of the most respected artists in the world.

Now entering a new era, Daley prepares to unveil the next chapter of his artistic journeywith the release of his long-awaited third album project, supported by his USA Tour...

Access to an intimate pre-show Q&A with Daley

Notes on Seating: Open seating, may be limited or standing room only. First come, first seated. Open dance floor may obscure sightlines. Daley - US Tour

Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World (2026) Directed by Sasha Waters Freyer. 1hr 31min. Not Rated.

If poetry had a pop icon, Mary Oliver would be it. Best-selling poet and Pulitzer Prize-winner, lover of dogs and long walks in the woods, queer and out but intensely private—Oliver’s poems inspire liberals and conservatives, atheists and believers, naturalists and urbanites. She was America’s unlikely, contemporary mystic, stalking the ponds and forests of Cape Cod for nearly fifty years in order to open herself—and us, her readers—to the known and unknowable world. Sasha Waters’ beguiling portrait features poems read by Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi, Stephen Colbert, Lucy Dacus, Jesse Welles, and Oprah Winfrey.

This film is featured as part of Portland Book Festival’s Cover to Cover.

We do not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, and films exhibited don’t necessarily reflect the views of PAM CUT or the Portland Art Museum. In addition to the synopses, trailers, and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on sites like Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com.

James Spooner joins PAM CUT for a screening of his film Afro-Punk, followed by an author talk for his new book It Starts With Anger. Books will be available for sale on site.

It Starts With Anger is a coming-of-age graphic memoir exploring race, identity, and rebellion through James Spooner’s teenage years in 1990s New York into his young adulthood in the early 2000s. Confronted with systemic racism, microaggressions, and Nazi extremism within punk spaces, Spooner traces how reactionary anger evolved into a creative force and a path to self-determination, along the way following the founding of the Afro-Punk movement, his eventual decision to leave the company, and an ongoing raw examination of the tensions between underground culture and mainstream success.

While not a traditional graphic memoir, It Starts With Anger combines black-and-white, zine-inspired visual elements including photos, illustrations, and cartoon panels with traditional narrative in a unique package that recounts the story behind Afro-Punk. James Spooner has not talked publicly about his reasons for quitting Afro-Punk previously, and the book is a damning indictment of its corporatization. But more importantly, it also offers a look at issues of Black identity, representation, and the lack thereof in a movement that had often prided itself on allyship, while being completely myopic to all the ways it fell short in that regard as a scene that was ironically both liberating and alienating for the Black people drawn to it.

ON SCREEN: Afro-Punk

2003. Directed by James Spooner. Runtime: 1 hour 6 minutes.

This film, which many may assume is a historical punk documentary, is actually an honest and needed treatment of race and identity. Punk and Hardcore music are simply the microcosm in which it is told. First-time director, James Spooner, in telling this story, has opened new dialogues on these crucial subjects both intra- and interracially. Many times funny, sometimes sobering, a wake-up call to America. An examination of the duality of racial identity that DuBois called “double consciousness.” What could have been “The Bad Brains Story” is a story about kids, alienated by two cultures and two communities. Many of these punk and hardcore kids have never questioned their role in the punk scene or the black community until their interviews, and it’s obvious as they struggle on camera to reconcile a fragmented self.

This program is co-presented by Literary Arts as part of the Cover-to-Cover program.

Jamila Woods is a musician, poet, and multidisciplinary artist from the South Side of Chicago. Her critically acclaimed debut album HEAVN – an ode to Blackness, girlhood, and home – was released by JagJaguwar Records in 2017. Her sophomore project, LEGACY! LEGACY!, features twelve tracks named after writers, thinkers, and visual artists who have influenced the creator’s life and work – including James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni and Frida Kahlo. Her most recent album, Water Made Us, is a genre-blending song cycle on love and the wisdom of surrender.

Jamila has been featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk, CBS This Morning, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She has shared stages with Corinne Bailey Rae, Rafael Saadiq, Bonobo, Common, Chance the Rapper, Brittany Howard, Macklemore, and many others. An award-winning poet, Jamila’s work often blurs boundaries between poem and song. As cultural critic Doreen St. Felix writes, “It makes you wish all singers were poets.”

Tickets available at the door

Fundraiser for Snowday’s Foundation; raffle ticket included!

Shot on 16mm and 35mm, KEVORKIAN pairs heavy, technical snowboarding with life on the road. Big riding, bone-crushing bails, unscripted moments, and everything that happens in between. A tribute to Bend and the crew of pro snowboarders who call it home. Directed by Jake Price.

Looking toward the future, QUARTET hands over the keys to first-time director Joni Victorino, showcasing an amateur lineup of Bend-born, next-gen snowboarders. It’s a youth documentary capturing the fresh visual style and the energy of who’s coming up next in Bend, Oregon. Directed by Joni Victorino.

Teddy Swims brings The UGLY Tour to Moda Center at the Rose Quarter with Allen Stone and MarcLo. Ticket access includes multiple presale options through Visa, the artist, Spotify, the venue, radio, Ticketmaster, and VIP, followed by a public sale and a Visa post-sale.

In recent years Thundercat, aka Stephen Bruner, has completed his transition from virtuoso bassist to bonafide star and cemented his reputation as a wholly unique voice, transcending genre. He has become a cornerstone of the Brainfeeder label having released “The Golden Age of Apocalypse” (2011), “Apocalypse” (2013), “Drunk” (2017), and his 2020 album “It Is What It Is” won Best Progressive R&B Album at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards, featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole, Pedro Martins and Zack Fox. The record was produced by Thundercat and his longtime partner Flying Lotus who was GRAMMY-nominated in “Producer of the Year, Non-Classical” for his work on the album.

2023 kicked off with a bang, with Thundercat joining Steve Lacy live onstage at the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards to perform the hit single “Bad Habit.” He also released his latest single “No More Lies” with Tame Impala, and announced a slew of tour dates spanning 5 continents.

2022 was a banner year, with highlights including his vocals and bass heavily featuring on Gorillaz single and title track “Cracker Island” which hit #1 on the Alternative radio charts. He also starred in the official music video and performed onstage with Gorillaz at Coachella and the MTV European Music Awards ceremony. He also joined Red Hot Chilli Peppers as support on their North American and EU stadium tour.

Thundercat made his acting debut in 2022 with a recurring role in Star Wars’ “The Book of Boba Fett” on Disney+. He also covered “Fly Like An Eagle” for the “Minions: The Rise of Gru” OST executive produced by Jack Antonooff. Other film and TV work has included collaborating with Flying Lotus on the original score for “Yasuke” on Netflix, as well as an episode of Emmy & Golden Globe winning series “Atlanta” created by Donald Glover.

Live highlights include duetting with Ariana Grande at Adult Swim Festival 2020, a US tour alongside his friend Anderson .Paak (2019), an appearance at the Nile Rodgers curated Meltdown Festival held at the Southbank Centre, London (2019); and previous festival highlights for Thundercat include Glastonbury, Coachella, Sónar, Fuji Rock, Newport Jazz Festival, Primavera Sound and Governors Ball. In 2019 Thundercat was invited by legendary jazz institution Blue Note in New York to play a 14 show residency over the space of 6 days. Special guests for the residency included Reggie Watts, Zack Fox and Hannibal Buress. One memorable sold out show at New York’s Irving Plaza in 2017 featured Dave Chappelle making an impromptu appearance as his hype man.

In 2015 he was “at the creative epicenter” of the 21st century’s most influential hip-hop album Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”, and he won a GRAMMY for his collaboration on the track ‘These Walls’.

Much celebrated for his inimitable style, Thundercat has appeared as the face of recent fashion/brand campaigns for Kerwin Frost and Kenny Beats, as well as attending Paris Fashion Week as a guest of Spanish luxury designer LOEWE.

Bruner found his instrument at the age of 4. That made him a late-bloomer in the house of Ronald Bruner, Sr., who drummed with the Temptations among others. His first bass was a black Harmony, and he practiced to the Ninja Turtles soundtrack until pops played him Jaco Pastorius. He joined thrash legends Suicidal Tendencies as a teenager, and has spent road and studio time with everyone from Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock to Leon Ware, N.E.R.D., Travis Scott, HAIM, Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak), Kaytranada, Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu.

The name Thundercat is a reference to the cartoon he’s loved since childhood and an extension of his wide-eyed, vibrant, often superhuman approach to his craft. In 2020 things came full circle when Bruner voiced a character (and penned a song) named “Grune the Destroyer” in Cartoon Network’s Thundercats Roar animated series