Portland's Week: A 75-Foot Fir, Band of Horses and the Blazers

Portland's second week of November has one quiet night and one crowded one. Sunday the 8th belongs to Polaris Hall up on North Killingsworth, where Pedro the Lion plays the first of a two-night all-ages residency in a room small enough that the front row is a decision rather than a lottery. Tuesday the 10th is the day that needs planning. At 11 am a 75-foot Douglas fir arrives at Pioneer Courthouse Square with Santa and free hot chocolate, which is how downtown opens its holiday season. Two rooms then open at 8 pm: Band of Horses for an extended set at the Roseland, and the Trail Blazers hosting Oklahoma City at the Moda Center. Pick one 8 pm room, not two, because they start at the same hour and a full set rules out the other.

This week is the hinge between Portland's autumn and its holiday season, and it shows in how the days are built. Sunday night at Polaris Hall is the small end of it: a room on Killingsworth, a two-night residency and an all-ages floor that stays mixed through the set. Tuesday morning flips the city public. A 75-foot fir comes down Broadway and lands in Pioneer Courthouse Square, and the square fills with people who came for hot chocolate rather than a schedule. The tree arrival is the only event here that happens in daylight and in public, so it needs no ticket and no plan beyond showing up before 11 am. By 8 pm the city splits two ways, between the Roseland's catalog-length Band of Horses set and a Moda Center basketball night, and the choice is really stand or sit.