36 Ways to Dodge the NFL Draft This Weekend

Tania Isaac performs at FringeArts Friday and Saturday. (LBrowning Photography)

FRIDAY, APRIL 28

Star Party @ The Mann
This sounds pretty cool: a free concert and stargazing get-together at the Mann featuring telescopes and astronomers who know where to point them. The current forecast for tonight is “partly cloudy,” so fingers x’d. Part of Science Fest.

Hot Chip (DJ Set) @ Coda
Alexis Taylor and Felix Martin of the band Hot Chip spin records because they’re DJs, too.

Spirit of the Beehive @ Everybody Hits
Idiosyncratic indie rockers Spirit of the Beehive celebrate the release of Pleasure Suck in their hometown. Actually, “idiosyncratic” doesn’t cover it. This band seems to be infected with a rare strain of deep-tissue, Philly-borne weirdness once fleetingly observed in bands like Man Man and Echo Orbiter. It’s not just a sound, it’s an aesthetic illness that prizes catchiness and freakiness equally. This is beautiful mutant rock ’n’ roll.

Tania Isaac @ FringeArts
Choreographer/dancer/Fringe Fest favorite Tania Isaac performs “crazy beautiful,” a “lyrically explosive solo movement drama.” Stage design by Sebastienne Mundheim, live music by Chrysyn Harp. Through April 29. (That’s her pic at the top of the page.)

The Marriage of Figaro @ Academy of Music
Opera Philadelphia presents Mozart’s screwball comedy/love story through May 7.

Swallow @ the Drake
Inis Nua presents the American premiere of Stef Smith’s drama, directed by Claire Moyer. Through May 14.

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival @ area theaters
Feature-length and short films at several locations, plus discussions with the filmmakers. Highlights include Paul Ruven’s thriller R U Safe?, Russ Emanuel’s sci-fi thriller Occupants and Lindsey Copeland’s drama Hedgehog. Through April 30.

Timeghost @ Vox Populi
Modular synth experimentalism that employs blips, bloops, cell-phone interference, robot burps, cyborg farts, poltergeist sweat and the noise crickets make on their moonbase when they’re scared. Music, technically.

Justify Your Love @ Good Good Comedy Theatre
Funny people try to defend their indefensible pop culture guilty pleasures and then other funny people make fun of them for it. This edition features Marlenas McMahon-Purk, Sara Castillo, WPRB’s Jon Solomon and more.

Project Moshen @ Performance Garage
The all-female contemporary jazz dance company performs “Waterfalls.” Through April 30.

Tech Week @ all over town
Hackathons, lectures, games, robots, etc. Starts… now. Plan your schedule. Call in sick from work if you gotta. Then get spotted on a web stream. Say you have a twin. Get some smarty pants engineer to make a robot version of you to trick suspicious boss. Never work again. Tech!

BalletX @ Wilma Theater
The Spring Series 2017 concert includes Cayetano Soto’s Schachmatt, Matthew Neenan’s The Last Glass and a Tommie-Waheed Evans’ In Between the Passing. Through May 7.

Greg Fitzsimmons @ Helium
The comedian/podcaster comes to town for five shows in three nights.

La Rondine @ Kimmel Center
Puccini’s comic opera presented by Curtis Opera Theatre.

KYL/D @ Prince Music Theater
Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers perform “home season,” a program featuring Santuario (“a moving response to the tragic shootings at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando”) and One: Immortal Game (“an exploration of humankind’s rituals surrounding the drive to win”). Through April 29.

Piff the Magic Dragon @ Punchline Philly
British comedian John van der Put wears a dragon suit and tells jokes. Today and Saturday.

WHITE @ Theatre Horizon
The award-winning satire by James Ijames “examines cultural appropriation, explores black female stereotypes, and satirizes the subjectivity of the art world to expose how society in general often confuses diversity with inclusion.” Starring Jessica Bedford, Jamison Foreman, Justin Jain and Jaylene Clark Owens. Directed by Malika Oyetimein. Through May 21.

SATURDAY, APRIL 29

The Feelies @ World Café Live
Legends of NJ indie rock. Jonathan Demme was a fan; he filmed the above video for their song “Away” back in 1988. (R.I.Power Jonathan Demme, honorary Philadelphian forever.)

Bob Mould @ Underground Arts
The Sugar/Husker Du frontman continues his silver-age winning streak with a solo electric tour. Mould has proven quite emphatically that he can still rock the house; it’ll be interesting to see him switch gears and get intimate again. Show up on time to see the amazing Frances Quinlan of Hop Along do a solo set, too.

eX-Fest Part VII @ International House
Exhumed Films — area purveyors of lost cinematic gems (often horror, but not only horror) offers a full day of screenings, “from kung-fu to blaxploitation, spaghetti western to sexploitation, etc.” The titles are top secret till you get there.

Doo Wop, Volume 3 @ the Keswick
Featuring Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon (“Tallahassee Lassie”), The Happenings (“See You in September”), The Super Girl Group (members of The Exciters, The Cookies, The Jaynettes, etc.) and more.

Philadelphia Soul @ Wells Fargo Center
If you don’t completely hate football right now you could watch the Soul play their home opener against the Baltimore Brigade. Ugh, they’re called the Brigade? That’s stupid. (P.S. I stole that “NFL draft dodgers” pun from a quizzo team at Fergie’s. Thanks, guys. Sorry we beat ya.)

Science Carnival @ Penn’s Landing
The main event of the Philadelphia Science Festival. Animals to pet, games to play, sciences to experimentalize, activities to activate — it’s fun for the whole freakin’ family. You can even make slime whatever that means.

Evil Sword @ Space 1026
Philly horror punks you won’t want to listen to alone. The whole bill is scary good or at least scary. Check ’em out: Cellular Chaos, Ursula and Rodenticide.

Laser Background @ Baird Mansion Atrium
Philly psych-rock band Laser Background celebrates the release of Dark Nuclear Bogs in a historic mansion on North Broad. Also on the bill are Norwegian Arms, Breathers and YCIB. Should be a good one.

Ruin Tribute Night @ The Tusk
Is this real? A live-band tribute to Philly punk forefathers Ruin — in a room above Woolly Mammoth at Fifth and South? Could be amazing. Could be a trap.

The Wissahickon in Photographs @ Big Blue Marble Bookstore
Photographer Melvin A. Chappell celebrates the release of his first book, The Wissahickon Valley.

Monster Energy Outbreak Presents: 21 Savage — Issa Tour @ Fillmore
Okay, I did some googling and I think I get it. Monster Energy is a thing you drink if you’re too extreme for Rockstar. Outbreak is not a flavor; it’s what Monster calls its music tours. 21 Savage is an Atlanta hip-hop dude who is firm but fair when it comes to the subject of throwing things at him. Issa, of course, refers to 21’s support for Republican congressman Darrell Issa.

Tower of Power/Average White Band @ Scottish Rite Auditorium
Veterans of good-time, old-time pop/disco/funk. Oh, and the tour travels all the way to the Keswick on Sunday.

Mr. Philly Drag King Competition @ William Way
An amateur competition/fundraiser for The Philly Dyke March, hosted by veteran kings Jimmy Two Fingas and Rough RydeHer. Note: You gotta have a good name. That is key.

Emily King @ Union Transfer
R&B singer with some serious vocal and songwriting chops.

Get Better Fest Day Two @ First Unitarian Church
Punk and rock to raise money for good causes. Saturday’s bill: Pinkwash, Radiator Hospital, Solarized and more.

SUNDAY, APRIL 30

Arto Lindsay/Beauty Pill @ Boot & Saddle
Brazilian-American experimental guitarist and composer Arto Lindsay has been doing unexpected things for years. For instance, the song below sounds like lo-fi electro pop. (Tullycraft doing mushrooms on Mir, maybe?) And Beauty Pill, well, they’re the finest purveyors of Washington D.C. art rock. Chad Clark of Beauty Pill recently interviewed his soon-to-be tourmate Arto for NPR.

Get Better Fest Day Three @ PhilaMOCA
Punk and rock to raise money for good causes. Sunday’s bill: Thin Lips, Amanda Z, Katie Ellen and more.

The Revolution @ TLA
The Revolution backed Prince at the height of his reign: we’re talking “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Purple Rain,” “I Would Die 4 U” and a lot more. Now Wendy Melvoin, Matt “Doctor” Fink and the rest are on tour to keep the music alive and the party going.

Bringing It All Back Home @ Milkboy Philly
Bob Dylan tribute night featuring Marc Singer, The Quixote Project, Reverend TJ McGlinchey and other local musicians.