34 Things to Do This Weekend

A still from Viva Amiga: The Story of a Beautiful Machine, which is up for Feature Length Indie Film of the Year at the Philly Geek Awards this Saturday.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25

Smooth Jazz Summer Nights @ Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing
The free, smooth jazz series finishes with a double-header: saxophonist Grace Kelly and trumpeter Lin Rountree both playing the big stage by the river.

Hari Kondabolu @ Helium
The hilarious standup comedian you may have seen on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell or heard on the podcast Politically Re-Active. I posted a bunch of his clips yesterday. Friday and Saturday.

Love and Anarchy @ Lightbox Film Center
Lina Wertmüller’s 1973 film set in pre-WWII Italy concerns a young man who becomes an “accidental anarchist” caught up in an assassination plot.

Drums Like Machine Guns @ Kung Fu Necktie
Live, loud punk and thrash from West Philly’s “bad boize of noize.”

The Rocky Horror Picture Show @ Ritz at the Bourse
A midnight screening of the cult classic with live shadowcasting by Philly’s own Transylvanian Nipple Productions.

AfropolitanPhilly (Inauguration) @ Reserve Lounge
A large mixer where “diaspora professionals in Philly can connect, socialize and celebrate Afro-Caribbean culture.”

Liberty Massacre 4 Day One @ Cinemug
Day one of the two-day festival of short horror films starts at Cinemug on Friday with screenings of The Dark Hunger, Blood Sisters, Creature Feature and more. August 25 & 26

Stephen Stills/Judy Collins @ Keswick Theatre
The two singer-songwriters first met and recorded together in 1968, but broke up before he got famous with CSNY. Now they’re touring together and, in June, releasing a duo album called Everybody Knows. Yes, there’s a Leonard Cohen connection, too.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 @ Dilworth Park
The Pictures In the Park series of free movies at City Hall continues with the adventures of people, aliens, a raccoon and a little tree. P.S. The Troc is playing the exact same movie on Monday night.

Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer @ World Café Live
Two esteemed singer-songwriters sharing the stage and making gorgeous music together.

Fringe Festival Preview Scratch Night @ FringeArts
A free (well, $5 suggested donation) preview of some of the shows in this year’s Fringe Fest. Includes works by Half Key Theatre Company, Peculiar Works Project, Noa Schnitzer, Gunner Montana, Drip Symphony and Tangle Movement Arts.

Jason Aldean @ BB&T Pavilion
Another week, another dude in a cowboy hat and half-sleeves who I’ve near heard of playing country music in Camden. I recognize that this is on me. This video has 85 million views so there’s no way it’s actually as terrible as I think it is:

Photay @ Johnny Brenda’s
Brooklyn producer Photay is getting a lot of attention for his latest record of dance/electronic music, Onism, including a 7.9 from Pitchfork.

Wicked @ Academy Of Music
Broadway Philadelphia presents the other beloved musical set in Oz. Through Aug. 27.

Sam Tripoli @ Punchline
The L.A. comic performs through Saturday.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26

Durand Jones & The Indications @ The Boot & Saddle
The passionate Louisiana soul-singer is known for putting on powerful, high-energy shows. That old ’60s soul revival is still alive.

Michael Jackson Night @ Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest
They’ll be spinning King of Pop classics all day, but the main attraction is surely the Michael Jackson impersonator.

Reef the Lost Cauze/Hezekiah/The Bul Bey @ Johnny Brenda’s
A night of hot Philly rap benefitting Beyond the Bars, a local non-profit that brings music to “incarcerated and underserved youth” in the form of instruction, equipment and more.

Liberty Massacre 4 Day Two @ PhilaMOCA
Day two of the two-day festival of short horror films continues at PhilaMOCA with I See You Everywhere, Mars vs. Cheerleaders, A Peculiar Thud, among many others.

Rave of Thrones @ Fillmore Philly
If you want to see Kristian Nairn — aka the guy who plays Hodor (no spoilers) — spin records, this is your chance. It may sound like one of those cynical cash-in tours dreamt up by the suits (and maybe it is), but Nairn is actually a DJ, apparently.

All Screwed Up @ Lightbox Film Center
Lightbox continues its series of films by Lina Wertmüller. In the comedy All Screwed Up, “two Southern country boys — Gigi (Luigi Diberti) and Carletto (Nino Bignamini) — travel north to get work in Milan, join the labor movement and live in a communal home with other migrant workers, including some combative love interests.”

Matchbox Twenty/Counting Crows @ BB&T Pavilion
Counting Crows made some mistakes. The hair? That’s an easy one. Covering Joni Mitchell? Yeah, that was doomed from the get-go. And, certainly, there were cringe-worthy lines (“I felt so symbolic yesterday”) and moments (when AARP asks you to be on the cover you say no), but I contend Adam Duritz and co. did make some interesting, worthwhile music, especially early on. As for Matchbox 20, I never cared much for them.

Dan Melchior @ Kung Fu Necktie
The insanely prolific lo-fi/garage rocker released a super-sized collection of rarities last year called Filthy Frozen River Rag Volumes 1 and 2.

2017 Philly Geek Awards @ String Theory Schools
Some of Philly’s finest, most creative minds are up for awards in categories like Comic Creator of the Year, Dev Project of the Year, Impact Org of the Year, Scientist of the Year and many more.

Dead Flowers Summer Block Party @ 2600 Block of Juniper
Live music, carnival games plus circus and sideshow attractions.

Aretha Franklin @ The Mann Center
Expect an endless array of hits from the soul/pop/R&B diva: “Respect,” “Son Of A Preacher Man,” “Rock Steady,” “Something He Can Feel,” “Jump to It,” and on and on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1p92gQTQCg

Classic Hip-Hop Night @ Coda
DJ Dave Paul on the ones and twos spinning old favorites from ’79 to ’99.

The Dance with Ben Kronberg @ Good Good Comedy Theatre
Chris O’Connor and Doogie Horner host an evening of comedy featuring standup comic Ben Kronberg. This video is NSFW for sure.

LB BBQ! Dogs & Dunks @ Little Berlin
Food, music, a dunk tank and more to raise money for Little Berlin Gallery. Attractions alluded to but not confirmed: a kissing booth and a hillbilly hot tub.

Sheer Mag @ Union Transfer
One of the best live bands in Philly right now celebrates the release of their debut record, Need To Feel Your Love.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 27

Jim Gaffigan @ Helium
The funny and pale comedian performs Sunday and Monday.

Good Morning, New Miami @ Good Good Comedy Theatre
An upbeat morning talk show set in the year 2050. This is the Back to School episode, featuring live comedy by Julia Celley, Shannon Fahey, Chris McGrail, Andrew Shearer and Peter D. Brown

Black Girls Gather @ One Art Community Center
“An afternoon of conversation in support of community building and sisterhood guided by For Harriet‘s editor-in-chief, Kimberly Foster.”

Obon Festival @ Shofuso Japanese House and Garden
A free festival featuring music, food, crafts, flea market and more.

Curren$y @ Trocadero
The Louisiana rapper returns.

Run Down Broad Street Naruto Style @ City Hall
So, you’re supposed to sprint down one of Philly’s busiest streets like they apparently do on the animated series Naruto? Is this a real event? Will the street be closed off? This is probably just a fake Facebook invite, like that one where Fiona Apple plays Applebee’s. But I like the idea of anime fans getting weird together in public. But don’t really do this.