All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Looks like another hot and sunny weekend.

All you need is some sunscreen and a plan.

We can help with the second part.

After the jump, our weekly (weekend-ly?) list of stuff to do that looked good to us. As always, be sure to let us know what we missed.

And have a fabulous weekend.

National Ice Cream Day!
Yes, there is one. And it's this Sunday. You know how to celebrate. To help you decide where, here are some summer stands and, of course, the AOA Ice Cream Tour.

Pig Out!
The annual Troy Pig Out, a weekend-long celebration of barbecue, runs from 11AM to 10PM on Saturday and 11 to 4 on Sunday in Riverfront Park. It's two days of music and pigging out on yummy summer food. Barbecue vendors from all over the region will compete in a "People's Choice Rib Contest." (Yes, Dinosaur Barbecue is a contestant ). Tasting costs $1 a rib. The contest starts at 5:30 on Saturday -- the $1 tasting tickets go on sale Saturday at 4.

And they're (almost) off
On Sunday The Saratoga Race Course holds its annual open house. Music, horses (races but no wagering), food and kids stuff. 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Free admission.

Polish Fest
We're pretty sure you'll find some pierogi and other delicious Polish delights at the Polish Summer Festival on Saturday at the Polish Community Center in Albany . They're also planning a beer tasting, music, a cultural exhibit and polkas. 2:30-8:30. $15.

Music
Tonight
+The APL Garage Band Series continues tonight with Charmboy and Beware! The Other Head of Science. They'll play in the garage behind the Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library.

+Eric Margan & the Red Lions play Saratoga's Caffe Lena tonight at 8.

+Sean Rowe plays the music of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones tonight, in a tribute/fundraising concert at Bread and Jam. Proceeds will fund Rowe's new album. 8 PM $15 (admission includes a Limited release EP with songs from Rowe, Chris Kyle and Sarah Pedinotti. Save $5 by pre-ordering tickets.

+Skidmore College's Upbeat on the Roof series continues tonight with Matthew Carefully on the roof of the Tang Museum. Free.

+Young at Heart, a group made up of Senior Citizens that perform rock music from "The Clash to Cold Play" performs at The Egg tonight. Here's a sample of their interpretation of The Rolling Stones.
$25 -$75

+The Suggestions and Paranoid Social Club are at Putnam Den in Saratoga tonight at 10.

+The Erotics and the Blisterz are at Valentine's.

Saturday
+Happy 3rd birthday to our friends at WEXT! This Saturday night they're throwing a birthday bash at Valentine's . It's a CD release party for Sea of Trees with Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned, Barons in the Attic and Rain in Spain!

+For $80, you can now do the Camp Bisco scene in Mariaville on Saturday only. Tickets to all three days of the jam band festival (the event Started Thursday) were $155 ( A platinum package went for $500). Saturday's line-up includes The Black Seeds, The Disco Biscuits and Ween.

+Bread and Jam is hosting a Moonlight Jamboree with Tern Rounders,M.R. Poupoloupos and Lost Radio Rounders. 8PM. Free.

Sunday
+The progressive bluegrass band The Greencards comes to Caffe Lena Sunday night.

+Jazz singer Jill Hughes is doing a free performance in Scotia's Freedom Park on Sunday night at 7.

+Jazz duo Sonny & Perley perform in Saratoga's Congress Park on Sunday from 7-8:30. Free.

+Red Stick Ramblers will play Schenectady Central Park on Sunday night at 7. Free.

+Eric Margan and the Red Lions are at Valentine's on Sunday night with the Pleasants and Let's Get Married 8 p.m.

Tanglewood
It should be a lovely weekend to catch a concert at Tanglewood.

On Saturday the Boston Symphony Orchestra performs Mahler: Symphony No. 3

On Sunday, Broadway's Audra McDonald performs songs from "A New American Songbook" at Ozawa Hall. Arlo Guthrie and Alec Baldwin join the BSO for a matinee at The Music Shed.

Poetry
+Red Square hosts the Wize Words Poetry Fest from 9PM Saturday to 2AM Sunday. The pajama (yes, we said pajama)/poetry party features DJ truemaster and all poets are encouraged to sign up for the open mic portion of the evening.

+Stop by the Robert Burns Statue in Washington Park on Saturday night around 7 for a reading by poets Aleathia Drehmer & Moses Kash III. If it rains, the performance will be at the Social Justice Center on Central Avenue. Free.

Dance
This is the final weekend of the NYCB summer season at SPAC. You can catch performances tonight and tomorrow at 8 and there's a matinee tomorrow at 2.

The Fuze Box is throwing a "Fuzer Appreciation Night" dance party tonight from 10 pm until 4am. All kinds of dancing -- indie, electroclash, swing, pop, gaga -- whatever makes you move. Plus a free glass of champagne.

The Saratoga Savoy is holding it's monthly Diamond Dance on Saturday night in the Saratoga Music Hall (top floor of City Hall at Broadway and Lake Ave.) The venue is cool and there's music by Slick Fitty. $15 gets you music, dancing and snacks. 8PM

Comedy
Mop and Bucket has an improv show Underground at Proctor's tonight at 8.

Film
+The week long Animation Film Festival at Proctors wraps up today with screenings of Beavis and Butt-head Do America at 6 and Fritz the Cat at 8.

+
Inception, the new film by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) and starting Michael Caine, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe and Marion Cotillard, opens at The Spectrum this weekend.

+Also opening at The Spectrum --Stonewall Uprising. The documentary about the 1968 raid on a mob-run gay bar in Greenwich Village that spurred a riot and helped launch th Gay Rights Movement features patrons, reporters and the cop who led the raid.

+We're not sure whether to put this one in theater or film. On Sunday afternoon The Spectrum will show a live performance of London's National Theater's production of "London Assurance." Noon. $15 for adults, $12 for kids 12 and under.

SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM...
S.P.A.M. -- Scooter Pie at Midnight -- brings her rock 'n roll burlesque show to Valentine's on Saturday night -- or technically, Sunday morning. Midnight.

Art Walk
It's the 3rd Friday of the month, which means it's time for Schenectady's Art Walk. Here's where you can find list of events going on tonight in The Electric City. Stop in at Aperitivo for a drink and listen to Jill Hughes sing, or head over to Proctor's and check out Schenectady sculptor Ginger Ertz soft chandeliers made from chenille stems (kind of fancy pipe cleaners) and the end of the animation festival.

Theater
We're smack in the middle of the summer theater season. There's a ton of great stuff out there. Here are a few of the options:

+ Williamstown is doing Six Degrees of Separation
+Troy's Bakerloo Theater performs Under Milkwood
+Park Playhouse has a free production of Annie Get Your Gun in Washington Park tonight through Sunday. If for no other reason, go and listen to Molly McGrath (Annie) sing. She's kind of awesome.
+Stageworks Hudson presents a show called Imagining Madoff -- a controversial new play that is an imagined conversation between Bernie Madoff and Eli Wiesel.
+You can see a free production of Hamlet in Saratoga's Congress Park tonight at Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 3.
+Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd continues at Barrington Stage

Polo
Polo is back in Saratoga.

Baseball
The Valley Cats are in town on Friday and Saturday. They're playing the Brooklyn Cyclones. Saturday's game starts at 7, but at 4 there's a family festival with batting and pitching cages a t-ball stadium, a "steal home" bungee run and a Mobile Video Game Arcade.
Sunday's game is at 5.

Kid stuff
Sunday is GE Kids Day on the Empire State Plaza in Albany. Music, crafts, rides, a bounce house and the GE Science Emporium are just some of the things going on. Free.

Learn about the science of ice cream on Saturday afternoon at 1 at the Children's Museum of Science and Technology in the Rensselaer Technology Park

Group Bike Ride
Grab some caffeine at The Daily Grind in Albany and head off on a group bike ride to The Daily Grind in Troy, where you can rest with some more caffeine. The Group ride leaves on Saturday morning at 10AM from The Daily Grind in Albany.

Swim
Cool off at a photo: ">pool, beach or sprinkler near you.

Stay-cation
These folks have lots of great tips on how to get the most out of summer in the Capital Region.

Photo: Renee McAllister