All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Fireworks, barbecues, baseball games, and drive-in movies: just a few ways to celebrate the 4th of July (extended) weekend. After the jump these and other things you might want to try.

Mix them, match them, or add your own ideas below in the comments.

And whatever you're up to, have a fantastic holiday weekend.

1st Friday
It's summer and 1st Friday. Take a stroll through shops and galleries in Albany tonight.
+ The Albany Barn's Stage One Gallery will have an opening reception for "Animalia," featuring drawings, sculpture, and video exploring humans' relationship with nature, using animals or totems to represent varying aspects of human nature.
+ The Capital Swing Dance at 25 South Allen Street features Josh Fialkoff's Sextet.
+ Upstate Artist's Guild is hosting an after-hours event with DJ Rana Ransom, Jovan Jackson, DJ White Lotus, and Elsphinx.

Fireworks
Sure, the 4th is over, but there are more fireworks slated for this weekend. Here are a few places to see them.

Swimming
Swimming pools, beaches, and spray pads in the Capital Region are open, should we get a stretch of sunshine this weekend. Here's where you can find them.

Three days of Phish
Phish is back at SPAC for a three-day run starting Friday. So that means not only big crowds at the venue, but also around Saratoga Springs all this weekend as the phaithful gather. 7:30 pm each night - $45 (lawn) and $60 (pavilion)

Tanglewood
Friday: The Boston Symphony Orchestra season at Tanglewood opens with an all-Tchaikovsky program featuring star violinist Joshua Bell. 8:30 pm - $20 and up

Music

Friday: Lyle Lovett at The Egg
Playing with his acoustic group. 8 pm - $58

Friday: Railbird at Upbeat on the Roof
Back in town for a free show on the roof of the Tang. 7 pm - free

Friday: The Holmes Brothers at Helsinki Hudson
Blues/soul/gospel. 9 pm - $25 ahead / $28 day of

Friday: Gabriel Alegria Afro Peruvian Sextet at Red Square
Jazz. With: Taina Asili. 8 pm - $15 ahead / $20 day of

Friday: Eastbound Jesus at Caffe Lena
Americana/northern rock. 8 pm - $15

Saturday: Bettye LaVette at MASS MoCA
Soul singer. 8 pm - $32 ahead / $39 day of

Saturday: Beatshot Music Festival at Red Square
Fifth annual festival featuring a ton of DJs. starts at noon - $10 before 6 pm / $15 after

Saturday: Lake Street Dive at Helsinki Hudson
"Once jazz-schooled, DIY-motivated, and classically pop obsessed." 9 pm - $18 ahead / $20 day of

Saturday: Stellar Young at Hollow Bar
With: The Slaughterhouse Chorus, Davenport Cabinet, and Carl Daniels. 8 pm - $8

Saturday: Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo at Caffe Lena
Vignola is a renowned jazz guitarist. 8 pm - $25

Sunday: Vieux Farka Touré at Music Haven in Schenectady
"The Hendrix of the Sahara." The first Music Have show of the summer in Schenectady's Central Park. 7 pm - free

Sunday: Darryl Tonemah at Caffe Lena
"Native Americana." 7 pm - $15

Circus Smirkus
The Circus Smirkus youth circus returns to the Saratoga Race Course this weekend. Friday 7 pm, Saturday & Sunday at 1 pm and 7 pm - $18-$21

Spamalot
Killer rabbits, catapulting cows and the search for the Holy Grail in Albany's Washington Park as Park Playhouse opens its summer production of Monty Python's Spamalot. The show runs every Tuesday through Sunday at 8 pm and includes Molly McGrath as The Lady of the Lake. Seats on the hillside are free, but bring your picnic blankets and chairs and come early. Reserved Seats are $14-16. Premium Table Seats are $22.

Theater
Summer theater festival season is underway. Here's a sample of what you can see this weekend:

Lion in Winter
Last week we had a chance to check out the Berkshire Theater Festival's fantastic production of The Lion in Winter, starring Jayne Atkinson and Treat Williams. The comedy is a look at Christmas with the family of Henry II that will make your family seem a whole lot less dysfunctional. Very worth seeing. Here's the Boston Globe review. Friday 8 pm, Saturday 2 pm & 8 pm - $38-$58

Williamstown
The Williamstown Theatre Festival season got underway last week with Animal Crackers, a stage interpretation of the classic Marx Brothers movie, and a comedy called American Hero, about the lives of workers in a sandwich shop (Hero closes Sunday).

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A
Rogers and Hammerstein's classic musical Oklahoma is in previews at Berkshire Theater Festival. Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm - $25-$65

On the Town
Barrington Stage presents On the Town, the rarely-performed Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Comden & Green musical about three sailors on a 24-hour leave in New York City in 1944. Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 8 pm , Sunday at 5 pm - various prices from $15.

Singin' in the Rain
The Mac-Hayden Theater in Chatham opens its production of Singin' in the Rain on Friday. Friday 8 pm, Saturday 4 pm & 8 pm, Sunday 2 pm & 7 pm - $28-$30 / under 12 $12 with adult

Master Class
Terrence McNally's Tony-winning play Master Class, about legendary opera diva Maria Callas, continues this weekend at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. Friday 8:30 pm, Saturday 3 pm - $21-$50

Love's Labors Lost
Also at Shakespeare and Company this weekend, the Bard's comedy Love's Labors Lost. Saturday at 2 pm, Sunday at 7:30 pm $15-$50.

Heroes
The story of three WWI veterans during their twilight years in a nursing home, Heroes won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. It's also in rep at Shakespeare and Company. Saturday 8:30 pm and Sunday at 3p.m $15 to $50

H.M.S. Pinafore
Opera Saratoga closes on Saturday night with Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore 7:30 pm - $50 - $85

Baseball
The Tri-City ValleyCats play home games at the Joe Friday through Sunday. There will be post-game fireworks on Friday.

Museums
If you have an extra day or two off this week, it could be a good opportunity to hit up one of the museums around the region, especially two recently opened exhibits:

+ An exhibition of Georgie O'Keeffe's work from her time in Lake George recently opened at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls.
+ Also recently opened: an exhibition of work by Winslow Homer at the Clark in Williamtown.

What's currently on display at other regional museums: Albany Institute, NYS Museum, MASS MoCA, the Fenimore, the Arkell.

Robert Pinsky
Friday: Former US poet laureate Robert Pinsky will read from his own work Skidmore's Palamountain Hall as part of the New York State Summer Writers Institute. Friday 8 pm - free

Movies

+ The Saratoga Film Forum is screening No, a nominee for this year's Best Foreign Film Oscar. It's a drama about an ad executive's campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in a referendum in Chile in 1988. Following the Sunday screening, Skidmore professor of Spanish Patricia Rubio will lead a discussion about the film and Chile in the time of Pinochet. Friday & Sunday at 7:30 pm -

+ We're right in the thick of the summer movies-with-big-explosions blockbuster season. Man of Steel, World War Z, White House Down, Star Trek Into Darkness are all playing -- and The Lone Ranger opens Thursday. The Melissa McCarthy/Sandra Bullock buddy cop comedy The Heat opened last weekend, and Despicable Me 2 opened this wee.

But there are also a few well-regarded non-blockbusters out now: Joss Whedon's take on Much Ado About Nothing; and Richard Linklater's Before Midnight, the third Before film with the characters played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. And the Spectrum is still showing The Place Beyond the Pines.

+ Few things say summer like a night at the drive-in. The Hollywood and the Jericho are screening a kid-friendly double feature of Despicable Me and Monsters University. The Malta has Despicable Me and World War Z on one screen and The Lone Ranger and Monsters University on the other.

GE Kids Day At The Plaza 2013
Sunday is Kids Day on the Empire State Plaza. From noon to 5 pm there will be arts and crafts, jugglers, balloon artists, pony rides, face painting, music and more for kids and families. Sunday noon to 5 pm - free admission

Butterfly hike
The Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center is hosting Karner Blue Butterfly hikes this Friday through Sunday. Friday at noon, Saturday & Sunday at 11 am - $3 per person / $5 per family / children under 5 free / Registration required

The Good Life: North Broadway
The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation continues its Summer Stroll series with a look at some of the Queen Anne homes along North Broadway and Van Dam Street. Sunday 10:30 am to noon - $8

Swing Weekend
Albany Lindy & Blues is hosting a weekend of dancing, workshops, swimming and theater at various locations throughout the Capital Region. It includes a lakeside dance party. arious times, locations and prices

Playland
Take your favorite kid on a retro-visit to Hoffman's Playland while you can.

Ice Cream
Check out the Tour de Soft Serve and the Tour de Hard Ice Cream and the Tour de Gelato before you make up your mind. There's also Moxie's vanilla tour.

Farmers' markets
The outdoor season for farmers' markets are in swing in Troy (Saturday), Delmar (Saturday), Saratoga (Saturday), Schenectady (Sunday), and the new Spa City Farmers Market -- at the Lincoln Baths in Saratoga Springs (Sunday).

Summering
The season won't last forever. Throw a summer barbecue, mix a cool cocktail, go camping, buy a bike. Looking for other ways to enjoy summer in the Capital Region? Here are a few ideas.

The Valley Cats and Live Nation advertise on AOA.