Here’s some stuff to do this weekend for kids and adults alike. For more upcoming local events, visit our Happenings page.

• Saturday, July 21, 11:30-3 p.m., White Rock Baptist Church (5240 Chestnut St.) – Community Science Carnival

The First Annual Community Science Carnival is organized by the Science Education Academy, a community partnership between the White Rock Baptist Church and the Ernest E Just Biomedical Society at the University of Pennsylvania. Children from grades K-6 are invited to be Curious Scientific Investigators and assist Penn graduate students and Post-doctoral fellows with scientific experiments. Children will learn about microbes, how to make batteries with potatoes, how planes fly and how to solve mysteries using chemistry! Parents are welcome too – there will be a workshop on how to help your children with science fair projects. See the flyer for details. This is a free event and open to the public. RSVP is not required but appreciated – email sea.philly2008@gmail.com or call 215-882-9797.

• Saturday, noon-6 p.m., Saunders Park (39th & Powelton Ave.) – Lancaster Avenue Jazz and Community Arts Festival

Also this Saturday, don’t miss the Lancaster Avenue Jazz and Community Arts Festival taking place at Saunders Park in the Powelton Village section of West Philadelphia. Doc Gibbs & Friends, Glenn Bryan & Reference Point and Planet Jazz will perform. Also there will be free family activities, a moon bounce, crafts, a vendor market and more. We also hear that  a shredder truck will make a stop at the park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., so bring all that used paper cluttering your house and then enjoy some great music. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

• Sunday, July 22, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street) – Kripalu Yoga Preview Class

Kripalu Yoga classes begin at The Rotunda in August and a free preview class is being held this Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Kripalu Yoga is a form of Hatha Yoga using standard yoga poses, inner focus, breathwork, meditation and relaxation. For more information, contact Katie Bonier at kripaluyogaphilly@gmail.com or visit www.therotunda.org.

Bill “Ready” Cash traveled far and wide during a baseball career that included stops at baseball diamonds all over North and South America and the Caribbean. But he called Southwest Philly home.

Cash’s career, which included a lengthy stint with the Negro National League’s Philadelphia Stars (another West Philly institution), is chronicled by Cash himself along with West Philly journalist and baseball fan Al Hunter Jr. in the book Thou Shalt Not Steal: The Baseball Life and Times of a Rifle-Armed Negro League Catcher. Hunter will discuss Cash’s life and read from the book at Bindlestiff Books (4530 Baltimore Ave.) on Thursday, July 19 at 8 p.m. (after the Dollar Stroll).

Hunter, who spent 17 years at the Philadelphia Daily News writing about music and later as a member of the editorial board, spent hours interviewing Cash for the book.

Cash reportedly got his nickname after being benched during a game when he told his manager, “When I put on the uniform, I’m ready to play.” His career took him all over the United States, to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. At the age of 33 he signed with the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball in 1952, but he never made it to the major league roster. Cash believed that he may have been blackballed after he accidentally clipped a white umpire during the 1946 season. Like many black ball players of his generation, baseball historians say Cash would likely have been a star in the majors had he gotten the chance earlier in his career.

Cash, who attended Overbrook High School, died last September at the age of 92.

If you missed First Friday downtown this month, don’t worry! Lancaster Avenue is here to help with Second Fridays, beginning this Friday, July 13. Now through September on these formerly neglected calendar days you can head down to Lancaster between 34^th and 45^th Streets for visual art displays, live music, sidewalk sales, and even free food. The event’s theme is “Come Out and Play.”

This Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. you can look forward to a Garden Party Open Mic at the Community Education Center (CEC), booths from Rock the Vote, and Art Exhibitions from the Flying Kite Art Gallery, Vintage Villa Antique Shoppe, and Art on Lancaster. You can also visit the Tiberino for “Carnivolution” at 8:00 p.m. You can find out more information on Lancaster Avenue’s facebook page.

The Curio Theatre Company has announced their 2012-2013 season and it will knock your socks off! It is rich in suspense plays, comedy, and also includes a world premiere by Curio’s Artistic Director Paul Kuhn. The new season begins October 11 with Milan Stitt’s The Runner Stumbles. Here’s the full show schedule:

The Runner Stumbles
By Milan Stitt
Directed by Gay Carducci
October 11 – November 10, 2012

The Real Inspector Hound
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by Dan Hodge
November 29 – December 29, 2012

Equus
By Peter Shaffer
Directed by Liz Carlson
January 17 – February 16, 2013

Madville
By Paul Kuhn
Directed by Rosemary Fox
March 14 – April 13, 2013

The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson
Directed by Paul Kuhn
May 2 – June 1, 2013

Tickets are available on the Curio Theatre website. You can also subscribe to the season and see all five shows for the price of four.

Seeds Gallery is coming to Baltimore Avenue soon and is seeking artists who would like to display their work for the opening event at the end of July. Seeds Gallery is a modern art studio with a focus on local artists and represents emerging and established career artists in all media and styles. Currently, the gallery is showcasing artwork collections throughout the city – in local restaurants, coffee shops, yoga studios, libraries and bookstores.

The gallery’s mission is to create a networking forum for local artists and to help seed them in the community. Also, they are trying to go beyond presenting artist’s work to help educate them in business practices such as risk and liabilities, contract management, financial management, product pricing, and marketing.

If you are a local artist and are looking to get your work out there, drop an email to artists@seedsgallery.com. For more information, visit www.seedsgallery.com.
 

Get ready for some sunshine and free music this Saturday, June 30, as the bi-annual Clark Park Music and Art Festival gets into gear. The summer edition of the festival, a 42-year-old tradition in the historic park, includes live music, children’s activities, arts and crafts vending, and other events and diversions to fill your Saturday.

The festival runs from noon-8 p.m. Some of the bands featured this year include Power Animal, The Horrible Department, and the West Philly based City Wide Specials, among others. See below for a full list and set times. The forecast for this Saturday is mostly sunny with a high of 94, so make sure to pack a lot of sunscreen.

12:00pm-12:30pm – Rock to the Future (stage 1) 
http://www.rocktothefuturephilly.org/

12:40pm-1:10pm – The Best Westerns (stage 1)
 http://www.facebook.com/thebestwesternsmusic

1:25pm-1:55pm – City Wide Specials (stage 2)
 The West Philadelphia-based City Wide Specials perform traditional and original songs as well as instrumental breakdowns and waltzes on guitar, dobro, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and upright bass

2:10pm-2:45pm – The Really Cooks (stage 1) 
http://www.thereallycooks.com/

3:00pm-3:30pm – Jampa (stage 2) 
http://www.jampaband.com/

3:45pm-4:15pm – The Downtown Club (stage 1) 
Delayed Female Vocals, Analog Snyth, Guitar, Drums and Bass

4:30pm-5pm – Break it Up (stage 1)
 http://breakitupband.wordpress.com/

5:15pm-5:45pm – On the Water (stage 2) 
http://onthewater.bandcamp.com/

5:45-6:15pm – Erode and Disappear (stage 1)

6:30-7:00pm – The Horrible Department (stage 2)
 http://www.myspace.com/thehorribledepartment

7:15-8:00pm – Power Animal (stage 1) 
http://poweranimal.tumblr.com/

– Kelly Lawler