This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: Idaho’s Built to Spill have become increasingly noodly over the past decade. Twenty-five-minute solos, Neil Young covers, and all-star jam sessions (which occasionally include members of the road crew and opening bands) happen frequently onstage. But they’re always a reliable live act, rarely performing the same set twice. They’re at the Grog Shop tonight.
Tuesday: Playhouse Square’s new It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere lunchtime series beams TV shows on a giant screen at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 14th Street weekdays all summer long. On Mondays, audition episodes from the first four seasons of American Idol screen. I Love Lucy plays on Tuesdays, while The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report air on Wednesdays. On Thursday, PlayStation 2 gamers can get their Madden on — Playhouse Square even supplies the controllers. Friends shows on Friday. Spend your lunchtime outdoors at Star Plaza.
Wednesday: There are tons of Fourth of July celebrations going on today. Fairport Harbor Mardi Gras combines two festivities for the price one. It doesn’t have a whole lot in common with its Big Easy namesake (you won’t see many colorfully decorated costumes and floats or girls trading peeks at their boobs for cheap plastic beads). But there are plenty of eats, carnival rides, games, and, of course, fireworks.
Thursday: Don’t put those sparklers away yet — there’s one more July Fourth celebration. The Cleveland Orchestra presents its annual Star-Spangled Spectacular Concert downtown. The bash (now in its 18th year) ranks as one of the city’s top draws. It’s also one of the best. Franz Welser-Möst conducts the ensemble in a program of favorites by Bernstein, Gershwin, and Tchaikovsky. Before that, however, there’s a pre-show festival featuring music by nonclassical performers. It all culminates in fireworks.
Friday: Cleveland Cinematheque celebrates summer with a slew of road movies starting tonight. All month, it’s showing flicks like Duel, The Sugarland Express, and Two-Lane Backdrop, in which characters get their motors running and head out on the highway. Vanishing Point – the 1971 cult classic and Tarantino fave about a guy who takes his Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco – screens tonight. –Michael Gallucci

This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2007.