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Midtown Village Fall Festival and 19 other things to do this weekend, Sept. 30-Oct. 2

Need something to do this weekend? Don't worry, we got you covered.

The 7th annual Midtown Village Fall Festival stretched up 13th street from Locust to Walnut streets Saturday. The festival included  food, drink and crafts vendors, dunk tanks, DJs, Sumo wrestling, and a pop-up beer garden. October 6, 2012 (MARIE ALYSE RODRIGUEZ/PHILLY.COM).
The 7th annual Midtown Village Fall Festival stretched up 13th street from Locust to Walnut streets Saturday. The festival included food, drink and crafts vendors, dunk tanks, DJs, Sumo wrestling, and a pop-up beer garden. October 6, 2012 (MARIE ALYSE RODRIGUEZ/PHILLY.COM).Read more

The forecast might call for rain this weekend but that doesn't mean Philadelphia is shutting down. On Saturday, Silent Philly, a dance party where you get a pair of headphones that allows you to flip between different DJs so you can decide what you want to listen to. Or you could head to North Philly and channel Theresa Caputo, aka the Long Island Medium, who will be at the Liacouras Center to tawk to the spirit world. Heading for the movies instead? There's Masterminds, Deepwater Horizon (did you see we chatted up Kate Hudson?), or Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in theaters. Or hey, maybe you feel more like couch surfing? Take a look at five other can't miss events happening in October and plan head.

COMEDY

Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood

8 p.m. Friday, Keswick Theatre, Easton Road and Keswick Avenue, Glenside. $42 to $62. 215-572-7650, .

It's those guys from Whose Line Is It Anyway? without that Price is Right guy (didn't he used to be a comedian?). The improv vets work with audience suggestions - and members of the audience, so be ready to hit the stage - to create the show before your very eyes. Yes, it's all true, and completely made up. - Michael Harrington

Jim Breuer

8 p.m. Saturday, Fillmore Philadelphia, 29 E. Allen St. $45 and $55. 215-309-0150.

The rocking comic calls this his Marriage Warrior tour, talking about what it takes to make it as a spouse while turning 50. Hey, somebody's got to do it. - M.H.

CLASSICAL

The Philadelphia Orchestra

8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, Broad and Spruce Streets. $34 to $143. 215-893-1999.

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Philadelphians in Mozart's monumental but unfinished Mass in C minor, with soloists Lucy Crowe, soprano, Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano, Nicholas Phan, tenor, and Philippe Sly, bass-baritone. Also on the program: Christopher Theofanidis' Rainbow Body, based on music by the mystical medieval abbess Hildegard von Bingen, and Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony in B minor- M.H.

AUTUMN

Fall Festival

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Morris Arboretum, 100 East Northwestern Ave. $17; $15 seniors; $9 students and ages 3 to 17; under age 3 free. 215-247-5777.

For the 17th year, the Morris Arboretum celebrates the arrival of the colorful, crisp season with pumpkin-painting, apple-tasting, and scarecrow-making. The Arboretum supplies everything you need for a designer scarecrow, including frames, straw and an array of snappy duds. Tom Stanton and his falcon, Cleo, visit at 11 a.m. both days, while animal guests from the Elmwood Park Zoo stop by from noon to 3 p.m. - M.H.

KIDS

Rumpelstiltskin

10 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Broadway Theatre of Pitman, 43 S. Broadway, Pitman, N.J. $9. 856-384-8381.

It all starts with a lie about spinning straw into gold - and, no, it has nothing to do with presidential politics. A musical version of the Brothers Grimm tale. - M.H.

Truck and Tractor Day

10 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Winterthur, 5105 Kennett Pike (Route 52), Winterthur, Del. $20; $18 seniors; $5 ages 2 to 11. 1-800-448-3883.

Winterthur, the former Delaware estate of Henry Francis du Pont, is jam-packed of antique Americana, but good luck with getting a kid excited by a Queen Anne chair. Now, a McCormick Farmall, that's a different story. Throw in firefighters, a chance to get hoisted into a tree like an arborist, and milking a mechanical cow, and you've made a Winterthur fan for life (there will be time for the Queen Anne chair later). - M.H.

Extra Fun Day

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Smith Playground, 3500 Reservoir Drive. Free. 215-765-4325.

In memory of patron David Pincus, Smith Playground adds to its usual pleasures with West African drum and dance performances, costumed characters, hot dogs, ice cream, and other treats. Says Pincus Family Foundation executive director Danielle Scott: "David Pincus was a true believer that no matter the circumstance of a child's life or health, a smile can work magic." Our kind of guy. - M.H.

FILM

My Neighbors the Yamadas

2 p.m. Saturday, International House, 3701 Chestnut St. $5. 215-387-5125.

The unlikely Studio Ghibli follow-up to the epic, gorgeously illustrated fantasy Princess Mononoke, Isao Takahata's 1999 domestic comedy tells an episodic story of family's slapdash efforts to traverse quotidian difficulties. Using a watercolor-like, cartoon -strip style, adventures such as a lost child and marital disagreements over the TV remote are mixed with fantastic interludes. - M.H.

MUSIC

James Blake

8:30 p.m. Friday, Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St. $35 and $40. 215-627-1332.

It's hard to pin down James Blake's place in the musical landscape, and that's a wonderful thing. The British artist is in league with other indie falsetto crooners such as Anohni and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who appears on Blake's excellent The Colour In Anything. Blake has collaborated with Beyonce (Lemonade) and Frank Ocean. His songs are good for introspective, solitary listening, but they resonate loudly live. - Steve Klinge

Michael McDermott

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St. $18. 215-928-0770.

It's a narrative that's close to being a cliché: Singer-songwriter debuts to great hype and critical acclaim, falls hard, and then finds redemption through sobriety, marriage, and fatherhood. That experience has provided inspiration for the best and most moving music of Michael McDermott's career, which is saying a lot. His latest album, Willow Springs, goes to some dark places. But eventually the Chicago native does "Let a Little Light In," and the album ends on an uplift that never rings false. Matthew Ryan opens. - Nick Cristiano

Kanye West

8 p.m. Tuesday, Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St. $29.50-$199, 215-336-3600.

In his own humble opinion, Kanye West is making art and music and fashion on an elevated level, way up there on a higher aesthetic plane than his more earthbound competitors. On Tuesday, we'll all have the chance to look up to the rapper-producer Renaissance Man, as the stage for the Saint Pablo tour - from this year's inconsistent, but sometimes brilliant The Life Of Pablo - literally floats above the Wells Fargo Center floor. Careful Kanye, don't fall off! - Dan DeLuca

Bad Religion / Against Me! / Dave Hause

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, The Fillmore Philadelphia, 29 E. Allen St. $30, 215-309-0150.

A cool, multi-generation punk-rock triple bill, the Vox Populi Tour.

Bad Religion are the Los Angeles stalwarts who have been rocking hard since 1982's How Could Hell Be Any Worse. Singer Greg Graffin is a also a university lecturer with a Ph.D in life science and paleontology - the band has been accused of making "thesaurus rock."

Against Me! are the Gainesville, Fla., band founded in the 1990s by Tom Grabel, now transgender woman Laura Jane Grace. The group just followed 2014's Transgender Dysphoria Blues with the less euphoric Shape Shift With Me.

Dave Hause, of locals the Loved Ones, opens. -Dan DeLuca

Ladies Sing the Blues / Decades: Ladies of Jazz

"Ladies Sing the Blues": 8 p.m. Saturday, Zellerbach Theatre, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St. $25 to $55, 215-898-3900.

"Decades: Ladies of Jazz": 7 p.m. Saturday, Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1903 S. Rittenhouse Square. $20. 

Fans of early jazz and blues, and of the powerful female vocalists who gave the music such expressive voice, are faced with a tough decision this weekend - two shows featuring the spiritual granddaughters of those pioneers.

At the Annenberg Center, "Ladies Sing the Blues" has Brianna Thomas, Charenee Wade, and Catherine Russell performing the songs of blues royalty such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Ethel Waters.

"Decades: Ladies of Jazz" has Philly favorites Rhenda Fearrington, Shakera Jones and Julie Charnet skipping forward a few decades to the 1930s through the '50s to honor jazz legends such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. - Shaun Brady

FESTIVALS

Midtown Village Fall Festival

Noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Chestnut Street from Broad to 12th Street and surrounding streets.

One of Philly's largest annual street festivals, the Midtown Village Fall Festival brings more than 50,000 people to 13th Street each year. Fill up on tasty eats and drinks, listen to live music, and shop from local vendors and businesses during the eight-hour, multi-block party. -Grace Dickinson

Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival

8:30 a.m. Saturday, Kelly Drive, 610-642-2333.

Like the Olympics, this monster competition draws amateurs from far and wide and has its own pop-up athlete's village. It happens right here on our very own Schuylkill and without any Ryan Lochte nonsense.  -Becky Batcha

MUSEUMS

New South Asian Galleries

Opens Sunday, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. $14 to $20, 215-763-8100.

This is not a special exhibition, but it is one of the major events of the fall. The Art Museum's collection of sculpture, paintings, textiles, and folk art from the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayas, long considered top-notch, has been strengthened by new acquisitions. Its presentation has been reimagined along thematic lines, and the South Indian temple at its center has been relighted so its abundant sculpture can be seen and reinterpreted based on recent research. -Thomas Hine

A Million Faces: The Photography of John W. Mosley

Through Jan. 16, Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave., $7 to $10. 215-247-0476.

Mosley (1907-69) was a self-taught photographer who documented black life in Philadelphia from the 1940s through the height of the civil rights movement. This show, produced in partnership with the Charles Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple, shows Mosley both as a chronicler of everyday life and as an artist. -T.H.

THEATER

This Is the Week That Is, the Election Special

Through Nov. 7, Plays and Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey St. $36 to $42. 215-592-9560.

Unfamiliar with 1812 Productions' annual political satire? Picture a sketch-comedy-friendly version of The Daily Show, but the old one, with Jon Stewart. It's really funny, and one suspects this year it will be even funnier. -Wendy Rosenfield

Grounded

Through Oct. 23, InterAct Theatre Company @ The Drake, 302 South Hicks St. $15 to $38, 215-568-8079.

In this one-woman show by George Brant, an American fighter pilot (Kittson O'Neill) finds herself pregnant. Unable to fly, she is assigned to a Las Vegas trailer in which she controls combat drones half a world away. It's an intense and topical look inside both the war on terror and a soldier's mind.  -W.R.