What to Do? What to Do?

Over the years, Baltimore has inspired lots of great songs, from Randy Newman's "Baltimore" (covered fantastically by Nina Simone) and Bob Dylan's "Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" to a power pop gem titled "Baltimore" on the new Matthew Sweet disc. Tonight, some of city's finest musicians will play a slew of Baltimore-inspired tunes at the Creative Alliance, and the show includes the likes of Howard Markman "Welcome to Smalltimore") Lisa Matthews and Mikel Gehl of Milkshake, and Mambo Combo's Bob Friedman. Doors open at 7:30 pm. Also, Merrill Garbus and tUnE-yArDs play the Ottobar, the All Things Round: Galaxies, Eyeballs, and Karma mega-exhibit opens at AVAM, and Lincoln Center Theater's much-lauded production of South Pacific continues its run at the Hippodrome.

Tomorrow, Arty Hill and the Long Gone Daddys, Caleb Stine, and others play Farm Fest at Farmer Tom's in Reisterstown, and the Art Car Derby has vehicles, once again, racing through the streets of Baltimore—this time, at much slower speeds, in Highlandtown.

Sunday, saxophone legend Oliver Lake plays Windup Space backed by an all-star band that includes pianist Lafayette Gilchrist and bassist Mike Formanek. It's the opening concert in Creative Differences' Second Sunday jazz series.