Music critics' picks

ALTERNATIVE

If youre in Northern Liberties tomorrow, 2nd Street is the place to be for the 2nd Street Festival, where you'll find tons of vendors, family-friendly fun and three stages of music, much of it homegrown. There's the returning POPPED! Fest, which includes Benjee Ferree, Rock Plaza Central, Arc In Round, Magnet City Kids, the Chimeras, The Lara & Joe Show, Heavy Hands and Sharon Von Etten. Over at the recently opened Piazza at Schmidts, there's the Philebrity Sync Stage with Asteroid #4, Jotto, Pink Skull, BC Camplight, the Tough Sh-ts, the Sound of Kaleidoscope and Tuphace.

2nd Street between Green Street and Germantown Avenue, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. tomorrow, free, all ages, http://nolibs.com/festival.asp or http://www.philebrity.com/syncstage.

— Sara Sherr

CLASSICAL

David Lang's "Battle Hymns" presents a unique opportunity for combining artistic disciplines, thanks to the imagination of the Hidden City Festival, happening at unexpected locations around the city.Alan Harler, no stranger to dramatic impact, will lead the Mendelssohn Club chorus as the Leah Stein Dance Company provides theatrical movement shaped to the space and the mood in this blend of music, choreography and pure theater. Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his opera "The Little Match Girl Passion" and co-founder of the wildly successful Bang On A Can ensemble, Lang makes music that teems with highly complex rhythms.

Armory of the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, 22 S. 23rd St., 4 and 6 p.m. tomorrow, $20, 267-597-3808, www.mcchorus.org.

— Tom Di Nardo

HIP-HOP

Although DJ Ultraviolet's Bee Eater Records is only a few months old, the label is already home to some of the best hip-hop artists on the East Coast. The Bee Eater Records Showcase will serve as a great introduction for those not in the know. Meet producer/MC collaboration Hustle Simmons, the duo of rhymer Dave Ghetto and producer the S Ence. Also on the bill is Camden rhymer Fel Sweetenberg, Bee Eater's first signed artist. Rounding out the bill is Ethel Cee, heading out on a European tour in July. Opening acts include Keziah and Leah Nicole, with special guests Hezekiah, Reef the Lost Cauze and U.City. Mars 5 hosts, DJ Akshun and Ultraviolet will spin between sets.

Silk City, 435 Spring Garden St., 9 p.m. Wednesday, $5, 21-plus, 215-592-8838, www.silkcityphilly.com.

— James Johnson

JAZZ

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for decades was a proving ground for young jazz talent, an apprenticeship that gave countless legends-to-be their first opportunities on a grand stage. The Clef Club brings back two veterans of the band's 1980s incarnation: trumpeter Wallace Roney and Philly-based Ralph Peterson, who had the particularly daunting task of playing a second drumkit alongside the master in his big band. And as the fortuitous result of a momentary scheduling hiccup, young trumpeter Sean Jones has been added to the mix. Jones has no history with the Messengers, but if Blakey were alive today he would no doubt have recruited him and helped to elevate an already-burgeoning career.

Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz, 736 S. Broad St., 7 and 10:30 p.m. tomorrow, $25-$30, 215-893-9912, www.clefclub.org.

— Shaun Brady

POP...plus

It would take this entire page to catalog all the music, dancing, kids entertainment and assorted unbridled merriment planned for the Summer Solstice Celebration, a 15-hour extravaganza that has deservedly become a city tradition. Your minimal admission fee allows you to come in and out of the Kimmel all afternnon and night. Amusements include: R&B singer Bradd Marquis, the Duffy String Band, a dog-lovers Yappy Hour with author Michael Schaffer, "Bob & Barbara's Drag Show," Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Paul Arnold and celebrated DJ Rahsaan. Bucks County chanteuse Aimee Robidoux joins Karen Gross and others for a late-night song-and-laughs cabaret. The Drum Circle wraps things up at 5 a.m. Sunday.

Kimmel Center (Verizon Hall and Perelman Theater), Broad and Spruce streets, 3 p.m. tomorrow through sunrise Sunday, $10, $5 ages 12 and under, 215-893-1999, www.kimmelcenter.org.

— Laurie T. Conrad