Roger Waters at the Wells Fargo Center, Shakespeare for Kids, and other things to do in Philly August 4 to 10

So, we don't know too much about Shakespeare and his dramaturgic methods. But we're pretty sure he would have used sock puppets if he could have. Erin Sheffield's annual vehicle introducing the delights of the Bard to audiences ages 4 to 10 features sock puppets performing bits from the antic comedy As You Like It, as well as  sing-alongs and the Shakespeare hokeypokey. Sheffield describes the show as "a perfect piece of silliness peppered with poetry. …  I am continually amazed how beautifully Shakespeare's text comes out of the mouths of sock puppets." — Michael Harrington

10 a.m. Friday and Saturday, DeSales University's Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, Pa. 610-282-9445, Ext. 1, pashakespeare.org

This is more than just tossing stuff — leaves, sticks, rocks, your brother — into the creek to test buoyancy. It's science! — M.H.

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Morris Arboretum, 100 E. Northwestern Ave. $17; $15 seniors; $9 students and ages 3 to 17; ages 2 and under free (includes garden admission). 215-247-5777, morrisarboretum.org

5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse, 3500 Reservoir Dr. Free. 215-765-4325, smithplayground.org

She's famous for sewing the first version of the Stars and Stripes. It's not as well-known that Betsy Ross really loved cheesy sci-fi flicks featuring giant monsters. And nobody made 'em better than Bert I. Gordon, whose 1958 epic about a really big tarantula terrorizing a small town screens as part of the First Friday series at the seamstress' house. Don't be fooled when the arachnid gone amok is apparently killed by the wonder pesticide DDT — not when there's a bunch of hoodlums playing that blasted rock and roll nearby. That really gets the monster mad (must be a Liberace fan) and then no one is safe. (We don't know what Betsy thought about the bop.) — M.H.

5 p.m. Friday, Betsy Ross House, 239 Arch St. $5 215-686-1252, historicphiladelphia.org/betsy-ross-house

» READ MORE: “Bubba Ho-Tep”

In Don Coscarelli's 2002 horror comedy, one resident of a Texas rest home claims to be Elvis Presley (stranded after the impersonator he switched places with died in 1977) while another claims to be John F. Kennedy (given plastic surgery and dyed black after surviving the 1963 assassination). Together, they battle a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy, whose plodding pace makes the elderly his ideal victims. Though it stars the inimitable Bruce Campbell as the King (with the great Ossie Davis as JFK), it's odd enough to have starred the actual Elvis, too. — M.H.

9:45 p.m. Friday at the Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville. $10; $8 seniors and students. 610-917-0223, thecolonialtheatre.com

The Koresh Dance Company assistant director and dancer is joined by company members to present a selection of her intimate and insightful choreography.  — M.H.

6 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday, Koresh Studio, 2002 Rittenhouse Square, $15 and $20, koreshdance.org.

5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine St. Free. 215-557-0455, asianartsinitiative.org/

Mike Ness has led the Southern California punk band Social Distortion since 1978, gradually moving the group — which, along with guitarist Johnny "Two Bags" Wickersham, now includes drummer David Hidalgo Jr., whose father plays in Los Lobos — from a blistering hard-core attack to a more mature, roots-country-infused sound. Show opener Jade Jackson is a 25-year-old fellow Californian who grew up listening to Social D., as well as to George Jones and Johnny Cash. She steps into her own on the Ness-produced Gilded, the impressive debut album on the Anti- label that puts her own singer-songwriter mark on the Bakersfield sound Buck Owens pioneered. — Dan DeLuca

8 p.m. Friday, Fillmore Philadelphia, 29 E. Allen St. $41. 215-309-0150, fillmorephilly.com

If you don't recognize the band name, you must know guitarist Daniel Ash and drummer Kevin Haskins from Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, and Tones on Tail, three acts whose brand stands for the very best — and certainly most epically dark — Gothic punk and its moody ambience. Ash and Haskins are as crucial to the development of British punk and new wave as Rotten or Strummer but usually get more shrouded (ooh, spooky) in mystique. Without new music yet, Ash, Haskins, and the drummer's daughter-bassist, Diva Dompe, will cover the glam-psychedelic leaning hits of Love & Rockets — such as "Motorcycle" and "Kundalini Express" — the droning Tones on Tail, and, of course, Bauhaus' thundering "Bela Lugosi's Dead." And, yes, it should be weird hearing that undead classic without Peter Murphy, but keep your fangs withdrawn until you hear Ash sing it. — A.D. Amorosi

8 p.m. Friday, Trocadero Theatre, 1003 Arch St., $29.50-$35, thetroc.com

Although Laetitia Sadier adopted a new band name for this year's Finding Me Finding You, the change is slight: Her Source Ensemble bandmates played on her previous solo albums, and she's exploring many of the same alluring and provocative ideas she brought to Stereolab, a blend of light bossa nova, languid exotica, and motoric rhythms behind lyrics anchored in Marxist ideology and leftist politics. "Status, prestige, prominence don't mean a thing at this time," she sings sweetly in a song driven by pulsing marimbas. On Finding Me Finding You, the easygoing music belies the hard-thinking lyrics, and the result is Sadier at her best. — Steve Klinge

9 p.m. Saturday at Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. $13. 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com

Not one, not two, but three shows for the high-concept Pink Floyd auteur, known for his operatic arena-rock spectacles and all-caps political messaging who hasn't been in town since filling Citizens Bank Park in 2012. Waters has a deeply serious new album out called Is This the Life That We Really Want? But this jaunt on the road for the 73-year-old British songwriter is known as the Us + Them tour, named after a track on the 1973 mega-selling album Dark Side of the Moon. It is made up of approximately four-fifths Pink Floyd material, and is well-suited for Waters to go back to his 1970s songs of authoritarianism and alienation and recast them as resistance anthems for today's contentious times. — Dan DeLuca

8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Aug. 11 at the Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St. $51-$246. 215-336-3600. wellsfargocenterphilly.com.