What to do in Philly June 14-20: Kidchella, Juneteenth, Pizzadelphia, and more

The weekend beckons, and with it, Father’s Day activities, goings-on down the Shore, and more Philadelphia festivals (Pizzadelphia at the Navy Yards, Juneteenth in Germantown, Kidchella in Fairmount Park, and Ambler’s street festival).

Also Saturday is Community Gardens Day. To mark the occasion, reporter Grace Dickinson got the dirt on joining your community garden, from the waitlists to the fees to the actual planting.

—Jenn Ladd (@jrladd, jladd@inquirer.com)

Philly’s intact Underground Railroad stop honors Juneteenth — the oldest national celebration of the effective end of slavery (June 19, 1865) — with a giant party on the 6300 block of Germantown Avenue. This year’s fest also features a beer and hard cider garden for the 21-plus crowd and a “Children’s Village,” featuring goats, a moonbounce, face painting, and crafting. Visitors can register online to catch a free performance of The Slave Narratives by Grounded Theater Company (1 and 3 p.m.) in the Johnson House garden. — Grace Dickinson

Noon to 7 p.m., Saturday, Johnson House, 6306 Germantown Ave., free, johnsonhouse.org

Cooler than ever this year, Smith Memorial Playground’s three-part concert series is where North West would be, if only her parents knew best. The opening date features Latin rock ensemble Moona Luna and the funky rocker Johnny Shortcake. — Lauren McCutcheon

4 to 7:30 p.m., Friday, also July 12 and Aug. 9, Smith Memorial Playground & Playhouse, 3500 Reservoir Dr., 215-765-4325, smithplayground.org

More than 70 arts and crafts exhibitors bring their wares to the streets of downtown Ambler this weekend, alongside food vendors, three beer gardens, and a wine tent. Visitors can catch live music from nearly a dozen acts during the two-day festival, too. — G.D.

5 to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, East Butler Avenue and South Ridge Avenue, free, amblerfest.org

If following your dreams means pursuing pizza, you’ll want to head to the Navy Yard this Saturday. Between grazing on all-you-can-eat slices from 30-plus pizzerias, enjoy demos from the U.S. pizza dough-tossing team, Q&As with cheesemongers and chefs, pizza podcasting, and more. — G.D.

Noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, Marine Parade Grounds, 4747 S. Broad St., $45, pizzadelphiafest.com

Celebrate the arrival of summer — and its produce — as 50-plus community gardens around the city open their gates to the public. Take a tour, watch demos, get your hands dirty at a work day, or enjoy some barbecue fare. To hit several in one outing, consider the Sierra Club’s Kensington community gardens walking tour, the Bicycle Coalition’s South Philly garden tour, or Mural Arts’ trolley tour of gardens in North Philly. — G.D.

10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, locations throughout Philadelphia, free, ngtrust.org

Mulgrew marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, while addressing related current topics in her 33rd annual home program. This multimedia program of dance and film features nine company dancers, as well as guest artist Ashley Searles performing the work of another Philadelphia choreographer, Asya Zlatina. — Ellen Dunkel

June 14 and 15, Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine St., $15-$20, 215-462-7720, annemariemulgrewdancersco.org

Saxophonist David Murray and percussionist Kahil El’Zabar are both iconic representatives of the most forward-searching jazz scenes in their respective cities. Murray’s muscular tenor sound was forged in the fires of the NYC loft scene of the 1970s, when ferocity and stamina were prerequisites of any saxophonist’s sound. El’Zabar gathered his arsenal of African percussion instruments under the sway of Chicago’s influential Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, where the ancient and the future were famously interwoven. As a duo, they range over a wide expanse of sonic terrain, from avant-garde excursions to hypnotic minimalism. — Shaun Brady

8 p.m., Friday, Ruba Club, 416 Green St., $20, (215) 627-9831, rubaclub.org

The front man for the Twin Cities-born Brooklyn-based barroom bashers the Hold Steady writes a lot of songs. So many that he’s knocked out three solo albums in four years, even as the Hold Steady remains an ongoing entity. Finn’s a born storyteller and while his solo work comes across less aggressively and more subdued than his work with the band, he’s such a rock-and-roller at heart that the empathetic songs on the excellent new I Need A New War still arrive with forceful, forward-pushing momentum. He’s touring with his band the Uptown Controllers, and Laura Stevenson opens. — Dan DeLuca

8 p.m., Friday, the Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, $25-$39, 610-649-8389, ardmoremusic.com

The Kimmel Center hosts a free six-hour music marathon on the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ — diminutive-seeming next to the Wanamaker Organ but ranked as the largest mechanical-action concert hall organ in the country nonetheless. In addition to a screening of Buster Keaton’s silent short Cops, enjoy performances by Opera Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Ballet. In the last 15 minutes, audience members are invited to lay down onstage and feel the powerful vibrations of “Fred” the organ. — G.D.

11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., free, kimmelcenter.org

Goth teen-pop star Billie Eilish broke through with her song “Ocean Eyes” in 2016 and sold out Union Transfer last year. Now the Los Angeles native — who is still not old enough to vote — will play a sold-out Met on Saturday. It’s in support of her debut album, Where Do We All Go When We Fall Asleep? (the line comes from a song called “Bury A Friend” which topped the charts upon its release in March). She’ll front a band that includes her brother Finneas O’Connell on keyboards and guitar. It’s likely the siblings will be helped out vocally by an opera house full of fans singing along to every word. — D.D.

7:30 p.m., Saturday, the Met Philadelphia, 858 N. Broad St., sold out, 800-653-8000, themetphilly.com

Folk band the End of America celebrates the release of “Break Away,” the first track in a planned one-song-per-month campaign for the rest of 2019. The tune finds the trio of James Downes, Trevor Leonard, and Brendon Thomas experimenting with drum loops and electronic textures along with their trademark harmonies, all under a Jack Kerouac-inspired band name. After their show at Bourbon & Branch in Northern Liberties this weekend, the band will play the Philadelphia Folk Festival, along with a World Cafe Live gig on Aug. 23 that’s part of a tribute to Jeff Buckley’s 1994 album Grace. — D.D.

8 p.m., Saturday, Bourbon & Branch, 705 N. Second St., $15, 215-238-0660, bourbonandbranchphilly.com

The last time Philadelphia audiences spied Perry Farrell, the man behind the Lollapalooza fest and the aquatic Porno for Pyros, he was leading a reunited Jane’s Addiction — the reason we know him in the first place — through its usual indie-goth-folk-glam rock paces. Hearing his jive patter and high, howling vocals against Jane’s jutting rhythms and gauzy guitars made you realize how much you missed the offbeat Farrell. That’s what makes his June 18 gig at World Café Live special. Touring with his mini-orchestra, Kind Heaven, for his first solo album in 18 years, Farrell may use new singles such as “Pirate Punk Politician” as a protest against autocratic regimes, but doesn’t that title sound like an apt description of the songwriter? To go along with that activism, Farrell’s fresh, Technicolor folk-metal work touches on lyrical interests both old (care of the planet, oppression) and new (Abrahamism, South East Asian spirituality) with swagger and soul. Plus, you know he’ll do Addiction classics like “Jane Says.” — A.D. Amorosi

8 p.m., Tuesday, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., $48.50-$73.50, 215-222-1400, philly.worldcafelive.com

“When I wanna block out the world, I do it to music,” Juliana Hatfield sings on this year’s Weird. But Hatfield is rarely interested in pure escapism — witness 2017’s politically charged Pussycat or last year’s revisionist set of Olivia Newton-John covers. Hatfield has been remarkably consistent over her prolific 30-plus-year career, from her beginnings in Blake Babies and her stint in the Lemonheads through her various projects under her own name. She’s a sharp songwriter with a voice that’s simultaneously tough and sweet, with a love of buzzy, edgy guitars. At World Café Live, she’ll be preceded by simpatico openers Bird Streets, the power-pop project helmed by NYC’s John Brodeur. — Steve Klinge

8 p.m., Wednesday, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., $20-$30, 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.