If you’ve made it this far and have never sung along to the “Sweater Song” in the hazy backseat of a high-school-someone’s car, haven’t yet scornfully dismissed all of their albums since Pinkerton, or can’t recall Spike Jonze’s breakthrough music video, then f*ck, you really slipped through the cracks. Please get your Weezer on this Wednesday, real free, at the Regency. Hey, maybe they’ll even cover Lady Gaga. Details below:

October 21st, doors at 7 p.m. Get in line early, ’cause it’s first come, first served. The Regency Ballroom is located at 1290 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109. Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head is opening! You’ve got Myspace secret shows to thank.

Image Source: simpsonradio under Creative Commons.
Weezer [myspace]

As the bigger summer concerts around the bay wind down, you may be itching for the simpler, freer and more classical lunchtime performances of yesteryear, which the music department usually hosts every Wednesday right here on campus. Don’t mourn their absence too much–the noon concerts are currently on hiatus and plan to tear up Hertz Hall in full force come fall semester.

Until then, you can catch free noon performances (albeit jazzy, street-style ones) at the Downtown Berkeley BART plaza. Various esteemed jazz performers grace the plaza from 12 to 1 p.m. every Thursday, possibly inciting jealousy in Berkeley ’s other resident street performers. Check ‘em out before the plaza goes silent on Aug. 21.

Image Source: The West End under Creative Commons
Downtown Berkeley Association – Summer Noon Concerts 2008 [Website]
Earlier: Visit the New Museum in the City

Some of you may have attended the annual Berkeley Kite Festival & West Coast Kite Championships in the past, but when we first heard of it, we didn’t know what to expect. Fighter kites? Kite races? Aerial beauty contests?

We did a bit of digging, and it turns out that we weren’t too far off-base. But the kite festival also has so much more to offer. We’re looking forward to the attempts at new world records, the giant creature kite show and the candy drop (i.e. air-bombing a sea of kids with sweet treats). They also promise free admission, free activities and not-so-free food. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.

Parking won’t be free, either, so we suggest that you take the AC Transit #9 bus line to Berkeley Marina. Also remember to bring both a jacket and sunscreen–Bay Area weather on a hilltop by the bay will undoubtedly call for both extremes. Now go fly a kite!

What: 22nd Annual Berkeley Kite Festival & West Coast Kite Championships
When: Saturday, July 26 & Sunday, July 27 @ 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Where: Cesar E. Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina

Image Source: e.t under Creative Commons
The Berkeley Kite Festival [Highline Kites]
Earlier: Summer To-Do’s: Mime Time in Berkeley… for Free!