Lisa Loeb, and her glasses, Saturday at Troy Music Hall.

There's lots going on in the Capital Region on this first chilly weekend of spring, from Lewis Black and his rants, to Lisa Loeb and her glasses, to gardens and flowers and hoops. (Oh, my.)

After the jump, a list of stuff you might find interesting. Doing something that didn't make the list? Share it in the comments.

And whatever you're up to, have a fantastic weekend!

Lewis Black

Comedian Lewis Black will be at The Palace Friday night for a standup show. His current tour is appropriately titled "The Rant is Due." Most people know Black from his commentaries on the Daily Show. The most recent election season has probably left him one or two things to talk about. (By the way: Black is also a playwright -- really. His work has been performed at places such as the Williamstown Theatre Festival.) From 2011: Lewis Black on Albany. 8 pm - $29.50 and up

More Comedy

MopCo: You Never Know

The Mop & Bucket Company's You Never Know show is back. Think Whose Line is it Anyway -- a night of short form improv games where talented improvisers make up scenes and songs based on audience suggestions. Underground at Proctors. Friday at 8 pm - $14 adults, $6 students and seniors.

Improv at The Comedy Works

Mop & Bucket opens a weekly short form improv comedy show on Saturday night at The Comedy Works on Northern Blvd in Albany. Think Whose Line is it Anyway. 8 pm - $15-$20

The Brew Ha-Ha Comedy Showcase

Hosted by Greg Aidala the Brew Ha Ha Comedy Showcase at the Holiday Inn Express Suits in Latham features Carmen Lynch (The Late Show with David Letterman, Last Comic Standing) and Clayton Fletcher (Sex and the City, MTV) along with locals Matt Kelly and Stephen Murray. 8 pm - $15

Theater

Single Girls Guide

The Single Girls Guide continues at Cap Rep this week (TU review, Nippertown review, Daily Gazette review). $20 and up

Lucky Stiff

Casino Royale-meets-Weekend at Bernie's in the musical comedy Lucky Stiff, this weekend at Class Act Productions in the Schacht Fine Arts Center at Russell Sage in Troy. Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm

Woman in Mind

The Schenectady Civic Players present Alan Ayckbourn's black comedy Woman in Mind. "After stepping on the tooth end of a garden rake, Susan experiences hilarious hallucinations in which her boring and oppressive everyday life is replaced by a fantasy. Now she is the ideal wife with the ideal family! But is this really bliss or has she merely let her sanity lapse?" Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2:30 pm, $15

8

Tonight at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, The RPI Community Advocates and the Pride Center of the Capital Region present a staged reading of the play 8. Written by Dustin Lance Black, author of Milk and J. Edgar, the play chronicles the events surrounding the California Supreme Court case which deemed Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to deny same-sex couples the right to marry, unconstitutional. Post show reception at The Confectionery. Friday at 7:30 pm - $3 in advance, $5 at the door

Othello

Confetti Stage presents Shakespeare's Othello at the Albany Masonic Hall. Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm - $10

Sound of Music

The Captain, Maria and the seven singing Von Trapps, complete with nuns, Nazis, and whiskers on kittens, this weekend at Schenectady Light Opera's production of the Rogers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music. Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm - $22 & $28.

Inflatable Frankenstiein

Friday at EMPAC: "Inflatable Frankenstein" by the performance collective Radiohole. Blurbage:

Inspired by meditations on horror films, the work of Antonin Artaud, and Ardunio open-source electronics, Radiohole's Inflatable Frankenstein is a visually and sonically driven performance based on Mary Shelley's early life and her novel Frankenstein.

Here's a NYT review from January. Friday 8 pm - $18

Capital District Garden and Flower Show

If there's not enough actual spring for you, check out the Capital District Garden and Flower Show at Hudson Valley Community College: 17,000 square feet of garden and landscape ideas, demos, and 150 garden vendors. Friday noon to 8 pm, Saturday 10 am to 7 pm, Sunday 10 am to 5 pm - $12, under 12 free

Hoops

Friday-Sunday at the TU Center: the Federation Tournament of Champions, a tournament featuring the winners of the high school basketball tournaments from both upstate and downstate.

Music

Friday: The Fellowship Band at the Zankel Center

"Considered by many critics to be the most important contemporary jazz band in the modern world..." 8 pm - $8

Friday: Kenny Wayne Shepherd at Upstate Concert Hall

Blues guitarist. With: Sly Fox and The Hustlers. 8 pm - $22.50 ahead / $25 day of

Friday-Saturday: Blues Weekend at Caffe Lena

Annual "two-day celebration of the Roots and Branches of the Blues." Here's Saturday. 8 pm both nights - $16 Friday, $20 Saturday

Friday: That 1 Guy at Red Square

One-man act -- plays the "Magic Pipe, a monstrosity of metal, strings, and electronics, facilitates the dynamic live creation of music and magic." 8 pm - $12 ahead / $15 day of

Saturday: Lisa Loeb at Troy Music Hall

Back with her band, Nine Stories. (She never parted ways with her glasses.) 8 pm - $27

Saturday: Sgt Dunbar and the Hobo Banned at the Oakwood Community Center in Troy

Celebrating their new EP, with Matt Durfee and Secret Release. doors 8 pm, show at 8:30 pm - donate at the door and get a copy of the new album

Saturday: Roots Music Festival 4 at The Linda

Featuring: Brown Bird. With: James Edmond's Heavenly Echoes, The Red Haired Strangers, Lost Radio Rounders and Friends Presenting: Songs of the Carter Family, Olivia Quillio, Low 'n Lonesome. 8 pm - $15

Saturday: Sara Watkins at The Egg

Singer/fiddler, formerly of Nickel Creek. 7:30 pm - $20

Saturday: Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt at Helsinki Hudson

Classical pianist + alt-country singer/songwriter. 8 pm - $30

Saturday: Mike Gent at Spring Street Gallery

Gent, from The Figgs, returns to Saratoga with an acoustic solo show. 8 pm - sliding scale admission of $6-$10

Saturday: '60s Spectacular at Proctors

With: Peter Noone/Herman's Hermits, Mary Wilson from the Supremes, Jay and the Americans, The Happenings. 7 pm - $36.75 and up

Saturday: The Martha Redbone Roots Project at Proctors

Playing with John McEuen. "[A] collection of William Blake poems set to the music of her mother's Appalachia by Native American singer-songwriter Redbone, produced by Grammy-winning founder of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, McEuen." An 8th Step show. 7:30 pm - $26 ahead / $28 at door

Saturday: Snuggie Luau at Valentine's

With: The Lucky Jukebox Brigade, Bellas Bartok, Home Body. "Wear snuggies, sundresses, flip flops, snowpants...anything one might wear to bed or to the beach." 9 pm

Sunday: Kurt Elling at The Egg

Jazz vocalist. 7:30 pm - $29.50

Night At The Brewseum

Friday night at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs: sample craft beer and wine with food from Maestro's, and check out the museum. Friday 6 pm - $35, $20 active military personnel, $10 non-drinker

Roller Derby

The Albany All Stars play a double header on Saturday night at the Washington Avenue Armory. First, a women's bout against Pioneer Valley Roller Derby the CT RollerGirls. And then the men's derby: Capital District Trauma Authority vs. Connecticut Death Quads. first whistle at 6 pm - $10, $4 kids

Pass It On Children's Consignment Sale

More than 600 consigners will be selling toys, books, videos, strollers, swings, and other baby stuff plus sports equipment, children's furniture and other item at the Pass It On Children's Consignment Sale on Sunday at the Siena College Marcelle Athletic Complex. Sunday 9 am-7 pm

Museums

Corita Art Day

Friday at Skidmore's Tang Museum: a day-long celebration of artist Corita Kent, featuring tours, discussions, and projects. And exhibit of Kent's work -- Someday Is Now: The Art of Corita Kent -- is current on display at the Tang. Friday various times - free

Butterflies @ MiSci

The butterfly house inside MiSci (formerly the Schenectady Museum) continues this weekend. Saturday 11 am-5 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm - Free with museum admission

Gordon Parks photography at the NYS Museum

Gordon Parks: 100 photos -- a collection of work by the famous photographer/director and Life magazine's first African American staff member -- highlights photos taken in Harlem and Washington DC during the early 1940s, "when both cities were going through significant changes--arising from post-WW II urban migration, the expansion of the black press, concern for children's education, and entrenched segregation and economic discrimination."

Currier and Ives

The Albany Institute of History and Art's new Currier and Ives exhibit, "The Legacy of Currier & Ives; Shaping the American Spirit," continues. The exhibition of 64 Currier and Ives prints "introduces the visitor to the firm of Currier & Ives and illustrates, through interpretive and educational materials, how their imagery became ingrained in the national consciousness." While you're there you can also check out the exhibit of work from the Hudson River School. It includes works from the institute's collection as well as works from private collections. The exhibit runs through August 18.

On Sunday, historian and author Anderson will be at the Albany Institute to discuss the hand-painted English wallpapers from three English-style residences built between 1762 and 1768 in Albany. The papers from Albany's Van Rensselaer house-- one of only two of their kind in the world-- are on view in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Get some ice cream

Cold? If you're eating ice cream you won't notice so much. The Snowman in Troy, The Tastee Freez in Bethlehem, Bumpy's in Schenectdy and many of the other seasonal ice cream stands are open.

Proctors, Troy Music Hall, Albany Law, Capital Rep and Live Nation advertise on AOA.

photo: Juan Patino