Thursday’s concert will take place starting at 6:30 p.m. and will feature Karl Stoll and the Danger Zone and the Chris Polk Band. The concert, at Penrose Square (2503 Columbia Pike), is free and open to the public.

The 18th annual Columbia Pike Blues Festival will take place on June 15 and feature legendary guitarist G.E. Smith, who’s best known for being the musical director for Saturday Night Live and for being lead guitarist for Hall & Oates, Bob Dylan and other major musical acts.

As always, the Blues Festival will be held on S. Walter Reed Drive just north of Columbia Pike. The performance schedule on June 15 includes:

• 1:00 p.m. — BG and the Mojo Hands
• 2:00 p.m. — Clarence “Bluesman” Turner
• 3:30 p.m. — Chris Polk [Sound Check]
• 5:00 p.m. — Cathy Ponton King
• 6:30 p.m. — G.E. Smith

File photo. Disclosure: Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, organizer of the Blues Festival, is an ARLnow.com advertiser.

Thanks to major renovations at the shopping center’s plaza, this year the concerts will be held in the alley between Pentagon Row and the Pentagon City mall parking garage. The alley will be closed to traffic during the concerts. As before, the concerts will take place on Thursday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

This year’s Rock the Row schedule is as follows:

• June 6: Slippery When Wet (Bon Jovi tribute)
• June 13: Hyjinx (90s cover)
• June 20: Uncle Jack Band (70s tribute)
• June 27: Gonzo’s Nose (80s tribute)
• July 11: Unity Reggae Band (Reggae)
• July 18: All Mighty Senators (Rock and Soul)
• July 25: The Crawdaddies (Roots Rock and Zydeco)
• August 1: Beach Bumz (Jimmy Buffett tribute)
• August 8: Higher Hands (Funk)
• August 15: Matt Hutchison Band (Pop Rock)
• August 22: Real Geniuses (80s tribute)
• August 29: Crowded Streets (Dave Matthews tribute)

The concerts are free and open to the public.

The renovations at the Pentagon Row plaza include an expanded ice rink during the winter, a turf lawn during the summer, revamped outdoor dining areas, 1,500 square feet of new retail and dining space, lighted water fountains and a stone fire pit. Construction on the project is expected to wrap up this fall.

File photo

Opening night at the amphitheater is scheduled for Friday, June 14, with soul and R&B artist Marry Ann Redmond performing. The season will close on Saturday, Aug. 3 with hip hop and jazz artist Rico Amero.

The amphitheater, which underwent a round of critical repairs in 2011, is located at N. Columbus Street and 2nd Street N., two blocks north of Route 50.

The full schedule can be found below. All shows are free and open to the public, and start at 8:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

• Friday, June 14 — Mary Ann Redmond (soul/R&B)
• Saturday, June 15 — Halau O’Aulani and the Aloha Boys (Hawaiian dance)
• Monday, June 17 — Metropolitan Chorus (choral)
• Wednesday, June 19 — Potomac Harmony Chorus (a cappella)
• Friday, June 21 – The U.S. Army Blues (jazz)
• Saturday, June 22 — King Teddy (big band/swing)
• Sunday, June 23 at 6:00 p.m. — The Constituents (acoustic/Caribbean)
• Friday, June 28 — Margot MacDonald (singer-songwriter)
• Saturday, June 29 — Eric Scott (pop/neo-soul)
• Sunday, June 30 at 6:00 p.m. — Black Muddy River Band (acoustic)
• Friday, July 5 — Colleen Shanley and Grand Junction (bluegrass/folk rock)
• Saturday, July 6 — Mystic Warriors (New Age/jazz)
• Sunday, July 7 at 6:00 p.m. — Bob Gibson Big Band (big band/swing)
• Friday, July 12 — Juniper Lane (pop/rock)
• Saturday, July 13 — Andrew Acosta and the New Old Time String Band (acoustic/traditional)
• Friday, July 19 – Ted Garber (blues/rocsc
• Saturday, July 20 — The Grandsons (rock)
• Sunday, July 21 at 6:00 p.m. – Russkie Musikanti (Russian folk)
• Friday, July 26 — “Much Ado About Nothing” (Shakespeare play)
• Saturday, July 27 — The Tone Rangers (a cappella/comedy)
• Friday, August 2 — Hexagon (political satire)
• August 3 — Rico Amero (hip hop/jazz)

Ladino music and Yiddish punk will be coming to Arlington this week.

Two Jewish-American musicians, Sarah Aroeste (see music video here) and Daniel Kahn (see music video, above), will be playing at Artisphere on Thursday as part of the two-week-long Washington Jewish Music Festival.

“Sarah Aroeste will open with the premiere of an unplugged version of her album ‘Gracia,’ which fuses the Judeo-Spanish sounds of Ladino music with rock, pop, jazz and funk,” said a festival press release. “Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird employ an inimitable mixture of radical Yiddish song, punk sensibility and re-worked klezmer melodies.”

“Bringing together punk-infused Yiddish from Daniel Kahn and Judeo-Spanish sounds of Sarah Aroeste will create an exhilarating and unique experience for our community,” said festival director Lili Kalish Gersch. “This will be a festival that appeals to music lovers of all stripes and all ages and should not be missed.”

The performances will take place at Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd) at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $20.

Tickets and the festival schedule are available online.

Sisqó, the Baltimore native best known for his 2000 hit single “Thong Song,” is scheduled to perform later this month at Mad Rose Tavern (3100 Clarendon Blvd) in Clarendon.

Sisqó, also of the R&B group Dru Hill, will be performing as part of an “I [Heart] the 90′s Party” at Mad Rose at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 28. The event will feature a performance by Sisqó and 90s music played by DJ Chris Styles.

An event calendar entry says there will be no cover charge, though it also advertises a $15 “cut line pass.” The page says Mad Rose will be offering “mad specials… priced like 90′s gas prices.”

Clarinet Capers with Julian Milkis — Saturday, Jan. 12 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. — Hailed as one of the world’s greatest living clarinetists, Julian Milkis remains the only student of Jazz Legend Benny Goodman, and has been described as a dazzling soloist, chamber musician and jazz clarinetist. Milkis will perform at Artisphere’s Spectrum Theater with members of the National Chamber Ensemble: Kathryn Brake on piano, Leo Sushansky on violin, and Uri Wassertzug on viola.

Holiday pops concert, “A Singers’ Blue Christmas” –Dec. 14 & 15 from 7:30-9:30 p.m. — Join the Alexandria Singers, the DC area’s premier pops chorus, for our annual holidays pops concert weekend as we weave pop and jazz arrangements of traditional holiday classics with new tunes that will instantly become your holiday favorites! Note 3 show times! Friday Dec 14th 7:30; Saturday Dec 15th 2pm AND 7:30pm! The concert will take place at Convergence (1801 N. Quaker Lane) in Fairlington. For tickets visit: https://shop.AlexandriaSingers.com

National Chamber Ensemble’s Annual Holiday Concert — Dec. 16 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. — The National Chamber Ensemble (NCE) celebrates the spirit of the holiday season on Sunday, December 16 with a show for the whole family. The performance will feature great music, an international guest artist and outstanding young musicians. An annual tradition, the concert will include seasonal favorites like Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride”, a Hanukkah Medley and more. The event will take place at the Spectrum Theatre at Artisphere (1611 N. Kent Street).

Symphony Orchestra of Arlington Family Holiday Concert – Saturday, Dec. 8 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. — The Symphony Orchestra of Arlington (SOA) will present its “Family Holiday Concert” at the beautiful Arlington Temple United Methodist Church. Tickets are now on sale — $15 for adults and $10 for age 12 and under. Purchases are available online at www.symphonyorchestraofarlington.com or at the box office by calling (804)-322-9328.

The MarchFourth Marching Band, a contemporary marching band featuring stiltwalkers and fire-dancers, will be performing at Artisphere in Rosslyn (1101 Wilson Blvd) tonight, Nov. 14.

MarchFourth will take the stage at Artisphere’s ballroom at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $15.

“MarchFourth Marching Band (M4 to its fans) is a kaleidoscope of musical and visual energy that inspires dancing in an atmosphere of celebration,” Artisphere said in a press release. “Visually enhanced by costumed dancing beauties, acrobatic stilt walkers, unicycles, life size marionettes and many more theatrics, M4 invokes dancing in the streets and beyond! The sound is huge, melodic and dynamic, taking audiences on a musical journey around the globe.”

The Portland, Ore.-based band, formed in 2003, has performed at the Burning Man Festival in California and as an opening act for singer Gwen Stefani.