On the road: Fly a kite along Lake Michigan
Chicago
Jazz hands
It's the 10th anniversary celebration of the Contempo Double Bill, which puts the work of top inspired women in music from around the world front and center stage. The daring jazz artist Patricia Barber leads her quartet and plays with the Ari Hoenig trio in the second half of the show. Who is she? Time Magazine wrote, “Cross Diana Krall with Susan Sontag and you get Patricia Barber, whose throaty, come-hither vocals and coolly incisive piano are displayed to devastating effect.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at the Logan Center Performance Hall, 915 E. 60th St., Chicago. Tickets cost $25, $5 for students. (773) 702-2787 or arts. uchicago.edu.
Go fly a kite
A harbinger of springtime in Chicago, the 16th Annual Chicago Kids and Kites Festival returns to Cricket Hill in Montrose Harbor for free family fun. The city provides kite kits for kids to build, decorate and fly (while supplies last), and additional activities include face painting, balloon artists and a kite-shaped refrigerator magnet craft. Kites are also available for purchase, and professional kite fliers will demonstrate their skills with oversized and interestingly shaped kites.
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at Cricket Hill, Montrose Harbor, Lake Shore Drive and Montrose. Free. (312) 744-3316 or chicagokidsandkites.us.