Arts Fest Events: 'Grease' and Bootcamp for Beginners

Art lovers hold on to your (undoubtedly ridiculous) hats. This year's Spotlight on Arts Festival features over 40 art events spanning 30 days. The performances vary from high school art galleries to a battle of the bands to live bluegrass to an inaugural ball and auction.

Can't wait? Well before you go off salivating over the festival's calendar, scroll down. I've taken 40 events and made a handy guide of what-you-need-to-knows for this week. And so you don't get overwhelmed, I'll do the same for you every few days.

Check back for updated event listings... and let me know what you think of the festival. I'll be out and about talking to people, taking photos. Say hi if you see me!

Now to the good stuff:

• FXPlayers present “Grease”

"I got chiiiiills. They're multiplyin'... And I'm loooosing control. 'Cause the power you're supplyin'... It's electrifying!"

May 6–7 at 7:30 p.m., May 8, 2011 at 2 p.m., May 13–14, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. at Fairfax High School. Tickets: $8 online, $12 at the door.

• "Excessive Perspective" at Adam Lister Gallery

This new exhibit highlights new definitions and approaches by artists using and depicting volumes and spatial relationships within their work. A language of space and time, visually divided and multiplied within itself, expresses a mysterious rationality behind the act of production and simplification.  The work in this exhibit explores alternative viewpoints to understanding the world around us and the infinite web of parallel realities.  

Exhibition dates: May 6 - May 19. Opening reception: Friday 6-9 p.m.

• Civil War Day

Boot camp for beginners, cannons, historical tours and more. Click here for the full schedule. 

Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Historic Blenheim & the Civil War Interpretive Center 3610 Old Lee Highway. Tickets: $5 adults, $3 children age 12 and under.

• “A Musical Evening at Home” with Sior-Og

Sior-Og, "Forever Young" in Irish Gaelic, has been performing traditional Irish music since 2002. Using uilleann pipes, fiddle, bodhran, guitar and a variety of Irish whistles, Sior-Og performs classic dance tunes such as jigs, reels, slip jigs and hornpipes.

Saturday at 6 p.m. Old Town Hall. Ticket information to come.