JAZZ/BLUES
At some point in your life, you’ve either slow-danced or karaoke’d to “At Last,” the timeless blues classic by Etta James. When she recorded that song in 1961, James was well on her way to becoming a 420-pound, multiple-Grammy winning insurance risk. But a few years back, she went under the knife and more than halved her size. Fortunately, her voice doesn’t seem to have suffered a bit. Her Sunday show at the Keswick is sold out, but tickets remain for Saturday at the House of Blues in A.C. Along the same line, Karrin Allyson, whom the New York Times called “a complete artist — one of the jazz world’s finest” and who is used to playing venues like Lincoln Center and Montreaux Jazz, takes a minor detour to Chris’ Jazz Cafe (where I hear they just got a new baby grand) on Sansom Friday and Saturday nights in support of her new CD Imagina: Songs of Brasil.

ROCK LEGENDS
I’m guessing there aren’t too many people in the world who wrote songs about transvestites and sang with Pavarotti. Lou Reed (pictured) is one of them. The “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” and “Perfect Day” (my favorite) composer brings his iconic self to the Electric Factory on Saturday. Meanwhile, onetime Bandstand regular Charlie Gracie, who is credited with being one of the country’s original rockers and who is from right here in Philadelphia, turns up at the Tin Angel on Saturday.

CONVENTION
The words “convention” and “fun” don’t normally go together, but in the case of the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention, you could do worse. Get inked by some of the country’s best artists, or just take in appearances by the dastardly Suicide Girl pinup models (pictured). At the Sheraton through Sunday.

THEATER
In previews, there’s Dito van Reigersberg in Azuka Theatre Company’s production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Latvian Society, and a puppetted version of Animal Farm at Mum Puppettheatre (they’ve been working on it for a year and a half, so it better be good!). The Arden opens Go, Dog, Go! for the kiddies on Saturday. And it’s your last chance to catch Philadelphia Theatre Company’s Third at the newish Suzanne Roberts Theatre.

Any gal who can make Neil Young’s craggy “Old Man” smooth and soulful is OK by me. Georgia’s Lizz Wright does her thing (her thing having drawn comparisons to Ella Fitzgerald, Cassandra Wilson and Tracy Chapman) tonight at World Cafe Live. 8 p.m.; $35 to $50.

There are so many great shows around this weekend, you can almost smell the sweaty summer concert season right around the corner. I’ll provide the short list. You bring the ear plugs …

MEN AND THEIR GUITARS
Diabetic 82-year-old blues legend B.B. King sold out the Keswick last night and tonight, so if you want to catch him before he’s gone (and I do mean gone), you’ve got to head to the House of Blues in A.C. for Saturday night’s close-to-sold-out show. $43, standing-room-only tickets . If you’re more into the jazz guitar thing, you can’t go wrong with Philly’s own Jimmy Bruno, who gives a jump start to the weeklong Chris’ Jazz Cafe Guitar Festival on Saturday with two shows at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $20.

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You’ve gotta love an 82-year-old guy with 14 Grammys, 15 children (supposedly), and a bad case of diabetes who’s still doing his thing. The legendary bluesman gave a “farewell” tour in 2006, but it apparently wasn’t the last — he begins a three-night area engagement this evening. Tickets ($72.50) are sparse but available for tonight’s 7:30 p.m. show at the Keswick (the show there tomorrow is sold out). As for Saturday’s show at the A.C. House of Blues, reserved seating is gone but plenty of general admission standing-room tickets ($43) remain.

Your early guide to last-minute planning …

DANCE
Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones leads the Arnie Zane Dance Company in a one-night-only performance at Penn of Chapel/Chapter!, a fascinating multimedia portrait of our justice system through dance and song. The New York Times called it a “riveting experience.”

CELEB STALKING
I would go see supersexy Juliette Lewis’s band Juliette & the Licks in a hot second, and the Bacon Brothers have a couple of good tunes, but Jeff Daniels? Seems like a bit of a stretch. Still, there have to be more than a few Dumb & Dumber fans out there who will sit through his acoustic blues tonight at World Cafe.

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