Happenings

For more details and events, see Community Listings.

Friday 04

FOURTH OF JULY CONCERT & FIREWORKS It's your patriotic duty to party, so join the Austin Symphony Orchestra tonight for your yearly dose of pyrotechnics and Howitzer cannon blasts. (For more Fourth of July shindigs, see "Calendar.") 8:30pm. Auditorium Shores, South First at Lady Bird Lake, 442-2263. Free. www.austinsymphony.org/season/july.

KOOP RADIO features two programs today guaranteed to get you in the American spirit: People United at 1pm features Naomi Wolf discussing her book The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot; Alternative Radio at 2pm brings you Gore Vidal on U.S. history and the current wartime climate. KOOP Radio 91.7FM.

Saturday 05

GREEN FOURTH OF JULY Celebrate your independence from tyranny and the oppression of too much carbon dioxide – a day of roundtable discussions, Farmer Olympics games, kids activities, green advice, and all the fresh, local food you can handle. See "350 or Bust," for more. 9am-1pm. Downtown Farmers' Market, Republic Square Park, 422 Guadalupe, 974-6700. Free. www.green4th.com.

Sunday 06

5-11 CAMPAIGN MEETING Learn what the Real ID Act means for Texans. 3-4:15pm. Brave New Books, 1904 Guadalupe (downstairs). www.511campaign.org.

Monday 07

PERMACULTURE TALK & MEETING The basics of sustainable living, from gardening to activism. 9:30am. Allen R. Baca Center, 301 W. Bagdad Ave., Bldg. 2, Round Rock, 512/218-5499. Free.

Wednesday 09

MILITARISM, ANARCHISM, & UTAH PHILLIPS Join Doug Zachary, president of the Austin chapter of Veterans for Peace, as he honors the late folk singer, labor organizer, and fellow VFP Utah Phillips with a discussion of Phillips' life and the relationship between militarism and anarchy. 8-10pm. MonkeyWrench Books, 110 E. North Loop. Free.

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS ELECTORAL POLITICS? Find out not only what's wrong with Kansas but what it means for the rest of us at this discussion featuring former Bush adviser Matthew Dowd, Quorum Report's Harvey Kronberg, and others. Call or e-mail to RSVP. 7pm. Dell Jewish Community Center, 7300 Hart, 735-8012 x17. Free. [email protected] , www.jcaaonline.org.

OIL AWARENESS GROUP MEETING 7pm. Hyde Park Presbyterian Church, 3913 Ave. B. www.crudeawakening.org.

THURSDAY 10

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PUBLIC MEETING The Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District board of directors discusses a new groundwater management plan tonight, and they want you to join in. 6pm. BSEACD offices, 1124 Regal Row, 282-8441. www.bseacd.org/rules.html.

ONGOING

AUSTIN CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN ONLINE Check out the city's new website, www.coolaustin.org, to see how you can help reduce your impact on our little struggler of a planet.

LIVE MUSIC TASK FORCE SURVEY Hey, music lovers. The task force has posted a survey online in hopes of providing a direct voice for musicians, producers, agents, managers, club owners, and everybody else with a stake in the sincerity of this city's "live music capital" moniker. Check it out at www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/livemusictaskforce.htm. Deadline extended through July 31.

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE Be sure to visit the exhibit displaying some of the hundreds of quilts (like this one, above) and afghans made by the Austin Area Quilt Guild for wounded soldiers and their families. Through July 25. Yarborough Branch Library, 2200 Hancock Dr.