On the porch
Li’l BeeDee & the Doo-Rites will perform Thursday from 6:30-8 p.m. at the “Music on the Porch” summer series, held on the front lawn of the Florence Civic Center at 90 Park St. (If it rains, the event moves inside at the Florence VFW Hall.)
The band features Betsy-Dawn Williams, aka BeeDee (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriting); Jeff Potter (piano, vocals); and Frankie Blandino (lead guitar).
Li’l BeeDee features Williams’ own songs as well as “mined gems from the deep well of rockabilly, rhythm & blues,” according to the group’s website, www.lilbeedee.com.
Feel free to bring picnics, beverages, blankets and lawn chairs.
PaintBox Theatre’s show for families, “The Great Race of the Tortoise and the Hare,” will be presented Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Williston Theatre in Easthampton.
It’s the classic story of the Tortoise and the Hare, with PaintBox Theatre’s own brand of twists and turns. The show features lots of audience participation, as well as artwork created by local kids. It will star Kelsey Flynn as the pesky hare.
Admission costs $10; at the door or online at www.BrownPaperTickets.com. There is a special ticket price of $7 for groups of 15 or more.
“The Great Race of the Tortoise and the Hare,” will be also be presented at The Shea Theatre in Turners Falls July 29 at 7 p.m., and July 30 at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. (sheatheater.org)
For information, visit www.paintboxtheatre.com or www.sheatheater.org.
Pottery tour
Climb into a kiln or watch a potter turn mud into a pot at the 10th annual “Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour” Saturday and Sunday, at eight locations in the hilltowns of western Massachusetts.
The tour includes visits to workshops, kilns and showrooms, and features 21 artists, and educational demonstrations.
The six founding members of Hilltown 6 Potters are Christy Knox, Michael McCarthy, Hiroshi Nakayama, Mark Shapiro, Constance Talbot and Sam Taylor. Robbie Heidinger, Eric Smith and Maya Machin have since joined the group.
The work of dozens of other artists, from painters to potters, invited guests of the Hilltown 6, will also be on view and for sale on the tour.
The tour is free and self-guided. For more information, including a downloadable map, visit www.hilltown6.com.
“From Leipzig to Paris,” a classical music concert with pianist Sayuri Miyamoto, oboist and conductor Joel Bard, violinist Adela Peña and bassoonist Stephen Walt will be presented Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Sevenars Academy, 15 Ireland Street in South Worthington.
Miyamoto is an alumna of The Juilliard School in New York City and Yale University and the recipient of numerous awards. She will be joined by her husband, Bard, also Juilliard alumnus. The two perform regularly in the Boston area.
They will be joined by Peña, who performs with the Orpheus Ensemble in New York, and Walt, who teaches at Williams College and at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
On the program: Bach’s Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor; music from the French repertoire by Jules Massenet, Camille Saint-Saens and Francis Poulenc; and more.
Suggested donation: $20. For information, visit www.sevenars.com.
“Images of Cuba and Vintage Car Hoods,” an exhibit of photographs by R. Allison Ryan, are on view through July 31 at the Westhampton Public Library, 1 North Road Westhampton.
The exhibit includes images of Cuba’s changes since 2001, vintage car hood ornaments and reflections.
“I have been fortunate to capture some of Cuba’s rapid changes … and I delight in the timeless appeal of vintage car hood ornaments,” Ryan writes in an artist’s statement. “Reflections permeate my images whether in water, metal or glass.”
The library is open Mondays and Thursdays from 2 to 8 p.m. and Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m.
For information, call 527-5386 or visit www.westhampton-ma.com/westhampton-public-library.