Thursday Working for the Weekend

It's time once more to gaze into our crystal ball, by which we mean the Internet, and peer deep into the future, by which we mean a few days, and tell you what to watch for this weekend. Heed well.

There's plenty of live music out there. On Friday and Saturday night, Van Morrison is playing "Astral Weeks Live" inside the WaMu Theater in New York City. Ben Folds is playing Ovens Auditorium in his hometown of Charlotte, NC. The Game has put off his plans to "retire" and is kicking it in Seattle at the Showbox SoDo. Sunday night Busta Rhymes is at Club Nokia in LA. Las Vegas, being Las Vegas, has Cher.

The movies out there are less encouraging. Now is when people see the Oscar-winning films they missed when they first came out, so there's not much new coming to theaters. Except, of course, for Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience in IMAX. (Aren't you glad we didn't insult you by linking to it?)

TV, frankly, also looks a little weak. SNL is a rerun, with Neil Patrick Harris and Taylor Swift, and none of the reality shows have enough going on to grab your attention. There's plenty of sports on though, especially if you like to see men dribble. Something like 13 NBA games are slated for Friday night, with the best of the bunch being Cleveland vs. San Antonio, airing that night on ESPN. King James will put on a good show for the national TV audience.

Saturday, afternoon, at last comes the big one: the Kansas City Royals meet the San Diego Padres in a classic, Cactus League battle. Oh, all right. No one cares. But the point is that spring training is underway. If you are a baseball fan who lives within a day's drive of Arizona or Florida, it's time to start thinking road trip.