“CALIFORNIA Dreaming – The Music of the Mamas and the Papas” is a national concert tour staged by Margaret Fisk and her Air Force husband to raise money and awareness of the work that ‘Soldier On’ does for Defence and ex-Defence personnel.

THE first concert is this Friday, February 27 at 8pm at The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre, before heading off on the road to Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, Darwin, Hobart, Adelaide, Sale, Warragul, Toowoomba and Tamworth. The idea is to raise funds for Soldier On, thank our troops and increase awareness of the issues that wounded personnel face. Any support that you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Tickets at the door.

PRETTY frocks and pinstriped suits will fill the RUC Turner Bowling Club this Friday night for the third “Old Timey Music Revue”. The night will open with Dr Leo Joseph, Canberra’s finest exponent of N’awlins piano classics. Next up will be local Dixie-punk-jazz outfit Moochers Inc. The night concludes with Sydney’s 1920s Queen Porter Stomp. 54 McCaughey Street, Turner from 8pm. Tickets: $20 / $15 concession / $12 CMC members. Concession prices for anyone who brings a grandparent along.

“OUT of Silence” is an exhibition of photographs by the late Dutch-born Australian photographer Jan Dalman of French mime artist Marcel Marceau performing in Australia. The show is presented by family members Andreas Dalman and Elizabeth Cameron Dalman. It opens at the Alliance Française, 66 McCaughey Street, Turner, 7pm, today Thursday, February 26 (until Thursday, March 16). All welcome.

JOE Woodward’s no-doubt subversive production of the subversive Scottish play “The Mask of Lucy Raven’s Eyes” will run as a live-streaming event at 8pm in Smith’s Alternative, Civic, on March 1 as part of his “Without a Voice” series. Bookings to shadowhousepits.com.au

THE Australian National Botanic Gardens’ premiere event “Luminous Botanicus” is part of Canberra’s Enlighten Festival, as the public are invited to follow a path of lights encountering music, visual performances and other surprises along the way. There will be prehistoric dinosaurs resting amongst the illuminated ancient plants and animals of the Gondwana section and soundscapes in Eucalypt and Rock Garden lawns, performed by local musicians. Luminous Botanicus, Friday 27 February to Sunday 1 March and then again from Friday 6 March to Sunday 8 March. Online tickets are $25 per person, 8.00 pm or 8.30 pm. Bookings to anbg.gov.au/gardens or $27 at the door.

TOBIAS Cole is aiming to get choirs into all 19 public high schools by 2019. Meanwhile, his youth choir Vocal Fry is presenting an interactive vocal workshop/concert, “The Sing! Song”, at the High Court, 1.30pm, on Sunday, March 1. It’s free but bookings are essential to hcourt.gov.au/about/concerts

THE Artists Shed has Canberra-born crooner Mikelangelo returning to his old stomping grounds to play the darkly romantic songs of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen this Sunday March 1st at 7.30pm in the RUC Club Turner, bookings to music@artistsshed.com

THE Annual General Meeting of the Friends of the Classics Museum will be held today, Thursday 26th February at 8 pm in the Haydon-Allen Lecture Theatre (The Tank) at ANU. The AGM will be followed by the lecture for the evening, to be given by Dr Anne Rogerson of the University of Sydney, on the topic of “Children and the Future in Virgil’s Aeneid” and supper in the Museum, where merchandise will be on sale, as well as tickets in a raffle. Donation cheques must be made out to Australian National University. All donations are tax-deductible.

A student photography and art exhibition showcasing the results of a cultural immersion experience and photo journey of Yogyakarta, the cultural capital of Indonesia, is at CIT until Friday 6 March. The photographs and art pieces document the landscapes, people and culture the CIT photography and cultural arts students encountered on the 10-day international study trip, where they were encouraged to independently explore and capture the life and vibe of the city. The show is a combination of photographs from the seven student participants, two CIT Yurauna Centre cultural arts participants and three staff members. At CIT Design Space, F Block, CIT Reid.

SYDNEY trio The Necks will be in town this Saturday with jazz-like improvisations for their 2015 national tour. The trio, Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Tony Buck (drums) have been admired since their 1989 debut “Sex”, their soundtrack to the movie, “The Boys” and through to recent works like “Silverwater” and “Mindset.” At The Street Theatre, 8pm, Saturday, February 28, bookings to thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

THE Freefall Experience Design Ideas Competition was a competition for Engineers to design a feature installation for the Engineers Australia ‘Freefall’ Pin Oak Forest at the National Arboretum and the winning design was inspired by the Cochlear implant. The results are now exhibited at the Gallery of Australian Design, 47 Jardine Street, Kingston. The competition was launched in 2013 during Canberra’s Centenary and invited Australian engineers, designers and other creative professionals to design a showcase installation in the Freefall Pin Oak forest to be enjoyed by visitors. The winning entry, ‘Freefall’ was submitted by Queensland engineering firm, Bligh Tanner.

“HEX” is an example of activism in dance theatre work looking at what the AIDS crisis from 1981 – 1996 means to those born after 1981. It reflects on and celebrates how growing up in the wake of the AIDS epidemic has shaped the queer community in the 21st Century. At The Street Theatre, Sunday March 1, bookings to 6247 1223 or www.thestreet.org.au

BILLED as the feel good show of the year, “Boys in the Band” is a high energy concert journeying through 50 years of the greatest songs from the biggest boy bands of all time including Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons and The Beatles. At Canberra Theatre, Saturday, February 28, bookings to 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au

ANCA is holding an Open Day at the Dickson Campus this Saturday February 28, from 3-7pm. All but one studio open to the public, and there will be food, drinks and music in the courtyard, and a couple of special announcements to be made. 3pm – 7pm, 28 February, at 1 Rosevear Place Dickson.

Kaila Smith is a gallery@bcs favourite. Though Kaila has never received any formal training in art, she grew up observing the artistic talents of her mother, Lisa Webbe, and learned a lot along the way. ‘Kailisa’ is exactly what it sounds like, a bringing together of works by Kaila, and the mother who inspired her. Until March 6 at Belconnen Community Centre, Swanson Crt Belconnen, weekdays.

SUN! Sun, surf, sand and cruising in a combi down the coast with a bunch of your best mates sums up an Australian summer, as a hot new anthem by VanderAa shows. “It’s a song that defines our spirited and adventurous nature,” says Aaron VanderAa. Fri Feb 27 at Smiths Alternative Bookshop, tickets at the door.

ANCA Gallery has ‘Guilty Pleasures’, a solo exhibition by Canberra emerging artist Shaun Hayes, exploring contemporary ideas and processes in the context of traditional ceramics until 7pm Saturday 28 February at ANCA 1 Rosevear Place Dickson.

THR VANNS took out the 2012 Red Bull Bedroom Jam and have consistently toured the East Coast of Australia sharing stages with Sticky Fingers, Kingswood, The Griswolds, Jinja Safari, Dappled Cities, Northeast Party House and many more. They’ll be at the Transit Bar this Saturday Feb 28, tickets at the door.

THREE new solo exhibitions are opening at PhotoAccess at 6pm today Thursday 26 February. Bill Lucas’ ‘China: Eighteen Days 1978’ presents black and white images of China taken in the late 1970s. ‘Out West’ by Stephen Best, shows enigmatic landscapes taken throughout Western NSW using a pinhole camera. Sydney-based emerging artist Kai Wasikowski’s exhibition ‘Taking Liberties’ shows large-scale digital images focusing on internal conflicts with consumerism and social expectation. All three exhibitions will be on show until March 22.

SOUTH African electronic hip-hop group PHFAT will be at La De Da in Belconnen performing work from their new single ‘If He Can’t Dance’. They’ve been billed as “South Africa’s Finest Group”, Saturday 28 February, Tickets at the door.