Here are some things going on this weekend. For more, check the Happenings page:

• Fun-A-Day Art Show • Friday 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. & 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. • Studio 34 (4522 Baltimore Ave.) • Free admission

The Seventh Annual Fun-A-Day Art Show presents an eclectic array of art your friends and neighbors made every day for the month of January. Also featuring performances, food and refreshments. Don’t forget to bring your kids. On Saturday don’t miss an open mic reading event (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) and the main show (7 p.m. to 11 p.m.).

• Mariposa Food Co-op Flea Market • Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. • New Mariposa building (4824 Baltimore Ave.) • Free admission

Vendors will be showing off their: hand-made jewelry, baked goods, new-to-you clothes, books, records, services, pottery, pet treats, and artworks. You can also meet some local body workers and get a sample of their skills at the market. And while you are at the market, check out the Mariposa tables. You can talk to a representative about the expansion, see the plans and learn how you can make a financial contribution to the expansion.

• 30th Annual Chinese New Year Celebration • Penn Museum (3260 South St.)

The celebration features music and dance performances, healing and martial arts demonstrations, games, workshops, children’s activities, and grand opening as well as grand finale lion dance performances. The celebration is free with Museum admission donation ($10 general admission; $7 senior citizens [65+]; $6 students [with ID] and children [6 to 17]; free for children under 6, members, and PennCard holders). See the complete schedule of events here.

• Great Expectations • 8 p.m. • Curio Theatre • 815 S. 48th St. • Tickets $10 to $15

The Dickens classic opens tonight at the Curio. There is also a Saturday performance at 8 p.m.

This is a very cool event going on in the neighborhood tonight. First, author Sara Marcus will read from her book Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution at the Kelly Writers House (3805 Locust Walk on the Penn campus) at 6 p.m. The book explores the Riot Grrl movement, which started in the mid 1990s and has taken root in a number of cities in the form of female empowerment efforts.

In Philadelphia, those efforts include Girls Rock Philly, a rock & empowerment camp where girls ages 9-17 learn instruments, write songs & form their own bands. The founder of that group, Beth Warshaw-Duncan, will join Marcus, Kathleen Hanna (the front woman of the pivotal Riot Grrl band Bikini Kill) and activist/musician Katy Otto for a panel discussion on topics ranging from the panelists’ own participation in the movement to “what women in music can and should be doing today.” Copies of Marcus’ book will also be available at the discussion.

Then it’s time to rock. A  concert will follow the discussion nearby at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) beginning at 8 p.m. The benefit show for Girls Rock Philly will feature Trophy Wife, Whore Paint (Providence), Slutever and Cat Vet. Suggested donation is $5. All proceeds go to Girls Rock Philly.

Camels paraded outside the Penn Museum (3260 South St.)  yesterday as part of the “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibit, which opens this weekend. The camels will be back today and we suspect they may enjoy the weather a little more. (Photo by Julija Kulneva)

Sheesh. We forgot to include Secrets of the Silk Road in the weekend preview. This looks like it will be a really fabulous exhibit. It opens today and runs through June. But this weekend looks especially fabulous. This is from the museum:

A host of special sights, sounds, and activities are in store for visitors at the grand opening weekend of Secrets of the Silk Road. Camels will be circling the Museum, stopping for guest encounters and hourly presentations about life along the ancient routes. Central Asian silks, textiles, furniture, and other trading route goods will be for sale in the Museum Shop. Enjoy performances, craft demonstrations, and a café with tea and Chinese pastries inspired by ancient foods in the exhibition.

And here’s a video of curator Victor Mair:

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday. Museum admission is $10 for adults and $6 for kids and youth.

Here’s a schedule. (Oh, did we mention that there would be real camels?)

Camels

11:00 am – 3:00 pm

Two Bactrian camels (at ease in blistering heat-or freezing cold!) circle the Penn Museum, stopping for guest encounters and hourly presentations about life along the ancient routes, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Storytelling

Saturday Only at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm

Michele Belluomini of Blue Deer Storytelling tells traditional tales from Silk Road lands.

Dance Performance

1:00 pm

Young dancers from Chinese For Families present a short program of Central Asian dance.

Drum Performance

10:30am, 12:30 pm, and 3:30 pm

Silk Road hand drumming demonstration with Joseph Tayoun.

Music Performance

11:30 am and again at 1:30 pm

Classical Asian musician Kurt Jung performs on the traditional Chinese zither.

Get a Henna Tattoo

Saturday and Sunday, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Henna is a popular plant dye used to create body tattoos throughout India and other regions of the Silk Road. First come first served.

Here are a few select events this weekend:

Friday

• Great Expectations • 8 p.m. • Curio Theatre (815 S. 48th) •Tickets $10 to $15.

Join the Curio Theatre performers as they explore Charles Dickens’ world of Pip, Estella, Miss Havisham, Joe and a small army of other characters in a classic story of love, revenge, redemption and the discovery of self. Preview performances will be Feb. 4, 5 and 10. The play opens Feb. 11. Jared Reed adapted the play and will direct it.

• Serafin String Quartet • 8 p.m. • Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts • General admission $25

Serafin String Quartet debuted in New York in 2004 to a sell-out crowd at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and has consistently received rave reviews in the press and ovations in the concert hall. New York Concert Review has applauded the quartet for their “excellent music making” and “uncommonly fine interpretation.” Enjoy Sky Quartet by 2010 Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winning Philadelphia composer, Jennifer Higdon.

Saturday

• SAT Prep for Teens • 1 p.m. • Walnut Street West Library (201 S. 40th St.)

• Peanut Butter and Jams Welcomes Bollywood Dance • 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. • World Cafe Live (3025 Walnut St.) • Tickets $7 to $10

This workshop is a unique fusion of Bollywood beats, Indian folk dance moves and western style with an exhilarating style of dance technique, all in an easy-to-understand, format that anyone can follow. It’s a great way to experience healthy physical activity, broaden cultural understanding, develop musical skills and have fun. All Workshops are designed and conducted by celebrity choreographer Rujuta Vaidya who has the credit of choreographing this year’s Oscar ceremony as well as the Bollywood dance routines for superstars like Britney Spears, Cheetah Girls and Black Eyed Peas among others

The 10 a.m. show is for kids 4-11 and the Noon show is a fitness workshop for teens and adults.

Sunday

• Charles Dicken Birthday Party • 2 p.m. • Griffith Hall (University of the Sciences, 43rd and Kingsessing Mall) • Free

Dramatic readings and party refreshments. Sponsored by the Friends of Clark Park.

• Super Square Dance for beginners • 8 p.m. • The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) • $5 to $10

This could be all kinds of fun. Featuring Jamie Herman and Marian Macrae Band. Your caller is Keith Brand.

This week’s issue of Philadelphia Weekly includes the story of West Philly couple Amanda Kole and Rachel Turanski, whose journey to Iowa last summer to marry is the subject of a documentary due out this spring.

The couple says that the film, Married in Spandex, is not overtly political and was never meant to be a film at all. It was supposed to be just a wedding video that included footage of their 18-hour trek to Iowa, one of five states where same-sex marriage is legal (plus the District of Columbia), and their wedding.

“I never thought we’d be people who were political or controversial. We just wanted to exercise our rights, and we had to go to Iowa to do it,” Kole told reporter Michael Alan Goldberg.

Kole’s sister and her sister’s boyfriend, both filmmakers, recorded the trip and the wedding, which featured a cast of zany characters but also family members who are conservative but came to accept, and enjoy, the wedding.

“We’re not Michael Moore-ing it up,” Turanski laughs. “Fighting fire with fire doesn’t do anything but make people more angry. Ideally, people will watch this and think, ‘They love each other, they’re stable, they have great jobs, they’re hilarious, they’re putting good into the world—why not just let them get married and have it be legal in Pennsylvania?’”

Here is a video released to help raise money for the production of the film: