What’s that you say? You’re wondering how you can see the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, see three great bands AND help your local neighborhood food co-op all in one event? You’re in luck.

Mariposa Food Co-op is hosting a fundraising event Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m. that includes screening of Gasland, and performances by The Curious Shape of Hens, Dream Zoo and Adrienne Anemone. Admission is on a sliding scale from $5-$10. The event will be held at Mariposa’s new digs at 4824 Baltimore. Proceeds will go toward Mariposa’s expansion project.

This Thursday is a good night to get your science on in West Philly. Guion “Guy” Bluford, the first African American in space and a West Philly native, will speak at the University of the Sciences’ McNeil Science and Technology Center (43rd and Woodland) at 7 p.m.as part of the Philadelphia Science Festival.

Bluford participated in four space shuttle missions between 1983 and 1992. He graduated from Overbrook High School and received a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Penn State before completing graduate work at the Air Force Institute of Technology.

After the talk star gazers are welcome to grab a blanket and head out to Clark Park where amateur astronomers, telescopes in tow, will be on hand to help you folks navigate the cosmos.

The observatories at Drexel and Penn will also open their doors for this astronomical extravaganza. Drexel’s Joseph R. Lynch Observatory (3141 Chestnut St.) will open at 8 p.m. and Penn’s David Rittenhouse Laboratories Observatory (209 S. 33rd St.) open at 8:30 p.m.

Author Jacqueline Edelberg, who co-wrote the book How to Walk to School about efforts to revitalize a Chicago neighborhood elementary school, will headline an event May 5 designed to bring parents, educators and community members together to talk about neighborhood schools. The program is part of an ongoing effort to help improve neighborhood schools in West Philly. The community group West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools is sponsoring the event.

“How the Community Can Change a School” will run from 5:45 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lea Elementary School auditorium (47th and Locust). Other panelists will include:

• Stanford Thompson, director of Tune Up Philly
• Sterling Baltimore, director of the Lea Community School at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at Penn
• Maurice D. Jones, president of the Lea Home and School Association
• Daniel Lazar, the principal of the Grenefield Elementary School

Yesterday’s storm dumped a single-day record of 3.11 inches of rain on the Philadelphia area, breaking the previous record of 2.43 inches set in 1986, according to the Associated Press. Flooding and power outages were reported all over the region.

Perhaps the most visible remains of the storm in West Philly is the temporary pond in the Clark Park bowl. Yesterday’s rain led to the cancellation of youth soccer in the park and the leftover water might cause problems for the soccer league in the immediate future.

Philly jazz musician Warren Oree will play a family-friendly concert today at 2 p.m. at the Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library (52nd and Sansom).

Oree, a bassist, is the leader of the Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble and director of the renowned West Oak Lane Jazz Festival. He has produced and recorded several jazz records and has toured throughout Europe, South America and the Caribbean. Oree also leads workshops on jazz for kids and families.

The concert is Free and open to everyone.

The Uhuru Solidarity Movement Earth Day Fest and Flea Market scheduled for today in Clark Park has been postponed to 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Sunday (April 17) because of the weather. The “Earth Uprising” fest will feature a number of vendors, music, speakers and yoga in the “B” section of Clark Park – south of Chester Avenue.