Metromix your week

(Credit: Caia Koopman)

Just as your grandma shops for Christmas in September, we’ve been getting ready for the 4th of July since January. Among our preparations: a rigorous eating schedule allowing for the staggering consumption of smoked meat products, a gradual shift from nighttime to daytime drinking and a military-grade strategies for catching the best fireworks shows L.A. has to offer.

Enjoy these seven days of broiling summer goodness, from the leisure of the country club to women dressed like baby animals, plus enough pyrotechnics to leave you clinically shell shocked.

Wednesday, July 2
Twilight at the Club on the Griffith Park Golf Course
What: If there is a season for languidly reclining on a patio in a pastel polo shirt while cocking one eyebrow with an air of superiority, let it be summer and let it happen on a golf course. Oddly enough American Pie dessert paramour Jason Biggs is hosting the Twilight Club at the Clubhouse in Griffith Park for a Wednesday night full of downtempo music, barbecued eats and, of course, a screening of Caddyshack.
Why: Show up dressed as your favorite Caddyshack character and you just might win a door prize. (We think you should rent a gopher costume.)
Be the ball: The Clubhouse, 4730 Crystal Springs Dr., Griffith Park; 7:30 p.m.; free

Thursday, July 3
Rubbish at Echo Curio
What: Grab a six-pack from the liquor store across the street and hop by gallery/curiosity shop/music venue Echo Curio for art by Carol Powell and Ronald Dzerigian, plus live sets by Chase Frank and the Pity Party, who say the evening is meant to explore the connection and divide between rock and album art.
Why: If you bring your empty cereal boxes, the Pity Party will construct album covers out of them, and Dzerigian will be on hand to personally draw on each one for you.
Special! K? It’ll be grrrreat!: Echo Curio, 1519 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park; 8 p.m.; $5 recommended donation

Friday, July 4
The Big Bang Fourth of July Firewerckx Ride in Mar Vista
What: The Heart and Soul Bike Club hosts an annual Fourth of July ride though the Westside, starting at a dubious residential address and heading toward the Marina for an automobile-free front-row view of the huge Marina Del Rey fireworks show. Then everyone will cruise the streets to another dubious address, called Thing, for an after-party.
Why: If your choice of high-risk July 4 behavior is between meeting up with strangers to bike to the fireworks or accidentally setting off a bottle rocket in your hand, go for the bike ride.
Spangle your spokes for it: Meet near the corner of Woodbine St. and Steward Ave., Mar Vista; 8 p.m. sharp; free

Saturday, July 5
Caia Koopman and Mark Gleason at La Luz de Jesus
What: Confessed skater chick and revered underground artist Caia Koopman brings her bug-eyed, bobble-headed illustrative paintings to La Luz de Jesus. She’ll team with San Francisco-based Mark Gleason, who’s showing painterly pieces that juxtapose humans and animals in ways that are both ominous and knowing.
Why: La Luz usually throws a fine party, and if you can’t afford a painting, they sell whoopie cushions too.
Fly the koop for it: La Luz de Jesus, 4633 Hollywood Blvd., East Hollywood; 8 p.m.; free

Sunday, July 6
Anime Expo at the Convention Center
What: This annual four-day mecca for all things anime took over the L.A. Convention Center starting July 3, but we knew you were too busy charring hot dogs to care about the thousands of seizure-inducing cartoons, collectible merch, karaoke contests and countless cosplay-obsessed grown women dressed as little girls. Actually, maybe we should have mentioned it sooner.
Why: First, the Convention Center is much closer than Japan. Secondly, just two laps around the around the con might be enough to work off that 5-pound bucket of potato salad you ate over the weekend.
Cos it’s fun: L.A. Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., Downtown; $25-$65

Monday, July 7
Princeton’s free residency at Silverlake Lounge
What: Swingy pop trio Princeton live up to their Ivy League name with a heap of classical instruments, such as flutes and harpsichords, and an influence list that includes everything from Tom Hanks movies to Virginia Woolf. Sure, they named their new EP after an early-1900s intellectual collective, but these brainiacs can still bring the hooky jams to free Mondays all month at Silverlake Lounge. Why: Once inside, it technically wouldn’t be lying to call your mom and tell her you got into Princeton.
Tiger tail it: Silverlake Lounge, 2906 W. Sunset Blvd., Silverlake; 9 p.m.; free

Tuesday, July 8
Gene Simmons reads aloud at Borders
What: Wait, rock stars are sleazy? And they engage in illegal acts with women of questionable morals? We were just as shocked as you when we heard about Gene Simmons (aka “the guy with the really long tongue from KISS”) gracing Borders with not only his mouth parts and his predatory sex drive, but also a reading from his new tome about prostitutes, the long-windedly titled "Ladies of the Night: A Historical and Personal Perspective of the Oldest Profession in the World."
Why: “Yes, Mr. Simmons, you wrote a book. Now will you sign this KISS doll so I can sell it on eBay?”
Whore-iffic: Borders, 1360 Westwood Blvd., Westwood; 7 p.m.; free

With that folks, we'll see you out there.

Alie Ward is Events editor for Metromix Los Angeles.