Carefree highway

8 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 / Hanford Fox Theatre / (559) 584-7423, foxhanford.com / $48-$68

Gordon Lightfoot could be Canada's greatest songwriter.

That's no small feat.

In the 1960s and '70s Lightfoot helped define the popular folk-pop sound with songs like "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown" and "Carefree Highway."

Seinfeld fans may know him as the guy who wrote "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." He plays the Hanford Fox Theatre on Wednesday.

Emerald Isle at the Elbow Room

Lunch and dinner today through Sunday, March 17 / The Elbow Room, 731 W. Shaw Ave. / (559) 227-1234 / elbowroomfresno.com

If your St. Patrick's Day involves green beer and whiskey, drunk to the sounds of bagpipers playing as Irish dancers do a jig, then you'll want to get down to the Elbow Room.

The bar and grill (in Fig Garden Village) will feature bagpipers and dancers through Sunday, along with a special performance Celtic music from Pipe on the Hob, 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Chef Roy Harland will prepare corned beef and cabbage and shepherd's pie.

Check fresnobeehive for a list of other St. Patrick's Day events.

Powerhouse concert

3 p.m. Sunday, March 17 / Main Street Theater, 307 E. Main St., Visalia / musicatthemain.org, $12, free for students and children

The Three Rivers Performing Arts Institute has forged a special bond with the world-renowned Colburn School in Los Angeles. As part of that relationship, three of Colburn's top students -- Blake Pouliot on violin, Arianna Smith on viola and Benjamin Lash on cello -- will perform in the annual "Best of Colburn" concert series. Along with Sunday's performance in Visalia, the trio plays 7 p.m. Saturday at Three Rivers Community Presbyterian Church, 43410 Sierra Drive, Three Rivers.

Pura dance

9 p.m. tonight (March 15) / Carís School of Dance, 1416 Broadway St. / $7 / (559) 473-8184

Tonight the Carís School of Dance kicks off "Pura Salsa," an all-ages dance held on the third Friday of the month. For beginners, lessons are offered at 8 p.m. Dancing starts at 9 p.m. with music from DJ Carlos, "El Matador."

The dance school recently opened an 1,800 square-foot performance space in the Cultural Arts Building (Broadway Studios), where it will hold events and performances.

Eight seconds

6:50 p.m. Saturday, March 16 2 p.m. Sunday / Save Mart Center / $18-$103 / (800) 745-3000, ticketmaster.com

The Professional Bull Riders return to the Save Mart Center for the Table Mountain Casino Invitational, part of the nationally televised Built Ford Tough Series. This is rock concert of rodeos, with pulsating music and pyrotechnics -- and of course, dirt-kickin' bulls. This is the 20th year for PBR.

Irish-Mexican St. Patrick's bond

3 p.m. Sunday / Fresno City College Old Administration Building Auditorium / (559) 994-9390 / $20, $5 students

Looking for a unique St. Patrick's Day celebration? Irish and Mexican dancers, singers and musicians join in an event that organizers say is the only one of its kind in the nation. The show is in honor of the St. Patrick's Battalion, the heroes who forged a special bond between these two peoples. Performers include Los Danzantes de Aztlán, the McTeggart Irish Dancers, Merlinda Espinosa, Roscanna and the Fresno Harp Circle. Sponsors are the Fresno Free College Foundation and the Communities for a New California Education Fund.

Get the beat

6 p.m. Sunday, March 176 / Roosevelt High School Auditorium, 4250 E. Tulare St. / wegotthebeat.org / $10, $5 children

The Humboldt State Calypso Band will offer aspiring Fresno-area steel drummers and audience members a rousing concert titled "Experience Trinidad." The group's director, Eugene Novotney, studied in the steel drum bands in Trinidad, so he teaches the students "the real stuff." The concert is sponsored by the youth percussion band We Got the Beat, part of the People's School of Creative Arts, and the Roosevelt School of the Arts.