Friday’s a night for local legends. Al Kooper has distinguished himself in so many ways. He wrote the 1960 pop hit “This Diamond Ring,” led the original Blood, Sweat and Tears, played organ with Bob Dylan (starting with that iconic part to “Like a Rolling Stone”) and produced Lynyrd Skynyrd’s first three albums. Recently, the retired Berklee professor oversaw a box set of the late guitar great Michael Bloomfield. And on Friday, Kooper (who has lived in Somerville since the late ’90s) will celebrate his 70^th birthday at the Regattabar with his Funky Faculty.

In the early ’80s, Robin Lane and the Chartbusters emerged as one of Boston’s most heralded bands, releasing three major-label records and appearing on MTV. Lane had sung on Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere before moving to Boston and getting swept up in the post-punk scene, and today she helps female survivors of abuse through music. Filmmaker and Chartbusters drummer Tim Jackson tells Lane’s story in his new documentary “When Things Go Wrong,” titled after the group’s best known song, and the film screens on Friday at Arlington’s Regent Theatre, a benefit premiere to help pay for music clearances. Lane and Jackson will answer questions after the film, then perform with the Chartbusters and friends including Barrence Whitfield and Tanya Donelly. Here’s a vintage clip of Lane and the Chartbusters performing at the Rat, one of Boston’s most legendary rock clubs.

Speaking of legends, Fats Waller was a giant of jazz, advancing stride piano with a flair for entertainment and leaving classics like “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Honeysuckle Rose” in his wake. Modern piano innovator Jason Moran brings his own vision to the pianist/singer’s work with his Fats Waller Dance Party, combining jazz piano trio and contemporary dance music, with bassist/singer Meshell Ndegeocello in the lineup at the Berklee Performance Center on Friday. Here’s a taste of Moran’s tribute party, complete with hulking Fats Waller head mask.

Saturday offers heavy-hitters of a different genre. A cappella sensations Pentatonix get vocal at House of Blues while the Sinclair hosts the old-timey country-folk of Hurray for the Riff Raff, led by singer/songwriter Alynda Lee Segarra, and fellow New Orleans upstart Benjamin Booker before they both return to the Newport Folk Festival in July. Likewise, on Sunday, Lake Street Dive invades Royale, another sold-out club (like the Sinclair before it) on the exploding New England Conservatory-bred quartet’s road to bigger stages like Newport behind its new release Bad Self Portraits. In a World Music/CRASHarts program on Sunday, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain brings his latest Masters of Percussion lineup to Symphony Hall with jazz and ex-Journey drummer Steve Smith joining the Indian percussionists. The same night, BeauSoleil avec fiddler Michael Doucet brings its unique Cajun/zydeco gumbo, as seen in this recent show, to Johnny D’s Uptown in Somerville. And Sunday marks the first of six preliminary nights of the 2014 Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble at T.T. the Bear’s Place with a particularly strong opening that includes Tigerman WOAH and Guillermo Sexo. Here’s the whole schedule.

Finally, for a Thursday Throwback, speaking of Al Kooper helping to launch Lynyrd Skynyrd, here are those Southern rockers in their early glory at a full 1976 concert, capped of course by “Free Bird.”