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Counting Crows -- go ahead, count 'em.

When the Counting Crows play the Maryhill Winery Amphitheater Friday night, they won’t be lounging in the green room sipping syrah, checking out the view of Mount Hood and waiting for opening act Augustana to finish.

Get three coffins ready.

• Silver Lake Winery begins its Dinner and a Movie series this Saturday with Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western classic “A Fist Full of Dollars” staring Clint Eastwood as the wandering gunfighter with no name.

Diners can enjoy pasta and a full-bodied red wine then kick back and watch Eastwood “load up and shoot” on the big screen in Silver Lake’s lawn.

Dinner is served at 7 p.m. and the movie begins at dusk at 1500 Vintage Road in Zillah. Cost is $12 for dinner and RSVPs are requested. Call 509-829-6235 or e-mail Taynea Stephas at tstephas@silverlakewinery.com.

• Then on Sunday, the Outdoor Summer Cinema Series starts with Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and all the other Muppets movin’ right along in the Jim Henson classic “The Muppet Movie.”

As Kermie and pals road trip in search of fame in Hollywood, they encounter a cavalcade of cameos from the likes of Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Bob Hope, Carol Kane, Cloris Leachman, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Telly Savalas and Orson Welles.

The movie begins about 8:30 p.m. in Gilbert Park, 5000 W. Lincoln Ave.

Presented by Allied Arts of Yakima Valley, the midsummer movies are projected on a 16- by 20-foot inflatable screen with a theater-quality sound system. Audience members are encouraged to bring blankets or low-back chairs. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

Admission is a nonperishable food donation for the Northwest Harvest Food Bank. For more information and to see the schedule of movies, call 509-966-0930 or visit www.alliedartsyakima.org.

Tonight, you can be the first to find out — well, that is if you haven’t read the book.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” opens with two midnight showings at The Majestic theater in Union Gap (one is a digital print). Also, Grand Cinemas in Sunnyside will open the new “Potter” flick at midnight.

Watch the trailer HERE.

Poster art by Darren Drew

This weekend marks the 27th annual Yakima Folklife Festival and festivities officially kick off Friday night with music in various downtown bars and restaurants.

The festival moves to the Yakima Valley Museum and Franklin Park on Saturday, back downtown Saturday night, then back to the park Sunday.

On this year’s bill are longtime Folklife favorites such as the Blue Tropics, Freespace (formerly the Bouncing Love Monkeys), Bye Bye Chinook, Colin Spring, 1928, Dave & the Dalmatians, Pat Moss & the New Frontier, the Rod Giles Band, Tom Rawson and Zuva Marimba, among others.

Among those making a return appearance is Ellensburg alt-country songstress Star Anna and her band the Laughing Dogs, who recently released their sophomore disk, “The Only Thing That Matters.” Also coming back for more is Seattle’s fast fiddling, tin whistlin’ Celtic rock band Ockham’s Razor, which is making Folklife the CD release party for its new “Live  & Well” live album that officially comes out next Tuesday.

And a couple of the new acts to the Folklife stage are local bluegrass band the Coyote Ridge Bluegrass Wranglers (which features three members from the former band Catch & Release), the multi-influenced local outfit Coffee Shop Disaster, and the beautifully melancholy Seattle singer-songwriter Kris Orlowski.

You can find the complete music schedule HERE.

UPDATE AGAIN: The Capitol Theatre has just posted the specifics for the David Cook concert — http://tiny.cc/rQlCt

David Cook rockin' the mike on 'American Idol'

According to a barrage of tweets from the Capitol Theatre, American Idol winner David Cook is coming to Yakima.

The tweets don’t say exactly when and the Capitol Theatre stop isn’t listed on Cook’s Web site, but I’m thinking sometime in early September since he’ll be at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, Ore., on Sept. 5.

It looks like ticket info will be available this coming Monday via the Capitol’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

ACT

The Akin Center Theatre at Melody Lane opens its first musical tomorrow with Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s “The Fantasticks,” which produced the hummable tune “Try to Remember.”

Considered the world’s longest running musical — it’s original run was from 1960 to 2002 — this love story is spurred by two fathers, who in an act of Romeo-and-Juliet-reverse-psychology, stage a feud in order to ensure their children will fall in love.

Performances at this theater-in-the-round are at 7:30 p.m. this Friday and Saturday at 2610-A W. Nob Hill Blvd., and continue next Thursday through July 18 and July 23-25. There’s also a matinee at 2 p.m. July 25.

Tickets cost $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and children. For more information, call 509-248-2787, or visit www.akintheatre.com.

John Tesh

Sure, you like John Tesh’s preachy “intelligence for your life” advice on the radio, but what you really miss are his contemporary Christian music stylings.

Well, never fear because Tesh is bringing his music concert to the Capitol Theatre on Aug. 21.

Tickets cost $12, $30 and $65 and are available through TicketsWest or the Capitol Theatre box office, 509-853-2787.

Hal Sparks

Comedian and actor Hal Sparks will make a mid-week stop at Carmen’s Comedy Club in Selah next Wednesday, July 15, before a three-night gig in Bellevue.

Sparks is perhaps best known for his role as Michael Novotny on the Showtime series “Queer As Folk,” but has made numerous television and TV appearances.

Club owner Carmen Garrison says Sparks is probably the biggest name entertainer to visit her small stand-up venue and she couldn’t be more excited: “I watched every episode of ‘Queer As Folk’ … It’s one of my favorite shows and after it went off the air I didn’t have Showtime anymore,” she says.

Sparks also played Zoltan in the movie “Dude, Where’s My Car?,” and TV fans will recognize him from all those VH1 “I Love the (fill in the decade here)” clip shows, as well as a contestant on the reality show “Celebracadabra,” and as a former host of the E! channel’s “Talk Soup.”

Sparks performs at 6 p.m. and at 8 p.m. at Carmen’s, 316 S. First St., Suite 7 in Selah. Tickets cost $25 in advance and $30 at the door and reservations are highly recommended for the intimate venue, which may add a third show if the first two sell out.

To make reservations, call 509-698-3900 or visit carmenscomedyclub.com.