Kaleidoscope

After a seemingly light-years-long hiatus, Matt Groening's ever-nerdy Futurama is finally back. Canceled by Fox in 2003, the show lives on in 26 new episodes on Comedy Central (starting tonight at 10 p.m.) and the original cast, including the man with a million voices, Billy West, is onboard. Never seen it? Imagine The Simpsons with a B.A. in astronomy. Not excited? Bite my shiny metal ass.

When skate-punky slacker-turned-bedroom pop wunderkind Nathan Williams of Wavves crashed on the scene a short while back, the 'net-hype was practically as deafening as his inanely overdriven, zero-fidelity recordings. The forthcoming King of the Beach (Fat Possum), recorded in a studio and everything, sounds crystal clear by comparison, but when it lands in August the (figurative) buzz won't be receding for some time. Williams plays the Barbary on Saturday (June 26, r5productions.com).

To celebrate its 21st year, the Manayunk Arts Festival (June 26-27, manayunk.com) is doing shots growing up: More than 300,000 visitors are expected to attend this weekend of live music, shopping and art-appreciating. Expect to browse the work of 275 juried artists — 40 percent new to the show this year — including NFL Films president Steve Sabol, who'll hawk his handmade football-pop culture collages (pictured). And if you get thirsty, don't forget that one of this year's sponsors is Patron — pretty appropriate for a 21st birthday.

Admit it. You were a little concerned about the Fallon Effect. Now that The Roots are a nightly, nationally televised commodity, would their new How I Got Over (Def Jam) be some kinda toned down, smoothed out, Jack Donaghy-approved Roots lite situation? The short answer is hell no.

—Patrick Rapa