• Ohio State Fair concerts — tonight through Sunday night in the Celeste Center of the Ohio Expo Center, I-71 and E. 17 th Avenue (614-644-3247, 1-888-646-3976 ); and Columbus Crew Stadium, just north of the fairgrounds (614-447-2739)

Gospel singer CeCe Winans will perform at 7 tonight ($6); Ginuwine will sing rhythm and blues at 7 p.m. Friday ($6); teen-pop duo Aly & AJ will demonstrate their stuff at 1 p.m. Saturday ($10), as will American Idol veteran Bo Bice and central Ohio pop-rock band Saving Jane at 7:30 that night ($12); and, finally, pop-country trio Rascal Flatts, which boasts two central Ohio natives, will cap the fair at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Crew Stadium ($25 to $55).

• Anthony Gomes — doors open at 7 p.m. Friday at the Blues Station, 147 Vine St. (614-884-2583)

Gomes has come to his blues-rock sound the old-fashioned way: The young Canadian guitarist initially played "testosterone rock" before discovering roots blues, honing his songwriting craft and finally putting it all together.

He moved to Chicago in the late 1990s, and his group won "best unsigned blues band" in 1998 at Buddy Guy’s Legends club. From there he moved to Nashville, Tenn., to hang out with songwriters.

His new album, Music Is the Medicine, ranges from roadhouse blues and Southern soul to classic rock and radio pop.

Tickets cost $10.

• Gin Blossoms — doors open at 6 p.m. Friday at the Lodge Bar, 165 Vine St. (614-221-2824)

The ’90s adult-contemporary pop-rock band, which gave the world Hey Jealousy and Found Out About You, regrouped in 2002.

On Tuesday, the band released Major Lodge Victory, another batch of jangly singalongs in the mold of the Byrds and ’70s soft-rockers.

Admission is $10.

• "American Idols Live! " — 7 p.m. Friday in Value City Arena, W. Lane Avenue and Olentangy River Road (614-292-2624 or 1-800-462-8257)

They made you laugh; they made you cry; they occasionally made you turn the channel. They are the singing, dancing, preening veterans of the latest American Idol series.

Tickets cost $38.50 to $70 at the Schottenstein Center box office (614-292-2624 or 1-800-462-8257) and Ticketmaster.

• Zombi — doors open at 9 p.m. Friday at the High Five Bar & Grill, 1227 N. High St (614-421-2998)

Zombi, a duo from Pittsburgh, has little in common with the metal bands on its label, Relapse Records. Using an arsenal of synthesizers and live drums, it constructs melody-driven instrumentals on its epic five-song sophomore album, Surface to Air.

Another unlikely addition to Relapse, Don Caballero, will also perform.

One.Point.Three of Columbus will round out the bill.

Admission is $3 to $10.

• Barn Burning — 10 p.m. Friday in Oldfield’s on High, 2590 N. High St. (614-784-0477)

Barn Burning, a band named presumably after the Faulkner story, creates rough, lugubrious music that threatens to collapse. Country influence gives it all character, while Anthony Loffredio’s vocals lend indie-rock street cred.

The Providence, R.I., band’s 2003 debut — Weatheredbound, produced by Robert Fisher of the Willard Grant Conspiracy — received raves in Harp, No Depression and Village Voice.

Admission is $3 to $5.

• Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments — doors open at 9 p.m. Saturday at Little Brother’s, 1100 N. High St. (614-421-2025)

Of the "old-guard" bands of the ’90s N. High Street scene — Gaunt, New Bomb Turks, Moviola — Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments encapsulates "the Columbus sound." Featuring singer Ron House’s snotty, nihilistic couplets and Bob Petric’s metal-cum-gutter guitar histrionics, the group attacks punk with a grotesque and claustrophobia-inducing style.

Times New Viking and the Wolverton Brothers will also perform.

Admission is $3 to $5.

• Columbus Blues Alliance’s Mid-August Blues-Rock Meltdown — doors open at 7 p.m. Saturday at Whiskey Dick’s, 2690 E. Dublin-Granville Rd. (614-890-2700)

The Scotty Bratcher Band and Colin John Band — acts inspired by classic-rock guitar heroics and, yes, Stevie Ray Vaughan — will perform during the electric blues-athon.

Admission is $7.

• Johnny Dowd — 9 p.m. Monday in the Surly Girl Saloon, 1126 N. High St. (614-294-4900)

Born in Texas, reared in a small Oklahoma town and living in Ithaca, N.Y., Dowd is a guitarist, singer and former furniture mover. He was 50 when he released his debut album in 1998.

On his latest dark country and folk album, Cruel Words, the songs are made complex by influences ranging from free jazz to funk and psychedelia.

Admission is free.

• Oppenheimer — doors open at 9 p.m. Sunday at the High Five Bar & Grill, 1227 N. High St. (614-421-2998)

Oppenheimer hails from the lush organic green of Belfast, Northern Ireland, but the duo’s fantastical electro-pop is filled with hues of neon pink and orange. With a scope the size of Electric Light Orchestra and a knowledge of Moogs and synths as deep as Stereolab’s, Rocky O’Reilly and Shaun Robinson distill whizzes and blips into infectious, twee rock.

Bad Flirt and Anna Ranger will also perform.

Admission is $3 to $10.

• John Fogerty and Willie Nelson — 7 p.m. Tuesday at Germain Amphitheater, 2200 Polaris Parkway (1-800-779-8499)

Grace and commitment have marked Fogerty’s career as much as has his catalog of music, one of the most influential of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

With the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival in the early ’70s, he began a spotty solo history driven by his dislike of the business and his insistence on quality. Fogerty refused to perform Creedence hits for some time, finally yielding after he realized that the music is more important than his relationship to it. The solo releases Centerfield (’85) and Blue Moon Swamp (’97) displayed his love of rock’s roots. His latest album is Déjà Vu (All Over Again) (’04). Nelson, composer of some of country music’s most famous songs (Crazy, Night Life, Hello Walls), helped jump-start the "outlaw-country" movement. With diverse releases, he has always tested new ground. Tickets cost $25 and $59.50 at the amphitheater box office and Ticketmaster. The number for Ticketmaster is 614-431-3600. — Compiled by Aaron Beck, Kevin Elliott and Curtis Schieber abeck@dispatch.com