Much has changed in this country since the 13 original colonies declared independence from Great Britain.

For example, people today probably own a lot less wicker than people did back then.

I can't really think of anything else.

One thing that hasn't changed much is how people celebrate Independence Day.

In the late 1700s, it was all about parades, fireworks, military exercises and speechifying, and that's still the case now.

You can bet there was some beer-drinking back then as well.

And so, no matter how much you overindulge this holiday, you can comfort yourself with the thought that you're a choirboy compared to Ben Franklin.

Here's a guide to the Fourth of July weekend in the region.

The Ready Set

Over the years, Fort Wayne has seen a lot of its native sons and daughters become national sensations, but the first person to truly hit it big in the pop music realm must be Jordan Witzigreuter.

Witzigreuter, aka the Ready Set, makes his triumphant return to Fort Wayne tonight. He'll perform an all-ages show at Rick O'Shay's/Broadripple Place starting at 6 p.m.

After many years of being his own producer, booking agent, sound engineer, publicist and van driver, Witzigreuter signed with Pete Wentz's Decaydance Records last year and now gets a lot more help with his career.

His debut album on the label, "I'm Alive, I'm Dreaming," was recorded in three cities and in no bedrooms with numerous producers. Witzigreuter now travels in a tour bus and performs with a full band plus sound guy.

Witzigreuter said he is excited to return to Fort Wayne because he knows he's going to look out from the stage and see people who have supported him from his bare-bones beginnings.

"The coolest thing about it is there are going to be people there who were at the first show I ever played," he said. "And they stuck with me. It's amazing."

The Homestead High School grad is still in Fort Wayne when he's not touring, but he said that is likely to change soon.

"I'll probably end up in New York or L.A.," he said. "Everything entertainment-wise is out there, and I have spent so much time in both places that they feel (like) home to me, especially Southern California."

Witzigreuter said he has no long-term goal at this point, but one thing he won't be doing is stopping to smell the roses.

"I don't ever want to get too content," he said. "I want to keep things moving, keep things growing and stay ahead of the game."

Tickets, at $14, are available at www.theticketrumba.com. Rick O'Shay's/Broadripple Place is at 4610 Parnell Ave.

Sculptures in Auburn

When Edith Shain, the nurse who was spontaneously yet permanently kissed by a Navy man at the end of WWII in an iconic Life magazine photo, died at the end of June, many newspapers ran a more recent picture of her posing next to a statue.

The statue was a bronze recreation of the famous smooch. And that statue, by New Jersey sculptor J. Seward Johnson, is now in Auburn.

Fourteen of Johnson's unique trompe l'oeil and tribute-paying works are part of an outdoor exhibit called "Sculptures on the Square" than can be visited all weekend and through Sept. 15 in downtown Auburn.

Even for a famous sculptor, Johnson has led an interesting life. He was born into the Johnson & Johnson family and worked for the pharmaceutical company until he was fired by his uncle Robert Wood Johnson.

J. Seward Johnson said by phone that he and his uncle had non-negotiable differences of opinion, but the firing was the best thing that could have happened to him.

"I didn't know it at the time, but I wasn't too suited for that," he said. "Even though I was trying to throw myself into it. It wasn't where my heart lies."

Johnson still had his trust fund, so he set off to be an artist. But one obstacle in his path was that Johnson was a realist painter in a world of abstractionists.

Eventually, his wife suggested that he combine his artistic and mechanical skills in some way. Johnson took up metal sculpting and won a national competition for one of his works in 1978, he said.

The idea to create regular-sized, human-looking bronze statues doing mundane activities came about, Johnson said, because mayors from various big cities wanted to encourage citizens to return to refurbished municipal parks that had been saddled for a long time with bad reputations.

"There had been a fair amount of crime, and people were afraid go to go into these parks," he said. "There wasn't any real danger, but they'd watched too much television.

"So putting my statues in these parks was a way of starting to build a presence," Johnson said. "That made for some of my first real successes. And it really seemed to solve these cities' problems."

Johnson's desire to make a sculpture based on the aforementioned Life magazine photo, officially known as Alfred Eisenstaedt's "V-J day in Times Square," was more controversial.

Johnson asked Time/Life for permission and was turned down. This only got his ire up.

Johnson subsequently learned that a photographer who was not as famous as Eisenstaedt has taken a picture of the same kissing couple and that that photo was in the public domain.

So Johnson based all his subsequent sculptures on it.

Time/Life still claimed copyright infringement but did not pursue the matter to its legal and logical conclusion.

Art critics have blasted Johnson's homages, calling them kitschy, but Johnson said he is motivated by admiration for the original works and a desire to celebrate their power.

"The art establishment has always damned me up, down and sideways," he said. "But I have never worked on principles of aesthetics. I have always worked on social principles. That has never been in their lexicon, although it may be now."

The ornery yet ever jovial Johnson said he next plans to make a giant statue of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, with bags over their heads to provoke the folks who hold the copyright on images of that pair.

Fireworks

Whether you are looking for a rooftop party with a great view of the fireworks or a basement get-together with a restricted view of the fireworks but a great view of steam heat pipes, I can't help you.

I really don't know anything about vantage points for watching the fireworks.

But I can provide a list of places where you can find vantage points for watching fireworks. You'll find it to the right of this article.

Festivals

This weekend's festivals offer something for the young, the old and everyone in between – including the young-at-heart, the old-as-the-hills, the old-enough-to-know-better and the old-enough-to-be-her-father.

The old-fashioned Salamonie Summer Festival happens through Sunday at the Knight Bergman Center Grounds in Warren; Miami Indian Heritage Days, which features demonstrations of traditional native art and warcraft, happens Saturday at the Chief Richardville House on Bluffton Road; and the Winona Lake Fourth of July Celebration happens Saturday on the picturesque banks of that brine-free deep.

Check the "Festivities and Fireworks" listing at right for more events.

Theater

"All Shook Up," a jukebox musical that combines Elvis Presley with the man most often referred to as the Elizabethan Elvis Presley (namely William Shakespeare, who has never before been – and will never again be – described that way) at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at the Wagon Wheel Theatre in Warsaw.

Patriotic Pops

The Fort Wayne Philharmonic will perform a free concert tonight at DeKalb Outdoor Theatre in Auburn and will perform its perennial and much anticipated non-free concert on the streets of downtown Roanoke on Saturday night. Tickets for the latter are $5 to $10, and you can get them by calling 481-0777.

TinCaps baseball

There will be two patriotic TinCaps games this weekend, one at 7:05 p.m. Sunday and one at 3:05 p.m. Monday.

Jake the Diamond Dog, voted the "Most Patriotic Dog Ever Named After a Precious Stone," will perform Sunday, and fireworks will follow the game.

And at Monday's game, patrons can purchase $1 popcorn, soda pops and hot dogs.

A Community Covenant pledging military support will be signed by area officials after Sunday's game, and Monday's game will be preceded by a Military Appreciation Day ceremony starting at 10 a.m. at Parkview Field.

spen@jg.net