After weeks of bad weather, Bostonians are more than ready to celebrate clearing skies — and Independence Day. Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart talks with WBUR’s Steve Brown about what to expect from this year’s concerts on the Charles River Esplanade.

Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra open the Tanglewood season this weekend with Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” among others, but Morning Edition critic-at-large Ed Siegel has beaten them out to the Berkshires.

An autopsy performed Friday on the body of Michael Jackson was inconclusive, the Los Angeles County Cororner’s office said. It may be four to six weeks before an official cause of death is established.

We watched Michael Jackson grow up: He was a baby-faced boy with a captivating smile and an amazing voice who stole the show right out from under his big brothers.

Tina Packer founded Shakespeare & Co. in the Berkshires 30 years ago. Before then she acted on stage in England, but changed roles to become something rare: a woman director of Shakespeare’s plays. Now she’s stepping down to return to acting. WBUR’s Andrea Shea has the story.

Michael Jackson’s death Thursday in California prompted broadcasters from Sydney to Seoul to interrupt morning programs, while fans remembered a “tortured genius” whose squeals and sliding moves captivated a generation and who sparked global trends in music, dance and fashion.

Singer Michael Jackson, the man known to legions of fans as the King of Pop, died Thursday in Los Angeles after going into cardiac arrest, sources tell NPR. He was 50 years old.

Actress Farrah Fawcett passed away in a Santa Monica hospital Thursday after a two-and-a-half year struggle with cancer. She was 62.