Daily Choices: What to do on Saturday, May 11 and Sunday, May 12 

Special Event: The 12th Annual Rochester Dachshund Parade will take place Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m.-noon, at Washington Square Park (Washington Square at South Clinton Ave.) Admission is free, and costumes are encouraged! For more info, visit dachshundparade.com.

Music: I hope you didn’t forget what today was, so if you need to take a second and go pick out some flowers for Mom, I’ll wait for you. Ready? If you are looking for some musically tinted events to share with your personal giver of life on Sunday, many are your options. The Rochester Folk Art Guild is presenting Mozart for Mom’s Day at the Christ Clarion Presbyterian Church of Pittsford (415 Thornell Rd.) at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday; tickets $15. Nate Anderson is presenting When A Woman Loves: Celebration of a Mother's Love Sunday at Water Street (204 N. Water St., waterstreetmusic.com) featuring Anthony Dante, Danielle Ponder, Carlton Wilcox, Renee Anderson, and Nate Anderson himself. Music starts at 5 p.m., tickets run $20-$45. Me & The Boyz will be presenting a special Mother’s Day show at the Pelican’s Nest (566 River St., pelicansnestrestaurant.com) Sunday starting at 5 p.m. The Flying Squirrel (285 Clarissa St.) will also be hosting a Mother's Day Special ft. Tugboat, Tony Nelson, and Joel Dow on Sunday at 6 p.m., $3 cover, or $1 if you bring chicken wings to share. And last but not least, the Hochstein Youth Symphony orchestra will be performing a Mother’s Day Concert Sunday at 7 p.m. at Hochstein (50 N. Plymouth Ave., hochstein.org); tickets $5.

Lecture: Rochester Civic Garden Center (5 Castle Park, Highland Park) will host "Planting the Fittest: Survival in the Darwinian Garden," with lecturer Karen Bussolini, on Saturday, May 11 at 9:30 a.m. The lecture is $25 to attend. Register and get more more info at 473-5130 or rcgc.org.

Music: The Chorus of the Genesee will be doing some deep reporting on love and life tonight with its show “Ask Beatrice, Advice to the Loverlorn,” which will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Penfield High School (25 High School Dr., Penfield). Tickets cost $15, and head to chorusofthegenesee.org or 385-2698 for more information.

Festival: Escape to Pavilion's peaceful Linwood Gardens (1912 York Rd.) for the Tree Peony Festival of Flowers, which takes place Saturdays-Sundays, May 11-12, 19-20, and 25-26. The festival runs 10 a.m.-4 p.m. each day, and will feature guided tours ($12, reservations required), and the music of dulcimers, bagpipes, alphorns, and recorders. Admission is a suggested $8 donation, which will benefit garden preservation efforts. Light fare, cookies, and tea cakes will be available for purchase. For more information, call 584-3913 or visit linwoodgardens.org.

Music: Mark ThunderWolf will be bringing…well, the thunder at Balance Acupuncture (152 West Commercial St., balance152.com), putting on an evening of Native American Flute music Saturday night. Tickets costs $10-$18, and music starts at 7 p.m. Call 381-6490 for more info.

Theater: "Medicine in Musicals" is the theme of the musical revue production to be held Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, at the Auditorium at the University of Rochester Alumni and Advancement Center (300 E. River Rd.). The show takes place at 8 p.m. each night and is free to attend. The full-scale musical performance unites the American musical genre with the themes of the medical humanities including songs from "Wicked," "Rent," "Damn Yankees," "Les Miserables" and more. For more info, email [email protected] or visit facebook.com/events/152758628238648.

Music: Saturday night the jamming is for a cause, and that cause is Eight 4 World Hope’s school building program in Jamaica. The Buddhahood headlines Jammin' for Jamica Saturday night at Lovin Cup (300 Park Point Dr., lovincup.com) and Anonymous Willpower, The Deep Blue Dream, and Mosaic Foundation will all kick things off. Music starts at 6 p.m.; tickets cost $10.

Music: Classical guitarist Sungmin Shin will be playing Saturday night at Chakara Bistro & Bar (7328 Pittsford Palmyra Rd., Fairport). Music starts at 6 p.m., call 223-8101 for more information.

Music: It’s the last one of the season! Before you graduate and head off into the real world, make sure you stop in to Tilt (444 Central Ave.) for DeeDee Dubois’s Wild College Party, featuring JizzaBella. Free for 21+ from 9-10 p.m., and 2 for 1 admission all night with your college ID. 18+ also welcomed.

Music: Many bands walk along the roots-rock path, but few sound as fresh as Bow Thayer & Perfect Trainwreck. The quintet infuses banjo twang with elements of prog rock and jam band to create what it describes as “mountain soul.” Boston native Thayer moved to Vermont to write songs, and as a result his group has earned a dedicated fan base along with heaps of love in the Green Mountain State. The band’s latest, “Eden,” is a concept album about the environment that lays down a foundation of organic goodness and tops it off with a muscular groove. With Worthy Duncan, Eric and The Bluesbirds, Jeremy Laursen.The concert takes place Saturday, May 11, 9 p.m. at Tala Vera, 155 State St. $5-$7. tala-vera.com.

Music: On the heels of a brief tour with Central New York sweethearts Ra Ra Riot, Cleveland-based band The Lighthouse and The Whaler bring its melodic folk-rock, replete with glockenspiel and strings, to town. The outfit has released two albums and an EP over the course of its five-year existence, each showcasing enough catchy sing-along choruses and handclaps to thaw even the coldest heart. The band has shared stages with the likes of Sufjan Stevens and The Dodos, and its music has found its way to both television and radio, so you may just have heard it before and not even been aware of it. Local bands Gin & Bonnets and Archimedes both perform as well. The Lighthouse and The Whaler performs Sunday, May 12, 9 p.m. at Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave. $7-$9. bugjar.com.