FRIDAY-SATURDAY

>> Jack and Chill

When you’re hot you’re hot, and no Hawaii-resident recording artist has been hotter in recent years than soft-spoken surfer Jack Johnson. After producing high-concept Kokua Festival events at the Waikiki Shell in past years, the island artist returns with “Jack Johnson and Friends: A Benefit for the Kokua Hawaii Foundation” this weekend.

Only a few general admission tickets for Friday’s concert were still available at press time. Proceeds benefit Johnson’s Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which conducts environmental education programs in Hawaii schools.

Ron Artis and G. Love are the friends who will be joining Johnson this evening. Jake Shimabukuro and G. Love open the show Saturday.

Johnson, a lifelong resident of the North Shore, has been an international favorite ever since the release of his first album, “Brushfire Fairytales,” in 2001. The album is the first of five that have been certified platinum for sales of more than 1 million copies. He received two Na Hoku Hanohano Awards for his work as a songwriter and recording artist in 2006.

Johnson’s upcoming seventh studio album, “All the Light Above It Too,” will be released in September. A single, “My Mind Is for Sale,” was released last month.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

>> Artists from afar join tattoo show

The best tattoo artists from Hawaii as well as Hollywood, New York and Samoa converge for the sixth annual Pacific Ink & Art Expo this weekend at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.

Choose from hundreds of top-name tattoo artists, who will demonstrate their skills live at the exposition under state Department of Health regulations, according to the presenter, the P.I.A.E. Group.

The celebrity lineup includes Oliver Peck, a judge on TV’s “Ink Master” who’s known as one of the finest tattoo artists working in the old-school, American style; Big Gus of Spike TV’s “Tattoo Nightmares,” known for his black-and-gray photorealism; Nikko Hurtado, who’s been featured on “L.A. Ink”; and Ceaser Emanuel of VH-1’s “Black Ink Crew” from the Bronx, N.Y.

Industry living legends on the bill include Lyle Tuttle, Freddie Negrete and Mark Mahoney, owner of Shamrock Social Club on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, who appeared in the film “Black Mass” with actor Johnny Depp.

A special tribute is paid to practitioners of traditional skin art from Hawaii, Samoa, Japan and the Philippines. Sulu’ape Keone Nunes, a traditional Hawaiian tatau practitioner based in Nanakuli; his former apprentice Keli‘i Makua; and master tattooist Su’a Sulu’ape Peter of Samoa, who served as a consultant for Disney’s “Moana,” will be present.

The main stage of the event will feature local musical groups, tattoo contests, cultural dancers, eating contests and tattooed bikini models. Food, drink and specialty items are available from local vendors.

SATURDAY

>> Count on America for acoustic guitars, gorgeous melodies

America — since 1977 the duo of Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell — returns to Hawaii this weekend to share a string of hit singles and album tracks that goes back to 1971, including the enigmatic hit “A Horse With No Name.” Although some radio stations refused to play it because programmers believed it was not really about getting lost in the desert, but rather about heroin, the record topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and sold more than 1 million copies.

The song’s success certainly helped America win the Grammy for best new artist in 1972.

America began as a trio. Beckley, Bunnell and Dan Peek were three expatriate Americans who met in England while their fathers were stationed at the same Air Force base. All three were prolific writers; almost all of America’s hits were written within the group.

America’s tight vocal harmonies and light acoustic instrumental style were sensationally popular among Hawaii audiences. Songs like “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “Daisy Jane,” “Lonely People,” “Don’t Cross the River,” “Sandman,” “I Need You” and — most of all — “Tin Man” became musical memories of the 1970s and have been embraced by the generations that followed.

Peek left the group amicably in 1977. Beckley and Bunnell continued on.

“I think that the ingredients of the America sound are the basic fundamentals that translate internationally,” Beckley wrote on the group’s website. “The Italians are huge fans of dance music, but they also love a ballad — they’re romantic at heart. It’s the same in the Far East. A lot of times in these countries, we see people singing along, and they don’t really know what the words mean. Music is truly the international language.”

THURSDAY-AUG. 13

>> Music festival thrills

“Thrill of the Senses” is the theme of the second annual Hawaii International Music Festival. The festival kicks off Thursday with the JP Jofre Nuevo Tango Quartet, featuring world-renowned Argentine bandoneon player and composer Jofre at Blue Note Hawaii.

Prize-­winning violinist and festival co-founder Eric Silberger, top, pianist Kwan Yi, below, and cellist Sung Chan Chang join Jofre in the performance, with guest appearances by Metropolitan Opera soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra and pianist Carlin Ma.

More performances follow on Oahu, including an Aug. 13 concert by ukulele masters Benny Chong and Byron Yasui at the Chinatown Artists Lofts courtyard at the Mendonca Building; $25, or $45 for a VIP seat and appetizer plate.