If you like free music, call in sick today. A one-day festival called Make Music Los Angeles is celebrating the first official day of summer with more than 100 performers presenting free concerts and music workshops throughout L.A. County, from Long Beach to Thousand Oaks.

The 24-hour festival, which actually started at midnight (sorry we didn't let you know sooner), is based on France’s Fête de la Musique, a national music holiday that began in 1982 and has inspired similar festivals in more than 750 cities in 120 countries.

The L.A. version will feature everything from a traveling Ella Fitzgerald tribute with celebrated jazz vocalist Barbara Morrison to bucket drummer demonstrations and workshops by drummer Sergio Facci. There will be a participatory 100-harmonica orchestra at the Midnight Mission, an Afrobeat band at Circus Books in Silver Lake, an afternoon concert at the Skirball Center by singer-songwriter Mia Doi Todd, and too many other cool events in venues both familiar and unlikely to list here. Even Gelson's is getting in on the action.

Tickets? You don't need no stinkin' tickets. It's all free, remember? But you can explore the full range of offerings at MakeMusicLA.org.

“The times we live in are difficult now, and music and the arts have healing powers,” Make Music L.A. founder Dorsay Dujon said via a press release. “It’s important for us to embrace the arts in our communities and share our cultural heritage with our neighbors.” Amen to that.

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