Fri. Best Bets: 8/14

8pm: Pop Music

The latest great hope of British rock, the Verve, sails into America on the momentum of its ubiquitous hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony.” That’s a fitting title for a band still contending with a volatile chemistry--e.g., guitarist Nick McCabe’s decision not to participate in the tour. But as Oasis’ Gallagher brothers will attest, volatility is half the fun.

* The Verve at the Pond of Anaheim, 2695 E. Katella Ave. $24. (714) 704-2400.

8:30pm: Music

Buenos Aires comes to the Bowl when singer Maria Gran~a, the tango quintet New York Buenos Aires Connection, plus eight costumed tango dancers join John Mauceri and his Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for two seductive evenings of “Tango Magic.” The concert includes fireworks.

* “Tango Magic,” Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. Also Saturday. $3-$78. (323) 850-2000.

8pm: Dance

Call it Testosterone Central: a weekend of dance programs showcasing guys with ascending careers, to be presented in two L.A.-area venues. First to deliver the male is “Men of Distinction” in Eagle Rock on Friday and Saturday, spotlighting seasoned veterans of the machismo wars: Don Bondi, Richard Korngute, John Malashock, Rudy Perez and Jeff Slayton. Next, their younger bros take over in “MEN: Dancing” in Hollywood Saturday, featuring Frit and Frat Fuller’s KIN Dance Company plus Claude Thompson, Keny Long, Marvin Tunney, Ken Morris, Jamal Story, Robert Gilliam and Ron Brown. Connoisseurs of brawn, take your pick.

* “Men of Distinction,” Keck Theater, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. $5-$15. (323) 259-2922.

* “MEN: Dancing,” John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood. Saturday only, 8 p.m. $15-$20. (323) 461-3673.

8pm: Theater

TV weatherman and comedian Fritz Coleman will reprise his one-man show “It’s Me! Dad!,” at the Coronet Theatre. The comic theater piece, directed by Richard Kline, is an exploration of such life experiences as growing up, family, school, divorce, dating and aging.

* “It’s Me! Dad!,” Coronet Theatre, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Dark Sept. 19. Ends Sept. 20. $22.50-$28. (310) 657-7377.

all day Documentary

Once upon a time, in a beautiful but dilapidated estate, two women lived in seclusion, surrounded by old photographs, creeping vines, dozens of cats and a lifetime of memories. Members of one of the country’s most prominent families, the women, aging beauties both, turned their backs on society and its conventions to live together in almost childlike idyll. But no fairy tale this; “Grey Gardens,” Albert and David Maysles’ famed 1976 documentary about Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, “Little” Edie Beale, is an irresistible look at the rarefied lives of two charming, if eccentric, society dames.

* “Grey Gardens,” Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles. Friday-Aug. 20. $5-$8. (310) 478-6379.

all day Movies

Radiant Angela Bassett stars as Stella, a 40ish, overworked single mother whose life is transformed when she meets a charming twentysomething Jamaican (Taye Diggs) in the feature film adaptation of Terry McMillan’s best-selling novel “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.” Whoopi Goldberg and Regina King co-star.

* “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” opens Friday in general release.

FREEBIE: Henry Mancini Institute Chamber Orchestra and guests, Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach, 8 p.m. (562) 985-7000.