2 pm: Family

Joanie Bartels, the award-winning, top-selling children’s recording artist known for her bubbly personality and colorful stage persona, is performing two benefit family concerts this weekend.

* Joanie Bartels, Fairfax High School Auditorium, 7850 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Saturday, 2 p.m. $9 at door; $7 in advance. Benefits the Community Magnet Elementary School in Los Angeles. (310) 553-5375. Also at Farber Auditorium, Adat Ari El Synagogue, 12020 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, Sunday, 11 a.m. $10 at door; $8 in advance. Benefit for Adat Ari El educational scholarships. (818) 766-9426, Ext. 652.

7:15 pm: Movies

While at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Times film critic Kenneth Turan wrote of the film “Independent’s Day”: “Documentarian Marina Zenovich has done an accurate and amusing job of capturing the madness [of the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals]. Given that you can see it and avoid snow, the crowds and the cellular phones, this is not just the next best thing to being there, it has a shot at actually improving the experience.” See the hourlong documentary, sans snow boots, when it makes its Los Angeles debut at Raleigh Studios. But please, leave the cell phone at home.

* “Independent’s Day,” American Cinematheque Presents “The Alternative Screen: A Forum for Independent Film Exhibition & Beyond,” Raleigh Studios, Charlie Chaplin Theater, 5300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. $4-$7. (818) 789-8499.

10:30 am: Culture

The city of Bell Gardens will hold its annual Cesar Chavez Birthday Celebration in honor of the late civil rights and farm labor leader with a parade and carnival. Federal, state and local dignitaries are expected to attend the Chavez celebration. He died in 1993 at the age of 66.

* Fourth annual Cesar Chavez Birthday Celebration, John Anson Ford Park, 8000 Park Lane. Bell Gardens. Parade starts at 10:30 a.m. at the corner of Florence and Eastern avenues. Entertainment, rides, games, contests will be held today-Sunday. Carnival hours: Saturday, noon-midnight; Sunday, 1 p.m.-10 p.m. (562) 806-7650.

all day: Outdoors

Enjoy the arrival of spring with several short hikes and views of a waterfall and wildflowers in La Jolla Valley in Point Mugu State Park during Wildflower and Waterfall Welcome Day. Kids can also have fun having their faces painted.

* Wildflower and Waterfall Welcome Day, La Jolla Valley, one-quarter mile east of Mugu Rock, en route to Oxnard, Point Mugu State Park. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free. Parking, $2. (310) 457-8142.

8 pm: Jazz

The 14-piece Mingus Big Band is dedicated to the music of the sometimes outrageous, often innovative composer-bassist-bandleader Charles Mingus, who died in 1979. This edition of the celebrated New York-based ensemble ranks as a heavyweight, scheduled to include trumpeters Eddie Henderson and Philip Harper and saxophonists Bobby Watson, Steve Slagle, John Stubblefield and Ronnie Cuber. Don’t believe us? Check out the entire lineup at the organization’s very hip Web site: https://mingus@mingusmingusmingus.com.

* The Mingus Big Band, Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance. $21-$24. (310) 329-5345.

8 pm: Theater

John Woo films and sexual stereotypes are just two of the targets for humorous assault by San Francisco’s the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors and by New York-based performance troupe SLANT, offering Asian American comedy and social commentary from East and West Coast perspectives.

* The 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors & SLANT, Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., Little Tokyo. $15. (213) 680-3700.

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FREEBIE: Culver City Spring Art Festival, Culver Boulevard between Venice Boulevard and Main Street, 10 a.m. (626) 797-6803.