8:15 pm: Pop Music
When young Puerto Rican singer Elvis Crespo gave the Dominican dance the merengue his own distinctive twist, he found himself riding the rhythm to the heights of the Latin pop charts. He brings his infectious beat to the Universal Amphitheatre on Sunday.
* Elvis Crespo, with Los Tri-o and Pablo Montero, Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, 8:15 p.m. $56 and $58.50. (818) 622-4440.
11 am: Family
Children’s recording artist Katherine Dines, a family favorite for the funny-bone humor and wordplay in her kid-savvy “Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta” album series, is in town for a special children’s concert.
* “Katherine Dines in Concert,” McCabe’s Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, 11 a.m. Adults, $6; ages 2-10, $3; under 2, free. (310) 828-4497.
4 pm: Comics
Pulp becomes art in the hands of Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist whose collection “Maus” portrays the horrors of World War II. Spiegelman, whose tribute to the late Charles Schulz in a recent issue of the New Yorker serves as a manifesto of cartoon craft, will lecture on the history of the comic, from the 18th century English satirist William Hogarth through Robert Crumb’s controversial Zap Comix.
* Art Spiegelman, “Comix 101,” Royce Hall, UCLA, 4 p.m. $15 to $25; UCLA students, $9. (310) 825-2101.
5 pm: Dance
Expect some 45 flamenco dancers, singers and musicians to crowd the stage of Whittier High School Auditorium in the delirious rumba finale of Juan Talavera’s second “Flamenco Bravo: The Men of Flamenco” extravaganza. Some of them will be Talavera’s students from Whittier, L.A., Santa Ana and Santa Barbara; other participants include such major artists as guest singer-dancer Pepa Sevilla. And there will be prodigies galore, starting with: Timo Nunez (age 15) and Ryan Zermeno (age 11). Scheduled to dance in the “Buleriando!” segment, the Men of Flamenco include Talavera, Ramon Nunez, Alonzo Serrano, Ricardo Chavez, Norberto Magana and Artoro Nazzari.
* “Flamenco Bravo: The Men of Flamenco,” Whittier High School Auditorium, 12417 E. Philadelphia St., Whittier, 5 p.m. $20 (festival seating). [562] 699-7595.
4 pm: Big Band
The recent publication of Peter J. Levinson’s biography “Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James” has brought new attention to the dapper horn man, bandleader, film star and husband of Betty Grable. Here trumpeter Art Depew directs the Harry James Orchestra in such favorites as “You Made Me Love You,” “Flight of the Bumblebee” and “Ciribiribin.”
* The Harry James Orchestra directed by Art Depew, Robert B. Moore Theatre, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, 4 p.m. $21 to $27. (888) 622-5376.
7 pm: Pop Music
Back when rock and radicals joined music and muscle against the Establishment, few non-musicians achieved the stature of John Sinclair. When the manager of the pioneering Detroit metal-punk band the MC5 was jailed on marijuana charges in 1969, no less a figure than John Lennon rallied behind him. Now it’s old MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer and some other musicians helping Sinclair, whose home was recently damaged severely by a fire.
* Wayne Kramer with Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Chris Spedding, Mick Farren, New York Dolts, Mike Younger, others, Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., Silver Lake, 7 p.m. $10. (213) 833-2843.
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FREEBIE: Pan-American jazz band Tolu, led by saxophonist Justo Almario and drummer Alex Acuna, appears in a Thelonious Monk Institute “Jazz History Informance” at the Grand Hall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., 2 p.m. (213) 821-1500.