BEST BETS / July 2-8, 2000

Movies

“Disney’s The Kid” poses the question: If you had a chance to meet yourself as an 8-year-old child, would that child be happy with who you turned out to be? Successful image consultant Bruce Willis, above left, finds his life upended when he magically meets his younger self, played by Spencer Breslin. It opens Friday in general release.

Dimension Films promises that Keenen Ivory Wayans’ “Scary Movie” will be the mother of all spoof films--sparing not even “The Blair Witch Project” and “The Sixth Sense.” Marlon and Shawn Wayans star. Opens Friday.

Theater

Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, who wrote “The Fantasticks,” will head the cast in the West Coast premiere of their “The Show Goes On, a Portfolio of Theatre Songs,” a revue featuring such standards as “Try to Remember,” “My Cup Runneth Over” and many other songs from musicals in the noted team’s career. Opens Saturday at Laguna Playhouse.

Art

More than 170 ancient gold and silver artworks and artifacts will be featured in “Gold of the Nomads: Scythian Treasures From Ancient Ukraine,” opening today at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The once-feared warrior culture left no written records, so most of what is known about the Scythians is found through their detailed artifacts, such as swords, scabbards, plaques and finials, above. This marks the first time in 25 years that the artifacts have traveled to the United States.

Music

In its only local appearance this year, the internationally acclaimed Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers meet McNeil’s other vocal body, the Founders Choir from Founder’s Church of Religious Science, in what ought to be an explosion of musical energy Friday night at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. Many musical genres are represented in these ensembles--spirituals, gospel, opera and musical theater.

Pop Music

The weekend string of music festivals at Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine rolls on with today’s alt-rock extravaganza “This Ain’t No Picnic,” featuring Beck (doing a full band set rather than the planned acoustic show), Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse, Built to Spill and more, and Monday’s Hip-Hop Festival, highlighted by De La Soul, Common and Dilated Peoples.

Jazz

One of the most exciting organists in jazz, Joey DeFrancesco swings up a storm in the Jimmy Smith tradition. He will be leading a trio with guitarist Ron Eschete and drummer Jeff Hamilton through hard-charging blues, standards and ballads for three nights at Steamers Cafe in Fullerton starting Friday.

Video

“Scream 3,” the final chapter in director Wes Craven’s popular horror franchise, finds another crazed killer on the loose. Naturally, it’s up to the plucky heroine, Sidney (Neve Campbell), to help the LAPD find the killer. David Arquette, Courteney Cox Arquette, Liev Schreiber and Parker Posey also star. Arrives Tuesday on video and DVD.