all day Movies

The word dinosaur comes from the Greek words deinos (monstrous) and sauros (lizard). But in Hollywood-speak, the word sometimes translates as blockbuster (i.e., “Jurassic Park”). That’s what Disney’s hoping for with the family-friendly, computer-animated film “Dinosaur,” about a brave, orphaned iguanodon named Aladar who helps a band of misfit, prehistoric creatures reach safe ground when flaming meteors start pelting the Earth.

* “Dinosaur,” rated PG for intense images, opens Friday in general release.

8pm Music

Tired of the same old sounds? The three-day Earjam Music and Sound Performance Festival inaugurates the new Side Street Projects performance space in downtown Los Angeles. It features 35 bands on the fringe of L.A’s free-thinking music scene, everything from microtonal experimenters to noise-beat combos and new-thing opera. Scheduled to appear over this sonically challenging weekend are keyboardist David Ornette Cherry, guitarist Nels Cline, Lynn Johnston & His Small Metallic Orchestra, Art Jarvinen, Phil Teele, more.

* Earjam Music and Sound Performance Festival, Side Street Projects, 425 S. Main St., second floor, downtown L.A. 8 p.m. Also Saturday and Sunday, 3 and 8 p.m. Four-event pass $15, individual concerts $6. (213) 620-8895.

all day Movies

“Road Trip” is a raunchy new comedy (think “Animal House” and “American Pie”) about a hapless college student who, along with some buddies, races from Ithaca, N.Y., to Austin, Texas, to retrieve an incriminating videotape before his girlfriend gets her hands on it. The cast includes Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart, Paulo Costanzo and MTV personality Tom Green. Those who have seen the film say it does for French toast what “American Pie” did for apple pie. Consider yourself warned.

* “Road Trip,” rated R for strong sexual content, crude humor, language and drug use, opens Friday in general release.

8pm Music

Absent from Southern California since her memorable appearance at the 1998 Ojai Festival, the celebrated pianist Mitsuko Uchida returns to play a recital encompassing sonatas by Chopin and Schubert, as well as the Variations, Opus 27, by Webern and Mozart’s Adagio in B minor, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

* Mitsuko Uchida at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles. 8 p.m. $10 to $45. (323) 850-2000.

8pm Juggling

In the hands of a master, juggling is a lot more than just throwing beanbags up in the air. Michael Moschen infuses his shows with mood lighting and music to complement his agility. It’s not just juggling--it’s movement performance.

* Michael Moschen at Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. 8 p.m. $26 and $32. (949) 854-4646.

8:30pm Performance Art

“Highways’ 11th Birthday” is a celebration of eclectic performance art, dance and theater with two evenings of performance by favorite artists: Joan Hotchkis, Betsy Salkind, the Fabulous Monsters, Noel Alumit and more on Friday and a Saturday lineup that includes Elia Arce, Nesting Dolls, Dan Froot, Tim Miller, Ossius Labyrint, Dan Kwong, and Richard Move as Martha Graham.

* “Highways’ 11th Birthday,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Friday and Saturday, 8:30 p.m. $30; both evenings, $50. (310) 315-1459.

Freebies

Hirokazu Kosaka’s “Hanamatsuri Festival: Silk Road” brings together 12 Japanese folk singers, eight Buddhist priests, four archers, three koto players, two flamenco dancers and a guitarist on Friday at the Getty Center. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, 7:30 p.m. (310) 440-7300. Reservations are required. Parking is $5.

Wayne Reinecke conducts the Pasadena Community Orchestra in Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” at First Church of the Nazarene, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena, at 8:15 p.m. Soloist is cellist Kamil Musaev in Saint-Saens’ Concerto No. 1. (626) 445-6708.