BEST BETS Thursday 10/5

8:15pm Pop Music

Step by step, the British band Travis is making itself a force in a U.S. rock landscape that tends to resist the sweetness and idealism the group offers. In just six months, Travis has gone from opening for Oasis at the Universal Amphitheatre to headlining the small El Rey Theatre to headlining the midsize Wiltern Theatre to, finally, selling out the 6,000-seat Universal Amphitheatre.

* Travis, with Remy Zero, today at Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City. 8:15 p.m. Sold out. (818) 622-4440.

7:30pm

Theater

Dana Delany, Kevin Kilner, Daniel Stern and Rita Wilson star in “Dinner With Friends,” Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play about two couples whose relationships are fractured when a divorce is announced. Before its off-Broadway run, “Dinner With Friends” ran at South Coast Repertory in 1998.

* “Dinner With Friends,” Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 4 and 8:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.; also Oct. 18 at 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 29. $20 to $42. (310) 208-5454, (213) 365-3500.

8pm

Music

In the first local tribute to the 100th birthday of Aaron Copland, pianist Charles Fierro performs a little Copland festival at the Skirball Cultural Center. His program consists of the Passacaglia, the Piano Sonata (1941), the Piano Variations (1930) and the Piano Fantasy (1957). Copland, born in November 1900, will also be feted this fall by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

* Charles Fierro, Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Brentwood. 8 p.m. $15. (323) 655-8587.

11am

Architecture/Design

“The Un-Private House,” the new exhibition at the UCLA Hammer Museum, explores how homes have changed over the years amid shifting demographic patterns, privacy needs and new concepts of work and leisure. The exhibition--composed of models, photographs and drawings-- looks closely at 26 contemporary residences designed by an international roster of architects including Rem Koolhaas, Joel Sanders, Simon Ungers and Francois de Menil.

* “The Un-Private House,” UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Ends Jan. 7. $4.50; seniors and students, $3; UCLA students, $1; 17 and under, free. Free every Thursday. (310) 440-7000.

Freebie

Photographs documenting people with Alzheimer’s and those who have been affected by the disease will be featured in “Jim Hubbard: Love and Respect,” opening today at Highways Gallery, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Reception, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Ends Oct. 29. (310) 453-1755.