BEST BETS SATURDAY 10/28

4pm

Arts

Air Raids, a citywide festival of experimental, documentary and new-media works by more than 100 artists, activists and media makers kicks off with a panel discussion and an opening reception Saturday at the Art Center College of Design. The monthlong festival, which is presented by the multicultural media arts consortium L.A. Freewaves, will take place at arts venues throughout the city and will feature film and video programs, Web sites, multimedia installations and performances, video bus tours and other special events.

* Air Raids kicks off with the panel discussion “Critical Ear: Sound as Media” from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Art Center College of Design, 1700 Lida St., Pasadena, followed by an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Ends Dec. 2. For event information, call (213) 617-3950 or go to https://www.freewaves.org.

all day

Family

For two days only the Los Angeles Zoo and the Aquarium of the Pacific will be unofficially known as Boo at the Zoo and Scarium of the Pacific, respectively. At the zoo this means children will not only get to see the 1,200 animals, but they will also have the opportunity to create their own Halloween crafts, explore a “bat cave” and take part in free trick-or-treating. Anyone wearing a Halloween mask will get $1 off admission. The Aquarium of the Pacific will offer a children’s costume parade, special performances by a vampire magician, Halloween crafts for kids, storytelling and interactive booths.

* Boo at the Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $8.25; ages 2-12, $3.25. (323) 644-6400. Scarium of the Pacific, Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach. Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. $14.95; ages 3-11, $7.95; ages 60 and over, $11.95. (562) 590-3100.

all day

Art

Simple magazine illustrator or modern master? Decide for yourself as the traveling retrospective “Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People” opens Saturday at the San Diego Museum of Art. The survey will include more than 70 oil paintings and 322 covers of the Saturday Evening Post by the popular realist painter.

* “Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People,” San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park, San Diego. Ends Dec. 31. Mondays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. $5 to $14. (619) 220-8497 or (619) 232-7931.

8pm

Pop Music

Some of the elite of the dance-music world will gather at the L.A. Sports Arena for a Halloween-themed thump-a-thon called MonsterMassive. Among the beat-masters: Armand Van Helden, Derrick Carter, Carl Cox, Christopher Lawrence, Cirrus, LTJ Bukem, MC Conrad, Ming + FS, Chosen Few and Delirium.

* MonsterMassive, Saturday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 3939 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, 8 p.m. $35 in advance, $35 at door in costume, $40 without costume. (213) 748-6136.

8pm

Pop Music

Jackie DeShannon was a modest pop goddess in the ‘60s, when she hit the Top 10 with Bacharach and David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and her own “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” But she proved to be more than a pretty face and voice, going on to write some 600 songs (including the Brit-pop/folk-rock staple “When You Walk in the Room” and the Kim Carnes blockbuster “Bette Davis Eyes”) and become a model of creative independence. DeShannon marks the release of “You Know Me,” her first album in nearly 20 years, with a return to the Sunset Strip.

* Jackie DeShannon, with Kara’s Flowers, Bicycling Mariachis and Rooney & Melee, at the Whisky, 8901 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 8 p.m. $12. (310) 652-4202.

8pm

Theater

John Rubinstein, a much lauded veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway, regional and local theater, will direct “The Rivals,” Sheridan’s 18th century comedy of manners about a rich young woman’s search for storybook romance, her three admirers and assorted odd characters, including the verbally challenged Mrs. Malaprop.

* “The Rivals,” Interact Theatre Company, 5215 Bakman Ave., North Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Dec. 3. $20. (818) 773-7862.

midnight

Movies

Talk about time warps. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the 1975 campy rock ‘n’ roll horror classic that inspires its devoted fans to dress in character, recite dialogue and toss rice and toilet paper merrily into the air, celebrates its silver anniversary with special Halloween shows this week. The cult favorite stars Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon. Sins o’ the Flesh, which has been performing alongside the film at the Nuart since 1987, will provide its usual live enhancement. Rice, toilet paper, cards, rubber gloves, balloons, confetti, noisemakers and newspapers may be brought in, or purchased as a prop kit from the cast.

* “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,”, Nuart Theater, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West L.A. Saturday, midnight; Tuesday, 10 p.m. $8.50. (310) 478-6379. Also Friday, midnight at Northridge Theatre, 19401 Parthenia St., Northridge.

Freebie

Soprano Shana Blake Hill, a member of Los Angeles Opera, joins conductor Steven Kerstein and the Burbank Chamber Orchestra in the Hall of Liberty, at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, at 7:30 p.m., singing arias from Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro.” Kerstein then conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. (818) 848-8841.

Freebie

Soprano Shana Blake Hill, a member of the Los Angeles Opera, joins conductor Steven Kerstein and the Burbank Chamber Orchestra in the Hall of Liberty, at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, at 7:30 p.m., singing arias from Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” Kerstein then conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. (818) 848-8841.