8pm Music

all day Movies

Writer-director Todd Solondz, the chronicler of suburban New Jersey dysfunction in “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and “Happiness,” hasn’t cheered up any with his latest film, “Storytelling.” Selma Blair, Robert Wisdom, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Lupe Ontiveros and Julie Hagerty star in two separate stories, “Fiction” and “Non-Fiction,” that mix dark comedy and disturbing drama in dealing with sex, race, celebrity and exploitation.

“Storytelling,” rated R for strong sexual content, language and some drug use, opens Friday at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in West Hollywood and Landmark’s NuWilshire, Santa Monica.

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8pm Music

Pianist Robert Levin will join the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in concert this weekend. Besides performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, Levin will join the orchestra’s musical director-pianist Jeffrey Kahane to play Mozart’s Concerto No. 10 in E flat for two pianos. The program will also include works by Vivaldi and others.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Royce Hall, UCLA, Westwood, 8 p.m. Also, Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, Saturday, 8 p.m. $13 to $55. (213) 622-7001.

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8pm Pop Music

Taking a break from wrapping up a new album, Bratmobile shows how to move beyond a confining image (the riot grrls of the early ‘90s punk-rock Northwest) and develop into an inventive, independent-minded band.

Bratmobile, with Neon King Kong and Gravy Train, the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. $10. (310) 276-6168. Saturday at the Chain Reaction, 1652 W. Lincoln Ave., Anaheim, 8 p.m. $8. (714) 635-6067.

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8pm Dance

Just out of his teens, ex-Bostonian Brian Pelletier is the creative engine driving DanceLA, a nine-member pop-dance company launched a year ago with his work, “Personal Demons/Deviant Pleasures.” Pelletier--who dances, choreographs, produces, directs, designs and sometimes tears your ticket at the door--now invades downtown L.A. with his opus 10, the full-evening “Domestika,” set to music by Bjork. Pelletier is very definitely a developing underground artist, so don’t expect stylistic maturity or expressive refinement but rather raw talent, high ambition and fearless commitment to his subject and music.

DanceLA, Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., downtown L.A., 8 p.m. Also Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 6 p.m. $13 to $15. (213) 627-6500.

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7:45pm Theater

The restaurant owner, resigned to her lot; the waiter, who’s an aspiring actor; the immigrant busboys; the ambitious young couple: In the world premiere of Joe Hortua’s seriocomic play, “Making It,” set in the kitchen and in the dining room of a Manhattan eatery, people are looking for--or giving up--their personal American dreams.

“Making It,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, Tuesdays-Sundays, 7:45 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Feb. 24. $19 to $51. (714) 708-5555.

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8pm Pop Music

Shortening their name from Tha Alkaholiks to Tha Liks hasn’t reduced the party spirit of one of L.A.’s leading underground rap groups. The trio of E-Swift, Tash and J-Ro figure to spotlight material from their current album, “X.O. Experience.”

Tha Liks, with Defari, Swollen Members, Glass House, 200 W. 2nd St., Pomona, 8 p.m. $17.50 in advance, $19.99 day of show. (909) 469-5800. Also Saturday at El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 8 p.m. $19.99. (323) 936-4790.

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9pm Pop Music

The esoteric tradition of “sacred steel”--gospel music played on a pedal steel guitar--has a mainstream-ready hero in the wings. Young New Jersey native Robert Randolph has been serving up the sounds of salvation in church for most of his life, and now he’s been brought into the secular realm by the North Mississippi Allstars and John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin & Wood). They all team up under the name the Word.

The Word, with Chocolate Genius, House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 9 p.m. $20. (323) 848-5100.

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all day Movies

Richard Gere stars as a journalist investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding his wife’s death and a series of possibly related unexplainable phenomena in “The Mothman Prophecies.” Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing and Alan Bates co-star. Mark Pellington (“Arlington Road”) directed.

“The Mothman Prophecies,” rated PG-13 for terror, some sexuality and language, opens Friday in general release.