Three-day forecast

JAZZ

Satchmo redux

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton reminds a lot of people of the great Louis Armstrong -- which Payton doesn’t mind at all. In 2001, the 27-year-old Payton recorded his Grammy-nominated CD, “Dear Louis,” in which he reinvented some of Armstrong’s signature tunes. Like the legendary Satchmo, Payton grew up in New Orleans. He was a student of famed jazz educator Ellis Marsalis, father of Branford and Wynton. Payton brings his sextet to Culver City to preview his new CD, “Sonic Trance.”

Nicholas Payton Sextet, the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. Today to Saturday, 8 and 9:30 p.m. $30 to $35. (310) 271-9039.

FESTIVAL

Don’t tread on me

Carrying on a tradition that dates back to 16th century Italy, the 11th annual Pasadena Chalk Street Painting Festival will feature more than 500 artists creating sidewalk chalk murals in Centennial Square in front of Pasadena City Hall. Champion muralists from previous years also will participate. There’ll be live music, an artisans’ marketplace, and food and collectibles for sale.

Pasadena Chalk Street Painting Festival, Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Free. (626) 440-1827.

MOVIES

Monkeys, man and madness

Man (once again) monkeys around with primates and unleashes unspeakable horror in Danny Boyle’s topical “28 Days Later.” Boyle, who made heroin addiction so attractive in “Trainspotting,” merges art-house aesthetics with grind-house gore in this tale of a deadly virus let loose following a raid on a British research facility. Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris and Christopher Eccleston star.

“28 Days Later,” rated R for strong violence and gore, language and nudity, opens Friday in general release.

POP MUSIC

Beck’s back on the road

The injury that recently knocked Beck out of the lineup at the Field Day Music Festival in New Jersey turned out to be a bruise, not a broken rib, so the road warrior has been winding his way back home, playing sets that flesh out the new “Sea Change” songs with a broad career panorama, as well as a tune by his recent tour-mates Flaming Lips.

Beck, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Friday, 7 p.m. $18.50 to $38.50 (949) 855-8096.

DANCE

Celebrating Diaghilev and Arpino

Between the heyday of impresario Sergei Diaghilev in the first decades of the 20th century and the heyday of choreographer Gerald Arpino in the last decades of that period, American dance grew to be internationally celebrated for innovation and respect for the past. Both facets are honored in programs by the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. One of the company’s triumphant Diaghilev events offers reconstructions of the groundbreaking “Parade,” “Afternoon of a Faun” and “The Rite of Spring.” An all-Arpino program reminds us of his past achievements with “Suite Saint-Saens,” “L’Air d’Esprit,” “Light Rain” and “Sea Shadow,” and also brings us his most recent work: the controversial “I/DNA.” (See story, Page 12).

The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Thursday and Friday, 8 p.m. (Diaghilev program); Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. (Arpino program). $25 to $85. (213) 972-0711.

MUSEUMS

‘60s images that disturb

Three gifted American photographers documented the 1960s, a time when traditions were

being uprooted, in a most untraditional way. Their subjects were unsmiling, their streetscapes

unlovely and their images unnerving. “Strange Days: Photographs From the Sixties” at the Getty includes over 80 black-and-white photos by

Garry Winogrand, William Eggleston and Diane

Arbus.

“Strange Days: Photographs From the Sixties,” the Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. Opens Tuesday. Museum hours, Tuesdays to Thursdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m; ends Oct. 5. Free; parking, $5. Parking reservations required Tuesdays to Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (310) 440-7300.

THEATER

The best of Herman’s Broadway

“Hello, Dolly!,” “La Cage aux Folles,” “Mack & Mabel” and more: The musical “Showtune,” conceived by Paul Gilger and directed and choreographed by Bill Starr, celebrates the words and music of Jerry Herman.

“Showtune,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Opens Friday. Runs Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.; ends July 27. $45 to $60. (626) 356-PLAY.

THEATER

Living a dream?

Reality and fantasy collide when an African American playwright must face some dramatic truths about her life in “Order My Steps,” Cornerstone Theater Company’s production of Tracey Scott Wilson’s play, staged by Emmy Award-winning director Paris Barclay.

“Order My Steps,” Phoenix Hall, 10950 S. Central Ave., Watts. Opens Saturday. Runs Thursdays to Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. No performance July 4; ends July 13. $20, or pay what you can. (213) 613-1700, Ext. 33.

MOVIES

Bunuel’s bleu period

The LACMA series “Bunuel in France” features five films made between 1964 and 1977 at the end of the Spanish director’s career. Luis Bunuel entered into filmmaking in Paris, collaborating with Salvador Dali, then led an expatriate’s life making films in the U.S., Mexico and Spain before returning to France for a stunning run that included “Belle de Jour,” starring Catherine Deneuve, and “Diary of a Chambermaid” -- the two films that open the series. Working from scripts co-written with Jean-Claude Carriere and casting some of Europe’s finest actors, Bunuel issued a succession of contemptuous social observations bathed in surrealist imagery, thus cementing his reputation as one of cinema’s most unique artists.

“Bunuel in France,” Bing Theater at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. “Belle de Jour” and “Diary of a Chambermaid,” Friday, 7:30 p.m. “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “That Obscure Object of Desire,” Saturday, 7:30 p.m. “The Phantom of Liberty,” July 4, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. “The Milky Way,” July 5 at 5, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. (323) 857-6010.

BOOKS

One head, many hats

Talk about Hollywood hyphenates, Carl Reiner is an actor-comedian-writer-director-author and now has become his own biographer. Reiner shares his experiences as a writer -- for TV’s “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Your Show of Shows” and movies such as “Oh God!,” “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” “All of Me” and “The Jerk” -- in the memoir “My Anecdotal Life” and in conversation with Peter Mehlman, a former head writer and frequent producer of “Seinfeld.”

Writers Bloc presents Carl Reiner, Skirball Cultural Center, 27011 N. Sepulveda, L.A. Monday, 7:30 p.m. $18. (310) 335-0917.