WEEKEND FORECAST

TODAY

POP MUSIC

Updating Motown

Kanye West protege John Legend has cemented his position in contemporary hip-hop soul with his second album, “Once Again,” a collection that fuses the spirits of Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and other Motown stalwarts with a modern sensibility. The medium tempos that slow it down should be less of a problem in concert, where Legend adds a personal charisma to the mix.

John Legend, Wiltern LG, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 7 tonight. $35. (213) 380-5005.

* Also 8 p.m. Tuesday at House of Blues Anaheim, 1530 S. Disneyland Drive, Anaheim. $35. (714) 778-2583.

THEATER

Morality in a war zone

Elia Arce explores how personal ethics and moral beliefs collide with the act of killing during wartime, in “The Fifth Commandment.” Co-presented by FITLA, the International Latino Theatre Festival of Los Angeles.

“The Fifth Commandment,” REDCAT at Walt Disney Concert Hall, 631 W. 2nd St., L.A. Opens 8:30 tonight. $20. (213) 237-2800.

* Also 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

FRIDAY

DANCE

Change is constant

Nearly naked, hairless, painted white and moving as slowly and inevitably as clouds, the seven-man Japanese butoh company Sankai Juku performs the evening-length “Kagemi: Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors” in the UCLA Live series at Royce Hall. Dance Magazine has praised company founder and choreographer Ushio Amagatsu for conveying “the infinitely minute yet spellbinding transformations of a world in constant metamorphosis.”

Sankai Juku, Royce Hall, UCLA. 8 p.m. $26 to $48. (310) 825-2101; www.uclalive.org.* Also 8 p.m. Saturday.

POP MUSIC

Sweetness has meaning

Julieta Venegas is the vanguard of a new wave of Mexican recording stars -- rooted in rock but blossoming with strong pop hooks. Her songs may be sweet, sunny and romantic, but somehow she still seems deep. Catch her while she’s riding high on the success of “Limon y Sal,” recently awarded a Latin Grammy for best alternative album. That’s right, the best alternative in contemporary Mexican pop.

Julieta Venegas, Wiltern LG, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Friday. $35. (213) 380-5005.

MOVIES

If you like it bloody

If the “Saw” films and “Hostel” are too tame for your cinematic fright needs, you may want to check out “8 Films to Die For: After Dark Horrorfest,” a weekend festival in theaters nationwide featuring films deemed too graphic or disturbing for mainstream distributors. The films -- there are actually 10 -- screen in repertory over three days and include David Arquette’s directing debut, “The Tripper,” “Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror” and “Reincarnation” by Takashi Shimizu (“The Grudge”).

“8 Films to Die For: After Dark Horrorfest,” runs Friday through Sunday at selected theaters. www.horrorfestonline.com.

SATURDAY

OPERA

Ghost stories

The Long Beach Opera makes a rare move to downtown L.A. this weekend to present two Philip Glass operas based on Japanese ghost stories -- “The Sound of a Voice” and “Hotel of Dreams” -- with texts by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang (“M. Butterfly,” “Golden Child”). These opera theater pieces were first done at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., in 2003. The original production team of director Robert Woodruff and scenery designer Robert Israel, along with members of the original cast, will be staging the works.

“The Sound of a Voice” and “Hotel of Dreams,” Long Beach Opera, Aratani/Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., L.A. 7 p.m. $59 to $98. (562) 439-2580; www.longbeachopera.org.

* Also 4 p.m. Sunday.

COMEDY

Playing to his people

A couple of years ago, the Pew Research Center revealed that political comedian Jon Stewart’s ultra-satirical, ultra-hip Comedy Central program, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” was a primary news source for many young adults. Considering Stewart’s cute persona -- a little nebbish, part mensch, all witty cool -- can you blame the kids for preferring him over the withered pusses of stern baby-boomer newscasters? On Saturday, Stewart treats the youngsters and no doubt some older converts to 75 minutes of his Peabody and Emmy Award-winning comedy.

Jon Stewart, Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara. 8 p.m. $35 to $200. (805) 963-4408.

SUNDAY

EVENTS

Parade like no other

Scott Finell, the leader of Pasadena’s resident house band, Snotty Scotty & the Hankies, will serve as grand marshal of the 30th occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade. The

parade, a parody of that city’s more famous one that happens each year

on New Years Day,

started out years ago

as a joke hatched in a

neighborhood bar.

As fate would have it, Finell and his band were playing at the bar. The rest is history.

Since then, Snotty Scotty & the Hankies have led every Pasadena Doo Dah Parade, which has gone on to become world famous in its own right.

Its wild and wiggy style, featuring such marching groups as the Men of Leisure Synchronized Nap Team, Claude Rains & the 20-Man Memorial Invisible Man Marching Drill Team, the Spawn of Capt. James T. Kirk, the Bastard Sons of Lee Marvin and Petroleum Bonaparte (all slated to march Sunday), has sired copycat events in Ocean City, N.J.; Columbus, Ohio; Birmingham, Ala., and other cities.

Pasadena Doo Dah Parade, Old Town, Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, 11:30 a.m. Free. Bring a low-back lawn chair. (626) 205-4029. pasadenadoodahparade.info

THEATER

A deadly connection

Primary Stages’ off-Broadway production of the darkly comic play “In the Continuum” explores the subject of AIDS among African and African American women during one kaleidoscopic weekend in South L.A. and Harare, Zimbabwe. Written and performed by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, who play dozens of roles.

“In the Continuum,” Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Opens 4 p.m. Sunday. $20 to $40. (213) 628-2772. www.CenterTheatreGroup.org.

* Runs 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; Dark Nov. 23. Added performance 8 p.m. Nov. 20; ends Dec. 10.

MONDAY

WORDS

Opinions will fly

One of our most erudite and eloquent writers, Gore Vidal is a tempestuous out-sized personality, full of brio and spearheaded opinions. In other words, a fine memoirist, as he proves in “Point to Point Navigation,” his follow-up to “Palimpsest.” The distant cousin of Al Gore speaks with KCRW-FM’s “Bookworm” host, Michael Silverblatt, about his wide-ranging life and likely more than a few of his spiky opinions about the New York Times, President Bush and other characters (say, William F. Buckley Jr.) for whom no love is lost.

Aloud at Central Library presents Gore Vidal, Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles. 7 p.m. Free; reservations required. (213) 228-7025.

TUESDAY

JAZZ

The Stones reimagined

Jazz and the Rolling Stones may sound like an oxymoron, but the venerable rock band and the venerable American music have more connections than one might expect. Drummer Charlie Watts’ excursions with his own jazz groups have been well documented. And now, in “The Rolling Stones Project,” tenor saxophonist Tim Ries -- a regular in the group’s backup band -- explores his own jazz takes on such Stones classics as “Honky Tonk Woman” and “Street Fighting Man.”

“The Rolling Stones Project,” Vibrato, 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel-Air. 8 and 9:30 p.m. $25. (310) 474-9400.