3pmPop MusicThe title might not have quite...

3pm

Pop Music

The title might not have quite the ring of Family Values or Anger Management, but like those established concert packages, the inaugural Sprite Liquid Mix Tour brings together rap and rock, in this case Jay-Z and his Roc-a-Fella Family and the rock band 311. Also on the show, which aims to be “an expression of the urban experience,” are Hoobastank, N.E.R.D., Talib Kweli and more, as well as sports, arts and fashion displays.

Sprite Liquid Mix Tour, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, 3 p.m. $20 to $37.50. (949) 855-8096.

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7:30pm

Theater

A prodigal son finds himself mired in family expectations when he returns home in “Jumping for Joy,” a world premiere dark comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jon Marans (for “Old Wicked Songs”), starring veterans of TV, stage and screen Allan Miller, Daniel Nathan Spector and Deborah Van Valkenburgh.

“Jumping for Joy,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Regular schedule: Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.; Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m. Ends Oct. 6. $42 to $49. (949) 497-2787.

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11am

Family

The We Tell Stories troupe, an entertaining staple of school and children’s theater entertainment, will perform its show “Let Them Eat Books,” bringing to life the works of Aesop, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll and others, in a “theater-in-a-trunk” presentation for all ages. It is presented by International City Theatre.

“Let Them Eat Books,” Center Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, 11 a.m. Free. (562) 436-4610.

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7pm

Pop Music

The son jarocho music of Veracruz is rarely heard in its pure form beyond the borders of the Mexican Gulf state, so the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre’s “Fandango Jarocho” is a must-see for the many Latin music fans who have sparked a revival of interest in the distinctive, improvisational style. The headliners are the esteemed traditionalists Mono Blanco and the more experimental Son de Madera, and the format is the “jam session” approach that gives the evening its title.

“Fandango Jarocho,” with Mono Blanco, Son de Madera, Negra de Aztlan, Conjunto Jardin. John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, L.A., 7 p.m. $25. (323) 461-3673.

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7pm

Movies

The Asian Film Foundation’s “Erotic-Grotesque-Nonsense, Suzuki-Style: Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho Trilogy” presents the director’s interpretation of Japan’s hedonistic Taisho period, 1912-1926. The two-day event also includes a fashion show featuring Suzuki-styled kimono designs and a silent auction, plus a panel discussion of the three films. Freed from the commercial restraints of his long association with Nikkatsu Studios, Suzuki let loose in 1980 with the epic-length “Zigeunerweisen,” an eerie and erotic reflection on desire, death and betrayal, involving two men engaged in a battle of wits over three women. In “Mirage Theater,” (1981) a playwright discovers that the woman with whom he is having an affair might be the dead wife of his patron. Suzuki completed the trilogy with 1991’s “Yumeji,” a surreal, fictionalized biography of the famous watercolor painter. The latter two films are Los Angeles premieres.

“Erotic-Grotesque-Nonsense, Suzuki-Style: Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho Trilogy,” Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., Little Tokyo. “Zigeunerweisen,” Saturday, 8 p.m. (preceded by an outdoor Suzuki-style fashion show). “Mirage Theater,” Sunday, 2 p.m. Panel discussion, 4:15 p.m. “Yumeji,” Sunday, 5 p.m. $8 per screening. (213) 680-3700.

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8pm

Dance

By now, the locally based Lula Washington Dance Theatre should be giving performances in its long-awaited community dance center. But, after approving all the plans, the city of Los Angeles suddenly turned Washington’s land over to a commercial developer and, two years after she filed suit, the matter still hasn’t been settled. So Washington is giving a benefit performance at the Orpheum Theater in downtown L.A. to raise funds to renovate her new company center on South Crenshaw Boulevard. Stellar guests include Debbie Allen, Jasmine Guy, Tavis Smiley, Ronald E. Brown and Rudy Perez, but the main event will be the company dancing Washington pieces--”Dances for McCoy,” “Om” and “Rites 2000”--with her sensational Youth Dance Ensemble also very much in the spotlight.

Lula Washington Dance Theatre and guests, Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, downtown L.A., 8 p.m. $10 to $100. (213) 480-3232.