TODAYMUSICOutdoors with DvorakFew composers evoke the feeling...

TODAY

MUSIC

Outdoors with Dvorak

Few composers evoke the feeling of being outdoors amid the bounty and joy of nature as well as Antonin Dvorak does. So it’s fitting that Leonard Slatkin conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an all-Dvorak program at Hollywood Bowl. There will be three irresistible Slavonic Dances, the lyrical Violin Concerto with soloist James Ehnes, and the ever-popular “New World” Symphony. (Review of L.A. Philharmonic’s Beethoven program, Page 10.)

Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. 8 tonight. $1 to $93. (323) 850-2000. www.HollywoodBowl.com.

DANCE

Shoes make a ‘Run’ for it

Anne and Jeff Grimaldo’s Naked With Shoes will premiere a new dance theater work called “Run for Your Life!” today at Highways Performance Space. Actors Michael Vincent Carrera, Hugo Garcia and Janine Venable will join the two dancers in this exploration of, they say, “an alternative world both familiar and disturbingly unfamiliar.” Also on the program: their 2004 duet “Abdomen Soft and Flat.” Naked With Shoes originated in 1993.

Naked With Shoes, Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. 8:30 tonight. $15 and $20. (310) 315-1459. www.highwaysperformance.org.

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

JAZZ

Invigorating exploration

The best jazz is usually formally experimental, culling from different traditions while exploring the potential of each. The compositions of guitarist Adam del Monte are potent examples of the possibilities of genre hopping. Blending Gypsy-influenced flamenco styles with classical structures and a range of jazz idioms, he reinvigorates some of the oldest tropes in Spanish and American ethnic music.

Adam del Monte, Pasadena Museum of California Art, 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, 8 tonight. $30 to $35. (626) 568-3665

* Also 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

LECTURE

Go ahead, drink it in

Vodka, of all the liquors, is a shape-shifter: from brilliantly clear, triple-distilled liquid packaged in sculptural bottles to pungent salve for masses of down-and-outers living in the hinterlands. The Skirball Center will be embracing premium vodka and artisanal infusions for this tasting and lecture, but not without exploring the liquor’s humble 13th century roots. Also expect a special tasting menu whipped up by Sean Sheridan, the Skirball’s executive chef, with infusion recipes and tasting notes.

“Vodka Straight Up: The History and Tasting of Spirits,” Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. 7:30 p.m. today. $50. (866) 468-3399.

MOVIES

A swingin’ time for all

The American Cinematheque’s annual ode to

London’s Swingin’ ‘60s, “Mods & Rockers,” begins in earnest tonight with a Peter Cook-Dudley Moore double feature of “Bedazzled” and “The Bed Sitting Room” at the Egyptian in Hollywood. Longer -- it runs through mid-August -- the festival is also more elastic this year, adding films from the ‘50s and ‘70s and from both sides of the Atlantic.

“Bedazzled” and “The Bed Sitting Room,” today, Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 466-FILM, www.egyptiantheatre.com* “Mods & Rockers” runs today through Aug. 16, at the Egyptian; some films screen Friday through Wednesday at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica.

FRIDAY

MOVIES

Teen femme fatale who wants it all

It ain’t the postman ringing in writer-director Nick Guthe’s dark comedy, “Mini’s First Time.” Nikki Reed is Mini, a high school femme fatale who plays a dangerous game with her new stepfather (Alec Baldwin) to get everything her gold-digging mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) already has. And she means everything.

“Mini’s First Time”; rated R for strong sexual content, language, drug use and a scene of violence; opens Friday in selected theaters.

SATURDAY

THEATER

Men Alive, and guest

vocalist

Men Alive, the Orange County gay men’s chorus, celebrates its fifth anniversary with “Curtain Up! Light the Lights!,” its first program of Broadway show tunes. Intent on hitting nothing but the heights, the group has enlisted Michael Feinstein as guest singer.

Men Alive with Michael Feinstein, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. 3 and 8 p.m., Saturday. $25 to $45 (sold out). (949) 854-4646.

EVENTS

Celebrating the French

After half a decade of pundit-fueled Francophobia, it’s high time that America and France sat down and broke baguettes together. There’s no better occasion than Bastille Day (technically Friday) to make amends, and celebrations at the Page Museum in Los Angeles and Oak Park in Santa Barbara promise Gallic cuisine, wine tasting and entertainment. At the Page Museum, there’s even a Parisian waiter race, but don’t worry -- they’ll still ignore you while they run.

* Santa Barbara French Festival, Oak Park, 300 W. Alamar Ave. Santa Barbara, 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Free. (805) 564-7274

* Bastille Day Los Angeles, Page Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd. Noon Sunday. Free. (323) 656-6083

ART

Teamwork, creativity

in print

Crown Point Press humbly started in founder Kathan Brown’s Berkeley basement in the 1960s to become one of San Francisco’s most prestigious print workshops, collaborating with such artists as John Baldessari, Richard Diebenkorn, Laura Owens and Ed Ruscha. The exhibition “The Art of Etching at Crown Point Press” features 18 pieces by eight artists done at the Bay Area workshop in conjunction with the publication of Brown’s book “Magical Secrets About Thinking Creatively: The Art of Etching and the Truth of Life.”

“The Art of Etching at Crown Point Press,” Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., B6, Santa Monica. Opens Saturday. (310) 264-0640.

* Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Ends Aug. 19.

SUNDAY

POP MUSIC

In service to reggae

Jamaica-born, Brooklyn-raised former Marine Orville Richard Burrell is better known to reggae fans as Shaggy, and although the singer with the bombastically deep voice hasn’t recently matched the 2001 chart success of “It Wasn’t Me” and “Angel,” he’s still a fitting headliner for the O.C. Fair Reggaefest. He shares the bill with Pato Banton and the Wailing Souls.

Shaggy, Pacific Amphitheatre, 88 Fair, Drive, Costa Mesa. 7 p.m. Sunday. $29.50. (714) 708-1500.

WEDNESDAY

THEATER

‘Verona’ gets groovy

Shakespeare Festival/LA’s 21st annual summer production catapults the Bard’s tale of love and betrayal, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” to America during the volatile ‘60s.

“The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., L.A. Opens 8 p.m. Wednesday. Free general admission with a reservation. Donation of a nonperishable canned food item for charitable distribution is requested. (213) 975-9891. www.shakespearefestivalla.org

* Runs 8 p.m. next Thursday through July 23; ends July 23.

* Also 8 p.m. July 26 to 30 at South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes. Admission: $18.