BEST BETS Friday 12/28

all day

Movies

Ridley Scott’s combat drama “Black Hawk Down,” based on Mark Bowden’s best-selling nonfiction book, dissects an ill-fated raid to apprehend two lieutenants of a warlord in Mogadishu in 1993. Josh Hartnett, Sam Shepard and Tom Sizemore head the ensemble cast.

“Black Hawk Down,” rated R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence and for language, opens Friday at the Century 14, Century City and the Criterion 6, Santa Monica.

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8pm

Pop Music

Danzig fans elsewhere will have to wait for a major tour next year, but L.A.’s followers of hard rock’s dark lord get to enjoy two special club shows. Glen Danzig and band will play different sets each night, but both will feature surprise guests and include material from “Danzig 7,” a new album expected in the spring.

Danzig, the Whisky, 8901 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. Sold out. (310) 652-4202. Saturday at the Roxy, 9009 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. Sold out. (310) 278-9457.

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8:15pm

Pop Music

We’ll take our New Year’s traditions where we can find them. Pop crooner Barry Manilow comes back to L.A., where his end-of-the year shows have become an annual event. This year he’s hanging his streamers at the new Kodak Theatre.

Barry Manilow, Kodak Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 8:15 p.m. $45 to $100 (Monday, $55 to $125). (323) 308-6363. Also Saturday and Sunday, 8:15 p.m.; Monday, 9:30 p.m.

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all day

Movies

Calling all academy voters. Sean Penn takes his Oscar-baiting turn in “I Am Sam,” starring as a mentally disabled man battling a social worker and overwhelming bureaucracy to regain custody of his young daughter. Sam forms an unlikely alliance with a high-powered attorney, played by Michelle Pfeiffer.

“I Am Sam,” rated PG-13 for language, opens Friday at the Century 14, Century City.

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5:30pm

Jazz Freebie

Bassist Darek Oles, guitarist Larry Koonse, saxophonist Chuck Manning and drummer Kevin Tullius, otherwise known as the Los Angeles Jazz Quartet, perform the free drive-time concert at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Los Angeles Jazz Quartet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 5:30 p.m. Free. (323) 857-6000.

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5:30pm

Jazz

Many L.A. jazz scene favorites will travel en masse to Palm Springs this weekend for the first Desert Big Band & Jazz Party. Performers at the three-day, nonstop musical affair will include Jeff Hamilton, Gerald Wiggins, Barbara Morrison, the Frank Capp Juggernaut, Bobby Rodriguez, Lanny Morgan, Barry Zweig, Tom Ranier, Ernie Watts, Pete Christlieb, Rickey Woodard, Tierney Sutton, Rob McConnell, Bill Cunliffe, Bobby Shew & the Lighthouse All-Stars, the Mike Melvoin Trio and others.

Desert Big Band & Jazz Party, Riviera Resort & Racquet Club, 1600 N. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, Friday, 5:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.; Saturday, noon to 12:30 a.m.; Sunday, noon to 12:30 a.m. $100 to $300. (805) 496-5400.