NEW SCENE

The New Hazlett Theater, sparkling with a $2 million renovation, gets a new life with a grand opening weekend of entertainment ranging from drag a cappella singers to a children's performer who had a previous life as a garage-rocker.

The opening party, Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight, will include gourmet refreshments and feature The Kinsey Sicks, a dragapella male quartet from San Francisco that combines vocals, satire and over-the-top costumes, and an interactive performance by Bricolage Theater Company, created for the New Hazlett. After the show, DJ Nate the Phat Barber will spin tunes. Tickets are $25.

Saturday is billed as a Big Family Dance Party with Dan Zanes & Friends, led by the former singer of the Del Fuegos who has transformed himself into an engaging children's performer. It runs from 3 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $20; $10 for kids ages 3-16; $5 for children 2 and under.

On Sunday, executive director Sara Radelet hosts an open house reception from 1 to 5 p.m. with backstage tours. For tickets, call 412-394-3353 or go to proartstickets.org.

ALL WEEKEND

The lovely Fergie is taking her "humps" to the links this weekend, as the Black Eyed Peas play the 84 Lumber Classic at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort Saturday at 7 p.m. The stylish LA band arrives fresh from the MTV Video Music Awards where it took the Best Hip-Hop Video prize for "My Humps," off its smash party album "Monkey Business." To open the MTV show, Fergie debuted her new single, "London Bridge," from her solo debut hitting stores on Tuesday. Local R&B sensation Margot B opens the show here. Friday is country night with veteran singer Clint Black and the Povertyneck Hillbillies, also at 7 p.m. Friday. Tickets can be had for $15 through local charities. For details, go to www.84lumberclassic.com.

Back in 1997, it was voted the No. 1 Traditional Show in America. Nine years later the Penn's Colony Festival is still going strong, entering its 22nd year. It returns for a two-week, four-day run on the festival grounds in Saxonburg with more than 150 folk artists and traditional craftsmen presenting 18th century reproduction furniture, hammered pewter, artistic handforged chandeliers, table wovens in the colonial summer/winter tradition, redware, Pennsylvania-German porcelains, fraktur and more. In addition to the crafts, there will be performing artists, music, living history, battle re-enactments, games, festive foods and other "manner of amusements." Hours are Saturdays 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. this weekend and next weekend. Admission is $6.50; $4.50 seniors; $3.50 kids 8-15. Go to www.pennscolony.com.

Greene and Washington counties join forces for the 36th annual Covered Bridge Festival, celebrating that symbol of small-town America. The festival, with crafts, food and re-enactments, will be held in eight sites, including the Henry Bridge in Mingo Creek County Park in Nottingham. It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For details, call 800-531-4114 or go to www.co.greene.pa.us.

If you're looking for a festive beer garden this weekend, look no further than the Penn Brewery in Troy Hill, which taps the keg on its Oktoberfest. To accompany the Oktoberfest Bier, there will be Bavarian cuisine, strolling accordion players and German tunes from Alpen Glow and Heimat Klang in the Fest Tent. It begins at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday and continues next weekend. Call 412-237-9400.

TODAY

The scripts are still hot from the printer at The Pittsburgh New Works Festival, opening its 16th season at CAPA, Downtown, with world premieres of one-act plays by two New Works veterans and one newcomer.

Pittsburgh City Paper hits a groove for LocalMotion, its second annual fashion show celebrating Pittsburgh designers, at 7 p.m. at the Altar Bar, 1620 Penn Ave., in the Strip, with proceeds benefiting the Homeless Children's Education Fund. It showcases models including Ann Markley from "America's Next Top Model" and Suzie Meister from MTV's "Road Rules" and "Gauntlet" and collections by Nicole Scarpone, Muvmint, Kelly Lane, Ironiece, Vivifie, Il Pose, Dirty, Nick Alan and Cameron Patrick Neth. It begins with a food and drink reception, followed by the 8:45 show. Tickets are $35. Go to www.pghcitypaper.com.

The Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures/American Shorts Reading Series presents: An Evening with Mary Gaitskill, author of "Bad Behavior" and the recent novel, "Veronica," nominated for a 2005 National Book award in the Fiction category. Sherri Flick, author of "I Call This Flirting," will also read from her work, and there will be screenings of two short films by artist Martha Colburn. Gaitskill will be available for a Q&A session and a booksigning immediately following the reading. It's at ON, 5005 Penn Ave., Garfield at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. Call 412.622-8866.

On his new record, "Life Short Call Now," Bruce Cockburn employs a 27-piece string section, which he will not try to squeeze into the Rex Theatre at 8 p.m. The new record drew a rave from the All Music Guide, which wrote, "Lyrically, Cockburn has returned to the terrain he alone inhabits: intimate observations of the personal, the spiritual, the sociopolitical and environmental concerns. As is also his wont, there are no sloganeering anthems in these songs." Tickets are $28. 412-323-1919.

FRIDAY

With Sir Andrew Davis still recuperating from arterial surgery, Charlie Batch will start Friday for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. No wait ... make that Bramwell Tovey. The British conductor will lead the PSO, fresh from its European tour, in the gala "A Little Knight Music" with flutist James Galway performing Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 2, a unique version of the Carmen Fantasy, and favorites by Henry Mancini. Tovey will also sit at the piano for Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." It begins at 8 p.m. at Heinz Hall. Tickets are $35.50 to $85.50. Call 412-392-4900.

Those famous Weimaraners take the stage once again in "It's a Dog's Life: Photographs by William Wegman from the Polaroid Collection," opening with a 6 p.m. reception at the Silver Eye Center for Photography on the South Side. The show consists of 28 Polaroid prints created by a rare 5-foot camera weighing 235 pounds. Refreshments will be served. Admission is $5; free for members & students. Call 412-431-1810 or visit www.silvereye.org.

Curator Vicky Clark says of the 2006 PCA Artist of the Year, "Jane Haskell's work engages light in its multiple forms by making it both her palette and her source of inspiration." The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts opens the 2006 Artist of the Year & Emerging Artist, featuring the work of Haskell and Kim Beck with a 5:30 p.m. opening reception. A $5 donation is requested. Call 412-361-0873 or visit www.pittsburgharts.org.

707 Penn Gallery, Downtown, presents David Aschkenas' "Highland Park Photo Project" opening from 5 to 7 p.m. The project began as an exercise routine for the photographer, who began to capture the day-to-day changes in the park.

Hillary Carlip, who chronicles her life on the fringes of celebrity in Los Angeles in "Queen Of The Oddballs," has been called "the female David Sedaris, or SHE-Daris." Carlip, seen on "Ellen" and "Oprah," will be at the Barnes & Noble, Waterfront, at 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

We're a long way from the rivers of China, but we're getting some of its color and tradition this weekend with Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival, celebrating a 2,400-year-old tradition. The Monongahela River will be the scene for the 44-foot-long boats adorned with ornately carved and brightly painted dragon heads and tails. Along with the race, there will be Asian food, crafts and performances at South Side Riverfront Park from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free. Go to www.pittsburghdragonboatfestival.org.

The Pittsburgh Glass Center heats up for Meltdown 06, a benefit with a Big Burrito feast and a showcase on the traditional Venetian glass technique called "murrine." Guests can enjoy large-scale glassblowing demonstrations by one of the masters of the technique Stephen Rolfe Powell, silent and live auctions with over 50 featured glass art items and performances by the Zany Umbrella Circus, world-renowned Clown Gordoon, Andrew the Impaled, performance painter Kevin Wenner, Tribal belly dancing by Zafira Dance Company and more. It runs from 7 to 11 p.m. Tickets are $200. Call 412-365-2145 ext. 207.

The 13th annual Aliquippa Art and Music Festival begins at 10 a.m. with a parade down Franklin Avenue and continues with food booths, crafts, children's activities, a juried art show and music by Casanova, B-Nimble and the Boys, the Stellarmonics and The Flow Band. It's all free.

Blues and soul belter Shemekia Copeland, a Grammy-nominated and Harlem-bred vocalist, returns to Moondog's, touring in support of her latest CD, "The Soul Truth." Shows are 7:30 and 10 p.m. Call 412-828-2040.

Comedian Gab Bonesso is the host and presenter for Monkeys VS Robots Part Two: MonkeyGators, an encore appearance of three of New York's hottest underground comedians -- Baron Vaughn (currently seen in the Coke Zero commercials), Joshua Grosvent and Victor Varnado, recently seen on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Shows are 9 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty. Admission is $5.

SUNDAY

In the '70s, you couldn't find a place big enough to hold Styx and Foreigner (well, a stadium maybe, but let's not nitpick). All these years later, the bands are still out there playing the old hits, fronted by replacement singers. They hit the Chevrolet Amphitheatre at 7 p.m. with "Cold As Ice," "Hot Blooded," "Come Sail Away" and the Steelers fave "Renegade." Tickets are $35 to $15. 412-323-1919.

The Clarks, who packed their summer with festival and county fair gigs, hit the hill at Hartwood Acres in Allison Park for the Allegheny County Music Festival, a benefit for children served by Allegheny Department of Human Services. It begins at 6:30 p.m. with Angry Francis, followed by the Clarks at 7:30 p.m., but there will also be an activity area from 4 to 7 p.m. with crafts, rides and carnival games. The minimum donation is $10 per car.

"Three Rivers, One Rhythm," the third annual RiverBeat interactive hand-drumming cruise, sets sail from noon to 3 p.m. on the Gateway Clipper Fleet's Party Liner with Jim Donovan, formerly of Rusted Root, and Elie Kihonia, founder of Afrika Yetu and co-founder of UMOJA African Arts Company. Special guest is Rainbow Eagle, Okla-Choctaw American Indian elder. Drums and percussion instruments will be provided, or attendees may bring a favorite instrument. No drumming experience is necessary. Tickets are $25. Call 724-452-1131 or go to www.epiphanyworks.org.

The East End Food Co-op steps outside for the first-ever Co-op Art Harvest, a street fair and community event featuring fresh local produce and baked goods from Smith Organic Farm and Honeydale Organic Farm, as well as foods prepared by the East End Food Co-op Cafe made with local produce from Grow Pittsburgh. Work by more than 30 local artists will be on display and for sale, and there will be live music by Cathasaigh, Aydin and Styles. Artist Gerry Dinnen will be firing raku vessels on-site that participants can decorate to take home, and there will be food-themed crafts for children. It runs from noon to 5 p.m. on Meade Street in Point Breeze. Go to www.eastendfood.coop.

Yellowcard, the pop-punk band with the fiddle player, has returned with the follow-up to the breakout record, "Ocean Avenue." Bassist/keyboardist Peter Mosely, who counts the Beatles and Brian Wilson among his musical heroes, says of "Lights and Sound": "We're a rock n' roll band. And the beautiful thing about rock n' roll is that there's so much amazing history and there are always new forms surfacing somewhere. You can choose to take inspiration where you find it or shut it all out and go your own way. On this album I think we kinda did both." Yellowcard hits Club Zoo in the Strip at 7 p.m. with AnBerlin and Reeve Oliver. Tickets are $15 in advance; $17 Day of show. Call 412-201-1100.