• Have you bowled with a pumpkin? Here's guessing you've done some version of it.

The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh offers the budding sport of pumpkin bowling in a controlled atmosphere on Saturday and on Halloween in its "boo-ling" alley from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Also on Saturday, "Have a Hoooooot!" features a visit from one of the National Aviary's owls from noon to 1 p.m., and a We're Holden Puppets performance of "Haunts, Hoots and Howls" at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Sunday's activities include pumpkin carving from 1 to 4 p.m. On Halloween, cartoonist/artist Joe Wos will present a spooky-themed "Once Upon a Toon" cartooning performance at 1 p.m., and the museum will have a screening of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" with free popcorn at 3 p.m.

• Station Square welcomes the little ghouls and superheroes with the fifth annual Kidtoberfest Saturday noon to 4 p.m. There will be crafts, activities, a chance to meet Scooby-Doo and the Tazmanian Devil, trick-or-treating at the shops and restaurants (2 to 4 p.m.), the magic of Professor Scrye's Closet of Curiosities Show (12:30 and 2:30 p.m.) and Witch Rachel's Sing Along (1:30 and 3:30 p.m.)

• The KDKA ZooBoo for Kids' Sake continues Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids can stroll through the zoo while the animals are out and collect great candy, brave the Haunted House and Gymkhana's Hidden Hideaway, make ghostly crafts at Casper's Craft Station, and take a ride on the not-so-spooky train. On Saturday FedEx and National Safe Kids Coalition will hand out reflectors to keep kids and parents safe on Halloween night.

ALL WEEKEND

PSO obscurities

It comes down to how much you trust a well-known composer at this Pittsburgh Symphony concert. PSO conductor Marek Janowski has programmed two obscure works on Shakespearean themes by luminaries Hector Berlioz (his "King Lear Overture") and Richard Strauss (his "Macbeth"). Obviously, the track record of these composers is excellent, but audience members have the opportunity to make up their own minds about these works, since history has not taken much of a shine to them -- especially the musical depiction of "Macbeth."

On the other side of the equation is a well-known work (without great merit in my opinion) by a composer who is not in the pantheon, Max Bruch. But his sentimental "Scottish Fantasy" will at least allow violinist Arabella Steinbacher to show off her stuff in her Heinz Hall debut at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $17-$75; 412-392-4900.

-- Andrew Druckenbrod

Italian drawings

Beyond Picasso, beyond Monet, the name Michelangelo speaks "artist" to anyone who hears it. Two figure studies for his "Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel are among 70 works in "From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings From the Prado," which opens Friday at The Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze. Most of the exhibited works haven't previously been outside the walls of the famed Madrid museum, and the exhibition's North American tour premieres at The Frick.

Admission to Friday's 6 to 8 p.m. reception is $25, students and members $20. The exhibition continues through Jan. 4 (free). For information, call 412-371-0600 or visit www.TheFrickPittsburgh.org.

-- Mary Thomas

SATURDAY

Stringdusting

Dolly Parton said she guarantees you'll love The Infamous Stringdusters if you love bluegrass.

So if you don't like the show Saturday night at the Carnegie Lecture Hall, call Dolly for a refund.

Chances are you won't have to. The band is made up of musicians who have played with Parton, as well as Earl Scruggs, Tony Rice, Charlie Daniels and Lee Ann Womack.

The band's debut record in 2007, "Fork in the Road," won the Album of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. The band's latest, self-titled release, produced by Tim O'Brien, is another gem, with everything you look for in bluegrass: good storytelling, fine harmonies and the intricate patterns of banjo, guitar and fiddle.

The Stringdusters are presented with the Mon River Ramblers as part of the Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk Music Society series at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 (advance), $40 (door), $20 (student rush). Call 412-394-3353 or go to www.proartstickets.org.

-- Scott Mervis

State of the 'burbs

Saturday morning, San Diego architect Teddy Cruz and Minneapolis photographer Laura Migliorino will join planner Dick Hadley, chairman of the Cranberry Board of Supervisors, for a panel discussion called "Suburbia Now." It will focus on the challenges and opportunities facing contemporary suburbs. Cruz and Migliorino are among more than 30 painters, sculptors, architects, photographers and videographers featured in "Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes" through Jan. 18 at Carnegie Museum of Art's Heinz Architectural Center. The free panel discussion will be held from 10:30 a.m. until noon in Carnegie Museum of Art Theater.

-- Patricia Lowry

NEED TO KNOW

• Right on the heels of the sold-out Atmosphere show on Monday comes Murs, another rapper from the indie scene. Having just released "Murs for President" on Warner Bros. with help from will.i.am and Snoop, the previously underground West Coast rapper from Def Jux performs at the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty at 8 p.m. Cover is $10. Call 412-363-8277.

• Power-pop icon Matthew Sweet is back with "Sunshine Lies," his first new solo album in four years and one that's been compared to his 1991 critical and commercial breakthrough "Girlfriend." He plays Mr. Small's Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17. Call 1-866-468-3401.

• The Pittsburgh Philharmonic dips into some patriotic music from familiar (Aaron Copland and Stephen Foster) and unfamiliar sources (Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence) for its concert, "Uncommon Wealth of Our Commonwealth." Music director Roger Tabler conducts the community orchestra 7 p.m. Friday at Chartiers Valley High School and Saturday at North Hills Junior High School. Tickets are $5-$12; call 412-394-3353.

• If you've seen the 1999 film "Genghis Blues," which documents a blind Delta Blues musician's journey to Central Asia, then you already know about the phenomenon called "throat-singing." The latest throat-singing ensemble to breach American shores is the quartet Chirgilchin, who perform Saturday at Oakland's Bellefield Hall Auditorium. The members appear in traditional costumes and play folk instruments while singing lyrics about feasts and horses and tending herds far from home. Appalasia, featuring Mimi Jong on the erhu (Chinese violin), opens at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15-$20. Call 412-361-2262.

• "Sam's Polka Party" radio host Sam Pugliano is celebrating 44 years on the air with a live polka dance. Music is by the Sam Pugliano Band, Denny Pasz Band and Jeff Pecon. "Sam's Polka Party" airs Sundays on WKHB-AM (660) from 10:45 a.m. to noon. The anniversary event is Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Acme Club, 230 Herron Ave. in Cheswick. There's an $8 donation for admission. Information: 724-274-9997.

• The Sweet Honey in the Rock show, originally scheduled for Saturday at the Carnegie Library of Homestead, has been canceled.