BEST BETS Saturday 9/9

6:30pm Pop Music

Eminem’s career has been anything but conventional, so why shouldn’t he close the concert portion of a snowboard competition? The chart-topping rapper’s full-scale show is still to come, later in the fall.

* Eminem, with the Kottonmouth Kings and Mixmaster Mike, Saturday at the Great Western Forum, 3900 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, 6:30 p.m. $25. (310) 419-3100.

10am & 7pm

Gospel Music

The First AME Church and the International House of Blues Foundation present children’s choirs, professional artists, including Dawnn Lewis, and celebrity guests in “The Gospel Train,” a gospel musical by Kaleo Ashlly-Simpkins. It’s about kids whose trip to a rap and R&B; music camp in Las Vegas takes a time-traveling turn, bringing them to ancient Africa, the days of slavery in the U.S. and the birth of spirituals. The morning show is for ages 4 and up. In the evening, the First AME Church’s Freedom Choir will present a show for older audiences, a music and dance gospel feast called “The Spirit of the Lord Is Falling.”

* “The Gospel Train,” John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood.. Saturday, 10 a.m. $7. “The Spirit of the Lord Is Falling,” Saturday, 7 p.m. $20. (323) 461-3673.

noon

Festival

Pasadena’s Playhouse District will be transformed into a colorful street festival for Latino Fest Pasadena. Local and international talent will perform Latin jazz and salsa as well as folkloric dances representing Mexico, Central America and South America. Dance lessons will be offered after some performances. Cultural, food and educational exhibits, as well as book signings by Latino authors and activities for children also will contribute to this celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

* Latino Fest Pasadena, Colorado Boulevard at El Molino Avenue, Pasadena. Saturday, noon-midnight. Free admission. (626) 744-0340.

6pm

Art

Here’s an art show to unify America’s Pacific Rim: “Surf Trip” at Track 16 Gallery. Put together by a curator and a surfer for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the exhibition includes 25 hula dolls, celebrity surfer portraits, a survey of surfboards, and video, film and surfing-related artifacts.

* “Surf Trip” at Track 16 Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building C1, Santa Monica. Reception, 6-8 p.m. Show ends Nov. 4. (310) 264-4678.

7:30pm

Theater

Veteran actress Julie Harris stars as “The Belle of Amherst,” William Luce’s play about the life and work of Emily Dickinson.

* “The Belle of Amherst,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Blvd., Laguna Beach. Friday, 7:30 p.m. Regular schedule: Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 8. $44-$53; opening night benefit, $100. (949) 497-ARTS.

7:30pm

Opera

After 14 years in existence, Los Angeles Opera finally gets around to one of opera’s most popular and spectacular works, Verdi’s “Aida.” Placido Domingo launches his first full season as the company’s artistic director by conducting the first five of nine performances. The cast includes American soprano Deborah Voigt in the title role, as well as Nina Terentieva, Johan Botha and Simon Estes. Performances run through Sept. 28.

* Los Angeles Opera presents Verdi’s “Aida” in Italian with English supertitles, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. 7:30 p.m. $28-$148. Subsequent performances Monday and Sept. 14, 17, 20, 26 and 28 at 7:30 p.m., and Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. (213) 365-3500.

8pm

Theater

F. William Parker and John O’Connell reprise their roles in the return of “The Dock Brief,” John Mortimer’s sendup of the British legal profession, a comedy about a bungling barrister determined to come up with a defense for his confessed guilty client.

* “The Dock Brief,” Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3:30 p.m. Ends Oct. 1. $15. (626) 441-5977.

FREEBIES

The Toshiba Tall Ships Festival includes a boat parade, mock cannon battles and a maritime art show at Ocean Institute, Dana Point Harbor, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Also Sunday. (949) 496-2274.

Chinatown’s Moon Festival features music, dancing, martial arts and other performances in the area surrounding Central Plaza, 947 N. Broadway, Los Angeles. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. (213) 680-0243.