Esperanza

MUSIC The jazz bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding was this year's unexpected Grammy winner for new artist and shocked lots of odds-makers with the triumph of her technically precise but modern and accessible playing. She's got a pop star's charisma though and looks to be drawing a crossover audience. The Orpheum, 842 S. Broadway Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. Fri. $27.50-$60. laorpheum.com.

Celebrity chef Gary Danko will join chef Gonzalo Cerda at the Esperanza resort in Cabo San Lucas , Mexico, in late October to create special dinners and meet guests. The four-night Ultimate Culinary Escape includes a dinner created by the two chefs (think glazed oysters, seared yellowfin tuna and lobster and shrimp risotto) as well as a Champagne reception with the duo prior to the meal. Dates: Oct. 20-25; dinners with Danko are available Oct. 21-23.

It would be quite a stretch to watch Peter Stormare's turn as the demonically silent henchman Gaear Grimsrud in "Fargo" and think, "This is a man moved to tears by the music of Billie Holiday. " But the man who pushed Steve Buscemi into a wood chipper in the Coen brothers' classic knew he wanted to be an artist after being cut to the bone by Lady Day's music and life story. "I grew up in a snowy Swedish town, and when I heard her music and read 'Lady Sings the Blues,' I couldn't fathom her life," he said, driving through downtown Los Angeles en route to a video shoot for a collaboration between Christina Aguilera and Maroon 5. "Her story was a dagger.

Gloria Caceres lifted her arms above her head and opened her palms to the sky. She was standing in the late-afternoon sun at a soccer stadium in Carson, where a preacher with one of the most famous names in American Evangelical Christianity had come to share the Gospel. Caceres, 60, was born in Honduras and raised in the Roman Catholic Church. Eleven years ago, after immigrating to the United States, she says she became "born again" when she accepted Jesus Christ as her savior during a Protestant church service.

Sixty-two years ago it was the father, evangelist Billy Graham, who captivated Los Angeles with an old-fashioned tent revival that launched his career as America's most influential preacher. Today it is his son, Franklin Graham, who hopes to use Southern California as a launch pad for a national religious revival — this one aimed at Latinos, who represent fertile soil for Christian evangelists. Graham's Festival de Esperanza , or Festival of Hope, kicks off Saturday evening at the Home Depot Center in Carson, somewhat spiffier grounds than those available to the elder Graham, who in 1949 pitched his revival in a tent on Washington Boulevard and Hill Street.

They put down bunts, they converted a double play, they threw out a runner at the plate, they executed a hit-and-run play, they pulled off a double steal. Riverside North, the team that was 4-24 two seasons ago, showed everyone Friday night at Dodger Stadium how baseball is supposed to be played, and the result was a 7-1 victory over Anaheim Esperanza in the Southern Section Division 1 championship game. A three-run fourth inning by the Huskies (27-7) wiped out a 1-0 deficit and lifted them to their first title since 1994, when now-major leaguer Adam Kennedy was the star.

SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS FRIDAY AT DODGER STADIUM DIVISION 4 LA PUENTE BISHOP AMAT (28-4) VS. PALM DESERT (28-4), 4:30 P.M. Scouting report: There's not a better matchup of teams all weekend at Dodger Stadium. Bishop Amat lost to Palm Desert, 5-1, in its season opener. The Lancers won the National Classic and have played and beaten top teams all season. Sophomore Adam Alcantar is having a terrific season with a .485 average. Third baseman Rio Ruiz is a future first-round draft pick.

Center fielder Steven Pena of Riverside North made two catches of fly balls during the sixth inning of a Southern Section Division 1 semifinal game Tuesday against Lakewood that some major leaguers wouldn't have caught, which makes it appropriate that his next game will be at Dodger Stadium. Playing spectacular defense while also collecting 11 hits, North defeated Lakewood, 10-4, at Blair Field in Long Beach, earning a spot in the Division 1 final Friday night just two years after a 4-24 season.

Two weeks into the Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs, none of the top four seeded teams has survived, and the biggest surprise came Friday before hundreds of fans who squeezed into and around the Lakewood High diamond to watch the host Lancers stun No. 1-seeded Huntington Beach Edison and ace pitcher Henry Owens, 3-1, in a quarterfinal game. Getting a hit off the 6-foot-7 Owens in the playoffs has been difficult, let alone trying to inflict a defeat. He came in with a 12-0 record and stretched his streak of not allowing a hit during the playoffs to 11 innings when Lakewood's Jimmy Gosano lined a single to start the third inning.