Silverlake Music Conservatory

Metallica will headline a special benefit concert Wednesday night at the Wiltern for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. Scars on Broadway, fronted by Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan formerly of System of a Down, also will perform. Money raised will go toward paying for programs, operations and scholarships for low-income students to the conservatory, which was founded by Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea and the nonprofit's dean, Keith Barry. General admission tickets are $200 and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Sunday through www. ticketmaster.

IN YEARS past, the Silverlake Conservatory of Music's annual Hullabaloo benefit concert has featured Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder and a little local act known as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But this year, the Peppers' Flea, the conservatory's co-founder and resident rock star, decided to forgo the glitz and glamour -- if tube socks and flannel count as such.

Expect the Red Hot Chili Peppers' gig Saturday at the Henry Fonda Theater to be extra special. The show benefits the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a nonprofit founded in 2001 by Peppers bassist Flea to put music into the lives of local kids. It also features a performance by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam as well as appearances by other celebrity guests. Students from the conservatory will also perform.

There's some serious instrumental tonnage being shifted on this Friday evening in the Silverlake Music Conservatory. A teenage girl lugs a barrel-like conga drum out of one of the eight small rooms. As she closes the door behind her, another girl wrestles with a cello.