College of the Canyons music students have spent the semester prepping for this weekend’s spring finales at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at COC.

The Jazz Department’s annual “POPS!” concert featuring the award-winning Studio Jazz Ensemble and the Lab Band is Friday night starting at 7:30 p.m. Director KC Manji will lead the bands through sets of classics and contemporary compositions. Tickets are $10 for general admission or $5 for students and seniors. Info here.

Saturday night at the PAC, you can catch the Symphony of the Canyons and special guest student orchestras including the SCV Youth Orchestra and Prelude Strings. Their program salutes the history of popular dance, from bunny-hop to boogie-woogie. General admission is $10 and $5 for kids and geezers. Info here.

And in a free concert Sunday afternoon at 3, the Santa Clarita Philharmonic performs its season finale, directed by Phil Concertmaster Sarah Wallin-Huff. The program includes performances of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Haydn’s Symphony 45, the Farewell Symphony.

Thirteen-year-old violin whiz Audrey Park, winner of the orchestra’s second annual Student Concerto competition among local junior and senior high school students, is set to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor. The orchestra has also been rehearsing an original piece by Wallin-Huff.

All shows are all-ages. Take your kids. Let them discover music as a means of creative expression.

At the same time, you’ll support COC’s music program and local student musicians who’ve come up through music programs at their junior and senior high schools.

Tickets and info: Call the PAC box office at 661-362-5304 or click on the links in this post.

Herb, John & Bill on ‘House Blend’
Saturday night at 10, don’t miss West Coast bluegrass legend Herb Pedersen on SCVTV’s “House Blend” hosted by yours truly. Pedersen’s famed for his stints with the Desert Rose Band and Laurel Canyon Ramblers (just for starters).

For backup on four songs, Herb brought along guitarists’ guitarist John Jorgensen and bassist Bill Bryson, also former Desert Rose bandmates.

“House Blend” airs Saturday nights on SCVTV in Los Angeles and Orange counties and streams at scvtv.com. All 69 original “House Blend” episodes are also viewable on-demand at scvhouseblend.com.

You’ll find lots more local entertainment news 24/7 at HometownStation.com, SCVNews.com and my blog, stephenkpeeples.com. That’s what’s thumpin’ on the SCV Rock Beat.

Santa Clarita journalist, Grammy nominee and music industry veteran Stephen K. Peeples is an entertainment reporter for SCVTV and SCVNews.com, as well as KHTS Radio News and the station’s website at HometownStation.com. Peeples also hosted and co-produced SCVTV’s WAVE-nominated “House Blend” program from 2011-2015, and posts more entertainment news, reviews and interviews on his own site at http://www.stephenkpeeples.com.