WHAT'S HAPPENING : MUSIC.

Polka passion: That bouncy music known as polka is most popular in ethnic enclaves throughout the country, but its fans are everywhere.

Local supporters, in fact, are hard at work trying to get longtime polka king Frankie Yankovic a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Yankovic, whose ``70 Years of Hits'' album won the first Grammy Award for best polka recording in 1986, appears Sunday at the American Legion Hall in Torrance. A PBS film about the 80-year-old accordionist won an Emmy last year for outstanding documentary.

Yankovic, who spent more than 60 years on the road, has slowed down considerably from his high of 200 polka shows a year. He is semi-retired now, but he's still beloved as the first to sing Croatian, Polish and Slavic polkas in English. He's also been known to launch into ``Born in the U.S.A.'' and selections from ``Hello, Dolly!'' on his trusty squeeze box.

For polka aficionados, a Yankovic concert can't be missed.

The American Legion Hall is at 1109 Van Ness Ave., Torrance. Show time is 4 p.m., and tickets are $12. Information: [phone].

SOURCE: - Fred Shuster

dining Pizza pig-out: For the ninth year in a row, Pasadena is the site of a fund-raising pizza festival.

The event, boosted this year by a microbrew tasting, is set for noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at Centennial Square in front of the Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave.

Attendees pay $12 in advance or $15 on the day of the festival, supplying the funds to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Pasadena and the Child Care Information Service.

The 30 participating restaurants presenting pizzas include Country Star, Crocodile Cafe, Sunny Italy, Il Fornaio, Avanti Cafe, Kuala Lumpur, Market City Caffe, Parkway Grill and Burger Continental.

Each admission ticket includes all pizza samples. Minimally priced beer tastes from eight breweries will feature such national and local brews as those of Samuel Adams, Red Hook and Crown City.

Live bands will perform continuous music throughout the festival.Ticket information: [phone].

SOURCE: - Larry Lipson

theater A real Pip: Money just can't buy certain things, as we learn from the protagonist in Charles Dickens' ``Great Expectations.''

Pip, an orphan raised by his sister and her husband, learns generosity and compassion from his kindly brother-in-law. These qualities serve him well when he is compelled as a boy to amuse a rich, eccentric woman who roams her mansion in the tattered wedding dress she's worn since a wedding-day abandonment.

They also serve him as a young man, when a convict takes up residence in his digs. In the interim, a patron provides him the wherewithal to rise in the world to become a ``gentleman.'' But what truly makes him a gentleman is the behavior he's practiced all along.

The story comes vividly to life in a staging by A Noise Within, the classical repertory company in Glendale.

The performances are fully dimensional, and directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez Elliott simply yet cleverly evoke the many settings from odds and ends lying about the stage.

Coming performances are at 2 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, with additional performances through May 26. The show is presented in rotation with Shakespeare's ``As You Like It'' and Eugene O'Neill's ``Ah, Wilderness!''

Tickets are $18 and $22, available by calling [phone].

SOURCE: - Daryl H. Miller

art Golden oldies: More than 55 international antiques dealers will gather this weekend for the debut of the 1996 Los Angeles Antiques Show at the Santa Monica Airport.

Furniture, silver, porcelain, jewelry, paintings and prints are just a few of the many offerings that will be on display and sold during the show held in Barker Hangar.

The event was developed by the Antiques Dealers Association of California. The gala opening party and show preview scheduled Thursday was held to benefit the Women's Guild, the volunteer fund-raising group for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Barker Hanger is at 3021 Airport Ave. Show hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $15 per day. For information, call [phone].

SOURCE: - Lori Moody

film Spin control: The special effects in ``Twister'' are, well, mind-blowing. Flying cows, falling combines and houses that roll across highways are just the leading edge of this stormy, visceral experience.

The effectiveness of the movie's tornado sequences - brought to us courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic's computer graphics wizardry, ``Speed'' director Jan De Bont, executive producer Steven Spielberg and a dedicated crew of hundreds - is even more apparent when the winds die down.

Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin's story about divorcing, scientist storm chasers (well-played by Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton) does little more than make you anxious for the next big blow.

But when they hit, the storms are seat-vibrating, heart-pounding, make-you-want-to-duck-and-run (but don't!) blowouts. ``Twister'' should satisfy any moviegoer's appetite for destruction.

SOURCE: - Bob Strauss

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

Photo: (1) The special effects in ``Twister,'' with Hele n Hunt and Bill Paxton, add up to seat-vibrating, heart-pounding, make-you-want-to-duck-and-run blowouts.

(2) Polka king Frankie Yankovic appears Sunday in Torrance.

(3) ``Great Expectations,'' with Deborah Strang and Donald Sage Mackay, comes to life in Glendale.

(4) Vases are among the many offerings at the Los Angeles Antiques Show at the Santa Monica Airport's Barker Hanger.