OK, this is probably confusing. I love in So Cal and my birthday is in Oct. We haven't made plans for my big day yet and I want to do a search in a large area to see what is going on during that weekend. Is there any "easy" and thorough way to find out about concerts, plays, etc. in the So Cal or city by city area?

Is this a wierd question?

Not at all.
Did you try Ticketmaster.com?
You can put in venue or your zip code and it will give you events happening in your area.

And they'll be grouped by dates.

http://www.whatsonwhen.com/

Fairly comprehensive listings by city, country, date and type of event.

www.pollstar.com

Sometimes www.citysearch.com can be helpful, sometimes not. Depends on the city.