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GOINGS ON / SANTA BARBARA : Last-Minute Ideas : If you still haven’t decided how to ring in the New Year, there are several options left.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Today’s column--at least the first part of it--is dedicated to all you procrastinators out there.

We assume that the phrase “I will plan ahead” is at the top of your New Year’s resolution list and that your lack of a New Year’s Eve plan is just a final act of procrastination.

To help you out, this one last time, we are providing a couple of last-minute party suggestions.

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First, the Santa Barbara Symphony will be ringing (and stringing and drumming and blowing) in the New Year with its second annual New Year’s Eve Concert tonight at the Arlington Theatre.

Santa Barbara resident Newton Wayland, the principal pops conductor of the Houston Symphony and the Vancouver Symphony, will guest conduct the group through an evening of show tunes, classical compositions and traditional American pieces.

The program will include selections from “West Side Story” and “The Music Man,” Strauss’s “Emperor Waltz” and the Overture to “Die Fledermaus,” Ibert’s “Divertissement,” a medley of Count Basie tunes, Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” and Haydn’s “Toy Symphony.”

Several symphony board members and fans--including Montecito resident John Beck, who stars in the soap opera “Santa Barbara”--will participate in the performance of “Toy Symphony.”

Audience members will have a chance to show their own musical talents during the “Auld Lang Syne” finale.

The concert is scheduled from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, $20, $25 and $35. Call 963-4408. The Arlington is at 1317 State St.

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Four hundred people can’t be wrong.

That’s about how many folks turned out last year for the New Year’s Eve Dance thrown by the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department.

And tonight’s celebration is expected to attract a similar crowd.

The ballroom/swing dance, to be held in the auditorium of Carrillo Recreation Center (with its spring-loaded dance floor), will run from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Music will be provided by the Jerry Dokken Band.

There is no need to dig up the formal gown or tux, but “dressy” attire is requested. People can bring their own food or partake of the refreshments provided.

Admission is $6 at the door, but reservations are needed for those who would like a place to sit between dances.

It’s late, but you might want to give them a call anyway at 965-3813. The auditorium is at 100 E. Carrillo St.

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Santa Barbara’s Museum of Natural History will present a couple of new planetarium shows beginning Saturday.

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For stargazers age 8 and older there will be a 30-minute show called “Ice Ages and Sister Worlds.”

For those age 4 and older there will be a 15-minute presentation titled “Journeys From Orion’s Belt.”

“Ice Ages and Sister Worlds” will compare Earth with Mars and Venus, the two planets closest to it this winter.

The show will look at the climate on Earth and on other planets and will include pictures of Earth and the moon taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft.

“Journeys From Orion’s Belt” will be a guide to the stars, constellations and planets of the winter sky.

Lecturer Ernest Underhay will discuss Mars and Venus as they approach Earth. He will also discuss Jupiter.

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Shows will be presented each Saturday and Sunday through the end of March. “Ice Ages” will begin at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.; “Journeys” will begin at 4 p.m. Admission is free with admission to the museum--$3 (adults), $2 (teen-agers and seniors), $1 (children), free (on Wednesdays and first Sundays of every month).

The museum is at 2559 Puesta del Sol Road. For more information call 682-3224.

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Sure, it’s 1993 eve, but let’s take a look back at 1991.

That was the year Rose Bilat and Rafael Perea de la Cabada won the Individual Artists Program Awards in the Visual Arts in Santa Barbara.

The awards were presented by Santa Barbara County’s Arts Commission and its Arts Fund.

Works by the two artists are on display at the Channing Peake Gallery, 105 E. Anapamu St. (inside the County Administration Building in downtown Santa Barbara).

The exhibit will run through Feb. 13. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information call 568-3432.

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Don Messick, voice of Scooby Doo, Boo Boo Bear, and other popular cartoon characters will be the featured performer in a production of “Peter and the Wolf” Sunday at the Lobero Theater, 33 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara.

The show will be part of a triple feature. Santa Barbara storyteller Michael Katz will start things off with a few tales. He’ll be followed by the Montecito School of Ballet’s performance of “Dreamweaver,” a ballet about a gypsy fortune teller.

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The ballet school, in residence at the Music Academy of the West, will also perform in “Peter.” The West Coast Symphony will perform the music for the ballet and the musical.

Show time is 3 p.m. Admission is $15.50 (general), $10.50 (students and seniors) and $5.50 (children). Call 963-0761.

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