ENTERTAINMENT NEWS : Everyone’s a Critic : A UCLA Extension class will teach the ins and outs of writing about rock music. Another course will cover public relations.

Are you judgmental, a night person, willing to spend long nights analyzing Nirvana lyrics, someone who owns a set of ear plugs and craves getting hate calls from people who make more money in two hours than you will in a lifetime?

Then rock criticism might be for you. You can learn all about it March 13 in an all-day class in Universal City featuring several veterans of the field. “Rock Criticism” will be taught by Bill Holdship, the Los Angeles editor of BAM magazine, and will feature speakers such as David Wild of Rolling Stone, Bob Guccione Jr. of Spin, Edna Gunderson of USA Today, Dave DiMartino of Entertainment Weekly, Mark Rowland of Musician and Steve Hochman of the Los Angeles Times.

The class will be held in UCLA Extension’s new CityWalk facility at Universal Studios. Students in journalism can earn three-quarters of a credit and perhaps be on the way toward a doctorate in the poetry of head-banging.

Tuition for the class is $95.

From the other side of the fence comes “Publicity in the Music Industry,” two courses for people who want to work as public relations representatives. These classes also come from UCLA Extension, and they will be taught by Cary Baker of Morgan Creek Records and Paula Batson of MCA Music Entertainment Group.

Their first course--a one-day overview of the music publicity field--costs $80 and will be held Feb. 27. A three-day course on organizing a public relations campaign starts March 2 and costs $140.

For information on all these classes, call (310) 825-0641.

GUESTS AT CSUN: Cal State Northridge’s upcoming “Guest Artist” series of performances begins Feb. 13 with Lulu Washington’s Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Theatre. This Afro-American troupe of 12 dancers is appearing in conjunction with Black History Month. The choreography is by Washington and includes her “Ellington Suites,” “Tasting Muddy Waters” and a new piece, “Cinderella.”

On Feb. 20 and 21, Fran Ferrante presents a one-person show as Groucho Marx, followed March 12 by the CSUN Wind Ensemble (a little like inviting a member of the family to be a “guest”) playing music by Czech-American composer Karel Husa, a Pulitzer Prize winner, who will be conducting.

The final guests in the series, the San Francisco-based a cappella ensemble Chanticleer, will appear May 16. The 12-member group will sing music from the Renaissance, Baroque and classical periods, plus popular and gospel selections.

For tickets, call (818) 885-3093.

THE MOD REOPENS: CalArts ever-adjustable Modular Theatre, which opened on the campus in 1972 and recently underwent renovations, reopens Jan. 28 with a student production of the play “King Stag” by Carlo Gozzi.

The theater, designed by Jules Fisher and Herb Blau, was revolutionary for its time. Its playing space consists of 4-by-4-foot sections, each of which can be elevated 10 feet to create different performance areas. The audience seats, which can be placed anywhere in the theater, turn full circle. Movable wall panels allow for acoustical adjustments and for changes in the placement of entrances and exits.

Fisher went on to become one of the best-known lighting designers working in theater.